Adventures of the Cosmic Woman

Chapter Fifteen

'What the fuck?' Paul Cochrane roared as he burst through the doors of the St. Kilda police station. The desk sergeant raised his hands.

'It's AFP.'

'Is he here?'

The sergeant pointed to the security door. Cochrane used his thumb print to pass through the door into the offices, past the surprised faces that turned toward him in succession, and into the holding area and interrogation offices.

'Ward. Waaard,' he seethed at the desk jockey near the next security door. The twitchy kid got up, fumbled with the key pass, unlocked the door, and led him into the crowded holding cells.

'We're not supposed to talk to him.'

The niggers, dune-coons, and chinks all occupied one side of the cell; Troy Ward had the other to himself. In the middle the bloodied, crumpled form of a woman in a torn sequined dress was spread on the cement floor. Ward looked up at Cochrane and then looked away again with a smile and a chortle.

'Find your boy?'

Lachlan Cain's apartment. Smelled of old rotten meat. Blood everywhere. Him in the bedroom. Pieces strewn all over the floor. Hand here, foot there, legs in the bed, torso under the window. Head in the freezer. The forensic faggot asked, this yours?

'What the fucks going on?' Cochrane asked.

'We're not supposed....'

'Shut the fuck up poofter!'

'I was gonna ask you but...' Ward smiled. 'You're not supposed to talk to me.'

'You don't know what they're saying, do you?' Cochrane still had his tablet in his hand.

Ward still smiled, but the ease of it was gone. He looked at the tablet.

'No...'

'Inspector Coch...'

'You fuck off!'

'Whatever, man,' Ward said as he looked away. 'Bring me a fucking blanket.'

The pimply faggot led Cochrane back into the office.

'When's the AFP getting here?'

The kid shrugged.

'Just... grab a coffee or something and...'

'Why don't you go back in there and suck his big black cock,' Cochrane spat. 'Fuckin' tell me what to do.'

He went for a coffee.

When he got back an AFP van was out the front of the station. Cochrane waited by the door white the men in blue armor led the hulking figure of Troy Ward, in cuffs, past the small cluster of pointing news cameras and squawking press nice and slowly so they all got a good shot. Bayley followed.

'Want us to go again?' he asked the press. Cochrane grabbed him by the shoulder. 'Hi, Paul. Sorry you won't get to extract the confession. Counter-terrorism is AFP jurisdic...'

'I'm going to find out everything about you,' Cochrane whispered through a forced smile as he led Bayley to the passenger seat of the AFP van. 'And everything about this Cosmic Woman. And sooner or later I'm going to find out something about one of you that I can use. Maybe both of you. Just for shits and gigs.'

Bayley pulled the door open and Cochrane let him go.

'You'd better start thawing Lachlan Cain's head out now so you can ask him,' Bayley grinned and got in the van and shut the door.