KIMMY'S LIST

CHAPTER 12

When Jax and his search team arrived in Steilight, tailed by the inquisitive television networks, the town’s population increased by fifty percent. The last time the country town experienced this many people at any one time, was during the height of the 1860’s gold rush.

The orange jumpsuits of the state emergency service and the dark blue overalls of the Oolong police fanned out in long search lines across the bush lands, by order of the Chief, all searchers had to be wearing safety boots. Preventing the hidden attack of snakes and vicious insects.

Prior to allocating search grids to each team, Jax stood out front and addressed the gathering, like a footy coach delivering a final message before his team took to the field.

‘This area we are standing on was heavily mined for gold up until the last gold mine closed in 1941. Them days used to refer to the ‘Midas Touch,’ Jax said. ‘What remains today are several deep and dangerous mine shafts, scattered across the landscape.

‘Now…In the past… Mullock heaps, which are mounds of waste rock and dirt, gave away the location of each mine shaft. But over time, the elements have eroded these away. Wild, long grasses now conceal what is left of the mullock heaps and the mine shaft openings. There are no Work Safe Safety signs out here people. These things are out there and they’re dangerous. Check every step before you take it.

‘Our priority is to firstly locate a mine shaft, then we have to determine if there are any bodies in the shaft.’

Following his pre-game briefing, lines of searches prodded the ground with long sticks as they edged through the bush.

While standing in the pop up command centre, under the shade of the portable camp -style pergola, Jax uncapped his water bottle and took a long drink. The dusty bush environment played havoc with his eyes and dried out his throat.

He scanned the searchers trudging amongst the overgrowth and trees, hoping someone found something. There were a lot of resources deployed here and it would be embarrassing if no bodies were found.

The command portable radio crackled to life. Jax moved to the radio and lifted the handset. ‘Last caller, repeat,’ he said.

A voice crackled over the radio. ‘Search team four to command…We have located a mine shaft,’

Jax’s searching eyes scanned the bush land.

‘What is your location, search team four…?’ Jax said.

‘South - west corner of grid seven…’

Jax moved to the large map on an easel. His finger traced the grids, stopping at grid seven.

‘Can you tell if there is anything in the hole,’ Jax asked.

‘Affirmative. There appears to be something at the bottom. Difficult to tell what. The mine is approximately fifteen to twenty meters deep.’

The search and rescue body recovery team was deployed to the mine site.

A cop trussed up in a harness, attached to a portable, motorised pulley, was slowly lowered down into the mine shaft. A colleague guided the cable into the hole. Search team four encircled the vicinity of the hole, watching on.

Jax inched his way to the edge of the mine shaft and slowly peered down on the cop disappearing into the darkness. After a few short minutes Jax had his answer, for this hole at least.

‘False alarm,’ blurted across Jax’s portable radio. ‘Bring me up…’

The search and rescue cop guiding the cable signalled to the pulley operator to bring him up. The pulley hummed as the cable rewound onto the large spool.

When the cop emerged from the hole, he shook his head. ‘Just a large, decomposing springbuck at the bottom…Nothing else.’

Jax circled a disappointed hand in the air. ‘OK. Back to it, people,’ he said, then returned to the shade of the command centre.

Fifteen minutes later his radio again crackled to life. ‘Search team one… command. We have located a mine opening in grid two.’

Jax lifted the radio handset. ‘Command received. Stand by. The body recovery team are on their way to you.’

Within minutes the search and rescue cop slowly descended from view into the mine shaft. A second team member guided the cable into the hole.

Five minutes later, Jax’s radio crackled to life.

‘Search and Rescue one, to command… I have three human remains. Repeat. Three human remains.’

The body recovery team leapt into action. A harness stretcher was lowered into the hole and one-by-one, the bodies were removed. First out was Malcolm Denver, then Jenny Cox and last out was Brian Taylor.

Jax inspected his three missing person victims laid out in a row on the ground, each one in a different stage of decomposition and insect infestation. The gaping wound to Denver’s neck caught his eye. He checked the other two bodies and noted that they too had wounds to their necks.

Forensics crime scene cops moved in and photographed the remains and their respective injuries and body markings.

As Jax watched on he wondered, could Kimberly Davis Slash a person’s throat? He wasn’t so sure. These were the actions of a cold - hearted, psychopathic killer, and Kimberly Davis did not fit that profile.

Regardless, Kimberly’s List had now provided the whereabouts to five of his seven missing persons.

Each victim had been brutally murdered and their bodies dumped. It was time to bring her in. If she could not prove her psychic medium defence, she would be in a great deal of trouble.

Kimmys’ Wednesday started out like any other - 9AM mid - week meeting with her manager, then she attended to her files, all the while time - watching until her morning coffee break.

At 10:15AM Naomi appeared at Kimmy’s cubicle. ‘Ready Kim…?’

Kimmy checked the time on her computer screen. Naomi was right on time for their morning stroll for their coffee.

Kimmy opened the bottom drawer and removed her purse.

‘Hey, Kim…Isn’t that the cop who came ‘Round to your place to speak to you about your night time visitors?’ Naomi gestured towards the office front door.

Kimmy glanced to the front of the office. Detective Sergeant Jax Higgins was talking to Kimmy’s manager. A female uniform cop stood with them. The manager gestured towards Kimmy and Naomi.

Kimmy frowned. ‘I think it is…Wonder what he wants.’

‘I think you’re about to find out, Kim…. They’re coming this way…’

Kimmy watched Jax and her manager approach. They moved through the open office, heading straight for her. ‘Maybe he has some good news, Nomes…’ Kimmy said.

‘Could you excuse us please, Naomi,’ the manager said, directly and without emotion.

Naomi nodded. ‘I’ll see you at the café, Kim,’ Naomi said then moved to the office exit door.

Kimmy’s manager’s expression was forlorn when she spoke to Kimmy.

‘The police are here for you, Kimberly. Can you please log out of the system…’

Jax nodded to the manager. ‘Thanks Alima,’ Jax said. He stepped forward.

‘OK…’ Kimmy said. ‘What’s this about, Detective…?’

‘Kimberly, I am here to arrest you for the murders of Brian Taylor, Jenny Cox, Lance Edwards, Sarah Moon and Malcolm Denver.’

Kimmy’s jaw fell open. The colour drained from her face as the police woman who accompanied the detective approached Kimmy and secured handcuffs to her wrists. As she did so, she informed Kimmy of her right to remain silent.

‘I don’t understand. I didn’t murder anyone…You know I didn’t murder those people,’ Kimmy said.

She pleaded with Jax. Her eyes welled up. ‘Can I call my husband?’ She said. Her voice tremored.

‘You can, but you can call him from the police station,’ Jax said.

Jax and the police woman took an arm each. Every set of inquisitive eyes in the office watched their colleague in tears, being escorted through the office, like a common criminal.

As they approached the front door, Kimberly’s manager chased after them with Kimberly’s hand bag. She handed it to Jax and they were gone.

Their first stop was Kimberly’s home address in Belmonte, where several plain clothes cops descended on her modest brick veneer house.

The inquisitive neighbours looking on watched cops carrying out a computer hard drive and other items in large plastic bags.

Due to the considerable period of time that had passed since those named on Kimberly’s List went missing, Jax was limited to the available evidence he expected to find during the search warrant.

Maybe Kimberly’s clothing contained residual blood. Maybe her internet search history hid some vital evidence, or maybe the deleted emails they recovered would provide that smoking gun, although he remained doubtful.

After arriving at the police station, Jax placed Kimberly into a small interview room. One table and two chairs were the only furniture in a room, devoid of windows and personality. Clearly, the least comfortable a crook felt, the better.

Tears flowed as she glanced around the small room confining her. The unknown scared her. She had never been on the wrong side of the law before. And today was no different. She had done nothing wrong. She just had to get the police to understand that.

The hinges on the door squeaked when Jax entered the room carrying a desk phone. He plugged it into a wall socket and turned the phone to face Kimberly. ‘Dial zero to get an outside line, then dial your number,’ Jax said.

Jax recognised the fear in Kimberly’s eyes when she looked up at him. He’d seen it numerous times before. It was present in the many first - time offenders he’d charged. It was a fear of the unknown and an intimidation over what came next.

To Jax though, Kimberly was different. The bodies he recovered had all been brutally murdered, each with a large bladed knife, and more than likely, by the same killer.

Jax knows murderers, he knows psychopaths. He had looked all of them in the eyes before. Kimberly did not fit any of those profiles. A large part of him hoped she could prove her psychic abilities and make this all go away. He hoped, but he wasn’t hopeful.

‘Do I call my husband…?’ Kimberly said.

‘You can call whomever you want,’ Jax said. ‘Do you want a lawyer?’

‘Do I need one?’ Kimberly’s bottom lip quivered.

‘I would strongly suggest you seek legal representation.’

Jax’s words frightened her. Kimberly could no longer hold back the torrent of tears. She broke down crying as the gravity of her predicament sunk in.

Jax left the room. When he returned he placed a box of tissues in front of Kimberly. He didn’t say any words. He didn’t have to. These weren’t tears of regret from being caught. These were tears of a frightened woman, quite possibly unjustly brought in to answer to something she had knowledge of.

Kimberly dragged out a tissue. She sniffed as she wiped her reddened eyes. She looked up at Jax standing opposite. ‘I don’t understand why you are doing this. I haven’t done anything wrong.’ Her tone pleaded her innocence. She again wiped her eyes.

‘What’s going to happen to me?’

Jax slid into a chair. He leaned on his elbow as he regarded Kimberly. ‘We recovered the bodies of five people whose names were on the list you gave to police…They were recovered in, or around the locations you provided. Each one had been murdered….’ Jax said.

Kimberly’s head shot up. Her eyes flared. ‘Murdered …OH how horrible.’ She wiped her nose with the tissue. ‘None of them told me they had been murdered,’ she said. ‘But I thought I was helping you find them when I gave you that list…’

‘You did,’ Jax said. ‘And that is when your trouble started. You told us where to find these people whose bodies had been hidden. Only the offender knew where they were. And you led us straight to them. We haven’t located the last two yet, but I’m confident we will.’

‘This is insane,’ Kimberly said. ‘I told you… These people came to me. They told me where they were. I didn’t kill anyone.’ Frustration was now evident in her tone.

‘I hope for your sake you can prove that, Kimberly. I really do,’ Jax said.

He flicked a finger at the telephone. ‘I’ll let you make your call.’ He pushed himself up from his chair.

‘How do I prove it to you?’

Jax stopped at the door.

‘It isn’t me you have to prove it to, Kimberly…’ he said, then wrenched open the door and left the room.

By the time Kimberly’s lawyer arrived with Boyd, Kimberly was beside herself with fear. The large knot in her stomach churned. Mascara tracks ran down her cheeks, resembling a deranged racoon. Dark smears formed on her navy skirt from nervously rubbing her perspiring hands down her thighs.

Following his discussion with Kimberly in the interview room, the lawyer left the room to talk to Jax. ‘I’ve spoken to my client, Detective. She mentioned something about being charged with five murders. I find that astonishing. Can you possibly enlighten me further,’ the lawyer said.

‘At this stage, I intend to interview your client as a principle offender in relation to five cold case murders…’

‘At this stage? Are you suggesting there are more?’

‘Quite probably.’

‘She is devastated by these allegations, Sergeant.’

‘I’m aware of that, Mr Jarvis.’

‘Do you have any physical evidence linking my client to any of these murders…?’

‘We have sufficient evidence to interview her, Mr Jarvis. We’re about to start. Have you finished with your client?’

‘I have. We will be denying these allegations.’

Jax nodded to the lawyer. He wouldn’t have expected anything less.