Before It Breaks by Dave Warner

distance. I’d probably been out a few moments. How was the fishing?’
    â€˜Three nice barra. Then I got home and heard about this shit. One or more?’
    â€˜Just one I think.’
    â€˜You think this is related to Jasper’s?’
    Clement savoured the fresh bun. ‘We need to run Schaffer’s phone, see what might turn up.’
    The sound of a vehicle arriving swung them back to the driveway. It was Lisa Keeble. Earle took a very big bite. ‘She must have had her foot to the floor the whole way.’
    She pulled up hard and dust swirled. Earle watched her climb out.
    â€˜You two should get together.’
    Clement’s face was kind of numb which aided his deadpan. ‘First the nurse, now Lisa?’
    â€˜The nurse is just a bit of divorce therapy.’ Earle’s eyes tracked Lisa as she approached. ‘You’d be good for one another. She needs to dump that no-hoper muso bloke.’
    Clement didn’t mind Lisa’s boyfriend. Everybody called him Osama because of the dark beard he wore. He was a bit alternative but he had a tuneful voice. Neither man spoke as Lisa joined them. She was detachment itself as she studied him up close.
    â€˜You should get to hospital.’
    â€˜I’ll be fine. I want you to dust for prints inside, especially a set of drawers. There’s a long-handled shovel, DNA it, print it. The can of beer on the back veranda was me. Same for the blood on the pillow, don’t get excited, it’s mine. ’ He looked at Earle. ‘Mate, go throughthe place, see if there’s anything I missed. Bag all the documents in the drawers, bring them back to the station, I’m going home to change. Stay in touch.’
    He turned back to Keeble. ‘Sorry to dump you in it again.’
    â€˜It’s my job. You didn’t see your attacker?’
    â€˜Just a blur.’
    â€˜He heard a motorcycle leaving.’
    Earle offered her the last of the buns. Lisa shook her head, Clement shook his. Earle took another large bite. Clement asked if Lisa had found anything interesting at the creek since they’d spoken.
    â€˜Yeah, a shirt underneath the overturned dinghy. And guess what? At a rough estimate, the marks on it matched the bruising on Dieter’s body.’
    â€˜He was wearing that when he was beaten?’
    â€˜He was wearing that when somebody took an axe to his head. A lot of blood had washed into the creek but you could see the stains.’
    Clement pondered. ‘How could he change shirts if his head was caved in?’
    â€˜Maybe he didn’t.’
    Earle spoke through masticated bun. ‘Somebody else put a different shirt on him?’
    â€˜I think so.’
    â€˜And then dumped him?’ He looked over at Clement. ‘Did they feel guilty? Somebody who knows him?’
    Clement, thinking along the same lines, gave a thoughtful nod. ‘What else?’
    â€˜Lots of litter, might be useful but who knows. Right out at the edge of the search area I found a space that looked like it had a car recently, empty beer cans.’
    â€˜How recent?’
    â€˜There was still a tiny bit of beer in the can. I’m guessing forty-eight hours. No useful tyre tracks.’
    Clement asked if she had printed the cans. Naturally she had. She also thought they might be good for DNA.
    â€˜That’s not the area I found?’
    â€˜No. There was nothing there except the depression in the ground that indicated some sort of vehicle.’
    Two cars, he thought, but no way of telling when exactly they were there. Clement asked her opinion on what might have happened, now she’d had time to sleep on it.
    â€˜Sleep?’ she joked. Then more seriously, ‘I think he was killed with an axe or machete while he was standing near the tent. He was there for some time, bleeding into the ground. He was beaten while he was dying. When he was dead somebody changed his shirt and dragged him to the