The Thief: Australian Crime Mystery by Jason Summers

Author:Jason Summers [Summers, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Renewed by five hours of sleep and appropriately caffeinated, Nick and Joanna sat back at the same cafe as the night before and finished their breakfast before they planned their next move.

‘Bobby Lee Gibson. Still can’t believe it,’ Nick replied about Joanna’s news of Evie’s father.

‘I’d only ever heard the name in passing,’ Joanna replied.

‘It was before my time but I remember my dad talking about it a few times when I was a kid. The cops had a mountain of evidence but could never fully pin it on him. He was in all the papers back in the day. I remember because he had these shiny gold teeth and a heap of jewellery. The media would always ask him for comment of dealings around the city.’

‘So how do you think it relates to Evie?’ Joanna asked.

‘I don’t know yet. But I’m going to find out.’ Nick pulled out his mobile phone and saw two missed calls from the chief. They would have to wait. He dialled Hattie Boyd’s number. She was tech support for their division in homicide and he knew he would have to lean on her now. She was capable of getting information that he knew could take him weeks.

She answered on the first ring. ‘Nick. Are you ok? Are you with Joanna?’

‘Thanks, Hattie. Yeah, I’m alright, feel like I’ve been put through the wringer a bit.’

‘That’s understandable. Your face has been on every screen I’ve looked at in the past twenty-four hours. When are you coming home?’

Nick knew it would be true, but didn’t want to think about it. He never ever wanted any spotlight. He was an honest detective, good at his job, and things sometimes fell his way. He hated how he had somehow developed this image that the media ate up. He knew they would currently be in a frenzy. ‘Not yet. I want to look into this case a little. As a professional courtesy.’

There was silence at the other end of the line and he could tell Hattie was choosing her words carefully. ‘I see. And this requires my help I’m guessing? You know I have no jurisdic—

Nick cut her off. ‘I’m not asking you to do anything illegal. I just need you to check the victim’s phone records. Evie Gibson is her name.’ He rubbed the side of his head, ready for her reaction to the next question. ‘Oh, maybe one illegal thing.’

‘Nick. You know I can’t.’ Silence again. ‘What is it?’

‘I need you to look at her bank records. I want to know if her dad, Bobbly Lee Gibson, really got that money and whether any of it was given back to her.’

Nick could tell Hattie was making a decision. After a short pause she said, ‘I can do that. I can go through some back channels. Mask my IP so it doesn’t come back to us. I’ll call you soon.’

Nick hung up and decided the chief could wait. He knew he’d want him out of the state as soon as possible.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.