Shattered Read Free Page A

interrupted her reminiscence. ‘This’ll be Jaki,’ Angie said, fishing the phone out of her briefcase and putting it to her ear, ‘with some pathetic version of the big brown dog story.’
    The big brown dog appeared on numerous police incident reports and insurance claims as the cause of car accidents.
    Gemma took a mouthful of fettuccine. This time she could taste it and, cautiously, she took another.
    ‘It should be someone from Ku-ring-gai anyway,’ Angie was saying. ‘Not Central Area Command. Where are all your people?’
    Another pause while Angie frowned in concentration.
    ‘Yeah, I know it’s a huge area. They all are these days. What about Julie Cooper?’ Angie was saying. ‘She’s rostered on. She should be going.’
    Gemma twirled a little more fettuccine around her fork, hoping her stomach would behave.
    ‘If she’s off sick then you’ll have to ask Paulette Heath,’ said Angie after another pause, then, ‘So? We all work one out most of the time. She might be new in town, but she’s after all the overtime she can get.’
    Another long pause. ‘What about that new guy – David? He’s just transferred from up that way. And by the way, Julie Cooper, Sean Wright and I aren’t the only crime scene people in Sydney for God’s sake!’
    Gemma recalled Sean Wright, who’d had a crush on her in the days she’d been in the job, and Julie Cooper, a quiet, efficient young woman with wide dark eyes and dark glossy curls, almost ringlets, that formed a swirling cloud around her pretty, girlish face. Gemma touched her tawny hair, depressingly flattened by neglect and hormones. Paulette Heath was a name new to her.
    Gemma noticed the frown on Angie’s face deepen, then give way to resigned capitulation. She’s lost this round, Gemma thought, as Angie pulled out her notebook and pen.
    ‘Okay, okay,’ Angie finally said. ‘Give us the details.’
    At the table behind them, a loud male voice delivered the punchline of a joke and the rest of his group shrieked with laughter.
    ‘It’s going to take me an hour or so,’ Angie said, flinching against the raucous noise and interrupting her scribbling to cover her other ear. ‘I’ll have to swing past work first and pick up my gear. Are the local detectives at the scene?’
    Angie grunted and rang off, slipping the mobile back into her briefcase. She gathered up her notebook and pen and stowed them too.
    ‘A thousand bloody detectives around the place and they have to pick on me,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, Gemster, but I’m going to have to go.’
    ‘I’d worked that much out,’ Gemma said. ‘They can’t get anyone else out to attend a crime scene?’
    ‘Julie Cooper’s rung in sick. Sean’s out of range somewhere. And there’s been a major incident – a multiple shooting scene in a house at Killara.’
    ‘Killara? What is it with those northern suburbs lately?’ Gemma asked. ‘They seem to be having a mini crime wave. Wasn’t there a murder at Lindfield this morning?’
    ‘Just a routine domestic,’ said Angie. ‘Murder–attempted suicide. The guy shot his wife after twenty years of fighting. Then turned the gun on himself and shot his ear off. All the ends wrapped up and all over except for the paperwork. Paulette’s been out there most of the day. She’ll just have to gear up and go out again. She won’t mind.’
    Angie took a few more hurried mouthfuls of her meal, put her fork down and pulled out her wallet. She extracted a twenty and a five. ‘Sorry to do this to you. Here’s my share,’ she said, getting up. ‘Don’t look so damn miz. Here, I’ll buy yours too.’ She pulled out another twenty. ‘We’ll continue this conversation tomorrow. Somewhere private. Give me a ring?’
    Gemma picked up the money, too dejected to resist. She angled her face up as Angie leaned in and pecked her on the cheek. ‘Promise I’ll make up for this,’ Angie added, straightening up. ‘Soon as I can.’
    Gemma watched with a