tailored to fit the contours of his body, the jacket unbuttoned to reveal a white shirt with a red tie. The trousers had sharp creases above immaculately polished black leather shoes. He’d come into the AFP from outside, something to do with intelligence, and that was all most people knew. Barron was impressed by Lefroy’s easy mix of practicality and strategic view.
“He doesn’t remember anything.”
“What? As in drunk?”
“No. As in amnesia.”
“You’re joking.”
“Wish I was.”
“Has the MO had a look at him?”
“Yes...”
“And?”
“Confirms the diagnosis.”
“Christ. And Christie remembers absolutely nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“What does the MO say exactly?”
“Thinks it’s likely to be temporary amnesia. You know, bought on by a traumatic event.”
“Like butchering this woman? What’s her name?”
“Amy Deacon. At least that’s what we’re working on. Formal identification is not going to be easy. We’re trying a fingerprint match, but if she hasn’t got a record then that’s pretty inconclusive. The chance of getting some ID from dental records is almost impossible. The forensic people are trying, but aren’t very hopeful. The shotgun made quite a mess and was probably aimed at making identification impossible.”
“Where does the name come from?”
“Christie was known to be ... to be in a relationship with a woman of that name. Christie owns the place. We’ve checked the place and there are other traces of her there. Evidence of her having lived there - women’s clothes, that sort of thing - but no sign of the woman herself. Green is double-checking with other residents in the block - using her photo. If it’s not her, then we could be in real trouble finding out the hell it is. No one knew it was Christie’s place.”
“Any other links with evidence at the murder scene?”
“Found items of women’s underwear in the murder room. Bra and panties. Same size of similar items found in the bedroom. Also some other items with the same labels. Forensic will do some checks to see if there’s any sort of match.”
“What about head hair?”
“Deceased was blonde. Matches knowledge of the Deacon woman and also some photos.”
“Photos?”
“She was a model. That’s as much as we know. There were some photos of her in an album we found at Christie’s place.”
“How do you know they’re photos of this Deacon woman?”
“There’s a few notations against a couple of them. You know the sort of thing - Amy at the beach, Amy in her new hat.”
“Anything else at Christie’s?”
“Nothing obvious. One of the lads is with Forensic there at the moment.”
Lefroy was suddenly quiet. Barron sensed that he was worried. The Christie link made it very nasty. With all the potential to blow up in their faces.
“This is a bloody mess,” Lefroy said, as if reading Barron’s mind.
“Couldn’t agree with you more,” Barron said.
“Where’s Christie now?” Lefroy asked.
“He’s downstairs with the MO.”
“And the MO is quite firm about this amnesia thing?”
“As clear as he can be. I’d suggest...”
“What?”
“I’d suggest we transfer Christie out of here as soon as possible. As few people here know about this the better.”
“Agree. Who does know?”
“Only the investigating team. And two members of Forensic. I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Good idea. Where are you going to take him?”
“Mornington.”
“You think so?”
There was a facility on the Mornington Peninsula that the AFP used - and sometimes shared with other agencies. Like Special Branch and ASIO. Barron had given the matter a fair amount of thought and he could offer no better alternatives. He knew also that Lefroy operated best with his officers when they were giving him suggestions. Showed they were thinking and not just relying on Lefroy to come up with all the answers. This thing was likely to get messy in the future and if Lefroy and he worked together on it, it would make the process cleaner. Easier.
“It’s not ideal, but it gets Christie out of here and out of the city,” Barron replied. “We can keep the place secure. And secure not only to keep people out, but also to keep Christie in. I’d need a couple of men.”
“No problem,” and Lefroy allowed himself a short laugh. “Well, it is a bloody problem. Finding extra staff out of a declining budget is always difficult, but this is bloody serious. Let Admin know I’ve said it’s okay.”
Barron knew Lefroy to only use mild expletives - if he used them at all. He saw that as a good trait in a superior. It set a good example.
“Good. The MO’ll go out with him. He can undertake a more thorough examination and let us know how we stand.”
Lefroy smiled to himself. If he had to choose any of his officers to handle this case it would have been Barron. He was competent, knowledgeable and engendered a great team spirit amongst the people he worked with. They trusted him and, in the process, supported him solidly. He also had a good network and if there were operations that involved liaison with Customs or the State Police or even the intelligence people, there was no friction, no demarcations, no petty squabbling for the points that went with making the final bust. Barron had a good track record and he’d handle this well.
“He thinks a murder could have brought on this amnesia?” Lefroy asked again. This was a complication they could well do without. He watched Barron as he answered.
Barron looked worried. “Yes. But he’d like more time on it.”
“Does he know whether it’ll go away? When it’ll go away?”
“No. Too soon to tell.”
Lefroy assessed the look on Barron’s face. “What is it?” he asked.
Barron ran his hand across his face and kneaded his tired eyes with his fingers. Then he looked straight into Lefroy’s face.
