Lasseter's Cave

Chapter 2-1

2

Sam Rose had never been to Alice Springs. This, although not extraordinary, was surprising given he was a Territory boy, born and raised. For all but two years of his life, early in his police career when he served as a General Duties officer in Katherine, three hundred kilometres to the south of Darwin, he had lived in the Northern Territory’s capital city.

Exactly what inspired Rose to visit Alice Springs now was best described as an affair of the heart. At forty-four, Sam fell in love, perhaps genuinely in love, for the first time in his life; and then, it all fell apart.

Sam was no stranger to the charms of members of the opposite gender. Indeed, it would be fair to say he bore the reputation of being somewhat of a playboy. It was not a reputation that sat comfortably with him, but it seemed he was stuck with it, and there was not a lot he could do about it short of becoming a monk and migrating to the mountains of Tibet to live a life of prayer and contemplation.

It would also be fair to say Sam Rose was not blessed with classic Hollywood leading man looks, but he was nonetheless a good-looking man who seemed to draw the attention of the ladies without any real effort on his behalf.

Every feature of his face, his eyes, his nose, his ears, all seemed to be proportionately in sync with the others, and when he walked he carried his six foot-two-inch body with a confidence that telegraphed an assuredness most people struggled to demonstrate.

Despite the playboy image, Rose was not the type of character who would cheat on the lady he happened to be with at any one time. Mostly his romantic dalliances were brief and hence the practice of monogamy was not difficult to uphold. Besides, when a particular relationship had run its course, it was never long before he was sharing his bed with another; such was the attraction he radiated to the fairer s*x.

Nor was Sam the marrying kind; he had seen far too many marriages among his colleagues fall over as a direct result of the demands their chosen career in the police force placed on them to consider spending the rest of his life with any one woman.

However, unheralded thoughts of marriage did slip into his mind occasionally, particularly in recent times, and when they did they were almost always precipitated by thoughts of Ann Francis, the only woman he had ever met who could give rise to such thoughts.

Ann was a Forensic Psychologist and Vice Chancellor of Darwin University and, as it happened, also not the marrying kind. Like Sam, she was absorbed in her career, and when the opportunity arose to move to England to take up a position at prestigious Eton College, there was simply, but sadly, no contest.

When she broke the news to Sam, he was overtly thrilled for her, but covertly devastated at the prospect of losing her. She had been gone several months and while communication between them was regular at first, it had abated to a point where they now exchanged e-mails only occasionally.

Eventually, in a briefly worded e-mail, she announced she had met someone else and thought it unfair on her new partner to maintain a long-distance relationship with him.

Sam was not one to follow an exercise regime, in fact, the only physical energy remotely resembling exercise he ever expended was chasing the occasional fleeing felon down a suburban street, but his weight hadn’t changed more than a kilo or two since he was in his twenties. He was one of the lucky few who possessed a metabolism that inhibited weight gain regardless of what he put in his mouth, and the lack of anything that might be misconstrued as an exercise regime.

All in all, from a woman’s point of view, Sam Rose was a neatly arranged package, more than worthy of a brief, or perhaps not so brief, romantic interlude.

Sam did not like flying. His dislike of the experience didn’t qualify as a phobia, but was more intense than a mild aversion. As paranoid as some might consider his discomfort, Sam never came to terms with the physics of how something so big and so heavy could stay in the air, seemingly with ease, and not fall from the sky like a rock.

The Airbus A 320 banked sharply over the MacDonnell Ranges extending some six-hundred-and-forty kilometres east and west of Alice Springs. Sited in what many considered to be the centre of the Australian continent, although the actual geographic centre was a couple of hundred kilometres further north, “The Alice”, as the locals referred to it, was divided by these ranges. Half the rapidly growing city lay to the north and half to the south with access to either side gained by passing through Heavitree Gap a natural, geological break in the formation.

As the aircraft banked, Sam gripped the armrest until his knuckles turned white. He sat on the opposite side to the banking manoeuvre and looked across the aisle trying to get a glimpse through the far side window of the vista offering expansive views of the ranges formation, weathered and shaped over 300 million years.

An attractive blonde girl sat across the aisle from him, and as if sensing his discomfort, she turned to face him and smiled. Sam smiled back, but knew it came out more of a grimace than a smile, and the pretty girl immediately looked away. Too young for him anyway, he mused.

The aircraft was low now, and thermals rising from the ranges below buffeted the plane as it levelled off and made its final approach into the airport some thirteen kilometres on the southern side of the city. Not wanting to broadcast his uneasiness, he checked his seat belt again on the off chance it might have come unfastened during the flight. Satisfied, he then verified his seat was still in the upright position even though he had not altered it since he boarded the plane in Darwin two hours earlier.

Russell Foley sat at his desk perusing a prosecution file submitted by one of his team members. Foley was not pedantic exactly, but he was particular, and he hated it when a case fell over in court because there was some issue with the prosecution’s case a half-smart defence lawyer could exploit with the express intention of getting the case dismissed.

Of course, the members in Prosecutions Section would review all files before they reached court, but Foley needed to satisfy himself his people had dotted the “I’s” and crossed the “T’s” before the files left his office.

When he was on the street doing the investigative work and subsequently preparing prosecution files himself, he never once submitted a file to his superiors until he was personally satisfied he had done everything in his power to ensure the case would stand up in court. It was a principle he followed stringently and accordingly had never had a file sent back to him for review and correction. It was a record he was proud of, and wanted his detectives to embrace the same work ethic. To his mind, there was nothing worse than a perpetrator walking because the prosecution file was sloppily put together.

Engrossed in his reading, he did not notice the man standing in his doorway.

“I never thought I’d see the day when you would be sitting permanently behind a desk polishing the seat of your britches.” Sam Rose laughed.

Foley looked up, a surprised look on his face. “Sam, what the hell are you doing here?”

Sam stepped into the room. “I came to visit you and check out just what it is that brought you to Alice Springs.” He crossed the floor and offered his hand to Foley who rose from his chair, came around the desk and shook Rose’s hand firmly.

“It’s good to see you Sam, how are you?”

“I’m good thanks, and you?”

“Fine,” Foley answered. “I’m surprised to see you down this way though; I thought you were somehow permanently attached to Darwin. When did you get in?”

“I came directly from the airport,” Sam explained.

“Why didn’t you ring? I would have met you.”

“I wanted to surprise you. Besides, it was pretty much a last-minute decision. You’ve got a position advertised in the latest Gazette. I thought about it for a while and wondered if a change of scenery might be a good thing. I’m still not sure, so I decided to come down and have a look for myself and see if this place had any attraction for me.”

“We’re looking for a Detective Sergeant,” Foley confirmed. “You would be just the man for the job, and as it happens, I have some influence in that regard.”

“If I make the decision to apply I will be counting on that,” Sam smiled.

Foley looked past Sam. “Where’s your luggage?”

“Downstairs, there is a hot young constable at the desk watching it for me.”

“Forget it, she’s married,” Foley warned.

“That’s a shame,” Sam shrugged.

“I doubt she feels it’s a shame,” Foley said. “Anyway, what would Ann think of you eyeing off pretty young constables?”

“Unfortunately that’s another story,” Sam said. “I haven’t seen her for months. She got a job in England, at Eton College, and has since met and moved on with someone else.”

“s**t, Sam. I’m sorry to hear that. I thought she might be the one to bring your philandering ways to an end.”

“So did I,” Sam shrugged. “s**t happens. It took me a while to get past it, but I’m okay now. Probably a good thing in the end, I’ve never been one to be tied down.”

“How was the flight?” Foley changed the subject.

“No problems, I laid my seat back and relaxed the whole way,” Sam lied.

“How long are you staying?”

“I’m on leave; I’ve got a couple of weeks. I’ll have a look around for a few days and then decide when I’ll go home.”

“Have you got somewhere to stay?”

“I was hoping you could recommend somewhere.”

“I recommend my place. I have a small but comfortable two-bedroom unit over near the casino, across the river. You can stay with me.”

“Sounds good,” Sam said. “Are you sure I won’t be imposing? I don’t want to be in the way if you are in a relationship.”

“I’m not,” Foley answered. “I date occasionally but there is no one I see regularly. I’ll give you the key and get a patrol unit to take you there. I keep office hours these days, but if you can occupy yourself for the rest of the day we can catch up when I knock off.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Sam agreed. “Maybe we can have dinner somewhere and grab a couple of beers.”

“Well, you know me, Sam, I’m not much of a drinker, but I think I can manage dinner and a few cold ones.”

A shrill ringing from behind interrupted their conversation. Russell Foley turned, reached across his desk and picked up the phone. “Foley,” he answered. For a few moments, he stood in silence listening to the caller on the other end of the line. His expression changed from one of initial curiosity to one of deep concern.

“Where?” he asked finally, and waited a few seconds. “How many?… four… s**t!” He looked across at Sam, frowned, and then spoke again to the caller. “Who’s there?” He waited again then said, “Get back to them and tell them to secure the scene… lock it up tight… nobody in, or out. Tell them I’ll be on the ground there as soon as I can. I’m on my way to the airport, get onto Air Services and organise me a chopper.” He dropped the receiver onto its cradle.

“Sounds bad,” Sam Rose guessed.

“As bad as it gets,” Foley confirmed. “Multiple murder… four victims… looks like a family.”

“Where?”

“Lasseter’s Cave.”

“Lasseter’s Cave, where’s that?”

“About one-hundred-and-sixty kilometres past Yulara Resort, not far from Docker River near the Western Australian border.”

“s**t, that’s a long way. What’s the situation?”

“A tourist couple stopped there on their way from the west to have a look. They found the bodies… a family of four… looks like a husband, wife and two small children. They phoned our chaps at Yulara and they arrived about half an hour ago. They called it in. It looks like they’ve all been shot.”