Pat Ritter. Books

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‘Perhaps I may explain.’ Bundy stated. Kate nodded in appreciation.
‘This is not easy for us. I’ll tell you the story so far. We have been investigating the disappearance of a twelve year old boy when we were called to a forestry north of Brisbane. Remains of a skeleton were discovered by a forestry worker.’
‘Oh no – we saw the news report the other night. Is it Colleen?’ Carol put her hands over her face and sobbed. Jim moved beside his wife and placed his hand on her shoulder.
‘First we thought the skeleton could have been the missing person we were investigating until it was discovered the remains were of a female aged between eight and ten years old.’ Bundy’s voice choked with emotion. His throat tightened. He hated this part of explaining what happened. He couldn’t spit out the information because it mightn’t be the right missing person.
‘We are not one hundred percent certain if the skeleton remains are those of your daughter. Is it possible you would have a sample of her hair; or clothing she wore, or anything a DNA could be taken?’ Bundy explained as best he could.
‘Yes – yes,’ Carol rose immediately and left the room, ‘we’ve left her bedroom as it was, hoping she would come home one day. Come with me.’ She instructed.
They joined Carol in her daughter’s bedroom. Kate entered – it was a shrine with the bed neatly made; floor spotless, everything in its place. She walked to a bedside table and saw a hairbrush, ‘was this Colleen’s?’ Kate asked.
‘Yes, you take it – anything else you want, just take it, if it will help.’ Carol said. Her voice excited to know something in her bedroom could help discover her daughter’s whereabouts.

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Kate opened the build-in wardrobe to discover girls clothing, ‘can I take one of these blouses?’ She asked. Carol nodded.
‘Thank you – we’ll need to have these items scientifically examined and as soon as we know the results you will be notified.’ Kate explained while she placed the articles into a plastic evidence bag and sealed it. She wrote particulars on the label.
‘Is there any chance the skeleton belongs to our Colleen?’ Carol asked with a quiver in her voice, ‘we want to know.’
‘Sorry, at this stage we can’t say until we’re completely certain after these tests have been done. You’ll be the first to know, when we know.’ Bundy interrupted.
‘Carol – here is my card. If you need to speak with us at anytime let me know. We’ll get back to you as soon as we know the results.’ They said their farewells.
Leaving the Andersen home, Kate was silent until she expressed, ‘where to now – boy that was tough. Those poor people have waited almost six years to hear anything of their daughter. We are so close to knowing it’s her and we can’t tell them until we’re certain it is her skeleton.’
‘Yeah, life can be tough at times. I’m afraid I don’t miss a minute of what we have just done. I hated telling parents their child wouldn’t be coming home again. Let’s go see Doctor Fitzgerald tomorrow and see if he can shine any light on this investigation.’ Bundy echoed.
Early the following morning Kate drove to the Department of Forensic Pathology, commonly known as the City Morgue. They entered the building to Doctor Fitzgerald’s office.
‘Morning, Doctor Fitzgerald, I’m Detective Superintendent Kate Emerson and this is Bundy Quicksilver. We were present when you examined the skeleton at the forestry recently.’ Kate said.

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Doctor Fitzgerald immediately rose and walked over to the two officers and shook their hands, ‘I’m pleased to meet you both.’ He smiled, ‘how can I be of assistance?’
‘Have you identified the remains of the skeleton?’ Kate asked.
‘Not at this stage. We’ve tried DNA tests but haven’t been able to find a result. Have you anything which may help?’ His professional voice echoed.
‘We may have something. Recently we interviewed an in-mate of Her Majesty Prison who told us he’d drugged a young girl in 2006, then drove her to a place he described similar to where the skeleton was found.’ Kate explained.
‘This is good. Do you know the name of the girl?’ Doctor Fitzgerald wanted to know.
‘We have a name Colleen Andersen, who was reported missing by her parents on 6th October 2006. We’ve been to their home and obtained these two items, a hair brush and clothing. We hope they may help to identify her as the missing person.’ Kate handed two plastic evidence bags to Doctor Fitzgerald.
‘Let’s hope so. We’ll do DNA on each of the items and get back to you. How can I contact you?’ He asked.
‘Here is my card – you can contact me at anytime.’ Kate handed Doctor Fitzgerald a business card with her particulars. ‘Do you know how long it would be before we know the results?’ Kate asked.
‘Probably a couple of days, we’re snowed under at the moment but I’ll ensure we’ll get to it as soon as possible.’
‘Thank you Doctor Fitzgerald – we’ll let ourselves out.’ They left his office.
‘Now, all we need to do is wait and hope there is a match. What do we do now Mr Bundy?’ Kate asked in an amusing voice when they arrived at their vehicle.

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‘Like the man said – they’re snowed under but will get it done as quickly as possible.’
‘This has been quite an interesting investigation watching you.’
‘Why – am I strange?’
‘Quite on the contrary – you’ve been away from investigation work for over twenty years, and yet you returned as if it was yesterday.’
‘There’s an old saying we had in my day – an ole dog for a hard road, a puppy dog for the bitumen.’
‘There’s no doubt about it – you are an ole dog for a hard road.’ Kate smiled.

Chapter 14

Over the next couple of days Kate felt time dragged slowly. She wanted to know the results from Doctor Fitzgerald; she couldn’t concentrate on her work. She wanted a match of DNA to substantiate the skeleton found in the forestry was Colleen Andersen.
‘What happens if the DNA is Colleen Andersen?’ Kate asked Bundy.
‘It’s no good counting your chickens before they hatch – how much investigation work, have you done?’ Bundy asked. Many a time he noticed Kate didn’t appear to be on the same page as he was at different stages of the investigation. At times not even on the same chapter. Ways to investigate hadn’t changed much since he retired. You still had to have your wits about you and see things no-one else saw.
‘Not as much as you’ve done. I always wanted to be a detective. It’s all I ever wanted to be. I don’t know if you experienced the difficulties of understanding how to be a detective which is the hardest thing I’d ever done.’ Kate admitted.
‘Yeah – tell me about it. When I started I was lucky

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‘Yeah – tell me about it. When I started I was lucky to work with a brilliant detective who pointed out different elements of investigation work. I called him Chief and he was a Chief in my eyes.’ Bundy explained.
‘Well, I didn’t have the good fortune to work with a Chief. I had Larry. We were a couple of rookies. Ever since I left the Academy, I’ve studied policing. First at university – I’ve studied most of my life. I spent time at Manly College in Sydney and completed an FBI course in America. I’m more academic than life experienced.’ She shared.
Instantly all of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, Bundy realised for the first time Kate shared personal details of her past life. A warm feeling enveloped his mind; he realised his work partner was being honest and sincere.
‘I feel humble when you share these details. If there is anything I can do to help, I’m only too willing. I haven’t had the education side of policing as you have had, but I think I’ve still got it when it comes to investigation work. Most times I hear a ping go off in my head when something is not right; I’ve got to dig deeper to find the reason, why.’ Bundy shared.
‘You’re doing enough – I’m learning more working with you in the past couple of months than I’ve learnt with anyone else in my whole career. I can understand why the Commissioner wanted you to work with me. I’ve been a bitch to you, haven’t I – I’m sorry.’ Her face changed to a ‘sad’ look. Her eyes searched for Bundy’s eyes to recognize he understood what she meant and to forgive her.
‘I can’t blame you for feeling the way you do. I wouldn’t like to have another person rain on my parade – how did it happen the Commissioner chose you for this investigation - the disappearance of Peter Clayton.’ He queried.

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‘It happened out of the blue. Larry and I were work partners at the Sunshine Coast when Peter was reported missing. At the time not many police took notice of the missing person report. Something inside of me erupted when no immediate action was taken. I wanted to vomit. The Commissioner was visiting the Sunshine Coast at the time and next I knew I was taken away from Larry and given the investigation into the disappearance of Peter to do by myself.’
‘Did you know the Commissioner beforehand?’ Bundy asked.
‘Yes. I have another confession to make. He’s my Godfather. He and my father were close, very close and when I came along my father asked him to be my Godfather which he did. He’s kept an eye on me ever since.’
A little bit of nepotism, Bundy thought. ‘I know it’s taken eight years – what I can’t understand is how has it been so long and nothing has been found?’ Bundy wanted to know.
‘You know yourself; it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Each time I thought I had something; it turned out to be, using your words, ‘a red herring’.’ Kate hated admitting defeat – by admitting to Bundy her thoughts she unloaded frustrations which had built for eight years. Actually it felt good to unload her thoughts because Bundy understood – he’d been there and actually investigated many crimes and knew how investigations worked. She felt relieved. Her telephone came alive.
‘Detective Superintendent Emerson speaking,’ she muttered into the phone.
‘Doctor Fitzgerald here – we have the results. Would you like to meet me in my office and I can discuss them with you instead of over the telephone.’

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‘Yes – yes, certainly doctor. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.’ She flipped her phone closed. ‘He’s got the results. Let’s go.’ Kate beckoned to Bundy.
Fifteen minutes later they sat in front of Doctor Fitzgerald.
‘Each sample we examined to compare hair from the brush and clothing; to compare the DNA found in the skeleton, was a match. I am satisfied Colleen Andersen is identified through this matching as the skeleton found at the forestry.’
Kate could have jumped up and hugged him, she was delighted beyond any feeling she’d ever experienced.
‘Thank you Doctor Fitzgerald. We’ll advise the parents and arrest the offender. Good job.’ She couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. Her body shook with excitement and relief. Something was going right for once.
They bid the doctor farewell and left his office.
‘Isn’t this the most fantastic day of your life, Bundy?’ She declared when they reached the vehicle.
‘You deserve it Kate – do you want to do the honours of telling her parents of this discovery?’ Bundy offered the question.
‘If you don’t mind - I think, I’ll keep it together this time now we know the outcome. Life couldn’t get better – could it?’ She smiled and looked across to him.
‘Don’t get too excited, after we inform the parents of this finding, I think it will be a relief for them, and closure when we arrest Denis for the crimes.’ Bundy explained.
‘Can you explain how we arrest and charge Denis?’ Her demeanour changed from excited to solemn. She never before arrested or charged a person with murder.
‘Because he’s already in-custody, it’s only a matter of explaining to him about the findings and charging him with the offences.’ Bundy said.