Nick’s hand touched her cheek. She gripped it with her own and held it to her face as he whispered.

  ‘You do everything with so much heart, Jen. You are bound to feel it more than others. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You can’t save everyone.’

  It was Nick’s saying. He was right of course, but Jenny never liked hearing it.

  Philips appeared at their side.

  ‘Statement done. You and Nell better give us one too, but we can wait until after you’ve got some rest.’

  Philips’ radio squelched. He lifted his lapel mic and answered. Jenny’s skin broke out with goosebumps as she overheard the call out.

  ‘Say again,’ Philips requested, but Jenny didn’t need to hear it again.

  She gestured toward the plane and tarmac, ‘Wait for Penny,’ then rushed through the front door toward the sergeant’s Landcruiser. ‘The ambulance has been run off the road.’

  ‘It what?’

  ‘The ambulance has been forced from the road. One ambo is injured but the body has been stolen.’

  ‘What the hell?’ Nellie put her hands on her hips.

  ‘Stolen!’ Sergeant Mackenzie tossed the bags into the back of the Landcruiser.

  ‘You still think it was just a flu?’ Jenny didn’t keep the challenge from her voice.

  Nick raced up behind her. ‘Jen. What’s going on?’

  ‘I’ll tell you as soon as we get there.’ She grabbed his arm and dragged him across the dirt carpark toward his four-wheel drive. ‘I’m sorry, but I need to get back to work.’

  ‘But we are getting married in less than two weeks!’

  ‘I know and I’ll be there. But right now, I want answers. Finding whoever stole that poor woman’s body is the best place to start.’

  Chapter 3

  Nick pulled on the handbrake. His ute slid to a stop on the red-dirt verge behind the overturned ambulance. Jenny waited for the dust to drift past before she flung the door open and rushed toward the paramedic assisting his partner.

  ‘Gerry. You alright?’ The paramedic was new in town having taken her old roommate Tim’s place.

  ‘Been better Jen. But Audrey might have broken her arm.’

  Audrey sucked on the green whistle for pain relief as Gerry expertly fitted a sling under her arm and tied it in place.

  ‘At least you’re both breathing.’ Jenny rose and scanned up the road as Sergeant Mackenzie parked ahead and put the police lights on as a precaution.

  The Airport Road was deserted. The flat landscape made it easy to see in all directions. The only thing in sight was the fenced off runway, a few aircraft sheds and the small terminal with a single mallee tree at the entrance.

  ‘Can you tell us which way they took off?’

  Gerry’s arm waved toward Coober Pedy. ‘Left at the end of Airport Road. I didn’t watch where they went because I was busy with Audrey.’

  The female paramedic sucked on the pain relief and giggled, then wriggled the aptly named Green Whistle in the air. ‘These things are really good.’

  Jenny allowed herself a smile, despite the circumstances, then focussed back on Gerry.

  ‘Can you give us a description?’

  Gerry assisted Audrey so she could lean against the wrecked ambulance. ‘They were quick. Wore bandanas, so couldn’t see their faces. One was tall and lean, the other wore one of those muscle shirts.’ Gerry grabbed his bicep. ‘He was built.’

  ‘Any tattoos?’

  Gerry pursed his lips. ‘Like I said, they were quick.’

  ‘Did you hear them say anything when they were taking the body bag?’

  ‘No. They rammed us from the side.’ Gerry waved toward the flat plains speckled with tufts of spinifex and wildflowers desperately trying to bloom amongst the red sand. ‘Then they jumped out, ignored us and dragged the body out.’

  ‘Wait up.’ Nellie arrived at the tail end of Gerry’s explanation. ‘Did you say they hit you from the side?’ Nellie indicated to the right-hand side of the road, opposite the overturned ambulance. ‘That means they may have been waiting.’

  ‘They were.’ Gerry absently monitored Audrey’s pulse as an ambulance siren sounded in the distance. ‘Well sort of. They were screaming toward us across the paddock. I figured they’d stop and wait or pull in behind us, but as we got closer, they floored it.’ Gerry’s body swayed and his arms flailed. ‘Smacked us good and proper.’

  Jenny turned to her boss, and noticed Nick leaning against the bullbar of his ute, studying the proceedings. They’d talked about her work interfering in her time with him more often than she wanted to admit.

  Now she was getting married, they discussed her living arrangements, her workload, her possible retirement to work out at William Creek Station. So far, nothing was finalised.

  She gave him a weak smile, then focussed on Sergeant Mackenzie.

  ‘I’ll get a full description of the vehicle, then put a BOLO out. Do you want me to find the fiancé?’

  Sergeant Mackenzie studied Jenny, then Nick, before his gaze landed on Nellie who fidgeted with excitement.

  He offered Nick an apologetic shrug. ‘I’m sorry to do this to you mate, but we’ll need all hands on deck for this one now.’

  Nick pushed off from the bull bar.

  ‘Guessed as much.’

  Jenny expected his regular pout, instead, he reached for her arm and pulled her close to his chest.

  ‘I’ll stay in town tonight at Marj’s. You know where to find me when you’re done.’

  A lightness fluttered in her chest as his lips brushed hers. He started toward his ute as Sergeant Mackenzie spoke.

  ‘You two need to go with Philips and get changed.’

  Jenny spotted Philips stepping from his Police Landcruiser and reaching for his notepad.

  ‘Will do Sarge. As soon as we get the BOLO out. Are you taking Penny with you?’

  ‘Yep. She can book into the motel on the SAPOL budget, and we’ll get her gear sent ASAP from Adelaide.’

  Penny joined the group. ‘Make sure they pack a Geiger Counter.’

  ‘Radiation? What’s going on?’ Sergeant Mackenzie crossed his arms over his chest and stepped back reflexively.

  Penny drew herself up to her full six feet as her expression grew serious. ‘I collected the victim’s luggage before we left. Did a quick preliminary search and found this.’ She held a tagged electronic item aloft. ‘It’s an OSL.’ Blank faces made Penny explain. ‘An optically stimulated luminescence badge that lets the wearer know if they’ve been exposed to too much radiation.’

  The sergeant took another half step back. ‘Has it gone off?’

  ‘They don’t go off Sarge. I’ll need my gear to read it. But it should have been cleared before she left the site.’

  ‘But?’ Jenny asked.

  ‘But her symptoms could be a match for A.R.S.’

  The sergeant huffed. ‘English MacGregor.’

  ‘Acute radiation syndrome, but if she was exposed, she might not be the only one. We need to let her employer know what’s going on ASAP.’

  ‘You heard the girl.’ Sergeant Mackenzie directed everyone toward the vehicles.

  ‘Hang on.’ Nick stopped with one foot inside his ute, blue eyes focussed on Jenny with a frown below his Akubra hat. ‘Are you all at risk of exposure?’

  Penny shook her head. Nick relaxed but didn’t get in his car.

  ‘A.R.S. has a life span. Anything from a few days to a few weeks from exposure to time of death, depending on the amount of radiation exposure. Once I read this thing, I’ll know what our timeline is, but she died today. She would have showered, washed her clothes. Any residual radiation would be minuscule.’

  ‘But you’ll check?’ The sergeant finally stepped closer to the forensic tech.

  ‘I’ll do my job. You do yours. Get a hold of her workplace ASAP.’

  Chapter 4

  The hum of the air-conditioner, the tapping of keys and a phone ringing in the background wrapped around Jenny as she typed the victim’s details into a warrant request for the Australian Taxation Office.

  ‘This could take days.’ Jenny glanced toward the front counter where Philips and Nellie huddled around the one computer. ‘Did we get any luck finding next of kin details in her belongings?’

  ‘No. But I’ve found an Eva Griffin living at the same address in Semaphore.’ Philips hit print and the smell of warm paper filled the air.

  She rose to collect the details, but Senior Constable O’Connell interrupted her.

  ‘That’s a call above your pay grade Williams.’ His grey eyebrows arched over his reading glasses.

  Jenny’s chest tightened. He was right. As much as she wanted information, the call would entail a death notice first. One that should be made by local uniformed officers or detectives.

  ‘Do we call the Adelaide Major Crimes?’

  ‘I think a local uniform can do what we need for now. We still don’t have a cause of death.’

  Jenny wanted to say she didn’t need one. She only spoke to the woman for a short time, but as she considered the flight, she realised Emma Griffin was slowly dying the whole way to Coober Pedy.

  Penny assured her there was nothing either of them could have done. She needed to focus on what she could control.

  ‘I got a BOLO out on the vehicle Gerry described. It was fitted out with a heavy-duty bull bar, over-cab spotlights, raised suspension, oversized wheels. He didn’t get the rego because it was covered in red bulldust, also making vehicle colour questionable, but he thinks it was dark, like green, navy or black.’

  O’Connell scratched his neck. ‘Any idea on make?’

  ‘Older Hi-Lux or Nissan. The kind the kids do up.’

  O’Connell chuckled.

  ‘You’re still a kid Williams.’

  She smiled.

  ‘Younger kid.’ She considered other options. ‘Or maybe an older guy who loves messing with cars.’

  Sergeant Mackenzie appeared in his office doorway.

  ‘How did they know the ambulance had our victim on board?’

  She resisted the urge to sigh. ‘Police radio scanner? Or...’ She thought about the flight. ‘Nick said it was all over the UHF on the way in. Airport staff or maybe another passenger called someone. There were a handful up the back I didn’t take any notice of.’

  ‘We have the flight manifest.’ Sergeant Mackenzie looked to Nellie.

  She lifted a sheet of paper. ‘Yep.’ She scanned the list. ‘Oh, Jed was on the flight. Didn’t even see him.’

  ‘Jed, as in Jed’s Garage?’ Jenny clarified. The local tow truck driver, mechanic and all-around sleazy guy took over from his dad Ted a few years before Jenny arrived in town.

  ‘Yep. And,’ Nellie continued to read the details, ‘there were three other people.’ She ran her finger over the paper. ‘This one rings a bell.’

  Silence lingered. O’Connell frowned over his glasses. ‘We aren’t mind-readers Nellie.’

  ‘Oh, yeah, sorry. I don’t know why, but I recall an article in the local paper about this guy.’

  ‘Who!’ Sergeant Mackenzie growled.

  ‘Mark Nesbitt.’

  Jenny flopped back in her chair as the name brought back a rush of memories. The investigation into Tiffany Cox’s murder was her first case in town.

  ‘Not a name we’ve heard for a while.’ O’Connell started typing. ‘I thought he left town after Tiffany’s case was solved. Let me pull up his licence details.’

  Sergeant Mackenzie rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Who else was on the flight?’

  ‘Tracey from the Underground Motel and a guy called Justin Donaldson.’

  ‘Never heard of him.’ The sergeant’s tone was frustrated. ‘Find out where he lives or if he isn’t local, check where he’s staying. We’ll need to interview everyone on that flight.’

  ‘Will do.’ Nellie passed the flight manifest to Philips.

  Sergeant Mackenzie carried on giving orders. ‘I doubt anyone on the flight was involved in the woman’s death, but they likely left the airport before the ambulance. Find out if anyone saw a vehicle hanging around.’

  O’Connell struck keys on his computer. ‘Mark Nesbitt’s driver’s licence address hasn’t been updated. I’ll check the claims office, but it appears he kept the mine after all.’

  ‘I haven’t seen Mark in town for ages, but I didn’t notice him on the plane either,’ Jenny said.

  ‘I didn’t see Jed,’ Nellie frowned. ‘Not even in the departure lounge before we left, but I admit I wasn’t exactly with it after our big night.’

  Jenny recalled the corner of the Adelaide airport where the Coober Pedy flight boarded. There were four rows of seats allocated to the boarding gate. Penny was sprawled out taking up four to herself.

  Nellie sat next to Jenny with two vacant seats next to them. She recalled giving Tracey a quick wave and saw a passenger sitting two seats away from her who was likely Justin Donaldson, but the rest of the lounge was empty.

  ‘They might have been sitting in another gate lounge, but I didn’t see them board,’ Jenny said.

  ‘They probably got on while we were stowing our carry on.’ Nellie’s suggestion made Jenny try to replay the boarding in her head, but Sergeant Mackenzie interrupted her.

  ‘Start with Mark and Jed then. I know Jed has priors.’

  That was news to Jenny. ‘What priors?’

  ‘Juvie stuff,’ Phillips offered. ‘The file will be sealed but I grew up with him. Dope, disorderly conduct, I think he stole a car once too.’

  O’Connell and Sergeant Mackenzie nodded agreement.

  ‘But Mark was clean when we checked him for Tiffany’s murder.’ Philips tapped keys on the computer.

  ‘Even if Jed has a record, he can’t have killed Emma Griffin.’ Jenny scanned faces to see confirming nods. ‘We need to find out who our victim was working for. Waiting on the tax office could take forever. Can we get the local uniforms who give the death notice to ask her mum?’

  ‘Will do.’ O’Connell’s answer lacked focus as he studied his computer screen. ‘This is interesting. Mark Nesbitt’s mine has a contract pending with Energy and Mining.’

  ‘So he’s in town to clean it up and sign paperwork?’ Jenny hypothesized.

  ‘Maybe, but it’s the buyer I’m more interested in.’

  O’Connell’s expression made Jenny wary. ‘Who bought it?’

  ‘Len Holmes.’

  A stone landed in her gut. Jenny was speechless. Sergeant Mackenzie wasn’t.

  ‘How the hell did he buy Mark’s mine from prison?’ Her boss stormed across the office to peer over O’Connell’s shoulder. ‘He can’t be out. He should be doing ten years, not ten months.’

  Jenny knew it was an exaggeration. Technically it was more like 33 months served, but still, he shouldn’t have been out already.

  ‘He’s out.’ O’Connell leant back in his chair and indicated toward the screen with an outstretched arm. ‘I’ve got his parole file up.’

  Sergeant Mackenzie began reading details out aloud. ‘Released two weeks ago. Employer on his records is....’ Sergeant Mackenzie caught Jenny’s gaze. ‘Foresight Mining.’

  She resisted the urge to plant her hands on her hips. ‘What the hell is going on?’

  The company was linked to more than one death in town, but so far, even the federal investigation into the mining company’s attempts to force landowners to sell their properties to a subsidiary pastoral company called SFA Pastoral, had gone nowhere.

  ‘Nothing good.’ Sergeant Mackenzie grumbled as he strode toward the whiteboard. Unlocking the wheels, he rolled it toward his office. ‘I’ll get this up to date. A dead woman is one thing. Even the stolen body could have been hoons being idiots, but that,’ his finger jutted toward O’Connell’s screen, ‘is no coincidence.’

  ‘I agree.’ O’Connell hit print on the file. ‘I’ll call the parole officer, but is it safe to assume our victim could have been working for Foresight Mining?’

  ‘Safe, no. A bloody good assumption, yes, but we should wait for Adelaide uniforms to confirm.’ Sergeant Mackenzie stopped at his office door. ‘Or, maybe Williams could go on one of her infamous hunting expeditions.’ A wicked grin split his lips. ‘Call their HR department and see what you can find.’

  ‘What if they refuse to give me anything over the phone?’

  ‘One, Len is on parole, they have to give us information and two, if they kick up too much fuss let them know they could be messing with an ongoing federal investigation.’

  ‘But are the AFP still investigating?’ Jenny couldn’t help but ask the question.

  Nick and his station manager Ben had been cooperating with the AFP after Nick and other graziers received threats, and a link between Ben's history and the mining company responsible was uncovered. But as far as she knew, the threats had stopped nine months ago and the investigation was winding down.

  ‘I’ll see if I can get an update while you call the mining company.’ Sergeant Mackenzie slapped his doorframe and disappeared inside his office.

  She ran a search for Foresight Mining’s HR department contact information. ‘I thought we were finished with all of this.’ She tried not to huff aloud but failed.

  The idea Nick might still be assisting the AFP investigation and keeping it from her all this time left a foul taste in her mouth. But the vision of Emma Griffin, coughing up blood and dying in her arms quickly replaced it.

  If Len Holmes was back in town, trouble was on the horizon. This time, she’d make sure he never saw wide open space again.

  Chapter 5

  The dial tone droned as Jenny waited for the transfer from Foresight Mining’s less-than-cheery receptionist to the Human Resources Department.

  ‘HR, Theo speaking.’

  ‘Hi Theo. I’m Constable Williams with the Coober Pedy Police. I’m wondering if you could help us with our enquiries?’

  ‘Officer. I’m not sure. I think you might need our legal department.’

  ‘I shouldn’t think so. This might be more a health and safety issue.’

  ‘Oh...‘ Jenny noted the change of tone. ‘How so?’

 

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