Vivienne. Just an ordinary suburban housewife… no more. Colin Palmer
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persistent Pete! Like I said, just a stab in the dark – we’ll have to wait and see. When does this school chum of yours arrive? We need to ask him a really big favour.”
“Said he should be in by seven-thirty, about two hours from now.”
“We got a place to kip, beside the truck I mean?”
Pete looked at Barnes with surprise. “You actually want to sleep? I’ve been waiting to see if you did or not. Unless you slept on the plane over, I ain’t seen you put your head down yet.”
“Not for me, for you. Go on, rustle up that map and find yourself a place to lie down for a while. I’ll need you rested tonight understand?”
“Don’t need to understand boss, if that’s what you say that’s fine by me. What you gonna do then?”
“As you say, I’m gonna study the file and that map when it gets here, send out a few enquiries and see what turns up.”
Peter screwed up his already screwed up face. “You know something, you know where she is don’t you?”
“No, no, I wish I did, but I’ll have a better idea by tonight so go on, stop wasting time and go grab a kip.”
“Okay, you’re the boss, boss.”
Barnes pored over the report again, memorising every little detail and ignoring the increasing bustle around him. The breaking morning brought Policemen in from patrols and their replacements ready for another day. He knew they’d be looking at him as word spread he was now based with them, not to mention the big black rig blocking most of their car parks. They probably knew nothing about him other than he was an FBI Agent, and that made him a curiosity. All manner of local, interstate and commonwealth authorities had tread the boards here at one time or another, but an actual Special Agent of the FBI was a rarity indeed. He recalled Viviennes’ voice and frowned.
“She ain’t scared anymore, confused is all, and a mite angry too,” he muttered.
“Sir?”
It was the young constable from the front desk. Barnes looked up at him.
“Nothing. What is it son.”
“Sir, the Super is here asking for you and Mr Gallagher.”
“Where, where is Pete?”
“Ah, he’s in the truck sir, it’s parked out back in the compound.”
“Don’t disturb him.” Barnes stood up. “Can I leave these …”
“Yes, they’ll be right there sir, I’ll look after them. This way.”
Chapter 15
“Rise and Shine”
Barnes punched in the door code and pressed his eye to the scanner. He and Gallagher were the only ones programmed to be accepted by the retina scanner and it was a good backup for the security-coded door. He stepped quietly into the pantech and noted the subdued lights. Most of the equipment was either shut down or in low power mode awaiting their call to action again. The sleeper cab could be accessed from the pantech but he could see the little hatchway was closed and secure so he strove to remain as silent as possible.
Two steps from his work station at the front of the pantech, he froze as the hatchway sprung open and a blaze of light struck him in the eyes.
“Morning boss.”
Barnes immediately saw Petes’ craggy smile when he switched off the torch, and lowered the Browning 9mm pistol he held in the other hand.
“It’s afternoon.”
Pete looked surprised. “I was tired. Didn’t hear nothing until you came through that door. First time I slept in this damn thing and it was worth waiting for.”
“If it was beauty sleep you were hoping for I hate to tell you it didn’t work.”
“It’d take more than sleep to fix this cranium of mine boss. Don’t I know it. So what’s the go, what’s happening?” Pete levered himself through the hatch and took the proffered coffee out of Barnes hand. “Weren’t testing me now were you?”
Barnes ignored the latter. Of course he had been. He unfolded the tourist map and placed it down onto his cluttered work desk, pointing at a small red X.
“That’s where she called us from.” He pointed at another red mark, a circle. “That’s where I thought she’d gone to ground.”
“A caravan park?”
“Inside,” he gestured at the police station “they tell me that the entire area is full of holiday apartments and high rises, predominantly empty this time of year. So she could be anywhere. She could be almost next door to us and we wouldn’t have a clue.”
“But …?”
Barnes pulled another larger map from his jacket and overlaid it on the desk. There were two red Xs and three red circles on this map. He pointed to the Xs first.
“This is her house at Helensvale. This is the shopping centre she disappeared from three days ago. I sent out requests asking for any unusual reports of break-ins in the area immediately around the shopping centre, and after sifting through them, Barnes rolled his eyes, I came up with these three possibilities. First, a council trailer park at Southport, a Chinese Takeout in Biggera Waters, and the trailer park here almost beside the shopping centre. I dismissed reports if things had been stolen or damaged, not the MO of our girl.”
“And …?”
“And we are jumping into a car and going to check them out now, before dark.”
“Before dark?”
“Yeah, it’s nearly three, you slept a full eight hours sleeping beauty!”
“You, you met Rob then?”
“Yep, and a good thing too, but c’mon, we’ll talk in the car – you’re driving. I don’t think I’m up to this driving on the wrong side of the road yet.”
Pete drove straight up the highway through the Surfers Paradise tourist strip and into Southport, a pretty if less than developed calm water area, as distinct from the more popular beach suburbs immediately south and along the remainder of the Coast. Barnes told him that if this were mainland USA the houses and high-rise apartments would have been overlapping the water. He filled him in on the discussions with Superintendent Bailey, and passed on the message that he would catch up with Pete tomorrow, on his return from a meeting at the State Police Headquarters in Brisbane. Meanwhile, the search and overt activity for Vivienne would be scaled down to support for themselves only, as requested. This had been an excellent response and Barnes had appreciated the lateral thinking of Peter’s friend.
They arrived at the Council Van Park on the edge of the water. It was a stunning setting as the sun low in the sky behind them making the calm estuary sparkle. The Manager showed them several vans that had been broken into and vandalised in the past week, and Barnes shook his hand and thank him profusely, promising action by local Police as he hurried back to the car. Pete gave him a quizzical look as he closed the door on the still ranting Manager.
“Not our girl?”
“No.”
“You wanna tell me why boss?”
“The Chinese Takeout, they’re waiting for us.”