The Road to Recovery
Chapter 7
Janet buzzed from bench to pantry to fridge, a woman on a mission, as she busily filled bowls with cereal then topped them with milk while simultaneously pouring out cups of juice. Meanwhile, her two ravenous children waited impatiently at the table where they occupied themselves by singing their favourite song. Unfortunately, they each had a different favourite song and their voices grew progressively louder as one tried to drown out the other.
The twins had woken up that morning full of renewed health and energy and were keen to be out playing with their friends at kindy. It had been almost an entire week since they had last been out of the house and it was clear they were feeling more than a little claustrophobic. Convinced that they were fully recovered from their recent illness, Janet had caved to their persistent begging and said they could go, although she had managed to bargain an early pick up time. This meant that sandwiches and snacks also had to be prepared so once breakfast was delivered, Janet then went about the business of organising the lunchboxes. From the wings, Bianca watched on in wonderment….this scene of domesticity was certainly one that those who faced Ms King's steely stare across a court room could not even begin to conceive…. at the same time, Bianca filled the jug, located the mugs and tried to keep out of Janet's way.
With the children now eating their breakfast and the lunches stowed in their backpacks, Janet returned to the kitchen where Bianca presented her with a well-deserved cup of coffee, receiving in return a brief but appreciative kiss for her efforts. The two women then leaned casually, side by side, against the kitchen bench in a comfortable silence as they sipped the life-giving brew; Janet appreciating the temporary serenity that fell over the room, Bianca deciding whether or not to bring up the matter of the photograph of the shoeprint she had seen in Janet's files.
"Can I ask a favour?" she said apprehensively.
As Janet blew gently across the top of her mug to cool down its contents, she peered over at Bianca. Looking into that lovely face…it's expression a little anxious but with the hint of a smile….. her immediate thought was, "Good God woman, you're so gorgeous you can ask me anything…..anything you like." Janet noticed a slight colouring of Bianca's cheeks and, for an instant, panicked that she may have voiced her thoughts aloud. Quickly realising she hadn't….(Maybe Bianca read her mind….She would have to be more careful in future)….. Janet showed a little more restraint as she replied, "Sure. Go ahead. What is it?"
Not one to stand idle for too long, Janet rested her coffee cup on the bench while she popped two pieces of bread into the toaster and prepared to listen.
"Do you mind if I ask you about the Bradshaw case?"
In answer to Janet's raised eyebrow, Bianca recounted how she had come across the copy of the shoeprint when she was putting away the files for her the previous night…a job which Janet thanked her yet again for doing. She also explained how, on seeing the print, it struck her that it was remarkably like a print that is significant to her Michael Collins' case however, they would need to be officially compared and verified by an expert for it to be confirmed that they are indeed from the same shoe worn by the same person.
"Do you think the two cases are connected somehow?" Janet asked as she juggled the hot toast from the toaster to the breadboard and began to spread each piece with a thin layer of butter. Her curiosity was now piqued.
Bianca nodded slowly. "However, I'm not sure exactly what the connection is. There's the same pills involved in both cases and now this shoeprint showing up at both crime scenes, assuming it is the same print…..This person…this owner of the shoe is somehow connected to both crimes…both victims."
Janet scooped the flesh from a ripe avocado and mashed some onto each piece of toast. After the addition of some salt and pepper, she plated them and offered a piece to Bianca. The two women once again fell into an absorbed silence as they ate and mulled over the perplexing problem before them.
Finally, Bianca asked, "Does this shoeprint belong to either of the two people you are prosecuting? Forensics tells us we're looking for a heavy-set male with ginger hair and a pronounced limp favouring his right leg."
"The man we're prosecuting is large….tall….190cm maybe….and very fit, muscular…..but he has dark hair and there's no obvious sign of a limp….so I don't think he's your man."
"That would be too easy," Bianca muttered mostly to herself before asking, with a touch of desperation, "Could the shoeprint belong to one of the family? Aren't there sons?"
Janet finished her mouthful of toast before answering.
"Not if you're looking for ginger hair and a limp. I'm not even sure why that print is even in the file except perhaps to taunt me. It doesn't fit into the puzzle. The investigators found nothing to connect it to the crime so discounted it as evidence relating to the case early in the piece and yet it's still there….."
"Where was it lifted from?" Bianca's mind, fuelled with coffee and food, was now in full investigative mode.
"Perhaps you should take me in for formal questioning, Sergeant Grieve," Janet laughed.
Bianca had the good grace to blush. "Sorry…. It's just that we need to find this bloke but we've come up with nothing but dead ends so far."
Janet squeezed Bianca's forearm affectionately to show she was teasing.
"The print was lifted from the soil in the garden next to the front steps," she answered more seriously, "the automatic sprinkler system there goes on at 8:30pm and switches off at 9:00pm so it had to be made on the night Bradshaw was murdered…. sometime after 9pm."
"Or early the next morning…. Not one of the paramedics?"
"No, they were all checked out."
"Where was the wife and the two sons?"
Janet collected the used plates and coffee mugs, took them to the sink and rinsed them as she answered Bianca's question.
"Mrs Bradshaw had driven up to the Blue Mountains on the Saturday morning to visit her mother and her ailing father…. she'd taken her younger son with her… apparently it's a regular venture now that her father is so ill. The other son stayed here in Sydney at a friend's place. Their alibis checked out."
Just as the next question was forming on Bianca's lips, Emma and Liam careered into the kitchen giggling and laughing wildly, each waving about in their hand an empty bowl and cup.
"Don't run with those please, kids," Janet said firmly as she pointed to the sink.
The children unceremoniously dumped their used breakfast things (wisely made of plastic) into the sink as directed and then returned to their mother, jostling her and noisily insisting that they were now ready to leave.
At the same time, Bianca's phone began to ring. Glancing at the screen and seeing it was her work partner, Senior Constable Josh Anderson, Bianca retreated into the quiet of the next room to answer the call although she could still hear Janet's voice in the background instructing the twins to go upstairs, brush their teeth and grab their hats as she peeled each child from her side.
After a brief conversation, Bianca hung up and joined Janet in the living room where she was doing a final check of the contents of the twins' backpacks to make sure they had everything they needed.
"I'd better be off," she told Janet as she indicated vaguely over her shoulder and towards her car, "I have to get into work and before I do that I need to go home and…um…change."
Janet looked up at Bianca with a slight, lop-sided smile as she finished zipping up Liam's backpack and then accompanied her to the front door.
"I might contact Andy if he's back at work and see about having a copy of that shoeprint sent over and perhaps some of the other files…. maybe I'll find that missing link…. if that's alright?"
"Sure… Andy will be on leave but I'm certain he can make a call and arrange it for you."
Before turning to depart, Bianca couldn't resist placing a tender kiss on Janet's mouth.
"Why don't you come over for dinner tonight…as a 'thank you' for helping me out?" Janet suggested softly as their lips drew apart, "I'll finish early so I can pick up the twins from kindy…. that will give me plenty of time to cook up something nourishing."
Bianca let her hands fall from Janet's hips and slipped them into her own trouser pockets instead. She rested her chin on her chest, her attention suddenly drawn to the scuff marks on her new boots. She weighed up her choices. She wanted nothing more than to have dinner with Janet but she had promised Chrissie that she would have dinner with her. She could accept Janet's invitation and make up an excuse to Chrissie but the guilt of having lied would probably play havoc with her conscience and spoil the evening. Despite having been a part of several undercover operations where the ability to tell a lie with conviction was a necessary skill, lying to her friends was quite a different matter, something she had never been able to do comfortably.
Sensing Bianca's hesitation, Janet added, "Only if you want to, of course, or if you're not already busy."
"I'd love to have dinner with you," Bianca replied a little awkwardly, "but I promised Chrissie I'd have dinner with her tonight…..I could cancel….I'm sure she'd understand."
Truth be told, Chrissie probably would accept the situation gracefully and put on an air of casual indifference about it all but Bianca knew that in reality, she would be less than impressed. She also didn't want Chrissie to assume that Janet had coerced her into cancelling.
"No, don't cancel….we can do it another night," Janet answered with as much nonchalance as she could muster.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course."
Bianca moved in a little closer and reached for Janet's hands, their fingers entwining lightly, as she whispered, "You do know that I would much prefer to have dinner with you, don't you?"
Janet gave her a tight smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and tried for a casual tone as she said, "It's alright…. It's not like we've committed to being exclusive."
Although it was probably not the intention, Janet's words stung like a slap to the face.
Bianca crooked a finger under Janet's chin and tilted her face upwards so that their eyes met. She wanted to see if Janet was being serious. It appeared she was.
"It's not like that at all, Janet. Chris and I haven't seen each other in over three years…. we're catching up like friends do." Bianca struggled to keep a tinge of exasperation out of her voice. "After all these years, that's all we are…. friends."
Bianca paused for a moment to allow her words to sink in then, more softly but no less seriously, she asked, "Do you want to see other people?"
Janet's eyes lifted abruptly, capturing the sober expression on the other woman's face. Maybe she had overstepped the mark but she needed to know where she stood before giving herself wholeheartedly to someone once more. The thought of her heart having to suffer a further battering was almost too much to bear.
"No, I don't but if you…"
"I don't either," Bianca replied, cutting her off, "nothing could be further from my mind."
During the weeks and months when Janet had gone missing in action and had refused to contact her, Bianca would admit to feeling a level of both anger and frustration towards her but still, underlying it all was her love for Janet, something she could neither control nor erase, despite her best efforts at the time to do just that. Perhaps, if it hadn't been love, she wouldn't have felt her absence so keenly and the relationship would have ended there but it was not to play out that way and right now, Bianca desperately wanted to share with this woman the full extent of her feelings for her; she wanted to tell her how often her mind conjured up thoughts of her; how, regardless of whether she was adorned in her judicial robes and ruthlessly dissecting a defendant or running around with the kids in her more casual attire, her hair in that delightfully messy ponytail, the mere sight of her made Bianca's heart race and that she was oh so entirely in love with her. However, a sixth sense told Bianca it was too soon and the last thing she wanted to do was scare Janet away. She had been patient thus far, she could wait a little longer.
Instead, she wrapped her arms around Janet's waist and drew her close once more.
"Why don't you join us? Chrissie won't mind. She'd love to meet you…. It's nothing too fancy, just Odie's down at The Rocks. We used to…. never mind…. Come. You'll like it…and Chrissie."
Janet considered the invitation for the briefest moment then, easing herself out of the embrace, replied, "I can't. There's no one I can ask to take care of the twins at such short notice."
"You said your mum's well again and the kids seem fine…. you could ask her to mind them… it would only be for a couple of hours…. she'll be wanting to see them…. It doesn't have to be a late night."
Bianca seemed genuinely enthused about her going along but Janet didn't feel ready to meet the 'ex' and possibly face that awkward position of being the redundant third wheel while the other two women shared a conversation familiar only to themselves.
"No, but thank you," Janet said kindly, grasping Bianca's hands once again. "You two haven't seen each other in a long time, you'll have a lot to catch up on…. you don't need me there." Seeing the obvious disappointment in Bianca's face, Janet added by way of compromise, "Another time, perhaps, if you like."
Ready or not, the conversation was brought to a close by the appearance of the twins who raced to their mother's side, each clinging to a thigh and voicing their eagerness to depart immediately if not sooner.
Bianca bent down slightly and held up the palms of her hands to the twins to which both children responded with a cheeky 'high five' and a brief hug as they said good-bye. Then, as she stood up again, she gave Janet a smile but hesitated as she thought about whether it was appropriate to kiss her in front of the twins.
"Kids, go and get your backpacks off the table and my handbag too, please, then we can leave for kindy," Janet instructed.
Having said the magic word, 'leave', both children turned and dashed to fetch their things.
Making the most of their few seconds alone, Janet took Bianca's face in her hands and drew their lips together in the warmest of kisses.
"I'll call you later," Bianca said, still slightly breathless, as she then reluctantly turned and headed for her car.
oooOooo`
The sound of light-hearted chatter and laughter emanating from the small meeting room where a squad of eight AFP officers-six constables and two senior constables-were congregated, quickly died down to a near-silence when their team leader, Sergeant Bianca Grieve, entered the room. Hastily, they opened their notebooks, readied their pens and assigned more serious expressions to their faces in preparation for their morning briefing.
Bianca greeted her team cordially but, after one or two words of light banter, was quick to move onto business. Her style of leadership was to set an appropriate example rather than to be the loud, authoritarian sergeant that was the stereotypical image of so many crime shows. She worked hard, was thorough and listened to what her people and others had to say while using the good amount of instinct she had developed over the years as well her investigative intellect to make informed decisions. She delegated well and gave her team members, most of whom had been with her for nearly two years now, credit for having the nous to do their job effectively, ensuring that each one knew that their efforts were valued and their suggestions, no matter how outlandish they may seem at the time, were welcome. As in every other job, each member of her team had their strengths and their weaknesses and Bianca managed them accordingly. That wasn't to say she was a soft touch. Each of her officers knew better than to screw-up or be lax on Sergeant Grieve's watch. On the rare occasion it became necessary to hand out any admonishment, she did so in the privacy of her office as public humiliation wasn't her thing. She willingly recognised that she too had made her fair share of mistakes along the way (and would, no doubt, make more in the future) and preferred that her officers did as she tried to do and that was to learn from their errors rather than harbour resentments.
Being one of only a few female sergeants in such a male-dominated profession, it hadn't been an easy career pathway, however, she had persisted and eventually earned their respect and loyalty so any dressing down that Bianca now gave them couldn't match their own disappointment or the reproaches they gave themselves for letting down both her and the team.
As the shuffling of notebooks and the tuning of pages ceased and eyes became focussed on her, Bianca started off the morning's business with a summary of the information they already had.
"Okay. So far we know that Michael Collins…male, Caucasian, 24 years of age…. resided with his mother, Ms Denise Collins, in a rented house at 135 Frances St, Lidcombe. He was long-term unemployed. As a teenager, he was known to local police and did 6 months in juvenile detention for car theft and a bit of break and enter….as an adult, he had priors for the same as well as for drug possession for which he served 16 months of a two-year sentence before being paroled on good behaviour."
It was an all too familiar story…. Life gone off the rails at a young age then confined in detention with other offenders where they made more criminal connections, learnt new tricks and seriously hampered their chances of having any gainful employment in the future.
"On 18th November 2016, the AFP completed a covert operation where 900kg of amphetamine tablets, mostly ecstasy, were confiscated from a consignment of what was supposed to be tins of cocoa powder brought in from Ecuador. A week later, on 25th November, local traffic police pulled Collins over for speeding. They deemed that he was acting suspiciously and decided to further search the vehicle, coming up with $100k in cash and a kilogram of ecstasy tabs…these tablets match the ones taken in the haul of the 18th. Collins was charged but made bail until his committal hearing…. Alex, do we know who put up his bail?"
Constable Alexandra (Alex) Foster, one of four females on Bianca's team, flicked back through her notebook then, finding the appropriate page, answered, "According to records, Collins paid for his own bail."
"How does a guy like Collins have enough money for bail?" Bianca wondered aloud before assigning Alex Foster the job of filing for permission to access to Collins' bank accounts and going through the details, looking for any anomalies.
"Two months later, Collins' committal hearing comes up and the magistrate says that there's not enough concrete evidence to put him on trial and Collins is free to go." Bianca tried vainly to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "A week later, at 10am on Saturday 28th January, his body is found by two teenage boys at this warehouse in Bankstown."
Bianca brought up onto the screen the image of the warehouse. "He'd been bashed to death with a crowbar…." The image changed to an internal view of the warehouse where two areas had concentrated splatterings of blood while a third area was where the body lay. Here, the blood had pooled. On the right-hand corner of the screen a photograph of the crowbar was inset…. "as well as being punched and kicked by a person or persons still unknown to us. We do know, however, that we're looking for a male, heavy-set with a limp that favours his right leg. He wears size 14 shoes and has ginger hair. This man is most definitely a 'person of interest'. Treat him as dangerous. Forensics say that the more than twenty blows Collins received were delivered by someone who is most likely right handed. The fatal blow was this one to the back of the head." Again, the image on the screen changed to one of an X-ray of Collins' skull which Bianca used to point out the depression and fracturing of the bone that had finished him off. "The Coroner estimates the time of death as being between 10 and 15 hours before his body was discovered…. tox screens show no sign of drugs in his system and only a small amount of alcohol… not enough for him to be considered intoxicated or to impede his thinking….Do we have any more information that narrows down that time frame a bit?"
Sergeant Cathy Driscoll, an officer Bianca had come to trust implicitly to do her job thoroughly and one she had specifically requested when the team was being formed…. (As Janet would say, "You don't forget the good ones")…. indicated with a small but confident wave of her hand that she had some useful information. Bianca nodded for her to proceed to enlighten them.
"Constable Ludgate and I were able to speak to Collins' mother yesterday afternoon and get some idea of her son's movements leading up to his murder…. previous to that she'd been too heavily sedated." Driscoll took a quick look at her notes to refresh her memory as to what exactly had been said as she wanted to be one hundred percent accurate. "She's adamant that her son stayed home the entire day and had slept for most of it…. or, at least, stayed in his room but she'd looked in on him a number of times so he was definitely there. He spent the evening watching television with her up until 8:30pm when he received a call on his mobile which he answered in the next room so she didn't hear any of the exchange. The next thing she knows he's out the front door and off up the road on foot. She assumed a mate had called and he was meeting him at the local pub…. that would be the Railway Hotel in Joseph Street….as that's the direction he took. It's a fifteen minute walk at best."
"Did she know who this 'mate' might be?" Bianca interrupted.
Driscoll shook her head. "She says she doesn't know and hasn't met any of his mates but assumes he has some…. drinking buddies, that sort of thing. We spoke to the hotel staff who were on that evening…. the two owners and one other employee….and they all put Collins at the pub by 8:50pm. He ordered his usual schooner of beer and stood at the bar and drank it….as far as they remember, he didn't speak to anyone except for a short exchange with one of the owners about the football. He then ordered a second drink but before he could even half finish it, he was seen answering a call on his mobile…."
Again, Bianca stopped her in mid-flow.
"Which begs the question, where is this phone now? It wasn't on his person at the crime scene. Has it been located?"
"Not yet," SC Anderson answered, "we're still looking for it…. we've determined it must have been a pre-paid phone as we haven't been able to track down a contract with any of the usual providers."
"Let's keep looking for it around the warehouse….it may have been tossed…. bins, neighbouring properties etc. Cath…."
"Immediately after the call, about 9:20pm, he left the pub and walked up Joseph St about 30 metres when witnesses …. three guys having a smoke out on the footpath…. we've taken their names and addresses…..saw a dark blue or possibly black early model Holden Commodore pull up beside him. They didn't see the driver but they were under the impression that Collins knew whoever it was and seemed pleased to see them…. they appeared to have a quick conversation before Collins opened the door and got in the car which then continued to drive up Joseph St."
"Anyone get the registration number by chance?"
"Sorry, Sarge," Driscoll replied regretfully, "but they all agreed that it had a smashed left tail light which might be of some help."
"Anything else?"
Driscoll shook her head. "That's it so far, Sergeant."
"Thanks, SC Driscoll..." Bianca acknowledged her efforts with the quick flash of a smile before continuing. "So we can narrow down the time of death to between 9:30pm and midnight….if we assume they drove straight to the warehouse, that would put it at approximately 10pm which fits the parameters but we won't take that as a given yet…. so, we're on the lookout for a dark blue or black, early model Commodore with a smashed rear, left tail light. SC Ludgate, check the CCTV footage for the A6 for any sign of a vehicle fitting that description on that day. Have we anything else to add?"
Although the meeting continued on for another hour, in that time the only other definite information they had managed to dredge up in the six days since Michael Collins' death was that the warehouse where it all happened was leased through a local real estate agent on behalf of a company called Commercial Property Holdings and that the property had been vacant for six weeks prior to the murder. Further investigation discovered that this company was solely owned by a Sydney businessman, Sid Delaney. The relevance of this information was dubious at best although it would account for keyholders to the place.
The remainder of the meeting was taken up with tossing the 'ifs' and 'buts' of the case back and forth until Bianca, fed up with a lack of solid evidence to work with, told them they needed something more substantial to back up any hypotheses. There were too many questions and not enough answers as yet. They needed to find these answers ASAP. Where is Michael Collins' mobile phone? Who owns the car he was seen getting into? Is this large, red-haired man with the limp a regular at the Railway Hotel too? How was he known to Collins?"
Knowing this investigation was going to be a difficult one and that a hard slog lay ahead of them, the officers filed out of the room in a more subdued mood than when they had first arrived, each pair with their assigned line of enquiry to pursue. Eventually, it was only Bianca and SC Anderson left in the room. Bianca sat on one of the desktops and ran a hand through her hair as she stared blankly at the whiteboard in front of her with its meagre notes. In her mind, she sifted through what had been covered so far and tried to determine if she had missed anything.
"Cup of coffee, Sarge?"
"Yeah… that would be good…. Thanks, Josh."
As Anderson left the room, Bianca looked at her watch. She had just enough time to ring Andy Campbell, Lina's husband and a Detective Inspector with the NSW State Police Force before heading out to reinspect the confiscated drugs. Andy hadn't worked directly on the Bradshaw case but hopefully he'd be able to help her out as a favour to Janet. She could, of course, go the more formal route but this way would save her at least three phone calls and several bits of paperwork.
oooOooo
When Janet had dropped off the twins at kindy, such was their eagerness to see their friends that she had received only the briefest of hugs at the gate before they turned and bolted for the already busy playground leaving Janet alone to carry their backpacks inside and put their lunchboxes in the fridge.
After a quick conversation with the woman in-charge of the kindergarten to explain that Liam and Emma had been ill the past few days but now seemed fully-recovered, however, not to hesitate to call her if there was a relapse, Janet drove to her office with the optimistic expectation of putting a decent-sized dent in the mountain of work that would have been piling up on her desk during her absence. She had attempted to keep on top of it from home via her laptop and having Tony drop off anything she urgently needed but with having to keep an almost constant vigil on the children, it had been virtually impossible. As much as she loved her twins, their presence, particularly when they were unwell, was not conducive to work and as she prioritised her children over and above her job there was no questioning where her attention must go…. something she may not have done so readily when Ash had been alive.
Here, however, behind the wooden door and glass windows, ensconced in the peace and quiet of her office with all that she needed at her fingertips, Janet was able to immerse herself completely in the tasks at hand.
She'd had almost three hours of uninterrupted concentration when she heard her phone chirp from within her handbag. She quickly extracted it, half expecting it to be someone from the kindy ringing to tell her one of the twins was not feeling well, however, when she looked at the screen, a broad smile stretched across her face. It was a message from Bianca who was wanting to know if she had eaten yet. Janet looked at the time and, realising it was lunchtime already, replied that she hadn't. Much to her surprise, within a few, short minutes of sending the reply, Bianca appeared at her door, the bearer of food and drinks. In reply to Janet's puzzled expression, she admitted that she had been on the ground floor of the building with her fingers crossed that Janet hadn't already had lunch when she'd sent the text message.
Janet closed the file she'd been reading on her computer so that the home desktop was all that appeared and then moved over to where she had three comfortable armchairs arranged around a low coffee table. From the bag she had been carrying, Bianca pulled out a variety of freshly-made sandwiches and placed them on the coffee table.
Rather than take a seat immediately, Janet stopped long enough to draw Bianca's mouth to her own and showed her appreciation for the attentiveness with a kiss. It was over in seconds but it was a kiss that, for all its brevity, still managed to send tingles as far as Bianca's toes and back up again, not to mention the other, more secretive places that felt its warming effects. Janet was aware that they were fully visible to those in the outer office but she really didn't care.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Janet asked as she sat down and perused the sandwiches hungrily. She hid an amused smile as she could see that Bianca had been slightly stunned by her boldness.
Finding her equilibrium once more, Bianca took up the seat opposite Janet.
"It's lunchtime and I was in the area so I thought I'd pick up some sandwiches so we could have a quick bite together," Bianca explained, "I didn't interrupt, did I?"
"No, not at all. I was just catching up on some work... but it's not going anywhere…. Thank you for this," Janet said as she placed two turkey and cranberry sauce sandwiches on one of the paper plates Bianca had provided.
"My pleasure."
After putting an assortment of sandwiches on her own plate, Bianca reached back into the bag and pulled out two small bottles of sparkling water and twisted off the caps.
"Time to kick that 5-cups-a-day coffee habit, Miss King," Bianca announced as she passed one of the bottles to Janet, "this stuff is much better for you…. although, it could send you broke… it costs an arm and a leg."
Janet laughed as she accepted the drink. It was a laugh that set off a warm hum around Bianca's heart.
"Cheers," the two women said in unison as they chinked the neck of their bottles and took a long draw on the contents.
"How's the investigation going?" Janet asked as she bit into the first sandwich.
"It's going…" Bianca replied without too much enthusiasm, "we know that, at this stage, the last place Collins was seen alive was in the Railway Hotel and we've narrowed down the time of death to possibly about 10pm on the Friday night. We also know he was picked up by someone driving an early model dark blue or black Holden Commodore with a broken, left tail light …. probably the so-far-mysterious ginger-headed man with the limp who we haven't been able to track down yet… The 'how' and the 'where' are clear enough, it's the 'why' and the 'who' where we're light on facts."
"Did you find out how the drugs that were seized ended up in Michael Collins' car?"
Bianca shook her head. "Anderson and I went over to the facility this morning and checked every parcel. All the tamper-evident tape is in place and no one suspicious has signed in or out of the facility. Anderson is over there now supervising as they reweigh each package… I rang Andy this morning too and he's going to arrange to have the notes from the Bradshaw case sent over…. I'll ask Chrissie to check out the shoeprint…compare it to the one we've got."
Wanting to clear her head of the investigation as best she could for now, Bianca asked, "Did the kids get off to kindy okay?"
Mention of the twins made Janet's face light up instantly. "Yeah…. they couldn't get to their friends fast enough…. They left me standing in their dust…. Actually, when I heard my phone before, I thought the message might have been from the kindy but it was you."
"Disappointed?"
"No…of course not." Again, a smile came to Janet's face as their eyes met for just a second.
After giving Janet time to eat her second sandwich Bianca asked in a voice not much above a whisper, "Are you sure you don't want to come to dinner with me and Chrissie tonight?"
Janet struggled for a reply. Part of her did want to be with Bianca but on this occasion, she felt that Bianca and Chrissie should be left to catch up without her presence thrust upon them.
"Not this time… I …"
Janet was saved from having to give any further explanation as their conversation was interrupted by a cursory knock on the door and then the gruff figure of Tony, Janet's boss and sometime babysitter, entering the room.
"Oh. Sorry. I didn't realise you were busy," Tony said as he took in the scene and promptly prepared to walk out again.
"Stay, Tony. We're just having some lunch. Would you like a sandwich?" Janet offered him the plate with its four sandwiches still remaining but Tony politely declined. "Tony, you remember Bianca…. Sergeant Grieve…. don't you? From the Royal Commission."
Tony did indeed remember Sergeant Bianca Grieve. He also remembered how he'd been quietly thrilled when he'd discovered that Bianca and Janet had been 'co-operating' on a more personal level. He liked Bianca and thought she was an excellent match for his dear friend and colleague. Her more relaxed nature was a perfect foil for Janet who could tend to be….dare he say it?….a little highly strung at times... and she more than matched Janet in the intelligence department. Tony also considered it a good sign that Janet was finally moving on from the traumatic death of her partner, Ash, and was feeling ready to face stuff…life…things once more. Needless to say, he had been bitterly disappointed to learn that when Janet had gone incommunicado, her radio silence had included Bianca. Seeing them here together lifted his spirits although he wasn't sure in what capacity Bianca was visiting or how they had met up again. He would wring the details out of Janet later.
"I certainly do…. Hello, again," he said as he thrust forward a hand.
Bianca stood as she and Tony shook hands. Sensing that he wished to talk privately with Janet, Bianca took her cue and said, after a quick glance at her watch, that it was time for her to go back to work. She began to clean away the plates and paper bags left from their lunch but Janet insisted that she leave it for her to do later as she took Bianca by the hand and walked her the few paces to the door.
"Thank you for that," Janet said in a hushed voice as they stood at the yet unopened door.
"Any time."
"Maybe I can return the favour one day…. We can sit in your police car and dodge bullets while we eat," Janet teased. It was a comment which drew a laugh and an eyeroll from Bianca. Everyone thought her life was one big shoot out. If only they knew she was more likely to die under the mountain of tedious paperwork and mundane chores her job also entailed than a bullet.
Although both women would have dearly loved to have taken the other in their arms and kissed them, considering the circumstances, they had to settle for a chaste peck to the cheek and a final 'good-bye' squeeze of the hand before Janet opened the door and Bianca reluctantly went back to work, a decided spring evident in her step.
Not being one to mince words, Tony asked, "How long have you two been back together? I'm assuming from that, that you are back together."
"Mmm…. I'm not sure," was Janet's ambiguous reply.
"Not sure?"
"Well, strictly speaking, only a bit over a week but it feels like the we've picked up right from where we left off, before I…."
"You mean she took you back straight away even though you didn't contact her for all those months, no questions asked?" Tony didn't bother to hide his astonishment.
"More or less," Janet answered. She could feel her cheeks colour. She knew all too well how fortunate she had been. "We talked. I explained as best I could and she seemed to understand….so, yes, she did."
Tony scratched his chin thoughtfully but chose to keep any opinions he had about it to himself. "Anyway, it looks promising."
"Yes…very. Now did you come in here for a reason other than to check out my personal life because, if not, I would like to discuss the Bradshaw case with you?"
Tony realised that the topic of Bianca was now officially closed for discussion.
"What about the Bradshaw case?"
"Did you approve it before it was given to James to prosecute?"
"James went through the evidence and the case the police had built up and ran it by me…It appeared to be very straight forward…"
"On the surface, yes, but I'm not convinced James bothered to scratch deep enough nor the police for that matter and now that it's in my hands, courtesy of James' heart attack, I don't know that it is quite as straight forward as first thought…. I can't put my finger on it exactly but to me, something just doesn't feel right."
"We're going to need more than your gut feeling, Janet, to justify an acquittal," Tony replied, the frustration clear in his voice.
As Tony was well aware, more often than not, Janet's instinct proved to be right…. it was that extra sense made her stand out as a lawyer and had accelerated her to the top of the ranks… but judgements could not be made on instinct alone. Evidence needed to be found to back it up.
"I know…I know…. Look, the case has been held over until Wednesday and Bianca is checking it out as well…. there's evidence it might be related to one of her cases so Andy is having the files sent over…. Let's just wait and see what comes up and then we can decide."
"Alright," Tony agreed testily, "in the meantime, can you take care of these?"
Tony dropped the small bundle of folders he'd been holding onto Janet's desk and without waiting for a reply marched out of the room, far more disgruntled than when he'd first walked in which was often how it went.
Janet toyed with the idea of opening the new files, however, she eventually decided they could wait for another day. It was time to go and pick up the twins. Perhaps she'd give Lina a call on the way. Maybe she could ask if it was convenient for her to pay a visit.
oooOooo
Pleased with herself for her fortuitous sighting of a blinking, yellow light indicating a car was vacating its parking spot, Bianca halted and waited patiently for it to pull out then expertly manoeuvred into the empty bay. She was only a five-minute walk from the restaurant where she was meeting Chrissie.
On reaching the waterfront, Bianca weaved her way through the usual swathe of Sydneysiders and tourists that flowed along the pathways of The Rocks area of Darling Harbour on this and most other nights of the week. As the busy confusion of sights and sounds that was the popular restaurant district bombarded her senses, she tried not to think about how much more pleasant it would probably be curled up on the sofa next to Janet, perhaps watching some television, chatting or just sipping a glass of wine.
As she approached the front of the restaurant, Bianca heard, above the cacophony of noise, the easily-recognisable voice of her friend calling her name. It didn't take long for her to spot Chrissie. Indeed, she was difficult to miss as she looked quite spectacular despite her casual attire of skinny, denim jeans faded to a washed-out blue and turned up into a cuff at the bottom, a sleeveless, white shirt and white, lace-up joggers. Unlike the last time Bianca had seen her, her abundance of shoulder- length, strawberry-blonde coils had been set free from their usual ponytail and the light breeze that danced across the harbour took great delight in tossing them around her face.
After their 'hellos' and a friendly embrace, the two women were whisked into the restaurant by one of the waiting staff and shown to a table for two. Within minutes of them taking their seats, they were served the drinks they had ordered; a crisp white wine for Chrissie and an ice-cold, light beer for Bianca. Strictly speaking, Bianca was off-duty and could have had something stronger if she cared to catch a taxi home but she found she wasn't in the mood. Together, they perused the menu that was on the blackboard above the serving area until each came to a decision as to what they would have.
"Your forensic business is really impressive," Bianca began as they sipped on their drinks and waited for their order to be taken.
"You sound surprised."
"Do I, because I'm not at all surprised?... Anything you ever put your mind to, you always do better than anyone else…."
This compliment earned Bianca a smile and a modest blush. Bianca should have stopped there but she didn't.
"I just never imagined you running a business, that's all… You never seemed keen to stay in one place long enough for that kind of commitment…"
And there it was… the one thing Bianca had been dreading might happen at this reunion and it had only taken a matter of minutes for her to put her foot in it. The notion that Chrissie had valued furthering her career by going off overseas and flitting from one university to the other rather than staying and nurturing their relationship had always been a bone of contention between them and the fact that Bianca was completely over it and had been for a long time made it no less sensitive as a topic of discussion. It hadn't been Bianca's intention to mention it and she could only think that the worry of it playing on her subconscious had brought it to the fore.
"I'm sorry, Chrissie…. I didn't mean anything by that… I wasn't referring to… I'd forgotten about it… over it completely." Bianca tried in vain to dig herself out of this hole.
Chrissie's eyes searched Bianca's face for any signs of harboured malice. On finding none, the corners of her mouth tipped up in a small, forgiving smile as she reached across the table and rested a friendly hand on Bianca's forearm.
"It's fine, Grieve…Stop beating yourself up…. Anyway, considering what happened, you've every right to think that but things are quite different now, for one reason or another."
Bianca cocked her head slightly and gave Chrissie a questioning glance but just as she had been about to inquire as to what those reasons might be, the waiter arrived at their table to take their order and the opportunity was gone.
Once he had left, Chrissie jumped in with a question about work, giving her no chance to backpedal.
"Have you been able to track down the owner of that shoeprint we found?"
"Not yet," Bianca answered with a dispirited sigh and then continued on to explain about the similar shoeprint she had sent over to Chrissie's office via email that afternoon. Chrissie agreed to look at it the next day for her.
Apart from the initial stumble, the conversation fell into that comfortable drift of familiarity as both women warmed to the evening. In her veritable style, Chrissie had Bianca laughing out loud with her dry wit and wild anecdotes of situations which only Chrissie could find herself in. In turn, Bianca brought her more or less up-to-date on what she had been doing including, by request, how she had met the inimitable Miss Janet King.
Chrissie listened intently to Bianca's recount, demanding more details when Bianca had not been as forthright as she had liked to which Bianca expounded on some aspects but not all, some details were too personal to share.
Chrissie had to admit to not being impressed with Janet's lack of communication after the incident with Peta Vickers but she also accepted that being so distraught would have played havoc with Janet's sense of reason.
"Do you love her?" Chrissie asked in her usual, direct manner.
Bianca hesitated. She knew the answer but she hadn't admitted it aloud before and she wasn't sure she wanted anyone but Janet to be the first to know or the first to hear her say it.
"You do, don't you, but you haven't told her," Chrissie surmised from Bianca's lack of response.
"No, not yet."
"What are you waiting for? The world could end tomorrow. Tell her."
"It's not quite that straightforward," Bianca argued in her own defence, "I'm not sure she's ready to hear it…. she's been through a lot recently."
"Of course she's ready…. everyone wants to be loved," Chrissie insisted with a laugh before adding in a softer, more serious tone, "and, if you ask me, she's damn lucky to have you… so do it."
"What about you?" Bianca asked, turning the tables expertly, "Anyone special in your life?"
It was Chrissie's turn to hesitate.
"Mmmm…. There's a couple of interested parties, shall we say, but currently nothing's definite."
Bianca laughed. "You never were short of options."
"True," she agreed in a less-than-modest fashion, "except it's quality I'm after rather than quantity…. Maybe I'm being too fussy…. Maybe I was spoiled for quality in the past but didn't appreciate it." Chrissie's gaze at Bianca was direct and deliberate and made her a little self-conscious.
"We did what we had to do at the time," was all she would say on the matter.
"Perhaps."
Before the conversation could fall into an awkward silence, Chrissie changed tact.
"There is one woman who seems promising…. Her name's Rose Delaney."
Bianca's attention piqued at the name.
"Delaney? That's the second time today I've heard that name. Any relation to a Sid Delaney?"
"Daughter…. Sid's a property developer… a bit of a powerbroker around Sydney but he keeps a low profile. He was a friend of my father… not a close one, mind you, and I've never met him but they were friendly and mixed in the same circles. I didn't know he had a daughter until I met Rose at a party a month or so ago but it's probably only been in the last couple of weeks that we've picked up the pace. I'm not sure yet if I'm in for the long haul but I'm meeting the parents on Sunday evening. Her father is having a party to celebrate one of his land development projects finally passing through Council or some such thing…. Sounds boring so maybe Rose and I can put in an appearance and then make good our escape."
There was a lull as the waiter appeared to clear away the used plates and utensils and then check if they wanted coffees or desserts. After a short deliberation, they decided to forego both in favour of going for a stroll around the harbour front and asked that the bill be brought instead.
Almost simultaneously, both women offered to pay for the meal but it was Chrissie who won out in the end on the proviso that she would let Bianca pay next time.
As they drained the last of their drinks and prepared to leave, Chrissie huddled a little closer to Bianca and in an amused whisper said, "Don't look now but there's a guy at an outside table over by the rail and he is checking you out big time."
"Which guy?" Bianca asked as she subtly cast her eyes across the crowd, "And he's more likely to be checking you out."
"Maybe he's ambitious and checking us both out, for all the good it will do him…. The tall guy, 30-something with dark hair, jeans, navy T-shirt and black runners….9 o'clock."
Bianca scoped the seating area just outside the restaurant again and, on finding the man being described, only just managed to hold back a laugh as she informed her friend that he was her work partner, Senior Constable Josh Anderson.
"What's he doing here?" Chrissie asked. "Spying on his boss?"
"Probably the same as us… catching up with friends."
"Looks to me like he's on his own."
"Maybe he's waiting for someone…. Come on… I'll introduce you and you can ask him yourself if you like."
Once they'd finished paying at the counter, Bianca lead Chrissie over to the table where SC Anderson was seated, drinking his beer and as yet, unaccompanied. He seemed pleased to see Bianca and greeted Chrissie with a cheery smile and an enthusiastic handshake when they were introduced. There was the usual round of polite banter before they left him to enjoy his drink and the rest of his evening, walking on at a leisurely pace in the general direction of where Chrissie's car was parked.
"I don't like your SC Anderson," Chrissie stated after they were out of earshot. "He's a bit too swarmy...I get a bad vibe from him."
"He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I'll admit, but he's fine," Bianca reassured her. She kept to herself the fact that she too had had that same niggling feeling about him when they'd first met and she had determined that she should keep a close eye on him at work.
Bianca was normally alert to possible danger, however, it was after hours and she was enjoying herself. Her guard was down. Neither woman noticed that since leaving the restaurant, they'd picked up a shadow and were being watched from the other side of the street where there were plenty of dark alleyways to duck into if need be and a convenient absence of streetlighting.
As they reached the building where Chrissie's car was parked, the women stopped to say their farewells and then went their separate ways. Chrissie headed for the lifts in the carpark while Bianca turned into the street on her right and backtracked the short distance to her car. After observing Chrissie's yellow porsche leave the carpark, their shadow headed back towards the waterfront to eventually merge undetected into the crowds.
oooOooo
Bianca slipped between the coolness of her sheets with a sigh of tired relief. It had been a demanding day and she was exhausted. However, sleep didn't come as easily as she expected and her thoughts, as she lay there, inevitably drifted to Janet. After a futile effort to clear her head, Bianca retrieved her phone from the bedside table and checked the time. 11:05pm. Too late to call? Definitely. Maybe she could send her a text message instead. All the while, Chrissie's words echoed in her head… "What are you waiting for? The world could end tomorrow. Tell her." Was she simply being sensible in waiting for the right time or was she procrastinating?
While Bianca tussled back and forth between her desire to talk to Janet, to hear her voice, and not wanting to wake her up, Janet lay in her bed with her bedside lamp on as she attempted to read her book but tonight the words and their meaning were determined to remain separate.
Frustrated by her efforts, Janet snapped the book shut and put it on the bedside table, picking up her phone in its place. For possibly the one hundredth time that evening, she checked it for messages but she was disappointed to see that still there were none. She hoped Bianca's dinner with Chrissie had gone well but a small part of her hoped that it hadn't gone too well.
Just as Janet had turned off the lamp and settled down to try and sleep, the bright light and quick chirrup from her phone caught her attention. She instantly picked it up and checked the screen, her mouth widening into a smile as she read Bianca's message.
"Are you awake?"
oooOooo