BooksBarbecue
Back Dead Horse Gap
Chapters (58)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. Prologue
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. Forty-six
  51. Forty-seven
  52. Forty-eight
  53. Forty-nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-one
  56. Fifty-two
  57. Fifty-three
  58. Acknowledgements

Temple shook his head. ‘I can’t see why it would. I have a consent document signed by the Lorrimers to lodge the application, so everything should keep rolling along.’

Ryder nodded. This was consistent with what Mhanda Van Engelen had told them.

‘Who on behalf of the Lorrimers signed it?’ asked Ryder.

‘Dan was one. I can’t remember who else.’ Temple stood up. ‘Hang on, I’ll get it.’ He went to a filing cabinet near Janet’s desk, put on his glasses and pulled a file from the top drawer. ‘All the legal documents are in here,’ he said, flicking through the file as he walked back towards them. ‘Here it is.’

Ryder took the document and quickly scanned it. At the bottom of the page, both Daniel and Ethan Lorrimer had signed in their capacity as directors of WWS Pty Limited.

Ryder handed the document to Flowers. ‘What about the contract for sale?’ he asked Temple. ‘Did they sign that as well?’

‘I’ll have a look.’ Temple sat down and put the file on the table. ‘Here we go,’ he said, pulling out the contract from under a bundle of correspondence held together by a metal split-pin.

Ryder looked at the front page. Again, Daniel and Ethan Lorrimer had signed as directors of WWS Pty Limited.

‘Very good,’ said Ryder, passing the contract to Flowers. ‘I think that’s all we need to know at this stage.’

‘Not a problem,’ Temple said.

‘Thank you for your time.’ Ryder stood up. ‘Good luck with getting the subdivision approved if it’s in everyone’s best interest.’

‘Well, you can never be certain of the outcome, but I’m fairly confident,’ Temple said, walking with them to the door. ‘One particular councillor has been supportive of this project from the beginning, and he’s influential among a certain faction of the council, which is good for us.’

Flowers opened the door. ‘What’s his name?’

‘The councillor? Lewis Buchanan.’

section break

Flowers and Ryder reached Jindabyne later than they’d expected. The mid-afternoon storm had dumped snow on the mountains, making the Alpine Way so treacherous the traffic was reduced to a crawl around the hairpin bends.

Flowers brushed the snow off his jacket before stepping inside the Brumby Cafe and Gallery. Wendy Buchanan was behind the counter, talking to a young woman he didn’t recognise.

‘Hello,’ she said, catching sight of him. ‘Back for another coffee?’

‘I think my caffeine levels are fine for now.’ Flowers turned briefly to Ryder. ‘Wendy, this is Detective Sergeant Ryder. Is now a convenient time to ask you a few questions?’

‘Of course.’ She glanced at the young woman. ‘I shouldn’t be too long.’

Wendy led them to a quiet corner of the shop then looked at them expectantly. Flowers got the impression it would take a lot to ruffle her feathers.