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"We've got them now, Ray," said Sonya, squeezing her colleague's hand. "The rats have abandoned their sinking ship, but I know now we have all the evidence we need to cage them for life."
"All of them?" asked Ray, still tied to the machines that monitored his vitals.
The bruising where Phillip had done a number on him were changing from a horrific black to a squirm causing green. It was still early days, and the hospital staff were concerned about long term organ damage, especially where they had detected a hairline skull fracture. Ray and Sonya joked that his head was hard enough to shatter concrete, hers too when she got stubborn about something, but Sonya knew, all jokes aside, that Ray had almost died. An attack like that on any cop, but especially on a close friend, well, those involved and those trying to cover it up and pretend that it never happened, those were the people who she would see met justice.
"So, what's this new lead?" asked Ray. "What ace has the great Son-dini got hidden up her sleeve?"
"The kid, Ray, the kid is the key that unlocked the whole damned puzzle," said Sonya, grinning like she was twelve again and just got a puppy for Christmas.
"That boy who you reckon helped Sash?" asked Ray, surprised. "You're that sure you can trust him?"
"He's on our side, Ray," said Sonya. "He's proven it so many times already."
"Alright then, how did he prove it this time?"
"Every house has its secrets," said Sonya.
"Yeah… But we know about this house," Ray replied. "We already know about the basement and the weird things on the shelves."
"It goes deeper than that, Ray," Sonya suggested without saying anything at all.
"Just spit it out already, Son," Ray begged. "What did this Greggory kid help you to find."
"Passports, Ray," Sonya whispered. "A whole stack of international passports hidden in a secret wall compartment."
"You know that is evidence we can't use, right?" Ray groaned.
"I've got this covered, Ray," Sonya whispered again. "I'm going back tomorrow morning with a couple of officers from Holden Hill."
"And what?" asked Ray, sarcastically. "You're just going to stumble across a secret switch?"
"It has been done like that before," Sonya replied, her whispered tones suddenly louder, defensive.
"Not at my station, I don't play that way and neither do you," Ray stated, his own voice tinged with a sharp edge.
"I know," Sonya sighed. "I think that's why I wanted to talk with you about it."
"Deep down we both know that it is wrong, but we also know that without these passports it is going to take a lot longer for us to identify all the victims."
"Their poor families… There must be a way to speed up the process…" Sonya said.
"There are only two options for you, and both are a bit iffy," Ray suggested.
"Go on," urged Sonya. "I'm listening."
"First option, you come clean and let the chief know you crossed the line…" Ray said, slowly. "Who knows… He might… Just might… Turn a blind eye to the fact that you've committed a cardinal copper sin."
Sonya pulled a face, like she'd just sucked on something sour. Detective Fields did not do sour very well.
"And the second option?" she asked.
"You lie," said Ray. "You forget you took the family… Sonya Fields, I still can't believe you took your own family and a child witness from the case… Oh my God, option two is not even worth talking about."
"You are right, Ray," Sonya admitted. "I really messed up with this one, and I've overstepped again in bringing you in."
"Yeah, you did, Son," Ray said, but he said it with a smile. "Thanks for trusting me."
"I miss the good old days," said Sonya. "I miss being a seaside cop."
"Well, if you ever get sick of big city living," said Ray. "I'm sure we can always find a desk for you here."
"You might yet regret that offer, Ray my friend," Sonya replied, this time she was smiling too.
"A chance to work with you again," Ray chuckled. "A chance to be your boss… Well, something like that I'd never regret."
"Um… I think you'd find out quite quickly, Ray, that Detective Sonya Fields is her own boss," said Sonya.
"Oh, don't you worry, Son," Ray replied. "I worked that one out a long time ago."
"Just never, ever forget it, Ray," Sonya said, squeezing her friend's hand again. "Thanks for the talk."

Ray watched the back of the detective as she left his room. There was a pep in her step that made him worry about exactly which of the two options Sonya would choose. If he knew his friend like he thought that he did, it was guaranteed that Son would make the wrong one.

"Tell me!" Jack growled in Bella's face. "Tell me exactly what you said to our mutual friend!"
He had the girl from the pub pinned up against the emergency exit door, one hand gripping a fistful of her hair. Twice he had already slammed the back of her head against the steel when Bella had refused to answer him. He pulled Bella's head forward, about to smash her into the door for a third and final time when she suddenly waved her hands, begging him to stop.
"Alice!" she cried. "I told Lisa to go see Alice!"
"Who the hell is Alice?" roared Jack. "Is she here! Tell me or by hell's fury I'll make you pay."
Bella giggled, delirious and frightened.
"Not who is Alice, bur where," she laughed.
"You got a car?" Jack demanded to know.
"Yeah, a Mazda, just outside," said Bella. "If Jack didn't smash it."
"I'll smash you if you don't start talking more sense girl," threatened Jack.
"The storm, the cyclone," the girl said as Jack went to strike her. "It's Cyclone Jack."
"Well, I'm your cyclone now, girl," Jack said with a smirk. "And if you don't take me to Alice right now you are going to feel the wrath of my storm."
Bella nodded and pushed on the emergency exit. She hoped that Lisa had been given enough time to make a decent escape. If she'd caught a lift with a kindly stranger, or better, a truckie, she could be long gone already. Bella suspected though that the clueless girl from the south was still stuck in Darwin. And if that was the case then getting this psycho that wanted Lisa away from Darwin could only be a good thing, right? The door's alarm shocked Bella back to the present. If she could get away from Jack and make a run for it she thought maybe she might be able to find Lisa and together the girls could go to the cops. Lisa said no cops, but this was the kind of situation that only professionals could handle.
"Lead the way, princess," Jack chuckled, yanking Bella by her hair forward and through the door. "Our chariot to Alice awaits."
No option to escape such a grip, and nobody around to call for help, Bella begrudgingly walked toward the silver Mazda 323. Jack allowed her a moment of freedom to get in, but as quick as a flash he was in the passenger seat behind her and his grip on your hair returned, twice as strong as it had been.
"You're hurting me," Bella complained. "I'll need to be able to focus on driving, and the tint on the windows is pretty basic."
"Fine," said Jack. "I'll let you go, but you better realize that as soon as I see any funny business I'm breaking that sweet little nose on your tiny steering wheel."
"Sure, got it," said Bella.
The engine of the hatchback roared to life. Seconds later the tape deck began to play Kylie's latest single.
"Shut that shit up!" commanded Jack.
"Nope, no way," said Bella, defiantly. "Driver picks the tunes, and you're not driving my car."
"Fine," said Jack. "But if I have to listen to the same song a hundred times, I'll find a way to make you pay when we finally get to this Alice place."
"F U buddy," Bella said, but realizing Jack meant what he said, she gave in.
Ejecting the cassingle the local radio began blasting AC-DC.
"Much better," said Jack, setting in and getting comfortable. "Don't rush… We don't need the attention…"
Bella buttoned her lips tight, scanned the road for signs of Lisa, and slowly drove away from the life she'd always known. As she watched Darwin disappear in the rearview mirror she hoped it was somewhere she would get to see again.

"Phillip…" said Lisa. "Phillip, listen to me."
"Nope… Not listening…" Phillip replied. "Alice this way, I know it."
"You don't know anything," Lisa mumbled.
"What you say?" Phillip growled, but he was too far ahead of Lisa to touch her.
"We need to return to the road!" Lisa suggested. "Otherwise, we will certainly get lost."
"You want we wait by the truck!" Phillip shouted back. "Not wait for police to come!"
"I don't want the police to come either, Phillip," the girl cried. "I'll be in just as much trouble as you."
That was not exactly true, but Phillip did not need to know that.
"Alright, fine!" Phillip said in a huff. "Go that way and we meet the road, yeah?"
"Yeah, that way should be the road," Lisa agreed.
She hoped that there would be a car she could hitch a ride with and leave Phillip to fend for himself. Only that way could she be sure of arriving in Alice Springs in one piece and able to try and find some of those friends which Bella had promised would be there. If she did not lose this brother, in her opinion the worst of the three, then she doubted she would have any hope of getting away at all. So, risking it all, Lisa turned back toward where the truck stood idle, the driver dead. She turned back toward just one more scene of unnecessary horror, and she ran. All the while stumbling, Lisa hoped and prayed that the years Phillip had spent cooped up in the basement meant that he was a much slower runner than she was.