Page 27

The first stop in their two-vehicle convoy was at Saltscale Crocodile Farm, where the security guard, Doug, waved the Stock Squad through, to park by the hatchery.

‘You know, to really experience your first time in a police van, you could have ridden in the cage like most people do?’ Stone smirked at Romy as he opened the passenger door for her.

‘And miss my chance at slapping your hands when you did the wrong thing?’

‘Please. Like I’d miss you playing Little Miss Serious.’

‘You were flicking the lights and sirens on.’

‘Hey, when in Rome, Romy.’ He patted the roof of the police van like a big kid. They’d probably never let him drive the police van again, but it was worth it. ‘Don’t stress, I won’t be doing it when I collect those hatchlings. Go on, admit it, you wanted to do it, too.’

She flattened her lips into a line, looking everywhere but at Stone.

He nudged her arm. ‘Admit it. It’ll be our secret.’

‘Okay. Fine. I did want to do it, too.’ She grimaced at him. ‘You’re such a bad influence.’

‘No, I’m not.’ Stone craned his neck at the large hatchery’s roof.

‘But it’s time to get our adult groove on…

Bring your camera, shortcake.’ He nodded at Finn saying something to Amara as they climbed out of Finn’s large four-wheel drive, the troopy, and headed to the corner drainpipe the thieves used to climb up to the roof.

‘Now that I’ve signed my life away on that confidentiality thingy…’

‘NDAs are standard practice, shortcake, especially when it involves confidential details for a police matter.’ Stone not only witnessed Romy’s signature, but he’d also watched the paperwork queen, Amara, scan it onto the file. It was enough to put his mind at ease over protecting his privacy.

But Romy’s sigh tugged heavily on his resolve, as she dragged out her camera and clunky gimbal. ‘Which means what I film today is for private police viewing only?’

‘And eventually the courts. You will get paid for it, shortcake.’

‘I know.’

‘Think of it this way. You’ll be creating a good working relationship with those within this industry to make it easier to get their permission to film later.’

‘Well, okay then…’ She clipped her gimbal into place and locked in her camera. ‘Let the show begin.’

‘That’s my girl.’ Stone patted her shoulder. With Finn and Amara busy gathering evidence from the side of the building, he headed for the hatchery.

Wearing her white lab coat, Lenora met them at the front entrance. ‘Welcome back, Stone. Do you have any news on our missing stock?’

‘We may have located some, but we need more information on their nesting groups to help identify them.’

‘Sure. I have plenty of records, even DNA markings, all kept in the tech office.’

‘The stock numbers aren’t kept up at the house office for your dad?’

‘Dad’s hopeless with tech—doesn’t use the computer, and he wouldn’t even know how to open an app on his phone. Mum prints it all out for him. If you want the real numbers, ask her. We track it all in a database that starts here at the hatchery.’ Lenora swiped her card and let them in.

‘Which makes sense if they’re hatched here… Lenora, I’d like Romy to take video footage of the brothers and sisters so we can identify their familial traits in their markings.’

‘Will I see it?’ Romy checked over her camera settings, pausing to wash her boots in the sterilising section.

‘The way you look at things, shortcake, I’m sure you’ll pick it up in no time.’

Lenora led them over the raised gangway that ran through the middle of the segregated ponds. ‘The stolen stock came from those four clutches.’ Lenora pointed out the small groups of juveniles that moved over each other, their beady eyes and snouts pointed towards them.

‘How can you tell the difference? They all look the same to me.’ Romy’s sweet lemongrass scent was lively, as she remained steady behind her camera. ‘Are you looking for any particular shots in your scene?’

This may not be a movie, but Stone understood where she was coming from. ‘Side profiles. Full body shots. Lots of underbelly markings if you can. I’m after the details in their patterning, the bridge between the eyes and the length of the snout, then the ridge patterns along their backs.’

‘That’s a lot of detail,’ said Finn, with his heavy boot tread rumbling along the gangway, with Amara loyally shadowing him.

‘It’ll help us identify if those other rogue crocs are the brothers and sisters.

I can do that when they’re at Craig’s quarantine station, where I’ll have time to study them more.

’ Stone could already identify the different markers and pattern traits compared to the other crocodiles in the neighbouring pens, to tell them apart.

But they’d need proof, and these images would help.

‘How did you get in?’ Lenora asked Finn and Amara.

‘The team recovered this swipe card.’ Finn flipped over the card, then slid it back into his pocket for safekeeping. He was such a tease.

‘You found the missing swipe card.’

‘Since when did you realise you had a missing card?’ Finn’s dark eyes narrowed in on poor Lenora. Not many people handled Finn’s scrutiny.

‘W-we only worked it out this morning going through the data.’

‘I’ll want a copy to confirm that this key card’s number collates with your data report.’

‘Sure. Wow, that’s great…’ Lenora blinked a few times. ‘Anything else you need?’

‘We noticed on the drone’s footage there are hatches on the roof.’ Finn pointed to the high ceiling. ‘Do you know why?’

‘Bastion opens them when the humidity gets too high in the hatchery. Heat rises, so it’s more effective than opening all of the internal doors to let the heat out.’

Stone gazed up at the roof, where large ceiling fans slowly stirred the soupy humidity. Thick condensation effectively stopped any direct sunlight streaming through the milky windows that helped create the perfectly controlled crib like an oversized terrarium.

‘How long do those roof hatches stay open for?’ Finn played boss, while Amara scribbled down the notes, and Romy busily filmed everything with confidence.

‘Some days, five minutes,’ replied Lenora, ‘other days, an hour or more. Why?’

From his folder, Finn showed Lenora the printed image they’d taken from Romy’s film. ‘From the tracks left by the thieves’ van, it seems they parked at this end of the building, climbed up the drainpipe and used one of the hatches to get inside. Can we see them?’

‘Sure, this way.’

The gangway metal rumbled beneath them. ‘Shh…’ Lenora put her finger over her lips. ‘Not so heavy, guys.’

‘Sorry.’ Amara then whispered to Stone, ‘Didn’t Craig mention one of the thieves was a light walker?’

They both tilted their heads to watch how lightly Lenora walked along the gangway. ‘Her boots are too small,’ muttered Stone.

‘Did Craig take any castings of those footprints? It was next to the fingerprint kit I packed in the backpack I gave him.’

‘We were chasing daylight and took lots of photos instead.’

From the pocket of her white lab coat, Lenora dragged out her swipe card to open the door to the control room, that was like a tower in the sky.

‘Would the swipe card we’ve recovered,’ said Finn, ‘have access to all of the pens?’

‘No. But, you can unlock all areas from within the control room. Bastion can show you.’ Lenora approached the slim man wearing a lab coat. ‘Bastion, the police want to ask some questions about the hatch in the roof.’ She pointed to the ceiling.

‘Sure. What’s up?’ Bastion’s lanky, almost bird-like stride carried him across the room in long, awkward steps. His pale complexion, out of place for someone living in the outback, was only highlighted by the white lab coat that hung short and baggy on his tall, skinny frame.

‘Lose any lab coats lately?’ Finn was a man who didn’t mince his words.

Bastion shrugged at Lenora, who was wearing the same style of lab coat.

‘My mother,’ explained Lenora, ‘set up a large laundry by the main house.’

‘Just for lab coats?’ Finn asked.

‘No. All employees use it for their uniforms, to ensure they don’t bring any contaminants onto the property.’

‘How do the staff access these uniforms?’

‘It’s part of each team’s roster that someone delivers and collects the laundry daily.’

‘Are you saying anyone can grab a spare uniform?’

Lenora nodded. ‘Why the questions about our uniforms?’

Finn waited a long beat before answering. He’d win multiple staring contests with that expression, while perfecting the art of silence. ‘The team found a discarded security guard’s uniform and a lab coat with the swipe card.’

‘Seriously, you can buy lab coats anywhere.’ Bastion dropped into his office chair, then spun around to face the large wall of windows to observe the crocodiles in the pens below them.

Nearby, the row of monitors gave a greenish tinge to his pale complexion, while his long fingers nimbly worked the various dials, like you’d find in a recording studio.

‘How do you access the hatch?’ Finn asked.

‘Through there.’ Bastion pointed to what looked like the entrance to a broom closet.

Finn stepped in closer to Bastion. ‘How about you show me and explain how often you use that hatch and why?’

‘Seriously?’ Bastion tried to give a totally blasé look, but it failed when he struggled to swallow with his Adam’s apple stuck in his throat.

‘Go on, Bastion,’ urged Lenora.

‘Fine. If that’s where you think they’ve hidden our babies? Like, seriously?’

‘Bastion!’ Lenora scowled at her employee. ‘Please do everything you can to help the police who are trying to find our stolen animals.’

‘Very well, then. Even if I think they’re long gone by now…’ Bastion gave a dramatic sigh, like it was too much effort to get to his feet and drag out his swipe card. ‘We access the hatch here.’ Through the door, Bastion pointed to the steep ladder.

Romy tugged on Stone’s shirt. ‘Do I need to go up?’

‘No. Stay here and take a shot of this room at various angles, especially Bastion’s desk.’

‘You want it from Bastion’s point of view?’