Pat Ritter. Books

[patritter]

'The Proposition' (A Bundy Quicksilver Mystery) - Page 94:

‘I’m pleased to meet you Colin and thank you for helping us with this investigation.’ Kate replied in a kind voice.
‘In fact it’s my pleasure, whatever I can do for the old firm, once a copper always a copper.’ Colin replied with a grin.
Kate didn’t say anything and looked at Bundy with a message to keep an eye on this fellow – can he be trusted.
‘What about we go and see Denis and his father.’ Colin requested.
They left Colin’s office, walked along a corridor to a steel door; he pushed a button on the intercom and spoke into it. The door opened; the three walked inside to a large reception area.
‘What have we here Colin?’ A prison officer directed the question.
‘They’re from the police who want to speak with Denis O’Connell and his father.’ Colin provided the information.
‘Leave your firearms, mobile phones and anything else on the desk and collect them on your way out,’ demanded the officer.
Kate unbuckled her firearm and handed it to the officer together with her mobile phone.
‘I have some refreshments for Denis and his father.’ Bundy explained and handed over a packet containing the lamingtons.
‘Its afternoon tea time, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt them to have these. You haven’t got any files in them have you?’ The officer replied with a grin and returned the packet to Bundy.
Another officer escorted Colin, Kate and Bundy along another corridor and asked them to wait. Bundy felt nervous. He’d been in a similar position many times before, but it’d been years before.

[patritter]

'The Proposition' (A Bundy Quicksilver Mystery) - Page 95:

‘Come in,’ a voice called.
They entered a room. Two male persons were seated across on the other side of a table in the centre of the room. A prison guard stood as they entered.
‘It’s been a long time,’ Bundy said when he shook Mark O’Connell’s hand.
‘Yes – a long time. This is my son, Denis.’ Mark replied in an inviting voice.
‘Pleased to meet you Denis, this is Detective Superintendent Kathleen Emerson and I’m Bundy Quicksilver.’ Bundy shook Denis’s hand. ‘You already know Mr Hunt.’
‘I’ll leave you to it Bundy. The video recorder is on so, don’t get up to any funny business,’ Colin joked and left the interview room with the prison guard.
‘I thought you might enjoy afternoon tea.’ Bundy said and handed the packet containing lamingtons to Mark.
‘You haven’t forgotten - these are my favourite.’ Mark said opened the packet, ‘here my boy, have one of these.’ Mark opened his mouth and swallowed a lamington whole wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘They’re great, Mr Quicksilver. I haven’t had these in a long time. You don’t get them in here.’ He mumbled with a half-filled mouth of lamington.
‘Mark, if I remember last time I spoke with you. You told me your wife was pregnant.’ Bundy directed his question to him.
‘Yeah – Denis is the result from the pregnancy.’ Mark admitted.
‘The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.’ Bundy commented, ‘he’s a smaller version of you when you were his age.’ Bundy said with a smile.
‘Yeah – and by the sound of things he’s got up to the same thing - I did,’ he replied with a grin on his face.

[patritter]

'The Proposition' (A Bundy Quicksilver Mystery) - Page 96:

‘Your wife is your mother’s sister, your aunt, if I remember correctly.’ Bundy said.
‘You’ve got a good memory. It’d be almost forty years since I last seen you.’
‘Thirty-five to be exact.’ Bundy replied.
‘And your wife, Denis’s mother, is she still alive?’ Bundy wanted to know.
‘Na – she kicked the bucket about ten years back. The lad here was given her trouble and me being locked up in here didn’t help much. Can I have another of those lamingtons?
‘By all means – they’re yours.’ Mark scoffed another lamington into his mouth, chocolate formed around his lips, white coconut sprinkled down his shirt.
‘Denis, we don’t know exactly what you’ve told Mr Hunt but I’ll fill you in with what we know so far.’ Bundy explained.
Denis nodded his head, a mouth filled with lamington.
‘A skeleton of a female aged between eight and ten years old has been found in the forestry at the Sunshine Coast. Forensic evidence shows the skeleton has been there between five or more years. It was buried in a shallow grave.’ Bundy explained.

Chapter 12

‘Mr Quicksilver, my father has told me to tell you the truth because you are a fair man. Six years ago I lived at Kippa-Ring near Redcliffe. It was raining - I stayed home from work. In the morning I watched porn videos and when the rain stopped I went for a drive. On the way I saw a young girl, I don’t know how old she was - I stopped the car and drugged her.’ Denis said in a quiet voice.

[patritter]

'The Proposition' (A Bundy Quicksilver Mystery) - Page 97:

‘How did you drug her?’ Bundy continued with a frown on his face. Pictures developed in his minds eye. He wanted to hear more and know how he drugged her.
‘It was easy. I had a bottle of ether and a cloth. When I saw her, I stopped the car to ask for directions and make small talk.’ Denis explained in a clear and confident voice. ‘She was beautiful.’
‘Go on.’
‘While I talked, she came over to the car. She was friendly. I got out of the driver’s side and walked around to where she was leaning against the car door, still talking to her. I had the cloth with ether soaked in my hand and when I got closer I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and put the rag to her face. It didn’t take long before she collapsed into my arms. I put her in the front passenger’s side of the car.’ Colin explained.
‘Did you know this girl?’ Bundy asked.
‘No – never saw her before.’
‘Why did you pick her?’
‘She was beautiful and after watching the videos it made me horny.’
‘What happened then?’ Bundy asked.
‘I drove out of town, out to the highway. At the time I didn’t know where I was going. She was asleep. I kept driving.’
‘How far did you drive?’
‘Past a service station, left on the highway. There are two services stations, one on either side of the road. An overhead bridge crosses the highway. She started to come around so I turned off the highway onto a dirt track. Along the track I stopped when she screamed to stop the car to let her out. She looked over at me and I saw she was frightened. She could identify me. Her body shook and she wouldn’t stop screaming. It drove me crazy.’ Denis almost screamed the answer.

[patritter]

'The Proposition' (A Bundy Quicksilver Mystery) - Page 98:

Bundy looked at Kate as if mental telepathy had passed between their minds. From where Denis described the dirt track – it was similar to the track where the skeleton was found.
‘Are you alright? Do you want a break or a glass of water?’ Bundy asked.
‘No – I want to get it out of my head.’ He replied.
‘What did you do then?’ Bundy said calmly.
‘She wouldn’t stop screaming, she tried to pull the door handle to get out but I locked the car. I stopped the car. I put more ether on the saturated clothe and this time smothered her face with it. She collapsed into the seat. I didn’t know what to do. It terrified me when she screamed. She wouldn’t stop.’ Denis admitted.
‘Denis, at this point I am obliged to inform you, you do not have to answer any further questions for if you do they will be recorded and may be used in evidence. Do you understand you do not have to answer any further questions or say anything?’ Kate interrupted.
‘Yes – I understand, I want to get it off my chest, out of my mind. It’s been a nightmare. I still hear her screams in my head.’ Denis said, he blocked his ears with his hands and looked down.
‘Okay, now you understand this official warning, Mr Quicksilver will continue to ask you questions.’ Kate said in a quiet voice.
‘Denis, after you put the cloth containing ether to her face what happened after this girl stopped screaming?’ Bundy asked.
‘She collapsed in the seat and I thought she’d gone to sleep again. I didn’t want things to be this way. I thought we could be friends. She wouldn’t wake up. I shook her and her body was lifeless. I panicked.’
‘Can you explain the dirt track you drove along after you left the highway?’ Bundy asked.

[patritter]

'The Proposition' (A Bundy Quicksilver Mystery) - Page 99:

‘It was a forestry track, one used by the workers. Off the main highway but it goes for miles.’ He replied.
‘Did the girl wake again?’ Bundy asked. He was pleased Mark didn’t intervene and surprised to see he sat and listened to his son’s story without interruption.
‘No – I drove further along the track; I came across a sign – ‘don’t enter’. I drove around the sign and further along, it was a fair way – I don’t know how far, and stopped the car. I looked at the girl and she looked like she was dead. She wasn’t breathing.’ Denis admitted.
‘How did you know she was dead?’ Bundy asked.
‘I felt for a pulse on her neck and couldn’t feel anything. Then her wrist and still couldn’t find any. I didn’t know what to do. I’d killed her.’ Denis put his hands to his face and cried.
‘Come on you sook – settle down.’ These were the first words spoken by his father.
‘Do you want a break, Denis?’ Bundy asked.
‘No – I want to get it out of my mind. This has been a nightmare. It’s in my head all of the time – I still hear her screams. I didn’t know what to do. I got out of the car and walked around for awhile.’
Bundy continued his questions eliciting information from Denis, particularly about the scene and what he did with the body.
‘What did you do with the girl’s body?’ Bundy asked.
‘I was frightened and didn’t know what to do. I decided to get hid of the body. I stripped her; dug a grave off the track and buried her. I’m sorry.’ He shook and cried into his hands.
‘It’s okay Denis only a couple of more questions and you can have a rest.’ Bundy said, ‘how did you dig the grave?’ He continued.

[patritter]

'The Proposition' (A Bundy Quicksilver Mystery) - Page 100:

‘I always carried a shovel in the boot of the car. I used it.’
‘What did you do with the clothes?’
‘When I returned home I burnt them in the incinerator out the back of where I lived.’
‘Can you tell me what date this happened?’
‘6th October 2006 – I’ll never forget this date. It’s fixed in my mind. It was a Friday because I didn’t have to go back to work until Monday.’
‘What about your car. Do you still have it?’
‘No – before I came in here, I sold it. I don’t know where it is now.’
‘Can you describe this girl?’
‘I thought she was about fourteen or fifteen. She looked that old. Long blonde hair, I remember her bright blue eyes.’
‘Do you remember what she was wearing?’
‘A pair of jeans, a light coloured blouse, pink bra and pink panties, and a jacket.’
‘Was she wearing any shoes?’
‘Yeah - pair of sneakers and pink socks.’
‘Did you burn all of her clothes and the shoes?’
‘Yeah – I didn’t want anything left behind.’
‘Have you still got the shovel you used to dig the grave?’
‘No. I don’t know where it is. Once I knew I was going to prison I got rid of everything.’
‘Thank you Denis. We’ll leave you and try and find who this girl is. At least we have a location and date of disappearance. Thank you for your honesty.’ Bundy concluded.
Kate and Bundy left the prison after speaking with Colin Hunt, ‘thanks mate for contacting us. We’ve got his story, now we’ve got to find who this child is.’ Bundy shook Colin’s hand.