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About the author Geoff Dryden
was born in 1945 in a coal mining and steel town in the north of As a
young man of twenty-three, he left
After six years in He
has spent most of his working life in manufacturing management in many
industries from large corporations to boutique companies. An inquisitive
traveller and lover of cooking, fine food and architecture, he has visited a
number of countries to exercise these interests.
Although maintaining a holiday house on the beautiful
Geoff has been an avid reader of crime fiction for as long as he can remember
and in the last few years he has wanted to write the type of story that he loves
to read and hopefully that others will also enjoy.
READ A SAMPLE:
Even
at 7.00 a.m. it was hot and it would get hotter as the
day went on. Summer on the ‘Adam
Baron.’ ‘Good
morning, sir.’ The voice
on the other end he recognised as Sergeant Billy Williams who manned the desk at
the ‘We’ve got
a body in the coffin, sir. Reported in about an hour ago.’ ‘Isn’t that
where a body should be, Billy?’ replied Adam. ‘Not when
‘the coffin’ is the name of the fourth hole at the Flinders Golf Club, sir. And
the members aren’t sure whether to call it an unnatural hazard or GUR – ground
under repair.’ When
Sergeant Williams was not stressed he had a good sense of humour, which you
needed being a desk sergeant. Over a couple of beers, he would tell you stories
about his early days in country ‘Well, it
wasn’t there yesterday morning, Billy. I’m sure I would have noticed and if I
hadn’t, Dr Philip would have.’ Dr Francis
Philip was supposed to be semi-retired but his expertise as a doctor and surgeon
were in demand. Plus the fact that his easy-going manner meant he got put upon.
As well as his medical qualifications, he was Adam’s golfing partner and a
devotee of the grape, especially the heavy, red variety.
‘Dr Philip
is on his way there now, sir. He said much the same as you did.’ ‘Alright,
sergeant. I’m on my way.’ Adam picked
up his jacket, put a tie in his pocket, hoping he wouldn’t have to wear it and
went downstairs to the garage. He backed out the Volvo, set the air conditioner
and headed out of The
twenty-minute drive to the golf course was a pleasure, not a chore. The road
hugged the waters of ‘Good
morning, sir. I’m sorry we can’t keep these people away. At the moment we have
dog walkers, beach walkers, golfers and to cap it off, one very upset club
captain. I can hardly understand a word he’s saying.’ ‘That’s
alright, constable. Who’ve you got with you?’ ‘PC James,
sir.’ ‘Right get
on the phone to Sergeant Williams and get some extra help, let’s see what I can
do in the meantime.’ Adam walked
straight over to Jack Campbell, the club captain. ‘Jack, I
want you to get on to the head greenkeeper and ask him to lend me a couple of
his lads with their trucks so I can set up a barrier to keep these people out
until I get some more assistance.’ Jack
Campbell was a small man of about mid sixties who stood with his legs and arms
apart to try and make himself look bigger. He was a pugnacious Scot. Adam
thought this pugnacity was to compensate for his lack of stature. ‘I’m not
fucking here to help you set up a base camp. I’m here to tell you to piss off.
Do you know we’ve got a group of players representing the golfing team from
every bank in the state who paid good money to play here? They tee off a 9.30
and I want you people off this golf course, now!’
Without
another word Adam turned back to PC Garret, who was striding back to his patrol
car. ‘Constable,
take your car round to the front gate and stop any unauthorised people coming in
until I say so.’ ‘Just a
bloody minute, mister. You can’t do that! This is private property, don’t come
storm-trooping in here! I’m not just
anybody you know, I can have you reported.’ The club
captain had puffed himself up to the maximum and was as red as a beetroot. Adam took
one quick step closer that made Jack Campbell flinch and he looked straight down
onto the top of his head and quietly spoke. ‘I am not
your ‘mister’. I am Senior Detective Inspector Baron and I am currently
investigating a possible crime. I have the right to close off this golf course
as a suspected crime scene and if I don’t get some co-operation from you it
might not reopen until Wednesday.’ There was a
steely silence, the onlookers watched quietly. PC Garret stood mid stride,
frozen to the spot. It was Dr Philip who broke the silence. ‘Adam,
you’d better come and look at this.’ Adam turned
without another word and followed the doctor back to where a canvas sheet had
been discreetly raised over the obvious shape of a body. The body of a male was
laid out, as if to attention, arms down by their side dressed in what had
probably been an expensive three-piece suit. With the legs set together the feet
had splayed making them look like that of an oversized clown. As Adam bent down
to look under the canvas he immediately drew back. ‘Benny
Hardy! What are you doing outside of The
doctor’s eyebrows lifted as if he wanted to hear more so Adam continued. ‘Benny
Hardy is, or was, the proprietor of The European Jeweller, a shop in Little
Collins Street. He lived with his mother in ‘Well, when
I first looked at him I couldn’t see any marks on him so I thought some sort of
seizure or a fall. But you couldn’t fall as neatly as that. Even when I rolled
him I couldn’t find a mark on him but as I was undoing his waistcoat, look what
I found.’ As Adam
bent over the body the doctor opened the waistcoat and revealed a small, red
stain on the white shirt just below where the heart would be. The doctor
continued to open the shirt and there was a tiny hole in the skin. The hole
itself was dark coloured and around it the skin looked an angry red. ‘If the
hole wasn’t so small, Francis, I’d say that was a bullet wound.’ ‘Adam, if
it looks like a bullet wound and it smells like a bullet wound … check the
waistcoat … and it feels like a bullet wound. Touch the skin around the wound.
Then, my friend, it is a bullet
wound.’ ‘But it’s
so small,’ said Adam, ‘and why haven’t we seen more blood?’ ‘My guess
is, and it’s only a guess so don’t rely on it, that a small calibre bullet from
a not-so-powerful weapon was fired into the heart from a very close range. The
heart stops pumping immediately therefore little-to-no blood leaves the body.
The body was placed here after death. Look at the marks on the grass and the
marks on the heels of his otherwise immaculate shoes. They lead from the road to
here. From that we can deduce he was delivered here by person, or persons,
unknown, as you would say.’ ‘I would
never say that, Francis. That phrase is for media releases. I’ll call in the
crime-scene people and as you’ve done my job for me, I might as well leave, but
can you wait till they get here?’ As Adam
walked back towards his car he could see two patrol cars coming around the
course and also that three of the groundsmen were talking to PC Garret. Jock ‘Thanks for
your co-operation, Jock. It looks like I’ll have a team here for some time but
we only need to secure this one hole. I’ll close the road at both ends and tape
off this area. If you get your players to play the third then cut through those
trees to the fifth then they only miss out on one hole and if you tell them
about the body you’ll add a bit of excitement to their day – which, considering
you say they’re bankers, can only be a positive.’
Jock Back in the
office, Adam’s first job was to put DS David Wales in the picture, David was the
ringmaster for the major crime unit. He pulled the teams together and set up the
incident room, whether in their offices or at a crime scene. He collated all
incoming material and allocated tasks to the foot soldiers. He was the best in
the business because his idea of good policing was to gather evidence and piece
it together bit by bit to build a clear picture of what had taken place. He was
certainly not a kick-the-door-down or standover man. They’d worked together on
and off for a long time. David knew what Adam expected and Adam let him get on
with it. David agreed that it was too early to set up a full team until they
knew a bit more especially whether this was the crime scene or just the dumping
ground. In the meantime David got into his computer to see what he could dig up
on Mr Benny Hardy. Meanwhile
Adam went to see Superintendent Rich, his immediate superior, who as long as he
was kept in the picture rarely interfered. The super had supported Adam’s idea
of setting up serious-crime units in regional centres of
Adam took the opportunity to get a bite
of lunch which meant a simple sandwich. At this time of year The local
newspaper always boasted about the population explosion at this time of year.
This police station didn’t have to be told, every uniformed officer was working
at least a twelve hour shift. This was summertime and for the petty criminal the
living was easy, drinkers started early to avoid the rush and domestic disputes
on caravan sites were legendary. People were going to have a good time if it
killed them and it often did. When Adam
got back to his office, on top of his usual pile of never ending paperwork a
thin manila folder sat. The writing on the cover said, “Benny Hardy” in David’s
long hand. Adam opened the folder revealing three sheets of A4 paper. He read
the top sheet:
Subject: Mr Benjamin (Benny) Hardy
D.O.B: 15th October 1934
P.O.B:
Address Private:
Address Business: 511A Little
Parents: Deceased
Brother: Joseph Hardy The top
sheet continued with the profile including contacts and telephone numbers of
people and places that Benny had used as references. The second and third sheets
gave a chronological account of dates and times that Benny had been interviewed
starting in 1976 with the last entry being in 2001. Against each entry the line
read, “In relation to stolen property”. There was
no notice of conviction against any of these entries and during this twenty-five
year period Benny had been either innocent or clever, or a combination of both.
After reading through the report twice the only thing that did seem unusual was
that whenever the interviews had been conducted at a police station – usually ‘Anybody
seen the Rabbit?’ Adam didn’t
hear the response but the voice came back to him. ‘Sorry, pal. He’s out for most
of the afternoon, who did you say you were?’ Adam gave
his name and rank again and in a more polite exchange got the mobile number of
DS Steel. On the third ring a voice answered. ‘Yeah. ‘This is
Inspector Adam Baron from Mornington Peninsula Serious Crime Unit. I’m looking
for some information on Benny Hardy.’ ‘That old
bugger? I haven’t seen him for a long time, what’s your interest, sir, if I may
ask?’ ‘He was
found dead this morning on the Flinders Golf Course.’ ‘Really?
What’s he doing out of his little world? I suppose you wouldn’t be asking if he
just slipped on a banana skin.’ ‘Shot in
the heart with a small calibre gun.’ ‘Bloody
hell! He didn’t deserve that. How can I help you?’ ‘I knew
Benny years ago, probably the same way you did and I need to get up to date and
see if I can get a lead from somewhere. When I knew him he never stepped out of
his area, he lived with his mother in ‘Apart from
his mother dying, he sounds about the same. He still lives at that address and
the shop hasn’t changed. But I’ve always had this funny idea about him. As you
probably know he’s never been convicted of anything because frankly, I don’t
think he ever did anything. I just
think he liked the idea of being on the edge of the criminal world. When we
brought him in I think he enjoyed it. He liked to be mysterious and he played
coy to anything we suggested he might have been involved in. Got to be a bit of
a pain in the end.’ Adam
thought for a while and then said, ‘If I can get his possessions back, say, by
tomorrow late morning, that will give me his keys. Can we meet at his place and
have a look about? I’d rather one of you local boys was with me. If you need
authority I can make some calls.’ ‘That’s all
right, sir. Superintendent West is a good bloke he gives us plenty of slack as
long as we get some results.’ ‘You don’t
mean Allan West do you? A pommy bloke?’ ‘That’s
him. You know him then?’ ‘Know him!
We came out together, I thought he was in Mildura.’ ‘He’s been
here about eighteen months, a good bloke.’ ‘Is he
still missing his ‘No, found
a good brew in Mildura and has it sent down regular.’ ‘Alright,
I’ll ring you tomorrow. Thanks for your time, sergeant.’ There was
only one thing Adam had left to do for the day and he was going to do that from
home. So before he left he went round to David Wales to tell him he was off and
asked him to check up on Benny Hardy’s possessions. There was
no shade in the car park and his car was as hot as hell. With all the windows
open he drove onto the main road and set off for home. There was a light breeze
at ‘This is a
nice surprise on a Monday morning. Are you feeling guilty about something?’ Angela had
a way of disarming Adam with her frankness and wicked sense of humour. It was
those traits that got them together in the first place. Angela had been
contracted to do upgrades on the police computer systems, this was the work her
company did in the ‘My only
guilt is sitting here on the deck looking at the water across ‘And I
suppose you are going to tell me how wonderful the weather is while I freeze my
tail off here.’ ‘Please
don’t freeze your tail off, I’ve rather got to like it.’ There was a
silence before she answered. ‘What are
we going to do, Adam? It’s only six weeks since you were here but it feels like
a lifetime ago.’ ‘Angela,
we’ve already talked this through. You can sell your business and I can retire
but neither of us at this time could live in each others country full time. Even
though I was born there, I couldn’t live in ‘Why are
you so practical?’ ‘Because
we’ve both made mistakes before and we can’t afford to make any more. We’ve
found something together we don’t want to spoil.’ The subject
was closed for the moment and they each discussed what they were doing before
they finally, and reluctantly, hung up. Angela was right, of course. Adam had
spent a month of his holidays – of which he had plenty to spare – seeing Angela
again. After their first two weeks together here neither of them was sure if the
magic was still there. They needn’t have worried. As soon as they saw each other
at Heathrow airport’s terminal 4 nothing had changed. They spent the first week
in The second
week was spent in his old stamping ground in the North. While there were no
relatives left and few friends he showed her the Practical
or not Adam knew that sooner rather than later he and Angela had to decide what
to do or their relationship would wither on the vine. He got another beer before
his next call. This second call was to Joseph Hardy using the number that was
entered on Benny’s file. The phone was picked up after the forth ring. ‘Hi, this
is Joe Hardy.’ The words
were American but the accent wasn’t. ‘Mr Hardy,
my name is Inspector Adam Baron calling from The long
silence was followed by, ‘What can I do for you, inspector?’ The voice
was guarded, almost as if he knew what was coming. ‘It’s about
your brother sir. I’m afraid he’s dead, his body was found early this morning,
our time.’ Another
long silence. ‘Are you
guys allowed to tell me what happened, over the phone?’ ‘Yes, of
course. He’d actually been shot, sir. A single bullet wound to the chest, he
would have died instantly.’ ‘Hell, are
you serious? That’s supposed to happen here in ‘I can’t
tell you for the moment, sir. It’s not clear yet and our investigations have
only just started. This call is to notify you as next of kin.’ ‘Next of
kin? I’m the only kin. It wasn’t a
heist gone wrong in that damn shop of his was it? I told him to get rid of it
years ago. He called it the family business. Family business my arse.’ Joe Hardy
was getting angry now, it often happened in these situations. It was as if the
victim should have been more considerate before going out and getting themselves
shot. ‘As far as
we know it was not directly related to the business. As I said it’s too early to
say what the circumstances were. This call is to advise the next of kin and to
ask you if there someone who could formally make an identification?’ ‘Hell no,
that’s my job, inspector. I’ll get the
first flight I can, give me your number and I’ll call you when I get in. Is that
okay?’ ‘That’s
fine, sir. One last thing though, I want to go through your brother’s home and
business premises as soon as possible to try and establish a reason for what’s
happened.’ ‘Inspector,
you do whatever it takes and I’ll get there as soon as I can.’ The call
ended and Adam knew that the business-like attitude that Joseph Hardy was
displaying would soon evaporate when the impact of his brother’s death hit home.
There was
nothing more to be done today.
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