Age:16
Referral:Property crime – suspected rural theft syndicate
Outcome:Referred to Qld Rural Work Initiative
Supervising Officer:A.Bannon
Status:Completed.
Notes sealed.
Taryn stared hard with a long, slow exhale caught halfway in her throat.
Finn’s words whispered in her ear—Drew was working in the old cop shop that was barely standing in the sticks.Through Finn, she’d learned the Commissioner was a cop who’d sit at bus stops, doing word puzzles, while babysitting kids who’d been expelled from school.
Back then, it had sounded like nostalgia for a good guy.
Now it felt like a warning.
Taryn’s heart thudded.Drew knew the man who’d killed Meghan.
Her hands trembled as she grabbed her mouse.
Finally, she had the link, that thread she’d been chasing all along, the one that would unravel everything.
With her fingers flying, she tapped out a secure message to her father, attaching an encrypted copy of that file:
It’s him, Dad.It’s Andrew Bannon!
Even if the name felt radioactive now, she didn’t hesitate to hit send.
And for the first time since Meghan’s murder, she felt like justice wasn’t just a dream.Drew, the man who’d sent her after Finn, was linked to Meghan’s murderer.It was him, the Commissioner.
It had to be him.
He was the one who’d accessed Izzy’s file on Everlight and her kidnapping first.
The first to receive Finn’s Gaps File, submitted in good faith, and full of holes that Drew knew how to exploit.
Had he set Finn up to fail?To use him?Then tried to shut him down once he’d exposed too much, while using her to do it?
Her pulse roared in her ears.
She closed her laptop, slipping it back into her bag.Then sat straighter and locked her posture into the perfect picture of tranquillity.
Across from her, Russ was still going on about something about mud crabs with nippers so big they’d snip your big toe.
His phone alarm dinged, and he switched it off.‘Ah, right, that time already… It’s my turn to pick the kids up from sports practice.’He pushed himself up from the couch.
‘Russ?The Commissioner might be right.If there are inconsistencies, and if he wants me to dig deeper, I’ll need to go back to the Territory and take another crack.’
‘You think something’s wrong with the data?’
Taryn smiled at her boss.‘I think someone’s hiding the truth.’
Thirty
Finn sat on a low stool in his living room, with hands smeared with oil as he worked on the vintage Harley frame spread out before him.It was a stripped-down rebuild and something to keep his hands busy when his head wouldn’t shut up.
