Pat Ritter. Books

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'The Proposition' - Page 64: Chapter 8

Monday morning Kate arrived at the office earlier than she’d been before. She wanted to get re-started on the investigation, her mind ready for work. Bundy arrived at his usual time of eight o’clock.
‘How was the break Kate?’ He asked when he entered the office and saw Kate seated behind her desk clanging away on the keyboard of her computer.
‘Wonderful, thanks Bundy.’ She replied in a sweet voice. She rose from her seat and threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Bundy felt embarrassed.
‘What was that for?’ He asked in a soft voice wiping the lipstick from the side of his cheek with his handkerchief.
‘I wanted you to know how pleased I am to work with you.’ She told him with a smile in her voice.
‘Thank you for your kind expression of appreciation but you must know we are work colleagues and I’ve never been shown such appreciation before – from a colleague that is.’ He muttered feeling embarrassed by the kind deed Kate performed.
‘Can’t a work colleague show her appreciation of what her work colleague does for her?’ She asked in a seductive voice emphasing the word ‘work’.
‘Yes – but don’t forget I’m old enough to be your father.’ Bundy replied.
‘Speaking of old enough – Mrs Elliott is old enough to be your mother. What’s going on there?’ She asked in an inquisitive voice.
‘Mrs Elliott is a fine lady – yes, she is old enough to be my mother, I agree. She’s warm and considerate, and a lovely person to know.’ He told her...

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'The Proposition' - Page 65:
‘Yeah, she told me about you taking her to the tavern so she could play the poker machines.’
‘I put it down as my civic duty to keep her company. She’s lived a tough life and if I can do anything to help her enjoy the life she has now, then I’ll do it.’ Bundy felt humble and knew what he did for Mrs Elliott was nothing compared to what she did for him shortly after he lost his wife. It was a tough time for each of them. ‘Anyway, did you read the book I left?’ Bundy asked Kate.
‘Yes, I read it from cover to cover. Don’t ask me if I understand that humbo jumbo stuff because I don’t. Bundy - I look at facts and facts only.’ She made a statement.
‘Okay, thank you for reading it. At this stage it mightn’t be any help but as the investigation goes on it’ll come in handy, particularly with Mary.’
‘Why Mary?’ The question intrigued Kate.
‘While you’ve been absent enjoying yourself, Quincy and I have been doing important work.’ Bundy told her.
‘I can’t wait to hear about this – what is it you two have cooked up now?’ Kate rubbed her hands together in a gesture to find out more.
‘You remember before you went away, we obtained a sample of hair and clothing from Mary to help identify Peter’s DNA?’ Bundy told her.
‘Yes – we took it to Quincy that afternoon. What happened?’
‘Quincy has his own laboratory in a shed on his property. You may remember the shed on the left-hand side after we drove past the cattle yards. Well, he has discovered the DNA from the hair sample matched to samples of DNA from the clothing to prove it belonged to the same person.’ Bundy explained...

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Thank you dub: Page for today.

'The Proposition' - Page 66:

‘I don’t think we need to be a forensic scientist to understand the two belong to Peter Clayton.’ Kate expressed in an eager voice to show she understood.
‘It’s important Kate. Now we have exact samples of DNA, we can form a family tree to find his relatives, starting with his parents.’ Bundy informed Kate.
‘Why do we need to muck around with this theory; I still don’t like what Quincy has come up with. It’s way out there with no direct facts to connect the dots.’ She appealed to Bundy’s good nature to stop working with this ‘secret weapon’ and rely on facts not some hair brained theory from a retired forensic scientist.
‘Kate – haven’t you ever wanted anything in your life?’ He asked in a kind and concerned voice.
‘Yes, I want to find Peter Clayton – dead or alive. I’ve wanted it for eight long years.’ She protested.
‘We will - with the help of Quincy’s ‘secret weapon’. Bundy calmly explained. He looked directly into her eyes to see her agreement.
‘What I can’t understand is ‘why’ did you want me to read that book?’
Bundy explained, ‘Kate, everything starts with a thought – an idea, if we concentrate on the thought of finding Peter Clayton, we will find him, alive, I hope. You’ve got to believe me. I’ve used this thought process before and it worked. How do you think I’ve got all the things I want in life? It just doesn’t happen, you know.’ Bundy’s tolerance and patience was wearing thin.
‘Alright, alright, I’ll try. What do you want me to do?’ She asked trying to be calm.
‘Do you know a computer programme which we can use to create a family tree? Make the main trunk of the family tree Peter Clayton, and each branch leading from the trunk a relative to Peter.’...

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'The Proposition' - 67:

‘Ah, I know what you mean. Okay leave it with me to design the tree and when I’ve completed it, I’ll show you.’ Kate told Bundy.
Kate worked on a design of a family tree first creating a trunk, extended branches, reaching left and right from the trunk. Her design favoured Bundy because it was the same design he visioned in his mind. She coloured the trunk a light brown colour, with each branch a lighter brown, almost a light shade of green. She showed the design to Bundy in hope he liked what she’d done.
‘It’s exactly what I had in my mind. See how this stuff works. I transmitted my thoughts to you, extra sensory perception - ESP.’ Bundy’s excitement overflowed when he saw what Kate designed.
‘Bundy, it’s only synergy. I understood what you wanted from how you explained it and because we’re getting to know one another more each day’. She replied.
‘Anyway, believe what you want – synergy or not. This is terrific. We can now collect DNA from Peter’s relatives and link them to one another, using the family tree.’ Bundy’s excitement grew, his mind buzzing with the ‘secret weapon’ designed by Quincy.
Bundy through back to the time he entered the computer branch as a sergeant first class. Computers in the force than were in their infancy. He wanted to start at the bottom and totally understand how they worked and what they did to combat crime.
At first, he was surprised how easy he understood some of the systems, particularly when he was asked to search for the identity of a male person found dead on a beach in northern Australia. Tattoos with the words I LOVE YOU were on the back of the deceased left-hand fingers. Entering the desired computer language, and after a search of the missing person database, one name appeared on the scene. It turned out to be the deceased person. He was identified by the tattoos and was reported as a missing person some months before.

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'The Proposition' - Page 68:

Although Bundy had been absent from investigation work for over twenty years, he continued to crave the hunger which led him through many investigations. A ping went off in the back of his mind when the dots didn’t come together. He felt positive about Quincy’s ‘secret weapon’ and would use it to locate Peter Clayton whether he was alive or dead.
Kate completed the design and showed it to Bundy ‘is this what you wanted?’
He looked at the computer screen; it was exactly what he wanted. The trunk had the name Peter Clayton running from the top to bottom. Branches speared from the trunk to show spaces to fill in various names of relatives. She did exactly what he required her to do.
‘Kate – it’s exactly what I want. Can you print it out, a couple of copies please?’ Kate moved the cursor to the print icon button, clicked the mouse; the printer came alive. A replica of the trunk and branches appeared on paper in colour.
‘Here, you have one and I’ll keep one. Can you print one for Quincy, ah, hang on a minute; we can e-mail him one. Here is his e-mail address.’ Bundy opened his wallet and produced a card showing Quincy’s e-mail address with his contact details.
Kate e-mailed the print to Quincy.
‘What’s next?’ She asked in an excited voice.
‘From your files I see you have a photograph of Peter shortly before he went missing.’ He said.
Kate opened a file and displayed a photograph of Peter Clayton. ‘Here it is.’ She showed Bundy the photograph.

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Thank you nevis.

'The Proposition' - Page 69:

‘Could you have your expert people create the photograph to show how he would look at his present age of twenty-one years?’ Bundy asked.
Without another word Kate transmitted the image to a person who she knew would make the desired changes, ‘there you are, I’ve sent it to Dennis - he’ll alter the photograph to show his present digital image at twenty-one years old. He designed a similar photograph when he turned eighteen.’ Kate displayed the photograph on the screen for Bundy to view.
‘That’s good – now when we receive this new photograph, can you make it small so you can hang it onto the trunk of the family tree to show what Peter would look like today?’ Bundy requested.
‘It’s easy.’ With the photograph of Peter Clayton at eighteen years old she reduced it and pasted the photograph at the desired place Bundy asked. ‘What do you want now?’
‘We’ve got to have a photograph of Mrs Clayton, Mr Clayton, Peter’s grandparents, and any other relative to place on the family tree.’ Bundy requested.
‘We’d better get going then – shouldn’t we, if we’re to see Mary and then her mother and try to gather these photographs. I never thought of doing anything like this. What is it going to show?’ She asked Bundy.
‘I don’t know at this stage. Once we place the photographs onto the family tree it may make more sense. Wait until then.’ He answered.
‘Have you always been like this? Is it any wonder no detective could keep up with you?’ Kate closed the computer and grabbed the car keys and her purse, ‘come on then, these photographs won’t get their selves.’ She indicated to Bundy.
As they left the office Kate’s mobile telephone came alive. She answered it. ‘Yes, yes, we’ll be there in an hour.’ She closed the telephone and placed it in her pocket. ‘Come on – they’ve found human remains in the forestry not far from where Peter went missing.’ Her voice filled with excitement and her face gleamed with a smile...

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'The Proposition' - Page 70:
Kate drove from the city along the Bruce Highway headed north.
‘This is what investigation work is all about Bundy, not bloody family trees or books on thought. This could be Peter. Its eight years, this could be him; we could’ve found him at last.’ Her hopes were high. Bundy kept silent and observed the difference in his partner’s attitude. She became alive with enthusiasm.
Driving past the township of Caboolture Kate continued along the Bruce Highway until they came to a turnoff on the left-hand side past a Mobil Service Station. Kate lifted the hand-piece on the radio and spoke into it, ‘car 45 reporting, Detective Superintendent Emerson speaking. Can you guide me to the location where the remains were found this morning?’
‘Car 45, where are you, what’s your location?’ A male voice echoed through the receiver.
‘We’ve turned off the highway and heading west along a dirt track. Where are you?’ She reported.
‘Larry Smiles here Kate. Drive another two kilometres and you’ll see a sign, ‘Don’t Enter’. You’ll see we’re not far from the sign. You can’t miss us.’ The male voice replied.
‘Thanks Larry – we’ll be there in a jiffy.’ Kate replaced the hand-piece onto the cradle on the dashboard, ‘great – Larry Smiles is here. We were the detectives who started this investigation together eight years ago. If it’s Peter, Larry will stick it to me, you can be certain. He loves to get anything on me he can.’ She spat in anger...