An Absence So Cruel: An Australian Crime Thriller (Detective Tony Packer Book 2) by JT Viner

Author:JT Viner [Viner, JT]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HSB Publishing
Published: 2024-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Thompson and Simmons were sitting in chairs outside the interview room, waiting for them.

They both stood up when Packer and Perry came out with Mosley.

"Can you return Mr Mosley to custody, please?" Perry said to Simmons.

He looked at her for a moment.

"But what-?"

Perry gave him a warning look. She was clearly angry, and he wisely decided not to push his luck.

"Sure," Simmons said, quietly.

He took hold of Mosley's upper arm. "Follow me, please, Mr Mosley."

Mosley looked down at the ground and allowed himself to be led meekly back to his cell.

Thompson watched them walk down the corridor. After the door to the custody area closed, he turned back to Packer.

"Did he tell you where the girl is?"

Packer shook his head.

"Did he admit taking her?" Thompson asked, urgently, "Did he?"

"No," Packer muttered, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes.

"But it's him, boss. You're sure of that now, right?"

"I don't know," Packer muttered.

"Boss, you can't be-"

"I don't know," Packer snapped back, looking up.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

He shook his head.

Thompson looked at Perry.

"What do you think?" he asked.

She nodded. "It's him."

"Aye," Thompson hissed, "Dirty bastard."

Perry looked at Packer, watching him silently.

"He was avoiding all the questions first," she told Thompson, "Wouldn't admit to anything until we told him what we already knew. Then he admitted he was there, taking photos. He dumped the camera in the river, then hid from us."

"What's this about the camera?" Thompson asked.

"When he was leaving the park, he heard on the radio that we were looking for the girl. He drove to the river near Optus Stadium and threw the camera in the water."

"That's why we couldn't find it."

"Yeah," Perry nodded.

"What's the bet it had pictures of Abby Hanford on it?" Thompson said, "Bastard."

He looked at Packer, who remained silent.

"Oh, come on, boss," Thompson said, "He's a kiddie-fiddler, with a record and drawer full of kids' underpants with semen all over them. He took her. Of course, he bloody did."

"Bit of an escalation," Packer said.

"What?"

"His previous is approaching children and touching himself. It's a big jump to abducting them."

"He had to start somewhere," Thompson insisted, "Look, he approached that lass at the shopping centre. Then he gets placed on a community order, instead of being punished. He ignores the order, and nobody does anything about it.

"Then he tries it on with another kid in Hyde Park and nobody does anything about that either.

"The whole bloody system is teaching him that he can do whatever he wants, and he never get punished for it."

Thompson looked at Perry.

She nodded.

"So, he goes one step further," Thompson said, "And what's the next step? Taking a bloody kid with him."

"It makes sense," Perry agreed.

"What? From a glorified flasher to a child murderer in one mighty step?"

"Maybe he didn't mean to kill her."

Packer looked away, shaking his head.

"He took her," Thompson insisted, "He's got guilt written all over him."

"He's done something. I don't know if he's taken the girl, though."

"Well, what then?"

Packer shook his head.

"Aye, well," Thompson said, "At least we've got some admissions in the interview.

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