She squeezed it. It moved easily between her fingers. As would a child, she automatically lifted it to her nose. ‘What smell is that?’ she said as if trying to recall something familiar. ‘Isn’t that plasticine?’
The others also smelled it and then showed their agreement.
‘Blocks in this wall were just “held” together with the adhesive power of plasticine!’ stated Backhouse.
‘The blocks were little more than balanced on top of each other.’
‘Good heavens,’ said McMahon.
‘That's not all,’ said Straker. ‘None of these discoveries were even the reason for my “run”. The real purpose was to take a look at the gravel trap.’
‘You breached the premises – actually trespassed,’ McMahon declared.
Ignoring her, Straker lifted the phone again and, shuffling through a few more of his pictures, said: ‘Here,’ showing the photograph he had taken while standing out on the track. ‘When I walked across here,’ he said indicating the direct line Sabatino had followed across the gravel, ‘there was no give in the gravel.’
‘Meaning what?’ asked McMahon.
‘Run-offs are meant to help a car slow down, without dramatic deceleration,’ replied Backhouse. ‘They’re made of gravel and sand. The tyres are meant to sink into the surface, to slow the cars down gently.’
‘On Sabatino's line to the perimeter,’ replied Straker, ‘my feet hardly sank into the stones and sand at all.’
‘Extraordinary,’ said Backhouse. ‘It backs up what we were saying when we watched the video yesterday.’
Straker nodded. ‘Precisely why I went for my “run”.’
McMahon looked quizzical: ‘What had you seen on the video?’
‘That Remy didn’t seem to slow at all as she crossed the kitty litter – er, gravel trap.’
‘Why would that be? Was that unusual?’
‘Empirically, yes.’
‘Did you look at other parts of it?’
‘Of course,’ replied Straker. ‘While out on the track, I was “interrupted” – and needed to escape. I ran from the circuit, here,’ he said pointing at a spot on the screen, ‘straight across the gravel – to about here – being the closest point of the perimeter fence. Across this stretch of sand and gravel my feet were slipping and sliding about all over the place – sinking well in, giving me no purchase at all.’
‘You’re saying the strip of gravel – directly in line with Ms Sabatino's departure from the track, then – was different?’
‘I am,’ said Straker who then shifted in some discomfort as he lifted the rucksack up onto his lap. Pulling out the white laundry bag he said: ‘This is the gravel sample I took on Remy's line, while this,’ he said jiggling the rucksack and rattling the loose gravel inside, ‘was the gravel I took from my escape route.’
‘Why do you keep saying “escape” and “escape route”?’ asked McMahon.
Backhouse watched Straker wince as he lifted the rucksack up onto the table. ‘Is that how you got hurt – in your “escape”?’ asked the race engineer.
‘No, I got hit by a car.’
‘On the track?’
‘Out on the main road.’
‘As a result of the “interruption” you mentioned?’ Backhouse asked with a smirk on his face.
McMahon was clearly not finding this amusing. ‘Colonel,’ she said, ‘may I have a word with you a moment?’
Straker and McMahon moved through the motor home into the private cabin at the end. She shut the door behind them. Lowering himself awkwardly into one of the chairs, Straker sat, leaning on a small circular table trying to support his left flank.
‘What you have done is beyond reckless,’ she said. ‘You should pray no one saw you. You could have so easily compromised our case. Not only that, you could have been arrested, found in contempt of court, sentenced to God knows how long in jail.’
‘Jail, schmail,’ spat Straker. ‘People didn’t just see me, Sandy – they fired at me.’
‘What? … What do you mean?’
‘Fired at me – they shot at me.’
‘You were shot at?’
‘Rifle and automatic fire, Sandy.’
McMahon's terms of reference for this case suddenly seemed to be shattered.
‘I was shot at – with sustained fire – for nothing more than walking onto a race track!’
Trying to recover her authority, McMahon said: ‘If we’re to fight this case properly, we have to comply with the rules of the court. There's no reason to breach city ordinances, deliberately violating a court order to trespass on territory the police have impounded and placed out of bounds.’
Straker replied: ‘Unless we do things like that, Sandy, we’re going to lose this case.’
‘Not necessarily.’
