Chapter 44

They all looked at the TV as the announcer started speaking.

“In the latest breaking news, we have a story of drugs, murder, fraud and money laundering. The Chief of the Valley Station in Brisbane had this to say when he gave a briefing at midday this afternoon.”

The picture changed, and the Chief was shown in his best uniform, standing behind a podium with several other department heads behind him. He nodded at someone off-screen, looked down at his notes and then up into the camera.

He started off with, “Today, we show the Australian Federal Police and the Queensland Police Force at their finest.”

The Chief then gave a more detailed description of the hauls as had been reported from earlier that morning on the news. This time, however, he gave more precise figures of just how much the illegal goods were worth.

It was the next bit that made Tom cringe. “It was through the efforts of our Fraud squad’s elite team of data analysts, working hand in hand with our Federal agents that caused this event to culminate in the arrests of one hundred and twelve people this morning.”

“One of our private contractors, Mr Tom White, who led the team that pieced together how the syndicate operated and where the money and shipments went. Our Federal agents have since been able to block transactions to various overseas accounts and are in the process of retrieving over 40 million dollars.”

“Mr White and his team were also able to find documented evidence of where three men linked to the syndicate, and who went missing three years ago, were buried.” The Chief looked up as the reporters made noise about this revelation.

“We have since retrieved and tentatively identified these bodies. Their names will be released as soon as their families have been contacted, and further forensic evidence is processed.”

“Regretfully, Mr White, who has worked tirelessly on rooting out this consortium of thieves and murderers for the last three years, has chosen this time to retire due to the stress. We shall miss his professionalism and dedication.”

“Goodness, he makes it seem as if you are an old man, Tom,” Nena interjected, making Tom smile.

The Police Chief went on, “Since Mr White, worked for the Constabulary as a private citizen, he may be entitled to receive substantial reward money for locating each of the missing men and for breaking up the drug syndicate.”

“How much?” A voice off-screen asked. The Chief looked down as one of the men behind him stepped up and whispered in his ear. He nodded and looked at the camera again.

“I believe each of the missing men had a reward of half a million dollars for evidence that leads to a conviction.” He shuffled his papers and concluded, “We will inform you when we have any more developments. Thank you for your time.”

The picture of the Chief cut out and flicked back to the announcer.

Tom cringed as Nena muted the TV.

“Damn that blasted fool, he has put a bullseye on my back.”

“Why did he do that?” Nena asked Tom.

“Because he is hoping that I don’t release what I know about him because he wants me worried about my own skin and bank balance. I bet that he plans to call me in the not too distant future, and he tries to bargain with me for what I have so that I can get the reward money.”

“What are you going to do, Tom?” Mary asked with a worried voice.

Tom shrugged, “There is nothing that I can do to save the Chief. The packages and files containing the rest of the information about the syndicate will be delivered to the Feds and released to the appropriate departments and the media on Monday.”

Tom grinned and then punched a number into his phone that was still in his hand. He listened for a few moments and then said, “Hey, Rodger! It’s Tom White, mate.”

Tom listened for a bit and then said, “Yeah, sorry mate, I can’t give you an exclusive on this one, but you can still do me a favour. You will know why it’s important on Monday.”

“Can you tell your newscaster that I won’t personally accept any reward money? If the police offer it to me, it will go to the Rise Up Charity and the Queensland Shelter to help abused women. You can have him say that my reward is seeing people who break our laws are being put behind bars.”

Tom listened a bit more and finished his conversation by saying, “No, sorry Rodger, no interviews, just tell the public what I said. I may have to testify now that I have been publicly named, so legally, I can’t say anything more about the case. We will have to catch up some other time. See ya later, Rodger.”

Tom disconnected his call with some satisfaction. He then mumbled and pointed at his phone.

“What are you doing, Son?”

Tom grinned at his mother, “I fixed my phone so only a very few select people can ring me. Everyone else gets the message that I’ve moved north to a retreat due to stress, and I’ll possibly be gone indefinitely. They can leave a message.”

Mary shook her head, “Darn silly things those phones I’ll never work out how to use one.”

He didn’t mention that he made sure his phone couldn’t be tracked either.

“Now mum, explain to me why Bill beat the shit out you?”

“When he heard that news report, he didn’t think it was fair that you would get the reward money too. I told him you were a good boy for seeing that all those bad people got arrested and that you deserved everything you got. Then he just lost it.”

“He has always resented you standing up to him. I hadn’t realised that he was such a bully, and he has only gotten worse since we moved here and started living together.”

“Bill wasn’t happy when you got half of the money from the court case either. He was trying to tell me that it should have all come to me since I had to nurse Ray. I’ve tried to tell him that you did more of the nursing than I did since I was still working.”

Mary turned to Nena, “Did Tom tell you that as soon as he realised his dad was sick, he went and did a course so he could massage his dad to relieve his pain? Ray was a rock-face miner, and he had a bad back from those air drills they used to use. The coughing from his lung cancer caused him a lot of pain.”