‘Can you show me?’ Judith asked.
‘No problem.’
Judith stood.
‘Finish your scone first, dear,’ said Alison, frowning a little.
‘I’ll come back for it.’ Judith followed Steve outside.
The workshop was impressive. It was the size of a triple garage, and very clean and organised, with two long workbenches running along one wall. But it was the tools that made Judith stop in her tracks. There was a workbench and a table saw in the middle of the room, and two other workstations set up along the wall. One of the benches had what looked like custom-built shelves, filled with Festool power tools stored in their boxes. The second had a wall unit hung with hand tools; chisels and planes and saws of different sizes.
‘Wow,’ Judith said.
Steve nodded. ‘That’s my Stanley set. They’re great, aren’t they? Can’t buy them today. Well, you can, if you can find them second-hand, but they cost a fortune. You can’t get that quality new, you see. I got mine from my dad. He was a furniture maker. I do a bit myself now, in retirement. I’m not a patch on him, but I love it.’ He led the way to the corner of the room. ‘Here’s the safe.’
It was a large safe, about a metre wide and a metre and a half tall. It was black steel, with a single keyhole at the centre front, and a brass handle to pull the door open. It looked to be in perfect condition.
‘Is this new?’ Judith asked.
‘Had it for thirty years.’
‘But this is the safe that was broken into?’
Steve nodded.
‘I don’t understand,’ Judith said. ‘There’s no damage.’
Steve looked confused. ‘Well. They used the key, of course.’
‘The key,’ Judith said. Regulations required that keys to gun safes were kept either with the owner, or in a separate room some distance from the safe. Gun regulations in Victoria were strict. Even Judith’s service weapon, a semi-automatic Glock, had to be stored in the station under lock and key when she was off duty. ‘You kept it in the workshop?’
‘Christ, no,’ Steve said, shaking his head. ‘It was in the house, in the study. There’s a drawer in my desk that I keep locked. The key was in there. They came in through the window and jimmied the drawer open.’
Judith digested this. ‘Did they take anything else? Do any other damage?’
Steve looked grim. ‘Not a thing,’ he said. ‘Whoever they were, they came for the guns.’
Chapter Seventeen
Judith spent the early part of Tuesday back on the Haddad case. Forensics had recovered casings from the scene, and ballistics had matched the striation pattern to an unresolved shooting in Footscray six months prior. That shooting had resulted in only a minor injury to a known criminal who hadn’t wanted to pursue the matter, and therefore had not been a priority. With the Haddad murder, priorities had changed, and they were now poring over evidence from both cases. A partial fingerprint taken from the Footscray casings was matched to Seb Brandi, a twenty-eight-year-old with a long criminal record. Judith applied for a warrant for Brandi’s arrest, and the team spent the day trying to locate him, and trying to find links between Brandi and the Haddad crime scene.
At the end of the day, Rocky came by her desk and asked her what she’d thought of the Jack Miller interview. She wasn’t ready to tell him the truth. She needed more time. She dealt with the situation by changing the subject.
‘Tell me what you’re up to, Rocks. What’s going on with my bike?’
Rocky shook his head. ‘The problem with you, Jude, is that you’re a woman without patience. Can’t you let me—’
‘Just tell me!’
‘Fine.’ Rocky threw up his hands. ‘You know Jean Bayliss?’
The name meant nothing to Judith.
‘Come on. You must know her. Blonde. Works Fraud and Extortion. Husband is loaded. A banker. Interesting pairing, when you think about it.’
‘I don’t know her, Rocky.’
‘Right, well Jean drives a brand new BMW 5 Series. Her husband got it for her for her birthday. It’s a very nice car.’
