Abacus

all over them.”
    Hobbs sat patiently twirling his pen around his fin gers, in deep thought. “Well, how about we interview them and be upfront with Hoskings? Tell him that we know he has licensed weapons and ask for permission to come and get the weapons for testing. Tell him it is just routine in an investigation of this nature. What is he gonna say? No? If he is involved, he’s gonna want to help and deflect any sort of attention from himself. This way we secure the guns and we get to have a little look around without a warrant. In any case, if he doesn’t allow us entry, we know we are probably on the money.”
    There was general agreement in the room as Jesse spoke. “Well, we will leave surveillance on them for a few more days and see if we can get a routine for them. Then we will push ahead with Hobbsy’s plan and interview them.”
    * * *
    Back in his office, Randall checked his emails on the computer and saw there was one from the Commissioner of Corrective Services.
    Excellent , this should be information about the Parole Board hearing date .
    Opening the email , he read the content. Owing to the recent events relating to Prisoner Terry Jenkins the Parole Board Hearing has been cancelled indefinitely. Please refer to details on the NSW Police Data base regarding details of his pending charges .
    “N o, no, no. What pending charges?” he yelled out desperately.
    Quickly accessing the police data base, he looked up the profile for Jenkins. “No, no, no,” he yelled. He stood up and yanked the keyboard from the computer, throwing it against a wall. With hands on hips he paced around the room, stopping to momentarily run his fingers through his hair. On the floor he saw some of the keys had come off the keyboard and were scattered over the carpet. Picking up a handful, he hurled them as hard as he could at the glass wall. Looking out of his office he saw Hobbs was watching him. Hobbs looked away, trying to avoid eye contact.
    Walking over to the blind , Randall forcefully yanked it closed for privacy. He flopped into the seat again and read the detail on the computer. He saw there were recent charges for malicious wounding and arson arising from the previous night. He read that Jenkins had caused a fire in a wing of the jail and had stabbed a prison guard who had come to investigate. Randall sat in stunned silence. Holding his head in his hands he was a totally devastated man. “The bastard has played the system again.” The desperate and cunning Jenkins had taken the only option available to him to prolong his own life. The offences ensured he had avoided a deadly date with Randall. The inner peace that Randall had longed for was again out of his reach, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
    Randall spun around in his seat to face the cactus of knowledge. He stared straight ahead with an intense look. Fuck it. It’s just fucking too hard. Maybe I should take DL up on their offer to kill the bastard. There is absolutely no justice in the world.

CHAPTER 15 – THE GREY NURSE

    The next day Randall looked at a message that had been scribbled on a plain piece of paper and jammed between the buttons on his keyboard. It had achieved its goal of catching his attention. The message simply read: Sarge, please call Nurse Helen Florence, RPA Hospital Psychiatric Ward, may have a suspect in your case Ph 95596435.
    This message was of particular interest to him as it came from a psychiatric facility. The mutilation of the body was consistent with that of a very troubled individual, possibly a patient. Secondly, nurses generally made very good, reliable witnesses, and finally, the suspect Cheung was also a psych nurse.
    On their way to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Hobbs ended a long silence. “Well, there may be something in this, boss. To murder someone and cut a head off, you would have to really have a screw loose.”
    Randall looked straight ahead. “Yeah, I was thinking that myself.”
    Hobbs nodded. “If it were me, and I wanted to beat a murder wrap. I would be well prepared.”
    “How so,” Randall asked, turning down the stereo.
    “Simple, I would start doing some crazy stuff in the lead up, maybe book myself in the nut house a few days prior. Start doin’ a bit of outrageous stuff, you know getting around nude with my undies on my head, that sort of thing.”
    “What’s mad about that? That’s a usual Sunday morning at home for me.”
    Hobbs looked at Randall. “Yeah,