Part 2: Mitchell Henderson

Matt scratched the retriever behind it's ear as he and Duncan entered the room. While Duncan gave both the dog and Mr. Henderson a sour look, Matt smiled. "What's his name?"

"Buster; look, I don't know why I'm still here. I have to get to work soon."

"We appreciate that Mr. Henderson, but you discovered the bodies of not one, but two, young women. You must understand that this is a bit… well, odd." Duncan took a seat, frowning across the table at the man. Mr. Henderson didn't look your average psychopath, but then what actually did constitute a psycho anyway? If there were clear guidelines they could just round up everyone like that and lock them away. But Mr. Henderson, while definitely not being someone you'd leave your kid with, wasn't the town weirdo. Instead he just looked like a lonely brickie. Untidy hair, flannie, ripped jeans and missing one tooth at the front of his bottom row, Mitchell Henderson was the kind of guy you'd pass in the street without a bat of an eyelid. And it seemed that it was this normality that lead him to the discovery of Sarah and Joy.

"Okay, yeah, I get it. You want me to tell you how it happened?" He looked at Matt, having taken a liking to the man that had liked his dog. Matt nodded. "I was in Hopesgrove Reserve right? I take Buster here for a walk everyday. He likes chasing the ducks in the stormwater drain. Anyway, Buster runs off and I'm just walking along looking around for, well, anything to look at I guess." He gave a nervous laugh. "Anyway, then Buster goes mad. First I'm like, stupid dog and his duck obsession right? But then, well, he comes running back with his ears down and looking terrified. Buster's no wuss, so I headed down with him to see what he'd found. That's when I saw the redheaded girl. Face down right, in the water." He frowned. "It was horrible. She's just a kid."

He stopped and Duncan glanced between the man and the dog. Matt figured it was Duncan trying to work out exactly which one was the real brains behind the find. It was clearly Buster. Then Matt looked back at Mitchell Henderson. "And then?"

Mr. Henderson looked up. "Well, I called the police didn't I?" He said with a frown. "What else could I do? The police said they'd come out, but they were going to be some time and Buster was bored. So we kept walking. I figured, she's not exactly going anywhere is she?"

Duncan met Matt's eye with a look of both disgust and disbelief. Matt ignored him. "How did you find Sarah Anderson, the brunette?"

"Oh right, yeah so Buster and I are walking towards Barley Park right, and I think, one body is a cool find. I might get on the news, yeah? But then, what if there's more than one? So we kinda pick up our pace and then, halfway through Barley Park and bam, there she is. She's different but. She's face-up and all…" he trailed off. "After that I didn't want to find anymore so I went back to the redhead to wait for police." He looked up at the detectives. "I did the right thing looking for her didn't I?"

***

Duncan shook his head. "The dog was the most sane person in that room." He looked up at Stanley in shock. "It was like listening to a child. Seriously, this guy hasn't got any history of mental illness?"

Stanley shook his head. "Nothing."

"To be fair, he wasn't mad, just lonely. I think he genuinely thought he was helping by finding them." Matt said, taking a seat next the Duncan.

"Assuming he wasn't the one who put them there in the first place." Jen piped up. "It was a bit suss finding them both in the space of five minutes."

Matt shrugged. "He wanted to be on TV. Maybe that's all it was about. He got lucky, if you can call any of this lucky."

"Well, Mrs. Anderson didn't call it lucky. In fact, she believed something like this was coming. Bad luck coming in threes and all that junk." Simon said, entering from the main office and waving a piece of paper ahead of him. He taped it to the whiteboard. It was a bank account statement. "Mrs. Anderson told me that Anderson Holdings has been losing business lately. Recently they left the finance business, sold it off to Integrated Finance Pty Ltd. Anderson Holdings moved into the shipping business, bought a whole lot of land down at the docks. Looking at becoming the main shipping and sea transport line between here and New Zealand by the sounds of it."

Jen frowned. "Mr. Anderson didn't tell me any of this."

Simon shrugged. "I'm good with wives."

Matt fought back a smile. "Yes, yes you are."

Simon continued, ignoring him and turning his attention back on Wolfey. "Mrs. Anderson revealed that the family had been dealing with a lot of bad luck lately. Their business was knocked back for the proposed main shipping line. What that means is, the lead line for any shipping between Melbourne and New Zealand. Currently that is owned by McPherson and Sons Shipping." Simon stuck another piece of paper to the white board. "Samuel McPherson, owner of the company, has six counts of aggravated assault to his name and served three years for them. But he's been clear for ten years."

"I still can't see someone like McPherson getting a break with that kind of form. I mean, look at him, he looks like a skinhead." Duncan said, leaning back in his chair and assessing the man.

Simon nodded. "True. This where it gets connected though." He picked up a whiteboard marker and drew a line between Joy Robinson and Samuel McPherson. In the middle he wrote 'Shipping and Supplies – Premier's Office'. "Guess who supplied the licence?"

Stanley nodded. "Jen, Duncan, go talk to Mr. McPherson."