‘Twelve?’
‘Suicides, unexplained deaths. No murder. Your John Doe should get priority. We’re booked on the flight back tonight.’
‘We’ meant Shannon and the body. One of the frustrating things about policing so far from the city was the lack of resources and the delays this caused. Lengthy time delays meant more decomposition, and the killer, if there was one, would be getting further and further from their grasp, as evidence disappeared, swallowed up by the bloat and active decay of the body.
‘You’ve never told me why you became a forensic pathologist,’ he asked. ‘I mean, how long have we known each other? Two years?’
Shannon thought before nodding. ‘Something like that.’
‘And this scene, it’s not your average one—pretty scary going down into the shaft with the smell and flies. Not knowing what you were going to find. Being so dark. Why’d you sign up for that sort of thing?’ He remembered some of the younger officers ogling the pretty pathologist when she’d first arrived. Betting each other who was going to get her out on a date first; admiring her curves and long hair. He might have been interested himself if he hadn’t been seeing Melinda by then.
Shannon pulled her hair back and curled it into a bun at the back of her head before securing it with a hair band she had on her wrist. ‘My grandmother,’ she said. ‘She was found in the state forest three months after she’d gone missing. She had dementia and had wandered off. The police and SES spent days looking for her but it wasn’t until a couple of hikers came through that she was found. And then it took a little while for her to be identified.’ She shrugged. ‘I don’t know, I just wanted to make sure people were looked after when they were brought into the morgue and identified as quickly as possible. It’s awful not knowing what’s happened to your loved one, and I can say that from experience. When Nana wasn’t found, it was like a big question mark hanging over our heads, and the fewer people who have to go through that the better.’
They left the office and walked out into the hallway. The sun didn’t penetrate into the middle of the building and it was much cooler. Shannon walked to an air-conditioning vent and stood underneath it, her head tilted backwards to catch the cool air.
‘That’s much better! What about you?’ she asked. ‘I always knew you were a country boy, so I guess I’m not surprised to see you out here.’
‘How’d you know that? I didn’t tell too many people.’ He’d still been smarting from the injustice of his father’s dismissal when he’d arrived in Perth and had kept his past to himself.
‘The way you dressed. Your boots! And your casual demeanour. I had cousins who were from a farm and you all act the same.’
Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, Dave answered, ‘I always thought I was going to be a farmer. That’s what I wanted to be. Dad has five thousand acres at Northam. He does a bit of cropping but the main business is merinos. Wool and wethers.’ He paused and scratched his head. ‘Got two older brothers, one who’s married, and they got the berth, not me. Not enough land for four families to make a living.’
‘Tough,’ she said.
‘Yeah. I worked around for a bit—you know, working on other people’s farms. Even toyed with the idea of trying to buy a bit of land myself, but I couldn’t make it work. So I had to think of another way to be involved in agriculture and live in the country.’
Shannon looked up at him. ‘How does being in the police force keep you involved in farming?’
‘The stock squad,’ he answered simply.
Realisation dawned on her face. ‘Oh, I get it.’ She nodded. ‘Yeah, I really do.’
He started to walk off down the hallway and Shannon followed.
‘How’d you go down the shaft?’ Dave asked.
‘Just got to focus on what needs to be done. Interesting though, one thing I can tell you—and the guys have photos of this—there aren’t any scratch marks at the bottom of the mine, but there are on the way down. I can see where he’s reached out and tried to stop himself from falling—you know what I mean?’
Dave nodded.
‘The pools of blood I found down there were small. His heart wasn’t beating or didn’t beat for long when he hit the ground. There were splatters of blood and scratch marks on the upper part of the mine walls. Even with the decomposition, I can tell his fingertips are very badly grazed, but I’m really hoping I’ll be able to get partial prints at least. Anyway, what I’m saying is he hadn’t tried to get out of the mine once he’d fallen in, so he wasn’t unconscious or dead when he first fell but he was by the time he got to the bottom.’
‘Do you have a time frame?’
‘Hard to tell with the differences in temps but I’d guess maybe five days. Possibly six.’ She shrugged and gave him a half-smile. ‘Dave, you understand that I’ll know more when I get back to Perth.’
‘I know, I know, just thought I’d push it as far as I could.’
‘You detectives are all the same!’ She glanced at her watch. ‘You’ve got to wait for the science. Anyway, I’ve got two hours before my flight leaves. Do you want to have a drink before I go?’
Dave realised the day had flown and it was now past six o’clock. ‘I’d love to, but I’d better go and catch up with Spencer, then get home. Melinda will be wondering where I am.’
Shannon’s face flamed red. ‘Shit! I’d forgotten you’d got married. Sorry! Well, I’d better get organised. I’ll send through the results as soon as I have them.’
Dave opened his mouth to ask why she was apologising but Shannon turned quickly and disappeared into the ladies’ toilet.
He frowned. She’d always been
