Chapter 01

May you live in interesting times.

Apocryphal Chinese curse.

Things Happen!

A smiling Joe Watson is thinking, Life can’t get much better. He just finished a fine meal with his wife, daughter, best friend Bob, Bob’s wife, and their son. Joe hasn’t seen Bob and his family for almost a year, not since Joe got transferred to the rural city of Rivers in New South Wales (NSW). Both Joe and Robert had been too busy to take time out for visits, but they have time now and they’re making the most of this visit.

Joe and Alice are in the lead while they hurry to open the minivan in the car park behind the street corner restaurant. Several metres behind them are their twelve year old daughter, Mary, and Matt, Bob’s fifteen year old son, walking side by side. Two more metres back are Candice and Bob who are last because Bob paid the bill and he’s putting his card in his wallet as he walks down the street. Hearing a siren coming their way they all turn to give a glance back at the street the restaurant faces.

Alice is beside their van while Joe opens the rear passenger door. He slides the door open but not quite to the catch then he steps back. They both turn to the roar of a powerful car coming around the corner. It loses control then the tyres scream a protest as the car slides sideways across the road on an angle down it. After a quick glance at the car Matt acts by picking up Mary to hold her to his chest while he runs down the street. Candice and Bob start their runs a fraction of second later. Joe and Alice are shocked by what they see as the car slides across the road while tilted on an angle. The wheels hit the gutter then the car flips over onto its side. It’s fast while it slides across the two metres of footpath. Bob and Candice are beside the building when the roof of the car hits the building just behind them. The large car pivots on that point while the cabin crushes. The windscreen hits Candice and Bob. It smashes them against the wall. They’d scream with pain, except now they’ve no working lungs to scream with. The car pivots further and the front of the bonnet slams into the left side of the racing Matthew just when he reaches the end of the building’s brickwork where he’s only a few steps from safety in the car park.

The car knocks Matt and Mary flying like tossed rag dolls. Alice and Joe can only stand and watch the two children fly through the air with Matt’s feet a hand’s width off the ground. They can tell Matt is doing all he can to keep his hold of Mary since he’s the only protection she has right now. The car was pivoting when it hit them so that gave Matt a little turning motion along with the violent knock forward and sideways. This is only a metre or two in front of Joe, but he can’t tell how Matt uses the small twist effect to rotate him through over ninety degrees in the short time they’re in the air. However he made the turn it’s a critical action because it means Matt is between Mary and the van when they hit it. Instead of squashing her against the minivan with his larger body he’s now her cushion when they hit the van.

Matt’s right side and back slams into the sliding rear door with such force the door slides forward to slam shut just when his head hits the window and smashes it. The door jars to a halt. Matt is thrown forward at Alice and Joe. Matt’s eyes are rolling back into his head as Mary pops out of his arms. Acting on instinct alone Joe steps forward to catch Mary in the air then he staggers back a few steps. Alice steps forward to catch Matt’s upper body just when his feet hit the ground. He’s too heavy for her to hold him in place. She’s knocked back a pace when she catches him. They go to the ground together. Alice lands on her rear and is knocked onto her back with Matt on top of her. She lies still and holds him still for fear of further damage to his spine if she moves him.

More tyres scream while two police cars pull up in the street. Only one has a siren going, and it turns off. Both police drivers leave the cars’ flashing lights on. The four police officers get out and race to the scene. Two head to Joe and Alice while two head to the car.

Joe turns to the police while he yells, “We need an ICU ambulance for the kids. The car knocked them flying.” The cop nearest him nods to him as he grabs the vest mounted microphone of his belt radio and he asks for an Intensive Care Unit ambulance to be sent to the scene.

One officer stays with Joe while his partner goes to help the other two at the car. They can hear someone in the car screaming in pain but the car is jammed up against the wall as it’s caught on various pipes and other protrusions on the wall. They don’t have the knowledge or gear to get them out of the crumpled car wreck so they make a radio call for the rescue people to come to cut the people out of the car.

A few minutes later new sirens are heard then two ambulances arrive, and are soon followed by the rescue experts. The paramedic teams take a patient each and commence treatment.

The team checking Mary is quick to decide she has no problems they can detect, except shock. They give her a mild sedative and sit her in the back of the ambulance. The team leader working on Matt calls for the other two to get certain equipment and help them. They spend fifteen minutes assessing Matt then they place various inflatable braces on him before the four of them lift him off of Alice to put him onto a gurney. Only then can they check Alice and help her to the ambulance. All three will go to the hospital for x-rays and a full check by the doctors.

Joe watches the ambulances drive off with them. A police officer asks him what happened. The Senior Constable writes everything down in his notebook while Joe tells him what happened, Joe signs it a moment later. Just when the Officer is turning away a police van pulls up and the Scene of Crime people get out. Joe turns to their leader while saying, “I’ve got to go to the hospital to check up on my family. Can you please do what you need to do to my van first so I can get going?” The woman gives him a look as if he’s crazy. “One of the injured was knocked into my van by the car. I think you may need to take photos and other evidence.” She nods yes while she gives him a small smile before directing two people to talk to him and to do what needs to be done so he can get on his way.

Several minutes later the minivan is all photographed and cleared to leave the scene. Joe is about to leave when the Senior Constable walks over to say, “I thought you may like to know the current status. The car driver survived the crash but he died before they could cut him out.” Joe just nods while he gets into the van. He drives away as he does not care about the driver - not a bit; he already knows Bob and Candice are dead.

Hospital

Joe arrives at the government run public hospital and he goes to the Emergency Room (ER). He asks the duty nurse about Alice, Mary, and Matt. She hands him a clipboard with lots of paperwork to complete: a set for each of them. Knowing the ways of a government bureaucracy he sits down to fill in what he can on the forms. He knows what’s needed to complete the papers for Alice and Mary so that’s done real quick. While filling in the papers for Matt, most of which he does know, he realises he needs to tell some people about what’s happened tonight because Matt is now an orphan. Joe knows who Bob’s solicitor is because he used to use him while living in Sydney. He’s another old school mate he and Bob have known since they were six years old. Joe looks the number up in his personal phone book while he walks to the public phone as cell phones aren’t to be used in the hospital ER.

In with his credit card then Joe dials the number. A woman answers the phone after many rings, saying, “This better be fucking important.”

It’s easy for Joe to picture why the anger, but he doesn’t laugh at it like he would’ve under other circumstances. His voice is flat as he says, “Dorothy, Joe Watson, put Paul on, and sit him down, please?” The lack of tone in his voice worries her so she doesn’t start the usual banter they have on the phone, but she gets her husband for him. When Paul is on the phone Joe says, “I’m at the Rivers Base Hospital ER. Candice and Bob are dead and Matt is in a real bad way. We need an authority for his medical treatment.” He knows Bob and Candice always plan for the worst case situation and they’ll have something in place with Paul so he’s asking for it to be activated as well as telling him all that happened.

“Is Betty Marlow still your solicitor there?” Joe admits she is. “Right, give me the fax number for the hospital and I’ll fax some papers down. Tomorrow I’ll send the originals to Betty by courier. You and Alice have guardianship so you can sign for his care. The papers will show that. What happened?” Joe tells him, and Paul promises to pass along the information to all of the people who need to know it. Joe gets the fax number from the nurse at the desk and he gives it to Bob. Joe hangs up and sets about finishing the paperwork before handing it to the nurse.

Sydney, NSW

Paul turns to his wife, “Sit down, Dear.” Her eyes go wide at the lack of tone in his voice now, so she sits down. “That was Joe Watson. Candice, Bob, and Matt went to see his family for the weekend. After dinner in town tonight they were on the street when a car lost control and flipped. It squashed Bob and Candice against the wall while it knocked Matt and Mary flying past the end of the building. Mary is OK. Matt is being evaluated in ER. Bob and Candice are dead.” He leans over and holds her while she cries about the death of her half-brother and his wife, an old school friend. Several minutes later she stops crying and he helps her to stand. A little later she takes a sedative and lies down on their bed. He goes back downstairs to make some urgent phone calls.

The first call is one he dreads as he has to call Candice’s family. At least he can limit this to the one person in the family who will care about what happened and will miss them. He rings the number. A butler answers the phone. Paul says, “I’m sorry to be calling so late but I urgently need to speak to Missus Anders.”

“I’m sorry, Sir, but she’s already retired for the evening.”

“I suspected that but this is too urgent to wait until the morning.”

Paul is busy flipping through his pocket notebook while he talks. He’s sure he has a special code in here somewhere, one Candice gave him years ago. He finds it and says, “Please, just go and tell her I need to speak to her about the Magic Orchid.”

There’s a short silence. Banners has been the Anders’ butler for thirty years and during that time he’s been told six code phrases. Each was issued to a different person but he doesn’t know who. What he does know is they indicate a dire emergency for the family and he has to put the call through. He says, “Please wait, Sir, I’ll go get her.”

It takes Banners almost a minute to walk through the house to the right room. He knocks on the door, no answer. He knocks a second time, harder. A sleepy voice calls out, “Yes, Banners, what is it?”

He walks into the room, “Sorry, Madam. There’s a man on the phone in the Day Room. The voice isn’t familiar. He said he must urgently talk with you about the Magic Orchid.” He’s surprised at how quick Mrs Anders moves. Her eyes pop open wide and she almost jumps out of bed. After grabbing a robe she puts it on while running out of the room.

A moment later Mrs Constance Anders is picking up the phone in the Day Room and says, “Who is this?”

Paul recognises the voice because they’ve met many times before. “Connie, it’s Paul Barnes. I’m sorry to be calling this late. I just got word Candice and Bob have been killed by an out of control car while in the country. Matt is hurt and in hospital. Joe and Alice Watson are on hand and are looking after things right now. Tomorrow I expect the police to catch up with you during the day, after they’ve time to identify them.”

She slumps into a chair as her only daughter is dead. She has four sons but Candice was the only one of her children to call on her for just a visit and chat after they became adults with families of their own. She’ll miss the weekly visits by her and Matt. She takes a deep breath while she gathers her strength. “Paul, did Candice finish getting things done to protect Matthew’s inheritance?” She hears his intake of breath. “I know you can’t tell me any details. However, she did speak to me, a lot, about establishing a trust and transferring all of her assets and all of Robert’s assets into the trust. She mentioned this a few years ago when mother died and she needed to set up a trust for his share of her estate. Candice said she’ll put everything into the one trust. She was going to set it up with her and Dorothy as trustees so either can do what’s needed. I need to know Matt is protected from his uncles. The moment they learn he’s an orphan they’ll want to get control of him to control Candice’s shares in the family company. I won’t let them misuse him.”

Paul didn’t know Candice had been speaking to Connie about this but it makes sense for them to have spoken about it. Connie is not his client and he has no instructions about her but he does need to say something. “Connie, I can’t talk about any of my clients’ affairs. But let me just say: Matthew is a client of mine in his own right and I have on hand everything to see both he and all of his property are protected against any vultures that may come calling.”

She grins at the description of her power and money hungry older sons and the harpies they married. If she’d been able to stop her husband from being so involved in the boys’ upbringing they wouldn’t have turned out the way they did. She got to raise Candice herself because George all but ignored Candice as he didn’t think a woman had any place in running a business, despite Connie’s own involvement in the family business. “That’s good. If you need help to protect him let me know. I think it’s in his best interest for him is to stay with Joe and Alice. I’ll help to have them made his guardians and not his uncles. George and Matt haven’t spoken for some years, not since George yelled at Matt about something where Matt felt he was in the right. I doubt George would recognise him now.” They talk about a few related matters before they hang up.

When she leaves the room Connie sees Banners standing in the hall as he’s waiting to see if he needs to know anything. She sighs and says, “You best sit down, Banners.” He does as told. “That was Paul Barnes, the solicitor for Candice and Robert. He just got word Candice and Robert have been killed a few hours ago by an out of control car. He felt I had to know.” She can see Banners is taking this hard because Candice was his favourite amongst the children, and he really likes Matt too. “Paul will let us know about the funeral and other matters. Tomorrow we can expect a visit from the police with the official word. Please don’t tell my husband or the boys until after the police visit.” He nods to acknowledge the instructions. “Matthew is in hospital with Joe and Alice Watson on hand to look after him. I’ll want to visit him when I can, probably in a few days.” He nods again. There’s not much else to say now so they both head off to their bedrooms.

Paul has three more calls to make and some papers from his safe to fax off before he can go to bed. No one he phones tonight has a good night’s sleep. Neither does he. However, Dorothy does due to the sedative he gave her earlier.

Hospital Again

Joe is allowed to speak to Alice several minutes after he speaks to Paul. She’s OK and so is Mary. However, both have taken a hard knock and have some bruises. To be on the safe side Alice and Mary are staying in the hospital for twenty-fours hours of observation. Then comes the hard part of discussing Matt’s injuries.

They’ve done an X-ray and a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan of his insides. One is for detecting bone problems while the other is for soft tissue and organ damage. The catalogue of Matt’s injuries is long: bruising over ninety percent of his body, the worst are his sides and back; a mild skull fracture; all of his ribs are cracked; the two bones in both of his lower legs are broken; both right forearm bones fractured; a dislocated left shoulder, which is now back into place; and concussion. The doctors are surprised his spine isn’t damaged. The main concern is Matt is in a coma from the concussion. They won’t be able to assess if he has any neurological issues until he’s awake and they can do some tests. The biggest current problem is the normal treatment for fractures is to apply hard plaster casts. However, due to the severe bruising they want to use inflatable pressure casts until the swelling of the bruises is gone in a few weeks time. This means they can adjust the pressure with ease. However, they aren’t as rigid as the plaster ones so there’s a risk of more damage if he moves about on the bed. Joe approves using the inflatable casts and he asks them to strap Matt to the bed.

Alice, Mary, and Matt are treated as private patients so they’re all put in a small four-bed ward in the children’s wing with just them in it. It’s in the children’s wing because Matt will be in the hospital for some months. Joe sees them to their ward then he goes home after they’re put to bed. All three are soon settled in. Nurses pop in every thirty minutes or so to check on them and to take Matt’s vital signs. Because he’s in a coma they have him hooked up to several machines which are all on his right side so his left side is free for visitors when he wakes up.

The nurse making the check just after midnight smiles when she finds Mary asleep on Matt’s left shoulder with her left arm across his chest. The nurse tucks a blanket around Mary and leaves her be.

The Next Week

Joe spends most of the next day, Sunday, at the hospital visiting his family. He’s got nothing on for some days due to taking the next week off on leave to spend the time with Robert and Candice. Alice also has a week off, but Mary has school tomorrow. Matt was due to bus home today then to look after himself while going to school for the next week.

After a short discussion the doctors decide to discharge Mary and Alice just after breakfast in the morning. Joe will bring clean clothes for them to wear then he’ll take Mary to school from the hospital.

Mid-morning Joe has a visit from the police. They need an official identification of the deceased and they want information on the families so they can contact the next of kin. The police Sergeant takes Joe to the morgue downstairs. The bodies are covered with sheets and the faces have few marks so it’s not as bad as Joe is dreading. On the way back to the ward he gives the names and numbers for the next of kin of both Bob and Candice while saying nothing about last night’s phone call.

When Joe tells the cop Connie’s name and address he gets a quick look and a verbal response of, “The Commander isn’t going to like this. He knows Constance and George Anders.” He thinks for a moment and adds, “Mister Watson, you should be aware the deceased driver has an extensive estate his relatives will be after. We don’t yet know why he did it, but he shot two officers at a routine traffic stop and drove off while another officer put the call out. One officer died on his way to hospital. Another car spotted him a little later. Well, you know how it ended. You should see a solicitor to get the boy some compensation before the driver’s family make all of the assets vanish.”

“Thanks, Sergeant. I’ll get Bob’s solicitor onto it.” They shake hands when they part company at the elevator: the police officer to go to the police station and Joe to go to the ward.

Stopping at the public phone near the elevators on the third floor Joe calls Paul to say, “Paul, you need to get a copy of the police report to get some legal action going. I just heard the driver was wealthy and was on the run after shooting two cops just before he hit Bob, Candice, and the kids. You need to get some compensation for Matt from the estate before the driver’s family members strip it bare.”

“Thanks for the info, Joe. I had that on my ’to do’ list. However, with big money involved I’ll give it top priority so I’ll get it started today. I spoke to Connie last night and she’s in favour of Matt staying with Alice and you until he’s an adult. How do you feel about it?”

“That’s what’s best for Matt, isn’t it!” More statement than question.

“Yes.”

“Then what’s there to think about! Matt comes first as he’s got more than enough troubles. We’ll have to confirm with him that’s what he wants as he’s still in a coma. I’ll let you know the moment he wakes up.”

“Right, Mate. I’ll be in contact. I’ve got things to do.” They hang up.

The Police Station

The police Sergeant pulls up in front of the station and he sits there for a few minutes. Sighing, he picks up the file, gets out of the car, and goes into the police station. He signs in and heads upstairs to the office of the District Commander. The civilian secretary looks up when he enters the outer office, she says, “He’s in, but he doesn’t want to be disturbed, not at all. Your call. He’s likely to tear your head off right now. It’s not a good day when we both get called in on a Sunday to deal with a shooting of a police officer. Especially with an officer killed and another wounded.”

“Sorry, Joan, but a delay in handing this to him will only make him worse. What I’ve got to tell him would ruin any day. Best get him two herbal teas because he’ll need them both when I say what I have to tell him.” She gives him a hard stare for a moment before she waves him toward the door while she gets up to go make some tea for her boss.

Sergeant Mason knocks on the door and waits. He gets a snarling, “OK, you may as well come in if Joan hasn’t made you go away.” He opens the door, enters the room, and closes the door behind him.

His usual routine is to stand between the door and the desk to say what he has to say. This time Mason walks over to take a seat in front of the desk. This makes Superintendent Smith sit up. Mason is always in a hurry to get going again so he never sits down in this office. After he takes a deep breath Mason says, “Sir, I’ve just been to the morgue with Joe Watson to do the formal identification on the two dead pedestrians from last night.” He places the file in his hands on the desk. “I know you’ve got your hands full with the paperwork on the shooting for the start of the chase, but you need to know about the deceased.”

“Why?”

“The teen boy in hospital is Matthew Dyer, the son of the deceased couple. Father is Robert Dyer, contract structural engineer from North Sydney. She’s his wife, Candice Dyer, home maker and office assistant.” The Superintendent is getting a bit impatient so he waves for him to get on with it. “Robert has a half sister in Sydney, details are in the file. No other family. Candice has four brothers, a mother, and a father. Again, details are in the file.” He stops to look up, locking eyes with his boss he adds, “You know her parents, Sir, Constance and George Anders.”

Smith’s face goes very pale. “Shit! OK. I’ll confirm what you’ve got in the file and make some calls. I know my esteemed brother-in-law is in his office due to the shooting. This will really make his day. Now that you’ve ruined any chance for me to get home for lunch get out of here and go have yours. One of us should get a nice feed.” Mason stands and leaves. He holds the door open for Joan to bring in the tea that’s needed to settle their boss down again. He’s the best they’ve ever had here.

Sydney

Both Paul and Dorothy go into their shared office above the garage. He’s doing what needs to be done to get fax copies of the police reports with the details of the driver. Dorothy gets documents out, checks them over, and organises a courier to take them to Joe’s solicitor because she’ll be Matt’s local legal representative for the next few years.