Abacus

off and grabbed a backpack. As he made his way out the door, the detectives brushed past him in single file. Once inside, Randall found himself standing in the lounge room of a modest single bedroom unit. The lounge room was part of a larger open-plan area, which also consisted of a dining room and open-planned kitchen. There was a small window in the kitchen above the sink, and a larger hopper-style window, which was on the same wall at the junction of the dining room and kitchen.
    The flooring throughout the un it consisted of large soft grey-coloured tiles, with the exception of the kitchen with its bright ivory-coloured vinyl flooring. As he walked down a small hall towards the bedroom, he saw a linen cupboard on the left. Continuing into the only bedroom, he saw a built-in wardrobe on the left and the entrance to the en suite to the right.
    He walked back out and joined Hobbs and Jesse in the sparsely furnished lounge room. “This won’t take very long, boys,” Jesse said. “We’ll start here in the lounge, then dining, kitchen, before heading into the bedroom.”
    Randall could see that Hobbs’s attention was elsewhere, as he stared at the dining room wall. “Big fella, you with us?” he said, clicking his fingers.
    “Oh yeah, sorry , boss. I was just looking at the walls. The paint looks pretty new and it has that smell, like the joint has had some sort of reno.”
    Jesse looked around and agreed. “Yeah, the owners might have done the place up between tenants, you know, so they could raise the rent.”
    They began their systematic search of the lounge room, which contained a dark br own corduroy lounge and a beige-coloured entertainment unit. The entertainment unit was a base for a small silver stereo system and small black television. On the floor in front of the lounge, was a charcoal coloured rug, which was about six feet squared.
    Jesse moved the lounge away from the wall and said confidently, “It doesn’t matter how well they try, if this is where he met his end, there would have to be something left behind.”
    Randall looked at Jesse. “You’re not gloved up, Jess, there could be all kinds of bacteria in here. Are you going to take that chance?” Randall turned to face Hobbs to hide his smile. He could hear Jesse fidgeting in his pocket, and heard the slap of rubber gloves being pulled on. He turned to Jesse and gave an approving nod. “Much better, Jess.”
    All three detectives met hodically searched all surfaces in the room for evidence. After a ten minute search and having satisfied themselves that the room held no clues, they moved into the adjoining dining area.
    Once again they divided up the room and searched together. Hobbs started at the wall to the north, which included the hopper window with a Venetian blind. Randall searched the eastern wall, which was a common wall shared with the neighbour at number fourteen, and Jesse searched the floor and ceiling. The only furniture in this room consisted of a small wooden dining table with two matching wooden chairs.
    Hobbs s tarted his search at the window and studied each blade of the venetian blind very closely. After finishing with the blind, he pulled the cord, which raised it up to the pelmet. With the window now in clear view, he used his torch to carefully check the window frame and glass.
    “How you going there? ” Randall asked.
    “No good so far,” he said as he pulled the cord that allowed the blind to fall again to its original position. Hobbs looked up at the high pelmet and asked, “Jesse can you pass me one of those chairs please, mate?” Jesse picked up a chair and walked it over to him. Hobbs placed the chair under the window and climbed up. As he did, he steadied himself by holding the window frame. With his head now above the pelmet, he shone the torch on top. Carefully moving along the pelmet, he stopped midway. “Could have something here, guys.”
    They both looked up. “What have you got there?” Randall asked, standing on his tiptoes to get a better look.
    “There are some small red spots on top of the blind here, could be blood. Have a look, see what you think.” Hobbs got off the chair and handed his torch to Randall as he climbed up.
    He shone the torch on the top of the blind and could see about a dozen small red spots. He crouched down on the chair and looked at each blade of the blind. He saw they were quite clean, not even dust had settled on them. “Could be,” he said, getting off the