21. Corpsemen

Kim heard the shots, but assumed like almost everybody else in Campbell both awake and in earshot, that they were leftover fireworks from the Queen’s Birthday weekend some time earlier.

Besides, he had better things to do.  He had Café del Mar on the stereo, he had a sheaf of reports that supposedly needed checking, and he had a girlfriend on chat that his wife didn’t know about, having retired to an early bed.

Zoe: And one night, we got drunk together. Lay on the grass by the creek at ANU. Looked up at the stars, and we talked about girl things and life and the future. We always wanted to stay friends.

Kim: And you did.

Zoe: Kimmie, this is important. We made a pact that night. We wanted to be happy forever. So Lee got you. And the twins.

Kim: Wow. And you?

Zoe: I never found any person I wanted so much. I wanted what Lee already had. All this time.

Kim: *hugs* I never knew.

Zoe: I came back. And you wanted me.

Kim: I always did, Zoe. I loved you both. So close, so beautiful, the two of you. Dark hair and red.

And a blonde would have made the set, Kim had thought back then. But there were only the two girlfriends, both lusting after him.

Zoe: You remember how I cried at your house-warming?

Kim: *kisses away tears*

Zoe: Too late, silly! I was so happy for Lee. And sooooo sorry for me.

Zoe: *snuggles into Kimmie’s chest*

Kim: *strokes Zoe’s hair*

Zoe: *loving the stroking*

Zoe: Thanks for chatting, Kimmie. I’ve been wanting to get that off my chest for, well, years.

Kim: Anything else you want to get off your chest? *undoes top button*

Zoe: Kim!

Zoe: *undoes second button*

Kim’s mobile phone trilled at precisely the wrong time. Perhaps five minutes later would have been even more exactly wrong, but from Kim’s point of view, CAS was the last person he wanted to hear from at this moment.

“Kim? I’m hoping you’re at home, sober and dressed. I’ve got a quick job for you.”

“Correct on all points. Just doing a bit of research. Shoot.”

“That’s the problem. We need you to go down to the site, find out why the security team there used their firearms, and sort out the body they’ve reported.”

“How old is this?”

“Minutes. No police as yet. Keep it that way. You’ve got powers under the Act. Use them.”

“On my way.”

Shit.

Kim: Z, work calls. *kisses Zoe goodnight*

Zoe: Now?

Kim: Sorry. It’s ultra-urgent.

Zoe: You’re not going to skip out on our Friday date as well?

Kim: I’ve been dreaming of nothing else!

Zoe: Go work, sweet man. *kisses Kimmie*

Kim: Goodnight! *XXX*

He closed the connection. Chat endearments with Zoe could easily go on for several minutes, with declarations of love, hearts, hugs, and lingering kisses.

Lee rolled over in bed when he came in, but he whispered, “Got to run,” and quickly pulled on outerwear, shoes and socks. He clicked through the combination in the wall safe, extracted a fanny pack containing pistol, ammunition and spare magazine, and wrapped it around his waist under his jacket. There was a holster for formal wear, but not tonight.

He reversed the BMW down the driveway, drove the three blocks down Monash Drive to Constitution Avenue, turned left to the Blamey Crescent intersection, through the red light into the building site gate area and pulled up beside a guard, who checked his identification and opened the gate for him.

Kim parked out of sight behind a demountable office, and hurried back to the gate. The guard was waiting for him. “I’ll just take you to the scene, Sir, brief you on the way.”

Kim nodded. Sweet. It had been a long time since anyone had called him sweet.

“…we responded to the alarm by sending out a patrol. Two officers, armed and equipped. They proceeded to the intrusion site and as they approached they became aware of noises. There was also a light.

“…intruder was digging a hole with a small hand implement and removing items. The senior member of the patrol challenged him and the intruder responded by attacking him with the implement. We’ve recovered and bagged that, Sir.”

Dear, dearest, darling were Lee’s terms, and he suspected that they were automatic now. Kim nodded again.

“…junior member of the patrol then drew his weapon and fired at the intruder. In self-defence, Sir. We’re trained to respond when attacked. Unfortunately the senior member had dropped his torch when responding to the initial attack and the junior member was unable to see his target clearly. He fired two rounds, and we’ll be conducting a thorough search for the cases once we have more light and more manpower.”

“No one else is to enter the site,” Kim responded automatically. “Not until I know exactly what happened. I have powers under the legislation to determine the investigation and to secure the crime scene for up to twenty four hours. I can arrange for security personnel to seal the area. Relieve you and your officers. We’ll have to take statements, see if the police need to be involved.”

“We’ve got a body!”

“Just let me see the scene first. If it all happened as you say, then we’ve got nothing to worry about.”

The “scene” was evident. Two men were walking up and down, heavy-duty torches trained on the ground as they conducted a grid search. Probably stomping any evidence into the dirt, Kim thought, though that could be a good thing. It was a construction site after all, and anything inconvenient could be quickly obliterated with a pass by a grader and dump truck.

“Turn those things off!” he commanded, softly yet firmly. “We don’t want the whole suburb hanging off the fence trying to see what’s going on.”

The lights snapped off, and the site resumed its semi-gloom. Streetlights augmented the city’s glow reflecting from the overcast.

“Right. Where’s the body?”

“Here, Sir.”

Kim had his own discreet torch. Something less like a club than the things the guards were swinging around.

Here was trouble. There was a garden implement, some sort of small shovel, sealed in a plastic bag. An excavation, fresh dirt piled up, stones and other objects visible. And a corpse.

Kim stared down in astonishment at the sad remains.

Shit.

“Right. I hope nobody called an ambulance. We can handle this without the police, fire brigade or any emergency services.”

Nobody laughed.

Sweet man. She’d find out how sweet he really was on Friday.

 

Copyright © 2009 Peter Mackay