PRAISE FOR

TRUST
‘A tightly constructed and well-paced crime thriller that smoothly
moves to a suitably surprising and bloody finale . . . The descriptions of
Sydney are vivid and evocative and there are also sharp-eyed comments
on  politics, corruption and the modern media . . . a  terrific  read.’
Jeff Popple, Canberra Weekly
‘Chris Hammer has excelled himself with Trust . . . a thriller strong
on character development, social insights, ethical issues and dramatic
action.’ Robyn Walton, Weekend Australian
‘A dark and gritty Sydney, superb character work and a fast-paced
mystery to keep you on your toes . . . This thrill ride of a story is
everything we have come to expect and more. Perfect for those looking
for a fright this October!’ Better Reading
‘Another romping doorstop of a book to scare us right back into our
houses.’ Readings Monthly
‘With Corris and Temple departed, Chris Hammer almost makes up
for the hole they left in Australian crime fiction. Wickedly well-written,
a phrase turner that powers a page turner, trust me: Trust is a rip-roaring
read.’ Richard Cotter, Sydney Arts Guide
‘Another twisting and turning thriller from the author of Scrublands
and Silver. Australian crime writing at its best.’ Village Observer
‘Gripping, dynamic and thrilling.’ Book’d Out
‘A clever, entertaining page turner.’ Nicole Abadee, Sydney Morning
Herald/The Age
‘A joy to read and difficult to put down. Trust in Chris Hammer—you
won’t be disappointed.’ Glen Christie, Glam Adelaide
 PRAISE FOR

SILVER
‘Chris Hammer is a great writer—a leader in Australian noir.’ Michael
Connelly
‘A terrific story . . . an excellent sequel; the best Australian crime novel
since Peter Temple’s The Broken Shore.’ The Times
‘Elegantly executed on all fronts, Silver has a beautifully realised sense
of place . . . There’s a lot going on in Port Silver, but it’s well worth a
visit.’ Sydney Morning Herald/The Age
‘The immediacy of the writing makes for heightened tension, and the
book is as heavy on the detail as it is on conveying Scarsden’s emotional
state. Silver is a dramatic blood-pumper of a book for lovers of Sarah
Bailey and Dave Warner.’ Books + Publishing
‘Hammer has shown in Silver that Scrublands was no fluke. He has
taken what he learnt in that novel and built on it to create a deeper,
richer experience. He has delivered a real sense of place and uses the
crime genre to explore some very real current social issues and char-
acter types.’ PS News
‘A taut and relentless thriller—just jump into the rapids and hold on.’
Readings Monthly
‘The action unfolds at the same breathless pace as it did in Scrublands . . .
Hammer’s prose brings the coastal setting vividly to life. An engrossing
read, perfect for the summer holidays.’ The Advertiser
‘An enthralling, atmospheric thriller that fans of Aussie crime won’t be
able to put down.’ New Idea
‘Fast paced, enthralling, enjoyable, utterly engaging and very easy to
relate to, Silver has confirmed Hammer’s place in the list of people who
really can write a seriously good story.’ Blue Wolf Reviews
 PRAISE FOR

SCRUBLANDS
‘Hammer has travelled back roads and inland waterways. His ­depictions
are unsentimental, without false cheer, but never dismissive. He
is nonetheless assaying a part of Australia that is dying, slowly and
­fatalistically. Thus threnody blends with crime drama in one of the
finest novels of the year.’ Peter Pierce, The Australian
‘Vivid and mesmerising . . . Stunning . . . Scrublands is that rare combi­
nation, a page-turner that stays long in the memory.’ Sunday Times
Crime Book of the Month
‘So does Scrublands earn its Thriller of the Year tag? Absolutely. Is
it my favourite book of the year so far? Well, it’s only June but since
you’re asking, at this very moment, yes it is . . . Deliberately paced and
wound tight, this book will keep you awake until you’ve finished the
final page. And maybe even after that. It’s relentless, it’s compulsive,
it’s a book you simply can’t put down.’ Written by Sime
‘Brilliant and unsettling, Scrublands stands at the junction of Snowtown
and Wake in Fright, that place where Australia’s mirage of bush
­tranquillity evaporated into our hidden fears.’ Paul Daley, journalist
and author of Challenge
‘A superbly drawn, utterly compelling evocation of a small town riven
by a shocking crime.’ Mark Brandi, author of Wimmera
‘A clever, intricate mystery . . . a complex, compelling story deeply rooted
in its small-town setting. Highly recommended.’ Dervla McTiernan,
author of The Rúin
‘Stellar . . . Richly descriptive writing coupled with deeply developed
­characters, relentless pacing, and a bombshell-laden plot make
this whodunit virtually impossible to put down.’ Publishers Weekly,
Weekly
starred review
‘Scrublands kidnapped me for 48 hours. I was hopelessly lost in the
scorching Australian landscape, disoriented but completely immersed
in the town and people of Riversend, as the heat crackled off the pages.
I was devastated when it was time to go back to the real world. This book
is a force of nature. A must-read for all crime fiction fans.’ Sarah Bailey,
author of The Dark Lake and Into the Night
‘A brilliant read. A thriller that crackles and sweats and a powerful
portrait of a small town on the edge.’ Michael Brissenden, journalist
and author of The List
‘Hammer’s portrait of a dying, drought-struck town numbed by a priest’s
unimaginable act of violence will capture you from the first explosive
page and refuse to let go until the last. His remarkable writing takes
you inside lives twisted by secrets festering beneath the melting heat
of the inland, the scrub beyond waiting to burst into flame. Scrublands
is the read of the year. Unforgettable.’ Tony Wright, The Age/Sydney
Age Sydney
Morning Herald
‘Immersive and convincing . . . This will be the novel that all crime
fiction fans will want . . . a terrific read that has “bestseller” written
all over it.’ Australian Crime Fiction
‘Debut thriller of the month (and maybe of 2019) . . . Beautifully written.’
Washington Post
‘Chris Hammer’s powerful debut Scrublands establishes his place among
the handful of thriller writers who understand the importance of setting
as character, deftly weaving the story of a landscape burned dry and a
town whose residents are barely hanging on with a complicated mystery
that could only happen in this place in exactly the way Hammer tells
it. Fresh and hypnotic, complex and layered, Scrublands’ gorgeous prose
swept me up and carried me toward a conclusion that was both surprising
and inevitable. I loved every word. Highly recommended.’ Karen Dionne,
international bestselling author of The Marsh King’s Daughter
‘Incendiary . . . A rattling good read, ambitious in scale and scope and
delivering right up to the last, powerfully moving page.’ Irish Times
‘. . . desolate, dangerous, and combustible. A complex novel powered
by a cast of characters with motives and loyalties as ever-shifting as the
dry riverbed beneath them, Hammer’s story catches fire from the first
page.’ J. Todd Scott, author of High White Sun
‘Impressive prose and brilliant plotting . . . a remarkable study of human
fallibility, guilt, remorse, hope and redemption. The descriptions of land-
scape are often evocative and Winton-like, with the parched country-town
setting reminiscent of Jane Harper’s The Dry . . . It is hard to imagine
Scrublands not being loved by all crime/mystery fans. FIVE STARS.’
Scott Whitmont, Books + Publishing
‘There is a very good reason people are calling Scrublands the “thriller
of the year”. This impressive debut is a powerful and compulsively
readable Australian crime novel.’ Booktopia
‘As one bookseller commented, Scrublands is another sign we are in
a Golden Age of Australian crime. Reading it is a pulsating, intense
experience, not to be missed.’ Better Reading
‘Much like the bushfire that flares up in the mulga, Scrublands quickly
builds in intensity, until it’s charging along with multiple storylines,
unanswered questions and uncovered truths. It is a truly epic read.’
Good Reading
‘Shimmers with heat from the sun and from the passions that drive
a tortured tale of blood and loss.’ Val McDermid, author of How the
Dead Speak
‘A dark and brilliant thriller, one that lingers in the mind.’
Mail On Sunday
‘Extremely accomplished . . . Deliciously noirish . . . Set in the blistering
heat of a remote Australian town ravaged by drought and threatened
by bushfires, this is a complex, meaty, intelligent mystery . . . Well-
rounded characters, masterful plotting and real breadth; this is an epic
and immersive read. Hammer’s writing is so evocative the heat prac-
tically rises off the pages of Scrublands.’ Guardian UK
Chris Hammer was a journalist for more than thirty years,
dividing his career between covering Australian federal politics
and international affairs. As a roving foreign correspondent for
SBS TV’s flagship current affairs program Dateline, he reported
from more than thirty countries on six continents. In Canberra,
roles included chief political correspondent for The Bulletin,
current affairs correspondent for SBS TV and a senior political
journalist for The Age.
His first book, The River, published in 2010 was the recipi­
ent of the ACT Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted
for the Walkley Book Award. Scrublands, his first novel, was
published in 2018. It was shortlisted for Best Debut Fiction at
the Indie Book Awards, shortlisted for Best General Fiction
at the Australian Book Industry Awards, shortlisted for the
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing at the NSW
Premier’s Literary Awards and won the UK Crime Writers’
Association John Creasey Debut Dagger Award. Silver was
published in 2019 and was shortlisted for Best General Fiction
at the Australian Book Industry Awards, shortlisted for the
2020 ABA Booksellers’ Choice Book of the Year Award, and
longlisted for the UK Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger
Award. Trust was published in 2020 and was longlisted for
Best General Fiction at the Australian Book Industry Awards.
Chris has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Charles
Sturt University and a master’s degree in international relations
from the Australian National University. He lives in Canberra
with his wife, Tomoko Akami. The couple have two children.
TREASURE
&& DIRT
CHRIS
CHRIS
HAMMER
HAMMER
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First published in 2021

Copyright © Chris Hammer 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968
(the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever
is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational
purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has
given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

Allen & Unwin

83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100
Email: info@allenandunwin.com
Web: www.allenandunwin.com

A catalogue record for this

book is available from the
National Library of Australia


ISBN 978 1 76087 760 6

Map by Aleksander J. Potočnik

Set in 13/18 pt Granjon by Bookhouse, Sydney
Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press, part of Ovato

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper in this book is FSC® certified.

FSC® promotes environmentally responsible,
socially beneficial and economically viable
management of the world’s forests.
FOR GWYNETH, BRENDON AND INGE
[[MAP TO COME]]
 prologue

T H E N I G H T I S P E R F E C T F O R R A T T I N G. A L AY E R O F H I G H C L O U D H A S S P R E A D
across the sky, blocking out the moon and the stars, sucking light
from the world. Only the night-vision goggles—military grade—
allow for progress, the driver careful in a landscape rendered
luminous, easing the old truck between trees silhouetted against
the radiant earth. It’s like a video game, glowing and hyperreal,
bleeding light at the edges. And yet this is life, unmistakably
authentic. Here, the stakes are not theoretical; here, there is no
respawning, no second chances. Get caught ratting and there is
no coming back. It might be possible to evade the violence and
avoid the courts, but the shame would follow, leper-like, to other
opal towns: Lightning Ridge, White Cliffs, Coober Pedy. Exile
inescapable, reputation irredeemable, humiliation irreversible.
So the four men proceed in silence, ratters united by greed and
needs unspoken, by quiet desperations, and divided by mutual

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 CHRIS HAMMER

loathing for who they are and what they’ve become, the engine
the only sound. At the top of a rise above the far end of the opal
fields, the driver slows the truck to a stop. This far along, The
Way, the road linking the West Ridge to the town, the only access,
the only egress, has splintered into multiple tracks. They drop the
cockatoo, with his goggles and army surplus walkie-talkie. From
here, he can look back along The Way as it undulates along the
ridge line from Finnigans Gap ten kilometres away. The town
itself is hidden in its hollow, its aura glowing through the night-
vision goggles, but the intervening path is clear. The town is not
so far, fifteen minutes, but far enough that he can alert them at
the first flare of headlights, far enough for them to get clear in
time. Or so they hope.
The truck moves forward, grinding down a gear, slowing even
more as they leave the remnants of the track, moving cross country,
the driver’s caution overriding his desire to get there, to get started.
Through the thermal-imaging goggles, the bonnet of the truck
glows obscenely bright, its heat making it shine like a beacon. He
knows no one else can see it, no one without the goggles, just the
cockatoo on the ridge, but it makes him nervous all the same. And
yet he can’t afford to go any faster; the landscape is too treacherous,
with its exposed mine shafts and ventilation holes, its mullock heaps
and fallen trees and rusted-out machine parts. There’s been no
rain for four or five days, and yet he’s concerned about lingering
mud, the potential to skid, to lose control. He needs to avoid any
mistakes. A puncture would leave them temporarily vulnerable;
a broken axle would be disastrous. Finally, their destination comes
into sight, marked by the darkened caravan.

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 TREASURE & DIRT

Next to the driver, the leader is experiencing a kind of calm,

settled now that the operation is underway, the sort of tranquillity
that used to visit him before combat. The preceding few hours are
worse, hiding away underground on his own barren claim, waiting
for the opal fields to empty, his fellow ratters nervous and edgy,
unable to sleep, unable to speak, forbidden by him from drinking
or taking drugs. Four men, trapped together underground, bound
by circumstance.
Two hundred metres from the mine shaft, the truck stops. The
driver cuts the engine—pivoting on the point of no return—and
the leader climbs out. It’s his operation; he’s the one who must
take the risks. They’ve been watching the mine for a week or so,
on and off, through the rain, through the mounting heat, more
diligently these past two nights. There has been no sightings of
Jonas McGee; not today, not yesterday. The intel must be right: he’s
out of town, living it up on his windfall, squandering his fortune.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the rumour mill.
Maybe even millions. But gone for now, careless in his wealth,
stupid in his luck, almost deserving of looting. Almost.
The leader approaches the caravan. McGee has been staying
out here, guarding his hoard against ratters, so said the grapevine.
But not tonight. There is no sign of life. His truck is here,
which is concerning. But it sits pitch-black against the glowing
earth, its engine cold. The leader approaches the caravan, itself
black, registering no heat signature whatsoever, apparently devoid
of life. Nevertheless, he removes his goggles, places them carefully
in his backpack, operating by touch alone. He pulls out a small
flask of whisky and, still operating by feel, removes the cap, spills
a little down his front, then takes a swig, swirling it around his

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 CHRIS HAMMER

mouth before spitting it out. It’s his cover story: that he’s drunk
and lost. Barely plausible, but hopefully enough. Should he be
discovered, should Jonas be here, he will start to sing and carry
on, loud enough to alert the others. But for the moment he is
quiet, standing motionless, hoping his eyes may yet adjust to the
absence of light.
As he waits, he listens. The night is silent, as if in anticipa-
tion. There is no wind, not even up here on the ridge, nothing to
animate the darkness, nothing to rustle the leaves on the sparse
ironbarks and box gums. A dog barks in the distance, kilometres
away, emphasising the void. It is so very dark without the goggles.
It’s all he can do to perceive the dark edge of the van against the
clouded sky. He feels his way to the door, knocks once, knocks
again, the sound like gunshots, holding his breath, the whisky sharp
on his tongue. But there is no sound from the van, no response,
no movement. It’s all okay, McGee is gone; the recent rains have
put a hold on mining and he’s taken off to enjoy his spoils. The
leader breathes again.
Goggles back on, he moves towards the mine. At the top of
the shaft, all looks good: it’s covered by its steel lid, padlock in
place. Good. No one would be underground with the only exit
locked down. He pulls out his radio, hits the button in three long
dashes. The all clear.
He hears the truck engine fire, watches it rumble towards
him. Then the driver is out, together with the third member
of the crew, his lieutenant, pulling the tarpaulin from the back,
exposing the gear. Everything is there in readiness: the electric
winch, silent and effective; the padded buckets; the nylon ropes.
There is no talk. They know their roles: the leader will go down

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 TREASURE & DIRT

the mine, dig for opals, extract the gems from the walls with his
handheld excavator, not risking the heavy machinery any honest
miner would use: the diesel generators and air compressors, the
vacuum pumps. Here, stealth is all-important. His second-in-
command will collect the rubble, take it to the bottom of the shaft
and fill the buckets; the driver will winch them to the surface,
load the back of the truck. They’ll be gone an hour before dawn,
collecting the lookout along the way. Later in the day, mining
the leader’s own claim, the ore will be mixed with his. They will
take it to the wash site, clean it, hidden in plain view, extracting
the opals, downplaying their discoveries.
The leader checks the lock, is relieved to see the brand. No
need for the hacksaw then; boltcutters will suffice. A fortune in
gems and the man can’t be bothered buying himself a decent lock.
The leader slices through the hardened steel and raises the lid,
flipping it back on its hinges. Too easy.
He hesitates only long enough to ensure he has what he needs,
then starts down the shaft, a metre in diameter, a ‘three-footer’,
straight down. He clings to the steel ladder, strung section by section
from the framework of the lid, hanging free, swaying slightly.
The shaft is ghost-like, hazy and dark, emitting little light, even
using the goggles. Thirty metres down he reaches the bottom. He
removes his backpack and stows the goggles, replacing them with a
conventional torch, a miner’s headband. He flicks it on, the bright-
ness flaring in the still of the mine, lighting the walls, the roof
supports casting shadows through the mined-out cavern.
He’s in an open space, two and a half metres high, more than
enough to stand. A ballroom. The roof is propped up by pine
trunks, thirty centimetres in diameter, bark still in place. Off in

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 CHRIS HAMMER

one corner, he can spy where these bolsters are taking the strain,
bent and squashed at the top where the earth is trying to fall in
on itself. He shrugs it off: the potential for a cave-in is the least of
his worries, even after the rain of the previous week.
The mine is tidier than most: empty water bottles are stacked
in a pile by the bottom of the ladder, ready to be lifted to the
surface. Next to the bottles is a pile of wood, four-by-twos: not
new but scavenged. McGee must have been shoring up the roof.
Next to the wood is a large silver toolbox, padlock undone. More
complacency. Carefully, he examines the footprints left in the
dust, finds the uppermost impressions and starts to follow them,
confident they will lead to the most recent digging, to McGee’s
lucrative new discoveries.
As he proceeds, the smell grows worse. What was merely a
suggestion, a vague taint at the bottom of the ladder, steadily
becomes insistent. What the fuck has the bastard been up to? So
desperate to plunder the opals that he can’t be bothered to bury his
shit? No, the smell is worse than that. The smell of roadkill, the
smell of repressed memories. Maybe a wallaby has come to grief,
fallen down one of the blower shafts. Not that that will stop him.
Spider webs brush his face. He ignores them. Behind him
he can hear the faint noise of the winch, the buckets thudding
against the steel ladder on the way down. His deputy must already
be at the bottom.
He comes to a cordoned-off passage, orange plastic webbing
strung across its entry, the sort used on roadworks. The tunnel
is supported by a roughly made wooden framework. There’s a
piece of cardboard, ripped from a carton, with one word scrawled:
UNSTABLE. He moves past it, past a blower hole, the vacuum

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 TREASURE & DIRT

tube still hanging from it where McGee has been sucking out his
fill. He must be getting closer.
Past the hole, the smell grows markedly worse. His stomach
turns and the hairs on the back of his head come alert. Something
is wrong here. Very wrong. He knows this smell, from another
time, another land, an endless war.
He passes a mining machine, an excavator. He’s close now.
And then he sees it. Sees him. Jonas McGee, dead eyes staring,
something small and black crawling from the corner of his mouth.
The man is not just dead, he’s been crucified, nailed to a timber
frame, metal spikes through his wrists, black blood congealed
around them, a ratter’s drill placed by his feet like an offering.
Crucified. Christ-like: except here the face holds no ecstasy, the
eyes no rapture.
The leader fights back an urge to vomit, pushes it down, disci-
plines himself. He knows he must leave no trace here. He hits
the radio button, three short bursts, followed by another three.
The warning: the message to get out fast, to get out now. He looks
about, sees what he needs. A piece of loose sacking. He lifts the
drill, makes the snap decision: he needs to take it with him. He
can leave nothing that implicates ratters. And then he slowly backs
out, using the sacking to erase his footprints behind him. They
need to get away; they need to have never been here.

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 S H E S I T S I N H E R F O U R-W H E E L D R I V E, E N G I N E I D L I N G, A I R-C O N D I T I O N I N G
engaged. The dash says the outside temperature is thirty degrees; it’s
nine thirty in the morning. The forecast is for forty or more. The
memory of the past few weeks, the respite of unseasonal rains, is
fading. There are still reports of storms and floods along the coast,
but that might as well be another country. Out here the fronts
have passed, the fluky coalition of a wayward monsoon and the
remnant of a cyclone are gone, the ground is already dry, the mud
cracked into mosaic and returning to dust. It’s almost a week since
the rain stopped, and summer is reasserting itself with a careless
brutality. Through the airport fence, above the runway, the air is
bubbling with heat, conjuring mirages, turning dirt to water and
tarmac to sky. She scans the heavens: few clouds, no plane.
She feels alert, not in any way tired after the two-hour dash from
Bourke. She’d driven it in record time, heedless of speed limits,

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 CHRIS HAMMER

eager to get here, eager to be at hand when Ivan Lucic arrives,

to make a good first impression. She still can’t quite believe her
luck: a murder investigation, seconded to one of the force’s rising
stars, and here in Finnigans Gap, scene of her own career-defining
success. Somehow, mysteriously, the stars are aligning once again.
She can feel the thrill in her blood.
She returns to her phone, reads another newspaper account
thrown up by her Google search for Ivan Lucic, another report of
the scandals still rocking New South Wales, of high-level corrup-
tion and conspiracy, of murder and skulduggery. This particular
article is a few months old, written by Martin Scarsden, the journ-
alist who led much of the media coverage, but it mentions Morris
Montifore and Ivan Lucic by name, praising their bravery and
integrity, their professionalism, their relentless pursuit of the guilty.
She can’t quite believe it: she will be working with the Ivan Lucic.
Now, in the distance, she sees it, the black dot of her future, the
PolAir plane tracking in from Dubbo. A movement catches her
peripheral vision: a man appears, as if from nowhere. The airport
manager, shuffling across from the terminal, wearing a bathrobe,
thongs and a three-day growth, looking like he’s just climbed out
of bed. Probably has; from memory, there are no scheduled flights
into or out of Finnigans on weekends.
He sees her and walks towards the police car. She lowers her
window as he approaches, the warm breeze breaching the vehicle’s
cocoon. The man doesn’t bother with a greeting, as if resenting
every effort of this Sunday morning intrusion. ‘Wait until he pulls
up, the props have stopped. Then drive up next to the plane.
No point in making ’em walk,’ he says gruffly.
‘Cheers,’ she says.

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 TREASURE & DIRT

But the man is already ambling across to the gate. He unlocks

it, swings it open, then shuffles back towards his bolthole, not
looking back, half-heartedly swatting flies as he goes.
The plane comes in, bucking slightly in the wind, a kick of
smoke as the tyres touch the tarmac. The pitch of the engines
steps up as the pilot reverses the thrust, before powering them
back down as the plane slows. It swings around and taxis back
towards the terminal, coming to a stop fifty metres away, one
engine cutting out, then the other. She drives through the gate,
stopping next to the aircraft, getting out, is there when the door
opens and a set of steps fold down. First out is one of the pilots,
making sure the stairs are secure, followed by a youngish-looking
man, maybe in his thirties, wearing a charcoal suit, white shirt,
no tie, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder; a slender man
with a lean face and thick dark hair. The suit coat lasts until he
has his feet on the ground, his head turned momentarily to the
sky, as if disbelieving the power of the sun. He needs a hat; that
fair skin will burn in no time. At least he’s brought sunglasses,
expensive-looking wrap-arounds. Make him look like a wanker,
but at least he’ll be able to see.
‘Hello. Detective Constable Narelle Buchanan,’ she says to him.
‘Call me Nell.’
‘Ivan Lucic. Pleased to meet you,’ he says, shaking hands with a
slow confidence, tilting his head to indicate the two others following
him from the plane. ‘This is Carole Nguyen, crime scene investi-
gator, and Blake Ness, forensic pathologist. Give us a hand loading
the gear, will you?’
‘Of course.’

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 CHRIS HAMMER

She greets the other officers, helps load the back of the Nissan
Patrol. By the time they’re finished, Lucic is sweating.
‘You want to check into the motel first?’ she asks as they climb
into the vehicle. ‘Clean up? Change?’
‘No. Let’s go straight there. The poor bastard has been left
hanging long enough.’ With his glasses off, she sees his eyes are
an icy blue, a contrast to his dark hair.
‘Sure,’ she says. She likes that, his urgency. And his respect
for the dead.
p
The body is stinking, leaking, a horrible parody of Christ. Ivan
Lucic stares at the man, the former man, attempting to look beyond
the obvious, to see past his own revulsion. The face has taken on
a waxen complexion, shiny in the harsh light of the LEDs. One
side is discoloured, bruised, an ugly colour turned more ugly by
death. In front of Ivan, Carole Nguyen is taking photographs,
shielded by her professionalism and a full-body disposable body
suit, latex gloves and a face mask. She’s moving in close to capture
the finer details of putrefaction. The pathologist is at one side,
standing silently with his mask off, looking on as if mesmerised.
The only sounds are the shutter of the camera and Carole’s plastic
feet coverings shuffling through the dust. Lucic wonders if he’ll
even refer to her images; maybe eventually, if and when he prepares
a prosecution brief. But for now, the scene is embedding itself into
his retinas, imprinting on his mind, another to add to his ghastly
vault, another inerasable memory of lives taken, of violence and
injustice. The body is a husk; the man that inhabited it, Jonas
McGee, is long gone.

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‘Look,’ says Blake Ness, coming back into the present. The
pathologist points: extending out from the base of the cross is a
furrow, etched into the earth.
‘What is it?’ asks Ivan.
‘My guess? The cross was lying flat. He was nailed onto it.
Then it was lifted, dragged, with him on it, and pushed up against
the wall. What do you reckon, Caro?’
The crime scene investigator lowers her camera, considers the
marking. ‘Yep. I reckon that’s right.’ She frowns. ‘We’ll need to
weigh the cross. Maybe re-enact it. Work out whether you’d need
two people to lift it up like that or just the one. Right now, I’m
thinking one could do it.’
‘Based on what?’
‘That gouge. It looks like it was dragged up, not lifted.’
The three of them stare at the ground and then the cross,
imaginations mulling possible scenarios.
Ivan looks again at the body, the desecration. The man is well
muscled, lean. He’s wearing a blue singlet, tough canvas pants.
His feet are covered in socks, encrusted with black blood, with
holes at the toes. ‘Where are his boots?’
‘We’ve got ’em,’ says Carole. ‘Boots and gloves. Already bagged.
His wallet was in his pocket, but we can’t find a phone.’
‘It’s been taken?’
‘Either that or he didn’t have it with him.’
‘Apart from the obvious, any sign the body has been interfered
with?’ Ivan asks.
‘Not at this stage,’ she replies.
‘Right. Thanks. Let me know when you’re done.’ He walks
back towards the entry, back into the darkness, his torch lighting

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the way. The mine is not as claustrophobic as he’d feared; he’d

imagined crawling through tight spaces, like caving. Instead, the
roof is high, the floor even, the walls, the colour of caramel fudge,
diffusing the light. Not so bad, if it wasn’t for the smell. There
is a machine, an excavator, cables running back and up one of
the ventilator holes, some sort of flexible vacuum tube emerging
from another shaft.
Further on, he turns a corner and sees Nell waiting at the
bottom of the access ladder, bathed in light flowing down from
above, as if she’s on a stage with the spotlight on her. Her hair is
brown, cut short, practical, her face open and friendly, smile lines
radiating from brown eyes. There is something compact about her,
self-possessed, that appeals to him. Like she’s happy in her own
skin. And she seems cheery and positive and not overly respectful.
She’s dressed in cargo pants and a lightweight cotton shirt, sleeves
rolled up, holstered gun sitting on her utility belt. Some detect-
ives look uncomfortable wearing a weapon; she looks as if she’s
grown up with it. There’s a uniformed constable with her, in the
shadows, a chubby young fellow sent to guard the crime scene.
Short red hair and an unconvincing beard struggling to cover the
acne emblazoned across his cheeks. He looks dazed, as if someone
has whacked him.
‘Who discovered the body?’ Ivan asks Nell.
‘Anonymous tip-off. Crime Stoppers.’
‘So not a call to the local station?’
‘No. Here, listen.’ She pulls her phone from a pocket and swipes
at the screen, selecting an audio file, playing it. ‘Jonas McGee.
He’s dead. Murdered. Down his mine, outside Finnigans Gap.’ The

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recording lasts less than ten seconds, a male voice, no particular

accent. Calm. Rehearsed.
‘When was it received?’
‘Yesterday afternoon. Twelve minutes past three. The locals got
it from Crime Stoppers around four, sent Constable Ahern here
out at about five to check it out.’
Ivan turns to the young man. His face is set. ‘Garry, isn’t it?
Ivan Lucic. Thanks again for your work on this.’ That elicits a
weak smile. ‘You’re a probationary constable?’
‘That’s right, sir.’
‘How long for?’
‘Six months.’
‘You’ve done a good job here. Thank you.’
The young man nods, grateful for the acknowledgement.
‘How you holding up?’
‘Fine, thanks, sir,’ the young man replies, acting as if the ques-
tion is unnecessary.
‘Pretty confronting,’ suggests Ivan.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘You came down by yourself?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘What can you tell me?’
‘There were no footprints,’ says the young officer. He points
at the ground, where their own prints have left impressions in
the dust. ‘It was all smoothed out, as if someone had wiped them
away after themselves.’
‘What with? Any ideas?’
‘No. I looked. Couldn’t find anything. They must have taken
it with them.’

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‘I see. So how did you know where to find the body? It’s quite
a labyrinth down here.’
‘It was like a trail. Everywhere else, there were footprints, but
between here and the body, they’d been smoothed away. And as
I got closer, you know—the smell.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I didn’t touch anything. I took a photograph with my phone.
Went back up. Called the sarge, sent her the image. She got me
to wait here, protect the scene.’
‘Right. You been here all night?’
‘Most of it. Not down here. Up above. Making sure no one
came down.’
‘Get any sleep?’
‘A bit. Not much.’
‘Is this the only entrance?’
The young man blinks, as if caught out. Then: ‘I’m not abso-
lutely sure, but most mines have only the one. Expensive to drill
a second. But I can find out for you.’
‘Thanks, that would be useful. You see anybody?’
‘A few trucks this morning. Miners heading out to their claims.
But this is pretty much the end of the road.’
‘Recognise any of them?’
‘Not really. Buddy Torshack came over, wanted to know what
I was up to.’
‘Buddy Torshack? Who’s he?’
‘Has the neighbouring claim. His shaft is only a couple of
hundred metres or so away. Saw the police car.’
‘What did you tell him?’

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‘That McGee was dead. I asked him about his movements,

whether he’d seen anything. He said no. He lives in town, came
out this morning.’
‘Thanks, Garry. Anything else?’
‘Yes, sir. The top of the shaft, where we came down. There’s
a steel door, a kind of a lid. All the mines have them. There was a
padlock. It’s been cut. Looks like bolt-cutters.’
‘That’s useful. Thank you. Do we have the lock?’
‘Yes. In an evidence bag.’
‘Prints?’
‘I thought I’d leave that to the experts.’
‘Good thinking.’
They’re interrupted by Carole Nguyen, emerging from the
shadows. ‘I’m almost done. You want another look before we take
him down?’
‘No. I’m good. Constable?’ Lucic asks Nell.
‘I’ve seen enough,’ she says.
‘Any idea how long he’s been dead?’ Ivan asks the investigator.
‘We’ll know more once Blake has him on the slab, but my
guess is somewhere between four and six days. The temperature
down here is pretty constant; he’ll be able to get a good estimate.’
‘Excellent. Thanks.’
‘But there is one more thing you should know. McGee was
dead well before he was nailed up. At least four hours. Rigor
mortis had set in.’
That causes him to reconsider what he has seen. ‘So, if that
didn’t kill him, what did?’
‘Too early to say. Blake is taking a closer look, but so far, there’s
nothing obvious.’

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‘What about his face? It looks like it’s bruised.’

‘Well spotted. But I can’t see that killing him.’
‘So what are you saying?’
‘Maybe he wasn’t murdered. Maybe he died of natural causes.’
p
The heat above ground is ferocious. The sun is almost directly
overhead, pouring its unfiltered energy onto the rocks and gravel,
with little or no vegetation to diffuse it. Such is its power that
the metal framework at the top of the shaft burns Nell’s fingers
through her latex gloves as she scrambles the last few metres up
and out, grabbing Ivan Lucic’s outstretched hand as she climbs
the last two rungs.
‘Thanks,’ she says, peeling off the gloves.
‘How the fuck does anyone live out here?’
‘Beer and aircon,’ she replies. ‘C’mon. Let’s get inside the car.’
Inside, she fires the engine, gets the air-conditioning going.
It blows hot and dry. She can see that Ivan is almost holding his
breath, waiting for the relief to come.
She climbs out, fetches some water from the back, hands a
litre bottle to the Sydney detective as she gets back in. He accepts,
silently grateful, and takes a sustained swig. She can see the sweat
on his brow, his face flushed, his business shirt sticking to his
torso, its white cotton turned grimy from the mine, his suit coat
abandoned on the back seat. She waits until he’s had more water
before speaking again.
‘How long before we know how McGee died?’ she asks.
‘That’s up to Blake,’ says Ivan. ‘If it was an act of violence,
he’ll figure it out pretty quickly. There’ll be marks, incisions,

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fractures. But if it was something else, something less obvious,

we won’t know until he can examine the body thoroughly. He’ll
need to open him up, look for internal bleeding. Run toxicology
tests. Maybe X-rays and other scans.’
Nell shakes her head. ‘The hospital here is just a clinic, more
a glorified triage centre than a proper hospital. Anything serious,
they drive the patients to Dubbo; anything life-threatening, they
fly them to the coast. I seriously doubt they’ll have the equipment
he needs, unless he brought it with him. We might have to drive
the body to Bourke or Moree. Or Dubbo.’
‘Shit. How far?’
‘Bourke’s two hours west, Moree’s three hours east. Dubbo is
bigger, has a base hospital, four hours south.’
He sighs. ‘Fuck me.’ She can see he’s frustrated, not knowing
precisely what it is they’re investigating.
‘What do you think?’ she asks. ‘Murder or not?’
He looks pensive, almost pained. ‘Nailing him up. That’s such
a violent act, such a deliberate act. Such a desecration. Why kill
him in a non-violent way, then nail him up like that?’
‘Why nail him up at all, if he was already dead?’
‘Exactly.’
There’s a pause. The aircon is starting to work. She drinks
some water herself before resuming. ‘Maybe they were scared to
confront him physically?’
She can feel his eyes upon her, considering her. ‘Go on,’ he says.
‘The killer was a coward. They wanted him dead, wanted to
inflict pain. To harm him. But they were too scared to face him.
So they poisoned him, or drugged him, then meted out the vio-
lence once he was dead.’

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‘Maybe,’ he says. ‘Pretty muscly-looking guy, by what’s left of

him. How old was he?’
She checks her phone, a police-issued MobiPol, for the infor-
mation Garry has sent through to her. ‘Forty-three.’
‘What else have you got?’
‘Not a lot. He’s a long-time resident. Criminal record if you go
back far enough. He did time in prison, starting eighteen years
ago. Dangerous driving causing death. Sentenced to seven years,
out in four. Good behaviour. Clean slate ever since, except for an
apprehended violence order—taken out by his own daughter, Elsie
McGee, eight years ago.’
Ivan frowns. She can see him trying to extract meaning from
the information. ‘So he could be violent. Where is she now?’
‘I’ll check. But the AVO lapsed years ago.’
‘We need to speak to her. When we get to town, can you find
her? And pull up the records. See who died in the car accident,
who was affected. Probably nothing, but we can tick a few boxes
while we wait for Blake’s findings.’
‘Revenge?’ she asks.
‘Why wait eighteen years?’ he counters.
They fall back into silence, both drinking more water.
‘Why you?’ asks Ivan.
‘Sorry?’
‘Why send you? Why someone from Bourke, not Moree
or Dubbo?’
‘Finnigans Gap is part of the Bourke Area Command. And
Bourke’s the only place in it with detectives.’
‘Makes sense then. And any reason you in particular? Draw the
short straw? Rostered on for Sunday?’ His voice is light, almost banter.

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‘No. The boss thought I might be useful. I was stationed here

for almost three years. In uniform. I only left three years ago. He
thought my local knowledge might come in handy.’ She smiles.
‘And, of course, I was keen.’
‘You spent three years here? Wow. How did you survive it?’ He
returns her smile, making sure she knows he’s at least half joking.
‘It’s not so bad, once you get used to it.’
‘Right. Like herpes.’ Then the humour eases out of his face,
replaced by concern. ‘How long have you been a detective?’
‘Bit more than a year.’
‘Your first homicide?’
‘First one where the killer isn’t sitting there with blood on
his hands.’
He nods. ‘You’d still know people in town here, then?’
‘Some.’
‘Did you know McGee? Ever run into him?’
‘Not that I remember.’
He frowns, as if choosing his words carefully. ‘I know I don’t
need to tell you this, but we need to keep the details to ourselves
for the moment.’
‘Won’t be easy. It’ll already be the talk of the town.’
‘Really?’
‘Shit, yeah. Cop car stationed here all night. What do you reckon?’
Lucic absorbs this. ‘Okay. They know he’s dead, possibly that
he’s been crucified. But not that he was already dead for hours
before that. Let’s keep that to ourselves for now.’
‘Of course.’
The car is getting cooler now, the air-conditioning taking effect.
Their attention is captured by the constable emerging from the

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shaft, spitting on his hands afterwards as if it might offer some

relief from the burning metal. He walks over and Nell cracks the
window. ‘I’m calling the ambulance. They want to bring him up.
Maybe use the winch on his truck.’
‘Right,’ says Nell. ‘You need a hand?’
‘Nah. I reckon the three of us can handle it. But they said you
have some body bags in the back.’
‘You didn’t bring any with you?’
‘No.’
Nell jumps out, goes round the back, helps ferret out a sealed
bag from the pathologist’s equipment.
‘Hey, Garry,’ says Ivan, joining them at the back of the truck.
‘Buddy Torshack. Where do I find him?’
The constable points across to a caravan just a few hundred
metres away. ‘That’s him. His truck is still there, so he must be too.’
‘Is that where his shaft is?’
‘Yep. Right next to it.’
‘Thanks. Are you able to help some more after you finish with
Carole and Blake?’
‘Sure. The sarge said I should stay as long as you need me.’
‘Good. I’ll talk to Torshack, but I need you to canvass the other
miners out here. Get their names and contact details, find out
their movements. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Ask them
if they’ve seen anything unusual out here. Find out when was the
last time they saw McGee.’
‘Okay. Got it.’
‘And, Garry, don’t volunteer any information about the crime
scene, okay? Nothing.’
‘Absolutely.’

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The young officer moves away and Ivan turns to Nell. ‘C’mon,
let’s go talk to Torshack.’
‘Okay. Jump in. We’ll drive over.’
‘Let’s walk. It’s just over there.’
She laughs, before realising he’s serious. ‘You kidding? We’ll
cook in this heat.’
‘Okay. You drive, I’ll walk. Meet you there.’
She watches him go, wondering why he could possibly want
to go on foot. And if she’ll wear the blame if he gets sunstroke.

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