Abacus

body. Resting his hand on Fred’s shoulder, Hobbs whispered, “Please don’t let me down.”
    Fred turned around and gave a nervous smile before continuing his search. Hobbs looked at Randall and shrugged. Randall nodded and raised his eyebrows. He was confident the medals would be found. “Well, what do you know,” Fred called, placing some medals on top of the safe.
    Picking up the medals and handing them to Randall, Hobbs asked, “Are these the ones, boss?”
    Randall c arefully studied the engraving on the edge of the medals. “Well, what do you know, these belong to Private William Campbell, the one’s we’re after.”
    As a direct result of his earlier parking indiscretion, Hobbs was r elegated to the passenger’s seat for the return trip. With his elbow draping out of the window as he drove, Randall said, “Big fella, I want Georgie G and you to tidy this up. First, take the medals back to Mrs. Campbell, then I want to see this Greg Butler in the dock tomorrow. Let me know when you grab him ’cause I want to have a little chat to him.”

    * * *
    The ne xt morning Randall was in early and hard at it behind his desk when Jesse poked his head in. “Boss, making a coffee, want one?”
    “Thanks , mate, but I’ll come for a walk and make my own.”
    They chatted as they walked through the office, down the hall and into the tearoom near the front station area. As Randall poured the boiling water into his old cup, his general mobile phone rang. Carefully putting his cup down, he checked the screen and read the text message from Hobbs. Got him, back in five.
    “Good one,” Randall said out loud as he dangled a tea bag in and out of his cup. Tossing the tea bag into a bin, he asked, “Boys were out early today, eh?”
    “Yeah , I saw one of the sets of car keys were missing this morning, so I knew someone was out early.”
    He looked on in amusement as Jesse feverishly scrubbed his coffee cup with a scourer. He was cleaning it with such vigour Randall was sure he would scrub right through the ceramic. “Make sure you get her real clean, Jesse. Remember, we’ve got criminals in this building and they harbor some pretty nasty germs, mate.”
    Jesse stopped scrubbi ng and looked up. “Leave me alone. You know I can’t help it.”
    Taking a sip of his tea, he chuckled. “I’ll leave you to it then. I’ve got to get ready for an interview.”
    Once in the interview room , he moved a chair so it faced the entry door, then set himself up at the table with his pen and notebook at the ready. He smiled as he recalled what Mrs. Campbell had asked him to do with the thief. There was no way he could let that sweet old lady down.
    Hearing Hobbs’s voice in the hall, Randall looked up just as he entered with the prisoner. “Stand there,” Hobbs ordered, walking over to take a seat.
    Looking at the prisoner standing before him, Randall made his usual visual assessment while Hobbs leant back comfortably on a chair in the corner of the room. Tattoos on the back of his hands, a couple of small scabs on his face, gaunt cheeks, skinny body, dark greasy hair, sunken eyes and a fidgety manner. Yep, he fits the usual profile.
    “Well , Greg,” Randall said in an overly friendly tone. “I’ve heard so much about you, it’s good to finally meet you and put a face to the name. Please, please take a seat.” He pointed to a seat under the desk opposite him. Greg slowly slid the chair from under the desk and sat down as he nervously looked up at Randall, and quickly across at Hobbs. He had good reason to be very, very nervous.
    “Greg, my name is Detective Sergeant Ra ndall,” he said flippantly. “I am in charge of the detectives here, and I’m sure you and my partner here, Detective Hobbs, got well acquainted earlier.” Butler nodded as he looked down at the desk. Randall hauled his feet onto the desk, which made the prisoner flinch. Smiling, he leant back in his chair. “Greg, tell me why you believe you are here today,” he asked, flicking through a copy of the report.
    There was a long silence before the prisoner spoke. “No, not really,” he said looking down.
    Randall slid his pen behind his ear and leant over the desk staring at the top of the prisoner’s head. Clicking his fingers loudly, inches from his face the prisoner looked up instantly. “Well, Greg, I understand you have probably been very busy over the last few days, so it wouldn’t be easy for you to narrow it down to one event. So