Death on Dangar Island

Gaol Birds

Where did David say he moored his boat?’

‘I don’t think he did.’ Gary went back to biting his lip and trying to control the ponderous vehicle as they twisted down the narrow road towards the freeway.

A familiar lurching wing flap caught Israel’s attention despite his faraway frown. Ibis, his brain registered distractedly, before returning to his thoughts.

Gary’s face relaxed once they hit the six-lane freeway leading back towards Sydney. He tucked into the slow lane behind a law abider. ‘So, where are we headed, Iz?’ There was a pause as the professor consulted his phone.

‘We need to make a stop at Killeaton Road in Killara on the way in to the city, and then on to the Coroner’s Court in Glebe.’

‘Righto.’

Tyres rumbled on coarse asphalt and air hissed through gaps in the Holden’s panel work. Israel tapped at his phone.

‘Hey, Iz?’

‘Yes, my friend?’

‘Do you think the cops consider us suspects?’

Israel glanced up from his screen. ‘Well, once the inspector finally decides this incident was a homicide, he may consider us suspects, but it won’t take him long to dismiss the idea. Remember, we have already secured his cooperation to some degree. I just hope he’s not too stubborn to accept our help when the time comes.’

‘Yeah, right. I’m not going to be holding my breath.’

Israel put his phone aside. ‘I’ve been reading about a man who died of a rattlesnake bite in his house in Nebraska two years ago. The death was treated as an accident at first, but the man died in winter and rattlesnakes hibernate. When someone finally picked up on that fact, the case was reopened, and now his wife is being tried for murder. It just goes to show that this type of thing has been done before.’

‘This type of thing!’ Gary laughed and shook his head as he drove.

Israel guided Gary towards the address Inspector McKinnon had given him for Joshua Burke, Roxanne’s boyfriend. Killara was a quiet, leafy suburb in the prosperous northern suburbs of Sydney. Monitoring their progress on his phone’s GPS, Israel let out a low whistle as a message slid across the screen in front of him. ‘My contact just messaged me with the name of the person caught with the goods stolen from the shop on Dangar Island.’

‘Yeah, so?’

‘The name of the thief is Joshua Burke – the very person we are about to meet.’

‘Interesting.’

‘Apparently the remnants of the stolen goods were found in the garage at his parents’ home. I’m sure Frankie said they found the goods in his bedroom.’

‘So she got a minor detail wrong – people do that all the time, mate. Come on, let’s get moving. We’ll go and have a chat with the thieving little gnat and ask him if he’s moved up a criminal class or two, shall we?’

They found the address less than a minute later. Turning into the gravel driveway, Israel couldn’t help but be impressed. The mock-Tudor mansion sat on half an acre of manicured garden. It was a perfectly-turned-out two-storey affair, with imitation wooden beams and spotless white render giving the impression of a much older building.

As Gary’s rust bucket crunched over the pebbles, the sharp-eyed Israel noticed the curtains of the attic window flicker. The branches of the trees were not moving. The Commodore ground to a halt near the top of the driveway. In front of them, a small truck was parked near a perfectly trimmed hedge. Behind the hedge was an aluminium shed that looked big enough to house a small aircraft. The side of the truck read Bloomin Good Gardens over a contact number and a web address.