Red Dirt Country by Fleur McDonald

Author:Fleur McDonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2020-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Kevin pushed the answering machine button and heard a deep gravelly voice on the line. ‘Kev, Detective Bob Holden here. Letting you know we’ve put alerts out on your cattle, like I said we would. Haven’t had any bites yet. Dave’s been to the saleyards a couple of times but there’s been no sign. Give me a call when you come back in. Cheers.’

Picking up the phone, he dialled the number that Bob had left for him and waited for him to answer. He’d been hoping that it would be Dave who called, but he couldn’t be picky when it came to which detective he dealt with. His dad thought this detective was a good bloke, so he would have to trust his dad’s instincts on this, even though he didn’t want to.

‘Burrows.’

‘G’day, Kevin from Spinifex Downs here,’ he said, pleased it was Dave who’d answered the phone. He’d liked Dave when they’d driven around and was sure he was going to be a good support. Plus he’d noticed the gleam in Dave’s eye which had said that he wasn’t the type to give up.

Kevin sat down at his desk and got out his diary to record the phone call’s details.

‘G’day, mate. How are things up your way?’

‘Not too bad. Nothing else has happened, which is a bonus. Well, not that I know about!’

A screech of laughter reached him, and he turned back to the window and saw four children in bathers diving into the waterhole. Even with the warmth outside, he knew the crystal-clear water would be freezing—it was deep, so deep the sun wouldn’t penetrate enough to heat it.

Better them than me, he thought.

‘That’s always good,’ Dave said. ‘Glad to hear it. Although I don’t have any news for you, I’m afraid. The alerts we put on the cattle, through the abattoirs and trucking companies, nothing has come of them. Fellas at the saleyards don’t know anything either. We’ll keep our eyes and ears to the ground, obviously, but right now there’s not much more we can do. Unfortunately this is a wait-and-see game.’

Kevin blew out a heavy sigh. ‘Pain in the arse. They were good breeding stock.’

‘Insured?’

‘Yeah, which is helpful in getting replacements, but it’s going to be hard to replicate the genetics and, of course, it puts me twelve months behind.’

‘What about the other cattle you said you were missing over the last few years? Were they breeders as well?’

‘Nah. I had about four hundred bullock calves taken last year; that’s just less than half a triple road train. I’ve had bulls that I haven’t been able to find too, but I’ve put that down to just not being able to find them when we’ve been mustering.’ He shrugged. ‘You don’t always find every beast when you muster. Some of the bulls, they get streetwise and canny. They know how to beat the choppers and bikes. Scrubbers.’

‘Four hundred?’ Dave was incredulous. ‘And you didn’t report them?’

‘At first, when I realised what was going on, the numbers weren’t as big.

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