Page 43 of Stockman's Stormcloud

Porter took a heap of photos with his phone, then pulled out a chunk of chalk and drew on the dusty concrete ground marking an X.

‘That’s where he died, was it?’ Charlie asked while Dex leaned against the wall.

Porter nodded. ‘I’m guessing it is. But to be sure, I’ll pass the tape through the window, and I want you to stand on this spot for a reading.’

‘Sure, mate.’ Charlie grinned, bouncing on his toes as the policeman walked outside.

Dex looked over the long, simple, but empty room. The dust was like fine red powder spread across the concrete floor, leaving their track marks. The cobwebs were thick and yellow with age. But the room was warm.

‘What the hell are you lot doing in here!’ Bree glared at them from the open doorway in her welding apron, holding her long leather gloves against her hip.

‘Calm down, kid. We’re just helping Porter do his investigation.’

‘Can you grab the tape measure, Charlie?’ asked Porter through the open window. ‘Oh, hey, Bree.’

‘Porter.’ She nodded as she approached Dex.

‘Don’t start lecturing me.’ Dex pulled down his mask to speak in a hushed whisper. ‘I just saved your butt from Charlie spilling about your shotguns.’

Bree paused her anger. ‘Porter needs to get away from here.’

‘Why?’

She dragged Dex by his shirt’s sleeve, the squeaky wheels of his oxygen trolley left lines in the dust, as they shifted to the far side of the room. ‘What’s wrong with this room?’

‘Nothing. First time anyone’s been in here. I broke the lock.’

‘And I have the key.’

His brow shifted. ‘Charlie said there was no key because no one came in here.’

‘As much as I love my grandfather, he can’t keep a secret. Charlie has no idea what I’ve got in here.’ Bree leaned back against the wall and tapped on the corrugated wall panel.

That’s when it hit him—the room was smaller than it should be. ‘There’s a false room?’

Bree barely nodded, watching the policeman takemeasurements with Charlie.

‘What’s in there, drugs? No. I would have seen the lights. Or smelt it.’ But this room was steamy, like an airy sauna.

‘Mate… Buddy… Declan…’

Oh, it must be big for Bree to suck up like this. ‘You have a secret.’

Bree glowered at him. It’s obvious she didn’t want to share.

‘Tell me. Because Porter has asked me to do the measurements of this room. And I’m not gonna lie to the poh-leece when there’s nothing in it for me.’

She growled at him.

It only made him smile wider.

‘What do I drink and sell in the car park where people lay bets on strangers to duke it out with their fists?’

‘Gin. That you drink by the jugful.’ It was good gin, too.

What the flip!

The false room was where she kept her illegal still!

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