Read Online Gladiatrix by Rhonda Roberts - Free Book Online Page B

settled in.
    â€˜So, how can I help you?’ Cooper sat ready to listen. ‘Perkins didn’t say why you were here.’
    â€˜I’m here …’ Des stopped. ‘We’re both here, to talk to you about an old case. I have some new information and I want you to follow it up.’
    â€˜An old case?’ Cooper wasn’t overwhelmed with pleasure. ‘Ah. Well, Mr Carmichael …’
    â€˜Call me Des.’
    â€˜Well then, Des. Before we continue, can I ask exactly what Miss Jarratt’s place in all this is?’
    Des glanced at me. I nodded. He could do the talking here, it was his backyard. ‘It’s her case.’ He said my name again, ‘Kannon Jarratt.’ When Cooper didn’t respond, Des said testily, ‘You may be too young to have heard of the Kanangra Baby?’
    Cooper shook his head. ‘Sorry, Des. I’m a Northern Rivers man myself. I trained up in Lismore.’
    â€˜And no-one in Lithgow has mentioned Kannon?’
    â€˜As I said, I’m new here. Three months so far.’ Cooper shot me a brief glance, ‘Sorry, Miss Jarratt.’ He didn’t bother with any more sympathy. He studied the briefcase on Des’ lap, ‘But I’m guessing you have the case number handy?’
    Des pulled out the file, while Cooper typed commands into his computer. When he’d found the right sheet, Des passed it over to Cooper. Cooper scanned the page, and typed in the case identifier. He leant back again, and waited, then frowned.
    Cooper tried a few more screens. ‘Nope,’ he shook his head. ‘I was afraid of that. This case is one of our paper files still waiting in Parramatta to be put onto the database.’
    Des took that personally. ‘What!’
    â€˜Central Command wants all files on computer asap, and we had to send anything older than ten years in to be processed. I’m sorry, Des, but if you could go over the details with me?’
    Des was disgusted but too eager to get things moving to let the filing situation rattle him. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Twenty years ago, Kannon was brought into Lithgow Hospital by a bushwalker from Kanangra-Boyd National Park …’
    Cooper looked at me. ‘So you’d have been … how old?’
    â€˜The hospital staff thought I was between two and three. Probably closer to two.’
    Cooper’s eyebrows shot up.
    â€˜No,’ I answered his unspoken question, ‘I was never identified. I still don’t know my background.’
    â€˜She’d been left to die,’ said Des. ‘The bushwalker resuscitated her and brought her here.’
    â€˜The bushwalker?’ Cooper found a laminated map of the park and spread it across the desk. ‘Now where exactly was she found?’
    We both knew why Cooper was asking. He’d automatically assume whoever found me in the middle of a wilderness area would’ve been involved somehow. Which is what everyone had assumed at the start. Yuki’d had to run the gamut of police questioning.
    We all stood and bent over the map. Kanangra-Boyd National Park is about eighteen miles south of Lithgow and spread over 168,000 acres of mountains, gorges and wilderness. The place is full of limestone deposits, which means caves. Lots of caves.
    â€˜You see here.’ Des ran his finger along the map. ‘That’s the main road that runs up from the Jenolan Caves, along the Boyd Plateau and into the centre of the park.’ He tapped the very end of the road. ‘Here’s the set of cliffs known as The Walls.’ He checked Cooper’s face. ‘Do you know the area at all?’
    Cooper said, without apology, ‘I’ve been to the Kanangra Walls and looked at the view across to Mt Cloudmaker like everyone else. But that’s about it.’
    Des was puzzled, as though he was trying to work out why you wouldn’t spend every spare minute ‘out there’ in the