Part 10

Jo and Jack's Room

8:45pm

Jack sat comfortably slouched on the couch, Jo's head resting in his lap. They were watching some game show, but weren't really concentrating on what was going on, rather enjoying the closeness of their bodies.

Jack was continually running his hands through Jo's hair, and she held his hand tightly to her chest. She sighed; this was something she could get used to.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Jo sat up startled.

"Jo? You there?" a voice called.

Jo got up and padded bare footed to the door. She opened it to reveal a very red-eyed Tess.

"Tess- Are you okay?" Jo gasped.

"Yeah, fine." she said firmly, marching in with apparent confidence.

Jack looked at her questioningly, then realising this was his cue to leave, "I... ah... am going for a walk, back soon." Jack quickly slipped out the door.

Tess sat down on the couch, and Jo followed her.

"That hurt?" asked Tess pointing to the gash on Jo's head.

"A little. What can ya do?"

Tess giggled, and put her head down. When she lifted it again, her eyes glistened with fresh tears.

"Tess... what happened?"

"You know my friends, Michael Phillips, he ah... lets just say he's a prick."

Jo smiled, "You wanna drink?"

"Sure, anything but wine."

Jo mused over her comment, as she put the kettle on.

"Never get involved in men Joanna," Tess said matter-of-factly, "Not worth the trouble."

Jo grinned to herself, if Tess only knew.

Mt. Thomas Police Station

Interview Room

9:00pm

"Can you please tell us your full name?" Asked PJ

"Glen Thompson."

"Well Mr. Thompson, where did you go after you came into the station this morning." Asked Ben

"None of your business."

PJ looked at Ben startled. What on earth was he talking about? He walked over to the tape. "Interview suspended for Acting Sergeant Hasham to speak to Senior Constable Stewart."

"What was that about?" asked PJ, once they were safely in the CIB office.

"What?" Ben replied confused and slightly annoyed about being dragged out of the interview.

"Thompson coming in here today."

"Oh, he came in, prattling on about Chris and all that anti-capitalist stuff."

"Jesus Christ Stewart!" PJ's voice growing louder, "And you didn't deem it important enough to tell me!"

"I didn't think it was important," mumbled Ben feebly.

"You didn't think it was important… oh because that makes up for the fact Chris was assaulted and you could have stopped it!" PJ was yelling now.

"Look mate..." Ben yelled back.

"OI!" came a yell. It was Tom, who had just returned from the hospital to see how things were going. Obviously not well.

PJ rubbed his face, and walked out, bumping Ben as he walked past.

"Stewart, you and I will finish this. PJ go deal with the young lass out there. Then go and sleep on this, and come back tomorrow as mates, or I'll have a lot to say about it!" stated the Boss sternly.

"Yes Boss," the two red faced heelers mumbled.

Jo and Jack's Room

9:10pm

Tess looked up from her coffee, to finish the story. "So…he left."

"You did the right thing Tess, what could you do?" stated Jo soothingly.

"I know. But it doesn't help. Look, I'll go now, I just wanted to talk to someone for a while."

"You sure?" asked Jo concerned.

Tess grinned, the familiar spark returning to her eyes, "Sure! I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning.

Just as Tess went to open the door, she found Jack standing on the doorstep. "She's all yours again Jacko," and Tess disappeared down the hall.

"What was that about?" asked Jack.

"Never mind Stretch. Girl's stuff. Come one, lets go to bed." Jo grinned mischievously at him.

Jack gulped loudly, silently telling himself to get a hold of himself.

Jo picked it up immediately, "Get your mind out of the gutter Stretch! We have an early start tomorrow!"

CI Office, Mt Thomas Station

9:15pm

"Okay Anne, you want to tell me what happened tonight?" asked PJ to the quivering girl.

"Well… I dunno. He went too far. Tommo was only supposed to like, say stuff to scare her. Then we'd go. That's it. No more. I didn't want him to hurt Chris. He… wasn't… supp…osed…to…" and the girl burst into tears again. Her entire body shook as tears continued.

PJ recognised that this wasn't the actions of a hard-core radical, but rather a young teen who had been carried away by her friends. He also recognised this was his time to get some information.

"Now Anne, I won't charge with anything- if you promise to tell me as much about Thompson and all your friends- okay?"

Anne nodded her head vigorously in agreement. "We are kinda like a group of teenagers in Mt. Thomas who can't get to Melbourne for the forum, so we are showing our support here in town."

PJ nodded. "So what have you guys been up to?"

Anne hesitated, but then continued, "Well, Helen- she's always giving little speeches and stuff, and making public demonstrations. Like when you arrested her this morning."

PJ smiled to himself, wondering how much what actually had happened at the station had been told, and what had been made up.

"And there's Angie- she's like an animal person. She's really passionate about all that. Tommo- he's a bit different to the rest of us- he goes out harder then us. Then there's Deejay and Tori, they kinda just go out to make a point. Like graffiti and stuff."

PJ looked at Anne quizzically, "Do explain Anne."

The young feral shifted uncomfortably, "Well, there's this wall…"

Imperial, Mt. Thomas

9:20pm

"Stay in the car Anne!" called PJ as he got out of the car with Tom. Ben had stayed back to take care of Thompson.

"Police, don't move!"

The two faces looked up startled, they had been caught red handed. Well, black handed actually mused PJ, they had more spray paint on their hands then on the wall.

Suddenly, the two figures bolted. PJ and Tom started after them. One of the faces turned around, quite surprised by sight of the two officers, huffing and puffing loudly as they ran.

"Stop! There's no use running, you have been caught red handed!" PJ called again. He couldn't believe how unfit he was, and cursed himself for not having done something about it earlier.

The gap between the offenders and PJ was growing rapidly, and he turned to his left to see if Tom was having as much trouble as he was. But there was no sign of him. He kept running not wanting to lose the two in front of him. He saw the road lead into a T intersection, and desperately hoped he wouldn't loose sight of them.

Suddenly a police car appeared at the intersection, cutting off the road leaving the footpath as the only escape route for the two graffiti artists. Tom jumped out of the car, and pounced on one of the ferals.

The two scuffled for some time, while PJ finally caught the other one. PJ eyed the feral he had in front of him, "You must be Deejay," he firmly, glad to be back in control of the situation.

"Actually, " she said, "I'm Tori- DeeJay is the one rolling on the ground with your mate Mr. Plod."

So much for control...