The Murder Suite: Book One - The Audrey Murders by Leonie Mateer

mates on the truck and they gave a quick squeal on the siren.  Smithy knew they would be at it until the rain stopped. 
    Mud slips were a curse in this sort of weather.   Then he spotted Bruiser.  He was down in the ditch pulling something from the creek.  What was it?  Looked like a bone.   “Bruiser he yelled at him “come here boy!!”  But Bruiser wasn’t going to budge.   
    Smithy climbed down the slippery bank but couldn’t reach the dog. The water was too deep and the mud beneath his feet was too soft trapping his gumboots like quicksand.   He yelled once more at his dog while throwing a stick at him.  Bruiser yelped as the stick hit him and he let the bone go.   “Come here boy” said Smithy and Bruiser ran to his master. “Stupid dog” said Smithy and he reprimanded him all the way back to the safety of the old house.    Bruiser stood at the door and wined.  He wanted out.  “You want that bone don’t you Bruiser?” said Smithy.  Well, you can’t have it. Maybe tomorrow if the rain stops we can go back and find it.  Bruiser wined and lay on the floor near the door.  He only had one thing on his mind.
     
    C H A P T E R   3 4
     
    Audrey guests were all settled into their suites.  They had been pleased to get to the Chalets before the waters rose.  Audrey had been watching the water rise in the paddocks across the road.  From high up on the mountain she had a good view of the surrounding area.   She had been watching old Smithy across the road he had wandered past the Chalets and down to the creek area.  She couldn’t see what he was doing down there.  A minute or two later he came back with his dog.   She saw the fire truck heading up the hill.  She just hoped the power wouldn’t go out.  She saw a few power board trucks heading up the hill also.  Maybe a pole was down further up the road.  Not a good sign.   The paddocks across the street were now completely covered in brown muddy water.  The farmer must have moved the cattle out of the flats and put them onto higher ground.   Audrey liked the farmer.  He was a hard worker, a quiet guy. Audrey had brought a couple of steers from him a few months ago.  She liked country life and didn’t even miss the big cities she had worked in overseas.  
    Audrey had her work cut out for her.  She only had a few days before her next project.   She was concerned the pigpen had been flooded and some of the pig feed may have escaped down the flooded ditches and out into the bay.   Neighbors had already complained about her gray water from her washing machine releasing into the harbor and polluting the oyster fields.     Audrey didn’t like oysters and liked even less the eyesore of the huge oyster farms that were exposed when the tide was out ruining the pristine view of the harbor.   When an oyster company went out of business they just left their mess in the harbor.   The oyster beds were made of wood beams treated with cyanide.  If that wasn’t pollution, Audrey didn’t know what was.   A little washing machine water seemed a lot less harmful than cyanide.   Of course, it wasn’t the pollution that Audrey worried about escaping into the bay, but evidence from her last project.  Now, that could be dire.
    Audrey changed into her sweat pants and baggy shirt and lay on her bed looking up at the ceiling deep in thought.   What a pain.  The pigpen had been perfect!  If it weren’t for the flood everything would have gone to plan.  Upon reflection, Audrey decided to use the same method only she would need to move the pen up further into the pine forest.  There was an old tractor road that led up the mountain.  She wished she had a quad bike but her old Rav4 was pretty good on rough terrain.   She just hoped the rain would stop soon and everything would have to dry up before the weekend.  It usually dried up pretty quickly. Often a day or two after heavy rain all signs of flooding had