A Dreadful Weight (First Draft) - Outer Realms Book 2

Chapter 3

"That's your fourth cup of tea"

"I decided against the wine."

Mikayla, Joel and Dominic had moved to the living room. Joel was on his phone while Dominic read a book. Mikayla paced around the coffee table.

"I thought you said finding the boy was a priority," she said to Dominic.

"I can't leave Mike like this," Dominic replied, "Or do you want to ignore the family history of depression and suicide? We'll head out as soon as Caden and Lucas get back. Besides, you two are the detectives. I'm a tracker. Both people we need to find left in cars and I know nothing about them. I've got nothing to track at the moment. No cameras that got shots of the car, they moved too fast to leave a scent, it was the middle of the night on a sleeping street on the edge of the bush so no witnesses. Last of all, the killer knows how to cover their scent from people with a keen sense of smell. It's always the last thing people think to cover up so they know what they're doing. It's likely that they're better at all this than me."

"You're supposed to be our expert."

"That's a low standard to meet. The killer is working alone as far as we know. We've got the power of teamwork and all that good stuff." Dominic suddenly sat up straight and dropped his book. "Someone's parked a couple of houses down."

"So? Don't tell me you boys sit around using your superpowers to spy on your neighbours."

"They parked down the road but they're walking up our driveway. I'm guessing they want to take us by surprise."

"Don't want you to spook and run out the back," Joel said, "Tactic I've used before."

Dominic sighed and stood up. "Another guest. Joy."

He was opening the door even before the person outside had reached their second knock. "Good morning," Mikayla recognised the female voice that came in from outside. "Are you Michael Darrow?"

"You'd be surprised how many people get us confused," Dominic answered, "I can't let you see him at the moment but come in, join us. This many police here and I think I've officially gone from rave to raid." Dominic stepped aside and let the woman in.

She was in her mid thirties and just short of six feet tall with tanned skin and wild chestnut curls. She was dressed in plain clothes but the outline of a gun was just visible through her jacket. Her brown eyes widened in surprise when she entered the living room.

"Mikayla?"

"Natasha? What are you doing here?"

"Two women in two different states mauled to death in their own home after their locks had been bumped. One kid dead and another missing. Given the investigation you asked for my help on last month, I've been keeping an eye on things and I was assigned to a task force in Sydney anyway."

"Yeah, that bit I get. What are you doing here though?"

"Michael Darrow is the latest victim's ex and he travels a lot. He's been to Queensland more than a few times. Anyway, what are you doing here? I heard you were heading some special unit to field test tactics used by other police forces."

"This is our investigation," Mikayla answered, "My partner Joel Donaghue and that's Dominic Shaw. Guys, this is Natasha Kemp with the Federal Police. We're old friends."

Dominic waved unenthusiastically. "I'm their experimental tactic. Nice to meet you."

Natasha turned to Dominic. "You work for that consultancy firm, right? I thought Mikayla was investigating you and your company just last month,"