Challis - 04 - Chain of Evidence Read Free

set the world right again. She moved her breakfast things out onto the
deck, where the morning sun drenched her. Presently the wood ducks wandered
into view, a male, a female and seven ducklingsdown from ten ducklings, owing
to a fox, according to Hal. They paid her no mind but foraged through the
flowering grasses that passed for a lawn out here, far from town.

    Another reason not to do the mowing
yet. She stretched, wondering if Challis liked to breakfast in the sun. She
tried to picture it. She saw toast, coffee and a newspaper. Curiously, she didnt
see a woman. There had been women, but he sat alone, and she was thinking about
that when the phone rang. It was Scobie Sutton, one of the detective constables
under her command. Ellen? Weve got a missing child.

    Ellen wanted to say, So? Kids went
missing every day. It was a job for uniform, not CIU. Instead she said, How
bad is it?

    Katie Blasko, ten years old,
missing since yesterday.

    Yesterday? When were we notified?

    Uniform were notified an hour ago.

    Ellen closed her eyes. She would
never fathom how careless, vicious or stupid some parents could be. Be there
as soon as I can.

    * * * *

    Katie
Blasko lived in a house on Trevally Street in Waterloo, a few blocks from the
mangrove flats and the yacht basin. The house was small, a yellowish brick
veneer structure with a tiled roof and rotting eaves. Ellen met Scobie at the
front gate. The detective was wearing one of the funereal suits that
exaggerated his earnestness and awkward, stick figure shape. Two uniformed
constables, Pam Murphy and John Tankard, were doorknocking in the distance.

    What can you tell me? Ellen said.

    Scobie flipped open his notebook and
began a long, sonorous account of his findings. Katie Blasko had attended her
primary school the previous day, but hadnt been seen after that. There was
some mix up. She was supposed to stay at a friends house last night.

    Ellen copied the relevant names,
addresses and phone numbers. She glanced at her watch. Head over to the
school, check with her teachers and classmates. Ill catch up with you as soon
as Ive finished here.

    Sure.

    Ellen stepped through a little gate
and up to the front door. The woman who answered was thin, nervy, dressed in
jeans and a T-shirt. She looked wrung out and pleaded, Have you found her?

    Ellen shook her head. Not yet, but
you mustnt worry, its only a matter of time. Why dont we go inside and you
can fill me in.

    I already told the police
everything. A guy called Scobie.

    Her voice was peevish and
distraught, not that Ellen was blaming her, exactly. If you could just go over
it again, Mrs Blasko, she said gently.

    Like, why did you wait so long
before reporting your daughter missing?

    Donna Blaskos sitting room was a
pokey space dominated by a puffed-up sofa and a wide-screen TV. A six-year-old
girl sprawled on the floor, stretching tiny, rubbery dresses and pants over the
unresponsive plastic limbs of Polly Pocket dolls, alternately humming and
talking to them. A cat twitched its tail on the carpet under a chunky coffee
table. And, as Scobie had said, there was also a man, Donna Blaskos de facto,
Justin Pedder. Ellen wasnt the least bit surprised to see that he was stocky,
dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, with a shaven head to complete the picture. If
youre a blue-collar male aged between twenty and forty in Australia, thats
how you cloned yourself. You had no imagination at all. Nor did your parents,
who named you Justin, Darren or Brad.

    God Im in a sour mood today, Ellen
thought.

    Donna sat beside Pedder, saying
gracelessly, This is Justin.

    Ellen nodded. Shed be running his
name through the databases as soon as she got back to the station. As if he saw
that in her eyes and wanted to deflect her, he scowled. You should be out
there looking for Katie instead of questioning us again.

    He might have been expected to say
that. It was in the script. Ellen stared at a yellow lava lamp on an empty
shelf and said, I have