Jo was moving like an automaton now and she was finding it cathartic: crack the ground surface—fill a bucket—empty a bucket—flick through rubble with glove and eyeball darkish fragment until realising it’s nothing more exciting than a seed excreted from some passing bird’s bum—return to fill next bucket …
‘The lock had been picked, not smashed, and when he dusted fingerprint powder across the door handle and the desk top and the front surface of the safe, nothing showed up. A professional job, then. The good news was, he must be making somebody sweat if they were breaking into his office to find out what he knew. The bad news was, he had no idea who.’
She ate a sandwich that Dot and Ethel rustled up—with Luke’s help—from the esky, and spent an hour or two when the sun was at its highest chatting with the Dirt Girls in the shade, but as they peeled off to head back into Yindi Creek in the early afternoon, she returned to work.
‘You reckon you can tackle another hour with me, Luke?’ she said.
‘So long as I can have the last piece of cake.’
‘It’s a deal.’
CHAPTER
34
REVISIONS: THECLUELESSJONESSERIES
Episode 12 (season finale): Strike Me Pink
[GGH to initial each page to signify agreement.]
FADE IN:
EXT: MURINGENDAN PUB—LUNCHTIME In a sunny corner of the beer garden, sheltering from the cold westerlies, DETECTIVE LANA SAACHI and TYSON JONES wait for their coffee order to be delivered by pub owner HEATHER.
TYSON:
Suspended on leave without pay? I can’t believe it.
You caught the bad guy.
LANA:
And I broke half-a-dozen rules in the process.
TYSON:
The good outweighs the bad.
LANA:
Yeah, that could be your slogan, Jones. It’s certainly how you justify all the crap you pull. But I’m supposed to be better.
To do better. Rules matter.
TYSON:
You know, you could resign. Come and work for me.
LANA:
For you? No way. We’d be hating each other even more than we do now.
TYSON:
[looking uncomfortable]
Actually, I don’t hate you.