Challis - 01 - Dragon Man by Garry Disher Read Free Book Online Page B

called Van.

    Which do you prefer?

    In the force, a name sticks. Im
used to Van. The wife called me Alf or Alfie, a kind of a put-down.

    Clara touched his chest briefly. Not
very nice of her.

    Not real nice, no. Still, old
history now.

    Just one drink. Or at least sit
with me till I stop shaking.

    He found himself warming to her, to
the notion that someone wanted to touch him, that someone needed him. Ill
have to call in and tell them Im still here.

    Tell them youre following up
clues, Clara said, with shaky humour.

    * * * *

    Four

    S
    even
a.m. and already some heat in the sun. Showers with a weak change forecast for
later in the week. Ellen Destry poked her head around the door of her daughters
room. Larrayne lay on her back asleep, apparently peaceful, but as usual the
top sheet was tangled about her slim legs and her hair was fanned over the
pillow and across one cheek. Shed been a restless sleeper ever since she was
little. Then Ellen returned to the kitchen and kissed her husband, putting her
arms around his neck briefly as he read the paper at the kitchen table. She
paused on the way out, standing at the door that opened on to the carport. No,
Alan didnt look up, nothing to bid her a good day ahead.

    She wound the car past holiday homes
and shacks, slowing for the speed bumps. She lived in Penzance Beach, some
distance south around the coast from Waterloo (for you didnt live where you
worked, not if you were a copper). On an impulse, she began a sweep of some of
the townships side streets on her way to the intersection with the main road.
There had been an 18 per cent increase in burglaries in Penzance Beach over the
past year.

    Penzance. What did the pen prefix
mean? Penzance, Penrose, Penhaligon, Penrith, Penleigh, Penbank, Penfold,
Pengilly. Town of . . . maybe?

    Then she saw the new uniformed
constable, what was her name, Pam Murphy, waiting at the bus stop with a
surfboard.

    Ellen stopped the car, wound down
her window. Morning.

    The younger woman stiffened, eyes
darting warily left and right before fixing on the car itself. Cops instincts,
Ellen thought.

    Sergeant Destry. Didnt recognise
you.

    Day off?

    Morning off. Im on again this
afternoon.

    Surfing. Lucky you, Ellen said. Where?

    Pam Murphy pointed farther south. Myers
Point.

    They stared at each other for a
moment. Ellen said, How are you finding things? Settling in okay?

    Yes, thanks.

    Ellen took a chance. What about
John Tankard? Or Sergeant van Alphen?

    She saw the wariness in Murphys
eyes. Who could you trust in this job? I wouldnt know, Sarge.

    Wouldnt you? Ellen leaned her
head out a little more. This is off the record.

    Off the record?

    Yes.

    The younger woman looked away. They
do things differently.

    Like how?

    She swung back. They get peoples
backs up. Shouting. The odd swift clip over the ear. Pulling old people over
and breathalysing them, people whove never had a drink in their lives. Always
lurking to catch people speeding. Just to increase their arrest rates. They say
Im too soft. Not performing.

    Ellen mused on that, and sighed. Im
CIB, not uniform. Theres not much I can do.

    Will that be all, Sarge?

    Youll have to get yourself a car,
Ellen said. That bus? God.

    She saw the younger woman close up
and look away. What nerve had she touched? Well, I wont keep you.

    Have a good one, Sarge.

    Ellen Destry skirted around the
naval base and on to Waterloo. Murphy seemed lonely. She tried to imagine life
as a uniformed constable again, working with a pair of thugs like van Alphen
and Tankard. I could offer to take her to work in the mornings, she thought.
Then again, it would only complicate things.

    She parked her car at the rear of
the police station. It was now seven-fifteen, her normal arrival time for a 8
a.m. start. She stretched the kinks out of her back. There was a gym upstairs.
It would do her good to use it sometimes.

    The air-conditioning man pulled in
at the courthouse next door, his Jeep top-heavy with a