‘Have a look at these,’ he said.

The notes were precise and objective with no assumptions and no conclusions, just facts: date, times, places, names and diagrams. Just like they taught at the academy.

‘He’s good. Isn’t he?’ Robinson asked after a few minutes. Cardilini stopped his study of the notebook and gently placed it on Robinson’s desk and sat back.

‘Well?’ Robinson encouraged.

‘Is he your man?’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘He’s written his notes to suit your story of a stray shot from across the river.’

‘My story? Careful, Cardilini. The deputy commissioner and I investigated and drew that conclusion. Well, where are your notes?’

‘Yeah, my notes . . . um . . .’ Cardilini cast his eye about as if looking for them.

‘Yeah. I forgot what a great detective you are,’ Robinson said sharply.

‘What about the angle of trajectory of the bullet?’ Cardilini asked.

‘We thought of that and decided it was impossible to determine,’ Robinson replied.

‘Oh. Right. I see.’

‘What do you see, Cardilini?’

‘I see there was never going to be an investigation. So you got the lazy, fat copper to sign the report.’

‘Have you got hard evidence?’ Robinson insisted.

Cardilini shifted in his chair. All he had was what McBride at the morgue had told him, that it was a shot from around 200 yards with a .303 calibre rifle. But McBride wasn’t a forensic expert.

‘There was bruising on a tree . . .’ Cardilini started.

‘I read it. A schoolyard full of boys. Half of them would’ve climbed that tree.’

‘It’s out of bounds,’ Cardilini said.

‘Oh, well. There you go. Rock solid evidence.’

Cardilini sat staring at Robinson, ‘So what do you expect me to do now?’

‘Make up a report. A stray bullet from the kangaroo shooters across the river. Accidental shooting. Tragic event. The whole northern bank of the river will be banned for recreational or professional shooters. Job done.’

‘And if I don’t?’

Robinson gave Cardilini a hard stare, then said, ‘I’m not even going to answer that. You’re pissed off because of what happened to your boy and want to get some of your own back. We know you went in with an agenda. You’ve annoyed a number of people.’

Cardilini seemed stunned, ‘How do you know I went in with an agenda?’

‘And I thought I could rely on you.’

‘Hang on. If you know so much, why do you need me? You do the report. Leave me out of it,’ Cardilini demanded.

Robinson looked to the side as if reluctant to reply then said, ‘You’re starting to look like dead weight around the department. And I thought it was something you could handle quickly. Keep everyone happy. Not like that robbery you’ve been sitting on for a week.’

Cardilini sat up straighter. ‘That’s an exaggeration.’

‘How long do you think you can stretch that case out for?’ Robinson asked.

‘I have a suspect,’ Cardilini evaded Robinson’s question.

Robinson sat back with a sigh and pushed a bit of paper around with his finger for a moment before asking, ‘What did you think of Salt?’