Free Challis - 01 - Dragon Man by Garry Disher Page B

his right to have a lawyer present.

    Ellen, I expected better of you.
Whats he here for?

    Suspected burglary.

    Who arrested him?

    Marion, meet Constable Murphy. Pam,
this is Marion Nunn.

    I hope you cautioned him,
Constable.

    Hello? Danny said. Im here, in
the room with you all.

    Danny, you just let me do the
talking.

    And thats where it stalled. Danny
was charged and bailed, and left without revealing anything. Pam was even
obliged, by Marion Nunn, to return the backpack to Danny.

    * * * *

    Mid-afternoon.
Challis took the call, staring out of the Displan room windows at the carpark. A
body, you say?

    Dead. Shes a woman.

    Where?

    Devil Bend Reservoir. Near the
edge. Theres a track to it.

    He glanced automatically at the wall
map. Not so far from where he lived, a Peninsula Water catchment reservoir. Your
name, sir?

    Audible breathing, as though in
heavy concentration. Challis was convinced that a second person was there with
the caller.

    I dont want to get involved.

    For our paperwork, sir. Sir. The
caller was a kid, sounded no more than fifteen.

    Youre gunna trace this, right?
Well, Im getting off the line before you dob me in.

    * * * *

    Six

    C
    hallis
watched from the perimeter, his shadow long now that the sun was low in the west.
Inside the crime-scene tape they were taking photographs of the body, and of
footprints and tyre tracks. Plaster casts after that, then a sweep with a metal
detector to see if anythinga ring, a weapon, a mans neck chain, a
wristwatchhad been trampled beneath the mud and the muddy grasses and reeds.
Meanwhile, behind Challis, and supervised by Ellen Destry, a line search of ten
constables and cadets had finished tracing the tyre tracks between the body,
which was at the reservoirs edge, and the gravelled surface of the Peninsula
Water access track, and now were tracing footprints, two pairs, that headed
west from the body toward a belt of scraggly gums. Farmland after that. Not so
far away, no more than four kilometres, was Challiss house.

    Challis looked across the reservoir.
What a godawful place to die. Blackberry thickets, bracken, stiff, wiry grass,
small, dark, knobbled trees, defeated-looking gums, a stink of primeval gases.
There were waterbirds, but they were mostly silent, and rather than seeming
cool and alive, the body of water sat still and heavy under a layer of algae,
and Challis felt oppressed by the humidity. The mosquitos were out. One landed
on his wrist. He slapped it, saw a smear of blood.

    Freya Berg, the pathologist, stood
and waved to him. Hal, you might as well come in now.

    Challis climbed over the tape and
approached the body. He should have thought to pack rubber overshoes. He felt
water seep into one sock.

    First he tried to read the signs.
The body itself could wait. One vehicle, quite marked tread pattern, two
people on foot. Wearing gumboots?

    Looks like it, sir, the forensic
officer said.

    Challis followed the footprints with
his eyes. They came around the reservoir, saw the body, walked around it once
or twice, then headed out that way. He pointed toward the distant gums and
farmland.

    You want my job, sir? the officer
said.

    Challis grinned. You tell me the
rest.

    No other tracks. Id say our victim
was thrown out of the rear of the vehicle. See how hes reversed in and gone
out again?

    He didnt step out of the vehicle,
on to the ground?

    No other tracks, sir, only those
two.

    A car? A van?

    Probably something with a
rear-opening door, like a station wagon or a hatchback, if it was a car, but
the tyre tracks indicate a heavier vehicle than that. Minivan? Four-wheel
drive? Something with inside access to the rear compartment.

    Or a ute, and he swings over into
the tray from the drivers door ledge.

    A possibility, sir.

    Challis turned to the body. It lay
on a patch of mud at the waters edge. He wondered about the absence of grass.
People regularly stood there, he decided. Birdwatchers, Peninsula Water
engineers, kids skipping