I would like to put forth the name of Leading Senior Constable Warren Smythe (killed in the line of duty) to be considered for the Victoria Police Star.
I would like to put forth the name of Constable James Lawson to be considered for the Valour Award.
Sir, these men have shown incredible bravery and sacrifice in the course of their duties and I believe deserve the appropriate recognition.
With Respect
Frank Jodey Rademeyer
January 28, 1934
Reading the letter a second time didn’t help diminish my embarrassment. I always figured he just ignored my input, forgotten the hours and hours that Warren and I had put in. When I finally met his eyes again, he was smiling, a warm almost apologetic smile.
“Frank, Chief, I’m sorry,” was all that would come out.
“They overruled me, Jim. Three times I tried and three times they pissed me off, telling me it was a group effort, no single officer deserved recognition over anybody else. And then when they implied that Warren had acted with bravado rather than calling for back up, they didn’t want to acknowledge his sacrifice either.” I didn’t know what to say. The best I could think of was to hold out my hand and shake his. He shook my hand, tightly, as if releasing some long held-on pain.
“Now,” he said as he let my hand go, “tell me what’s going on.”
7.
We told him everything that had been happening the past couple of days, including the interviews we held, the meeting with Levinson and spotting him out at Clancy Higgins’ house. He listened intently, nodding here and there to confirm his understanding, even asking questions of Steph. It was like being in a room with a completely different person. When were finished, he sat back in his chair, pondering the information he had now been made aware of. After a few minutes, he lent forward, clasped his hands together and put his arms on his desk.
“The one thing I have learnt in this job is that the more reason you have to hide what you are doing, the higher up the chain you climb to shield yourself. This arsehole, Levinson, has climbed almost as high as he could possibly go. That means he’s up to some serious shit. Agree?” We both nodded. “There’s really only one person higher than the commissioner and we all know who that is. We also know that given the commissioner’s relationship to our premier, that one higher phone call is a real possibility.”
“But Chief, we have to-” but Rademeyer stopped her with his hand again.
“I know, Steph. We have victims piling up faster than they did back in the 30s and everyone seems to be fighting against us. Just be subtle. Do what you have to do; you know I have your back. But try not to stick your necks out far enough for the entire town to see. Subtle.” He waved his hand up and down to highlight slowly, as if beckoning us to slow down. “Listen, why don’t the two of you drop by the house tomorrow night. Melanie would love to see you, Jim. And you too, of course,” he said, turning to Steph. “Nothing fancy, just dinner and a couple of brews. Say around 7?” There was a sudden scurrying above us, sounding like a small animal moving around in the ceiling space.
“Dam possums again,” the chief said and reached across to a broom that was leaning next to his desk. Without standing, he lifted it and began banging the handle on the ceiling which I thought, given by the banging, was going to punch right through the plasterboard. “We only had old Bill catch a couple yesterday and take them away. Dam tree next to the cop shop gives ‘em easy access. Anyway,” he said, returning the broom to its original post, “dinner tomorrow night, OK?”
“Yes, of course, Chief.” Steph stood and then was visibly surprised when Rademeyer also stood and offered her his hand.
“You’re a good cop, Steph.” She blushed fiercely, and then, to try and take some of the focus away from her, I made the chief blush, the three of us enjoying our one and only laugh together.
“One question, Sir.” He looked at me.
“Shoot.”
“Your middle name is really Jodey?”
8.
I expected Steph to drive me back to the hotel, she instead headed for her home.
“Steph? It’s kinda late.”
“I want to show you something. I didn’t notice it on the first go around, but something struck me as odd.”
“Odd?”
“Wait till we get to my place. Better to show you and have you decide for yourself.” I was intrigued and patiently held my tongue until I was once again, sitting in her living room. Steph quickly ducked next door to grab Judith and when she came back with a sleeping munchkin in her arms, went to lay the girl into her bed. When Steph returned, she was holding one of the ledgers from the prison. She sat next to me and I saw it was the visitor’s log.
“When I was going through this the other night, I was trying to see if there were any sorts of patterns to the times when Lightman was being either visited or seen by medical staff. Nothing really jumped out, everything looking as random as the rest of them. I got frustrated and threw the book across the room in frustration and when I went to pick it up, it had opened to a specific page. As I bent down to pick it up, half the page was covered and all I could see were the visitor’s signatures. Here, like this.” She folded one of the sheets across itself, leaving only the column with the signatures visible, but I wasn’t picking up what she was trying to show me.
“I don’t see it,” I said after a minute.
“That’s because you haven’t seen this.” She unfolded the page and flicked
