‘In your recounting of events prior to the breakdown, you told the duty officer that you and your wife had an argument the day before the car broke down. Now, what was that all about?’
‘It’s not a car, it’s a VW Kombi, all organised for camping. And it wasn’t really an argument. It wasn’t even a big issue, just a discussion about my work. My wife thought I spent too much time at university with my research and tutoring. Being a Tutor meant that I often worked nights. We also had a bit of a disagreement about proposed affirmative action policies at work.’
‘These night classes, did you meet other women there? Is there a chance that your wife might have thought there were other reasons for being away from home?’
‘That’s a ridiculous idea!’ Alec angrily retorted. There could be nothing further from the truth. He adored his wife, but he could see where the police were coming from; looking for possible motives.
‘Do you resent women having positions of authority?’ John Murray asked.
The secretary looked up from her note pad.
‘No. No, not at all,’ Alec stammered. ‘I don’t see any reason why women shouldn’t be promoted to any position. But I think that it should be based on merit, not simply because they’re women. But none of this is helping us find my family. What are you getting at?’
‘Just rounding out the enquiry. You’ve no idea how seemingly pointless conversations and ideas lead to discovering why things happen.’
‘I didn’t have anything to do with Katherine’s disappearance!’
‘At this stage we really don’t have much to work on. If someone disappears there could be many reasons. We have to look at all possibilities. You realise that, surely? After all, you were the last person to see her and —’
‘Officer, I love my wife and my child. They are the most important people in the world to me. I would never do anything to hurt them. I’m trying to get you to hurry up and look for them. If I had anything do to with their disappearance do you think I’d be trying to get you out there instead of sitting here going over and over my story?’
‘Well, I do think it a little strange that you left them there for so long on their own, and with a baby in that heat. Why didn’t you try and get assistance sooner?’
‘What was I supposed to do? We waited for help but nothing came! I couldn’t expect my wife to walk across country, especially carrying our baby. My wife is very competent. We’d been out bush for nearly two weeks and had no problems. She had plenty of food and water. I told her I’d be back by Sunday, or Monday at the latest. That’s like only three days max, so I thought they’d be okay there.’
‘Mmm. If it was my family, I think I’d have tried harder to get help sooner once you got to Ceduna.’
Alec felt aggrieved by this comment. He thought he’d done all that was humanly possible. His voice developed an edge. ‘The first garage I tried was closing up when I got here on Friday evening. That was Ceduna Roadhouse. I tried several others. They were all either closed or just open for fuel. No mechanics or tow trucks available. None. I asked around and no-one seemed to be able to help. So, tell me, what more could I do? I just had to wait until the garage opened. When it did I went out with the mechanic as soon as possible. It was only when we got out there that we found the Kombi had been moved and Katherine was gone.’
Murray let the words flow before asking, ‘What did you do then?’
‘I thought maybe Kath had got a lift into town, so once we towed the Kombi to the garage, I did a round of all the hotels, the caravan park, the garages. But no-one had seen or heard of Katherine or Carolyn.’
‘You said that her purse was in the van. Don’t you think it strange that she left it there if she’d been given a ride into town? Wouldn’t she need it?’
‘Yes. It worried me a bit, but, well, sometimes Kath can be careless. If she was worried about Carolyn she may have just forgotten it. Anyway, it didn’t have much money in so it didn’t seem important at that stage.’
‘Okay. We’ll go and check out the van and the place where it was found. I’ll grab some food, collect Tommy and then we can get going.’ Murray stood to go. ‘Tommy’s a local, the best tracker for miles around. If what you’ve told me is correct then we’re going to need someone who can read the dust.’
‘What should I do?’
‘You just hang on here. I’ll pick you up when I’ve got things organised. We’ll go have a look in at the garage first. Would you like a cuppa?’
‘No thanks, just a drink of water.’
‘Okay. Sally’ll see to that.’ He nodded to the secretary and they left the room together. Alec was left to his own devices until Sally returned a few minutes later with a glass of cold water.
Alec, Sergeant Murray and the tall skinny Aboriginal man, Tommy, strolled unannounced into the workshop of the Ceduna Roadhouse and Garage in McKenzie Street. Most people simply used the garage as a refuelling stop but the sign outside indicated a full mechanical workshop. The dark interior and cluttered workbenches were in stark contrast to the clean green and white walls of the exterior. Malcolm Harrison, the owner and mechanic, was leaning over the mudguards of an old Holden with his head hidden in the engine, his bent body backlit by the light inside the engine cavity. In response to their arrival he extricated himself from a tangle of cables.
‘G’day folks. I see you’ve brought the police with you this time.’ Harrison looked at Alec, then Sergeant Murray. He ignored Tommy who was walking a few steps behind.
Murray pointedly introduced Tommy. ‘This is Tommy. He’s from Koonibba and is our tracker. He’s the very best and he’s going to help us find out what happened. First, I want him to look at Alec’s vehicle, especially the tyres. Okay?’
‘No probs,’ said Harrison. He did not shake hands with any of the visitors, displaying his grease-covered hands by way of explanation. ‘Over there.’ He tilted his head in the direction of the Kombi.
Tommy nodded, removed his battered Akubra hat and went down on his haunches to look carefully at the wheels.
Murray turned to Harrison and asked, ‘Tell me, Mal, what’s the story with th