Part 3: Family Business

Samuel McPherson glowered right back at Duncan, not in any way put off by the Detective's clear dislike for the man. "I'm a busy man Detectives."

Jen nodded. "Yes, we know that Mr. McPherson, but two young women have been murdered and strangely enough both of them are pretty well connected to you."

"I don't know any recently murdered young men Detective, so if you don't mind…" he almost pushed Jen out of the way as he headed for a filing cabinet in the corner of what anyone would describe as a disgustingly messy office. Piles of papers cluttered the desk and bookshelf nearby. Two chairs, one holding what appeared to be an old airconditioning unit, were falling apart in front of the desk. And everything was covered in a layer of dust. Duncan had already cracked three jokes pertaining to the asthma-causing aspect of the place, both of which had made Jen cringe.

"Actually, we do mind Mr. McPherson. We know your record and what your capable of. Killing two young women doesn't seem in any way beyond your capability." Jen replied, turning on him.

Samuel stopped, shocked by Jen's tone. He turned defensive. "I didn't kill those girls. I don't know what you think I am but I wouldn't kill a girl."

"No, you'd just beat them. Three counts of abuse against your first wife, two against your second and one against your step-daughter." Duncan said, pulling out of his pocket a rap sheet on Samuel McPherson.

Samuel grabbed it off him and assessed it. His glare fell. "They were… mistakes." He sighed and looked up. "How do I know these girls because I don't know their names from memory?"

Jen returned to her normal tone. "Joy Robinson was responsible for passing your shipping licence. She was co-sign on the Premier's grant you received two months ago."

"Yeah, yeah I know her now. Good young thing. Kept complaining about Melbourne weather." He chuckled then explained. "I'm a Brisbane man myself Detectives. All power to locals, but this place is like ten seasons in one day. First day she came in with some jumped up little Premier's boy, sniffing around like a hound dog, Joshua something, she started whinging about the weather to me. We got along." He shook his head.

"So, what happened? What stopped you getting along?"

Samuel frowned. "Nothing. We were still on speaking terms last month. Mate, she was dating my son."

***

"What'd we get from Samuel McPherson?" Stanley asked as Jen and Duncan returned.

"A few things actually. Two names. One is his son Kieran McPherson. Kieran was apparently dating Joy Robinson. The other name as Joshua, we works for the licence department at the Premier's office. No last name known."

Matt came in. "I think we might have a last name for Joshua." He put a picture up on the whiteboard, strangely covering half of it with a white piece of paper. "This is Joshua Simmons. He worked with Joy. We got a call only minutes ago. Joshua went over to the Robinson residence this afternoon to see his good friend Joy. Neither her nor her sister were home. He tried calling her, but no answer. So, he said, he tried to contact his girlfriend in the hope she'd seen Joy. Apparently the parents told him to call us."

Simon frowned. "So, he noticed her missing? Good for him, but we know perfectly well where she is."

Matt shook his head. "This is Josh last weekend at a party." He tapped the picture of the girl in the background. "Office party. That's Joy back there, talking to someone." He removed the piece of paper. "And this is Joshua's girlfriend."

Even Stanley looked shocked when they realised they were looking at Sarah Anderson. He nodded slowly. "Bring Joshua in."