Inlet Boys by Chris Krupa

Author:Chris Krupa [Krupa, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: the gong, hardboiled detective, murder mystery, crime thriller, Australia, private detective
ISBN: 9781622531776
Publisher: Evolved Publishing LLC
Published: 2019-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

I tried the third and fourth properties in the hopes of finding someone who could back up Ray’s account, but came up empty. The people were either not home Monday night or couldn’t remember hearing anything.

Ray’s sighting of the Legacy on the night of Rob’s murder may have been a tenuous link, but I had to follow it. It directly tied in with the two goons from the warehouse. Odds made it likely they were involved with Rob’s murder. I didn’t have any contacts at the Roads and Maritime Service, so I would have to try to find out through other means if anyone knew of someone who owned a Legacy.

I circled back and walked into town, stopping in a charcoal chicken shop that looked like it needed some business. I bought a Gatorade, and my body thanked me as it absorbed the liquid. I needed it not so much because of the heat, but because of the kilometres I’d walked. My feet throbbed in their boots, so I pulled up on a public bench and appreciated the sensation of blood circulating through my feet. I polished off the bottle and almost immediately felt better.

It became clearer that depending on where you stood under the law, your opinion of Rob varied from out and out larrikin to criminal degenerate. I considered something else: could the relocation to a quiet idyll like the Inlet have been the catalyst for Rob’s behaviour?

Carmine might have defaulted in his choice of hometown for his sons. The Inlet, with its lack of cinemas, skateboard parks, shopping malls, or anything resembling an entertainment facility other than the local bowling club and RSL, wasn’t the most ideal place to raise pre-teen boys. According to the last census, the median age in the village was fifty-nine, and families with school-aged kids tended to live closer to Nowra, where jobs were plentiful.

The inlet attracted retirees from across the state, lulling them with its winds and warm sun, to while away their autumn years. They watched test cricket, caught the occasional flathead, or congregated at the RSL for a drink and the five o’clock meat raffle, where the men talked golf, and the women gossiped about whatever hot topic A Current Affair was spruiking that night.

Naturally, being a Wollongong boy, I appreciated the water. A mile-long expanse of beach stretched north just over the other side of the inlet. I could hear the waves pounding the shore. Not everyone had the same love of water, of course, and even though I didn’t want to place the sole blame on Carmine, he’d obviously needed to get away from anything that sparked the memory of his wife. Hence the need for a clean break, and maybe two hours south had been just far enough.

I checked my bandage for any signs of bleeding, annoyed that I had to go door to door looking like a low-life street thug. The wind fought against the tops of the gumtrees in large gusts, and would occasionally blast at my back.

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