When I spoke to Daniel, I did not share with him my thoughts about Dawn. DeeDee. Suddenly, I felt tired. I didn’t want to suspect a victim, a woman too scared to go to the police, a woman who had no expectation of justice from us. At the end of this story, there was no superhero ending, no pistols at dawn, no hurricane house to land on the wicked witch. Just ordinary people trying to survive. Could Dawn have had something to do with the drugging of Merv. Like the rapes themselves, it was almost impossible to prove. And anyway, we’d already charged the men we’d found at the garage with Merv’s murder.

CHAPTER 43: THE ‘JUSTICE’ SYSTEM

CHAPTER 43

THE ‘JUSTICE’ SYSTEM

As detectives, we spend much of our lives in court. In the year following the spate of sexual assaults in Deception Bay, Wozza’s second-best suit got a workout. (His best suit was the one he was married in, and he reckoned that was reserved for weddings and funerals.) First up was Bob Shepherd and the break and enter, assault and weapons charges, alongside the animal cruelty charges for what he’d done to Waffles. First the committal hearing, then the trial.

I was pleased but a little surprised when Bob Shepherd was sentenced to five years. The judge made a lengthy comment at the end about how seriously the law took home invasion and aggravated assault, especially against police officers. After the guilty verdict, Noelene Shepherd approached and I could see by her crazed look that she was on the attack. But before she could reach me, Wozza stepped between us. He seemed to grow to twice his size and his voice became deeper.

‘Everything that has happened to the men in your family is because of what they did, not because of what she did. I suggest you leave it at that.’

Noelene Shepherd looked suddenly deflated. You can be fuelled by rage, but I guess, eventually, the tank empties. She turned away without a word.