<°)))><

The elderly lady was good with technology almost to the point of embarrassing Jack. She opened the app on her tablet device so they could view the CCTV recordings.

“You know us oldies get bored, so I go over the recording each day. I would really like to get a gun to cut down on the number of cats that wee on my lawn. Sometimes the wee gives the grass a spurt of flush growth, but most of the time it causes dead brown patches.”

“I’m worried about you and that gun,” Catherine said.

“I’m just joking, love.” She looked at Jack. “Your partner needs to lighten up. She takes things far too seriously.”

Jack looked at Catherine and smiled. “Yeah, you need to lighten up.”

Jack got the deal-with-you later look.

The lady handed the device to Catherine, perhaps because she was younger. “You two can have a look over the recording. I’m going to make a cuppa. Anyone want one?”

Jack and Catherine declined.

They watched the man pick up the paper and walk over to a black vehicle. Another person sat in the vehicle. Catherine zoomed in to get a closer look but the person was on the wrong side of the car. After the man got back in the car, he angled the car out of its parking place and drove off. They could just make out the number plate, and recorded it.

Catherine took some screenshots and used the lady’s email system to send them to herself and Jack. 

“Jack, there’s something familiar about that man.” Catherine replayed the recording. 

Jack rubbed his chin. “Maybe we need to retrace a few things. Go back over some of the recordings at the island.”

“Think you’re right there,” she said, smiling. “Here, check this out.” She pointed to the recording.

A black cat appeared and walked over and started sniffing where the paper was retrieved. Something of a foreign nature had entered the cat’s territory. 

“Best not let our friend see that, but I’m sure she will.” Catherine gave Jack a nudge.

The black cat triggered a memory. “This is the man who was at Shoana’s the night I was parked outside her property. A black cat had appeared that night as well.”

“And I bet it was a false number plate on the car.”

“It was.”

<°)))><

Back to the office, not home. Jack phoned Erica. She understood. He would make up for it.

Jack pulled up a chair and sat next to Catherine in her work space. The small colourful velcro dart ball board always caught his attention, and he picked up the balls. Landing on the bullseye scored two hundred points, and the scores worked outward through the hundreds and then tens. Jack normally got close to the bullseye and scored in the hundreds. But things were different today, and all his throws ended up on the outside ring, on the number forty. He scratched his head.

“That’s weird, Jack. We should check out the significance of forty sometime.”

“Hmmm.” Jack nodded, his chest tightened. Were invisible forces in play here? He grabbed the dart balls and placed them on Catherine’s desk. If they flew back on to the board, he was out of there.

“I think it’s a good number, Jack. It rained for forty days in the days of Noah, and that was a cleansing process. And Jesus hung around for forty days after he was resurrected. Maybe he hung around to make sure the job was done properly.”

“I’m starting to think you’re a believer, Cath.”

“Research . . . but maybe I am. What about you?”

Jack stared at Catherine’s computer monitor. Technology. He had no idea. “Lots of things I don’t understand, Cath. Don’t seem to have time to think about such things.” He picked up one of the dart balls and squeezed it in his fist. “But it looks like that might change, as I seem to be getting it thrown in my face at the moment.” He gave a gentle smile as he meant no menace with what he said.

“That’s good, Jack.”

“I suppose it is.”

Jack often wondered how Catherine had scored a bigger monitor. Maybe she asked for it. She plugged in the USB from the island and replayed the recording of people disembarking from the ferry.

“There’s the man, Jack. Next to Ms Jill Winter.”

“Would be safe to assume she was in the car then.” 

“Yep. The High Priestess sent her wizard off to do an errand,” Jack said. “And we best run some checks on this man.”

“I think we need to give some priority to protecting Ruby.”

“I agree.” He threw the dart ball. It landed on number forty.

37 – A safer place

JACK SAT ON THE DOUBLE SOFA in the lounge room of Ruby’s unit. Ruby sat in a comfy chair, and Zoe was making coffee and tea, assisted by Catherine. 

“You spoilt at home, Jack?” Ruby asked.

“Nope. My wife is.” He could smell the coffee brewing in the plunger on the kitchen bench.

A slow smile formed on Ruby’s face. “Is that true, Catherine, that Jack spoils his wife?”

“It’s not a lie, Ruby.” Catherine winked as she carried a tray of cheese and crackers to the coffee table.

Zoe brought the cups of tea. Jack was the only one drinking coffee. Was it a vice? His thoughts were distracted by sounds coming from below—kids screaming and a door closing. It must have been even louder when the crazy man visited. Corridors echo.

They were all seated. Jack picked up the cheese knife and cut off a slice. He placed it on a cracker and took a bite. After he had chewed and swallowed he looked towards Ruby.

“Ruby, we wanted to come see you, to check up on you, as you may be feeling vulnerable and concerned about your safety with what happened yesterday.”

He watched her eyes. Tired. A slow nod. She looked down towards the table.

“Thank you. It was a bit of a shock, considering I’m still coming to terms with the other event.” She reached for her cup. “One of your police officers phoned me earlier today, and told me you caught the crazy man.”

“Yes, he’s in custody,” Catherine said. “So you’ll not encounter him again for a very long time.”

Another nod.

“That’s good. It was all strange. I bumped into him at the doctor’s clinic. It looked like he was a regular there. And they sort of knew how to handle him.”