Vanished by James Delargy (free novel 24 TXT) 📕

knowing of their presence. That and the fact they could work during the day now rather than just at night.

But Mike Andrews wasn’t so sure. He preferred the anonymity. His appearance was too distinctive, what with his bald head and bulging gut. Now there were cameras. He tried to keep his calm. He unwrapped and threw in another stick of chewing gum. It usually helped.

This was the first time he had bumped into any of the family members since last night’s meeting. He had hoped they would abscond after but here they were. Recording.

At least it was her. Even with eyes adjusting to the brightness of the day he could see that she – Naiyana – was pretty. The kind of woman he was into. But he was ten years and fifty pounds too late for that, even if the mining work was drawing weight from him hand over fist.

Stevie and Ian joined him outside, not even bothering to cover their faces. Fucking stupid. Especially Stevie. He could be linked to Stevie.

The silence was broken by Ian offering a hello and Naiyana moving off quickly, her phone shoved into her shorts pocket. Mike followed her with his eyes as she strode away from them. Another problem with being stuck down a dark tunnel. Starved of pretty sights to see.

‘Back to work,’ said Ian.

‘I’m still on break,’ said Mike, flicking his penknife open and digging at the dirt under his nails. Reminding Ian that he wasn’t in sole charge. That this was a joint operation.

Ian and Stevie tried to stare him down. Fuck them. They were built for this type of shit. Skinny and fit. All he did was frequently blind himself with sweat. Both stared at him then turned to leave. He took one last look at the glorious blue sky and Naiyana’s even more glorious arse before following. The tunnel and the gold was the reason they were there after all. Not the family. Think of the end game, as Ian was fond of saying. Mike’s end game was a long holiday and setting up his own company. A fresh start. Be his own boss.

They weren’t crooks – apart from Ian – just opportunists. Skyline wasn’t going to do anything with the data. They were focused on large-scale operations not this small-scale shit. But with some luck – and the imaging data had eliminated some of that – and hard graft, they could get moderately rich. And he wasn’t a greedy man. Moderately rich was good enough for him.

Analysis of the images had identified that there was an eighty per cent chance Kallayee could bear fruit. It had all the positive markings. The trace of a giant old riverbed underneath leading to the possibility of placer deposits and a chance to free-mill gold. They just had to find the right tunnel. And after a couple of abortive attempts they had struck gold. Literally. A workable mine in good condition. Abandoned for at least forty years and probably closer to ninety. So any real right to ownership had lapsed. In his opinion. The government could take a running. Stevie was with him in that. His position was that something abandoned for this long should return to a state of nature. And nature was there to be looted.

62

Emmaline

The reports flooded in. Providing many different angles to look at. Mike Andrews, Stevie Amaranga, Chester Grant, Brightside Foods, INK Tech, Nikos Iannis, the stolen information. The search into any poisons Lorcan Maguire might have purchased was inconclusive: no card payments detected but they were unable to rule out cash payments. Anything was possible, even rat poison, secreted in her meals each day.

An operation led by ZZ had revealed that Lorcan Maguire did not have a security box opened under any of his, Naiyana’s or Dylan’s details where the stolen data might be stored.

Thorough searches of their house in Kallayee and the foreclosed house in Perth had revealed no hard disks or electronic storage of any kind. No rival company had reported being offered the material. Though it was acknowledged they likely wouldn’t report it if they had.

Not that any of this might have stopped Nikos Iannis from pursuing the matter. The disrespect alone would be enough to make him contemplate further courses of action, and it was obvious from meeting him that he did not trust Lorcan Maguire’s denial. So much so that he may have even arranged for people to travel all the way out to Kalgoorlie and beyond to meet him.

She moved on to Chester Grant. He had been adamant that he hadn’t met with Naiyana Maguire. But given the connection between his family and BS Foods she was sure there was more of a story to tell. Securing a hard-fought warrant through DI Moore and the magistrates, she had been granted access to a diary of his movements and meetings before and after Christmas.

Her life in the caravan was now a sobering mix of sex and paperwork. The former was more agreeable but she had left Matty this morning with no promise on future plans. It would be left to chance. Unlike this investigation.

Chester’s movements didn’t immediately trigger any alarms. Dates and times. Meetings with troubled constituents. With business leaders. With family. All scheduled and timed. Official duties interspersed with personal. An expenses report was attached to the diary. Since last year’s front-page scandals over false or exaggerated claims, all politicians were keeping meticulous records. And Chester Grant was no exception. But something jumped out at Emmaline. His expenses report included a trip claimed for that didn’t match his calendar. A flight to Kalgoorlie, a hire car and two hundred kilometres on the clock. Way outside his constituency. On 30 December. It had been marked as WB. Which Emmaline assumed stood for Wisbech. In the direction of Kallayee. A stupid error but one that could easily be made by a man both greedy for money and desperate to keep his job.

Why Wisbech? There was only one