Chapter 20

MY KNUCKLES STILLhurt from the impact against the back of Ben Hammond’s skull, but I wasn’t focusing on that as I smacked my opponent in his ribs, his chest. I surged forward and drove an elbow into the side of his padded head. Pops backed up into the corner of the ring. I didn’t think of him as the old, squat man that he was. In the ring we were equals. I gave him a couple of jabs in the face and backed off to let him out of the trap he’d fallen into.

“Mind that back step.” The Chief pointed at my foot with his red boxing glove. “Don’t cross.”

Pops had been training me since I’d arrived at Sydney Metro to take up the grand position of the only woman on the sex crimes squad. There hadn’t been a female in my role for five years, but the department had wanted someone victims could relate to, someone who wouldn’t accidentally intimidate them with their masculine hulk in the tiny station interview rooms. It wasn’t long after arriving that I’d decided I needed some form of self-defense, my days filled with horrific stories of attacks in alleyways and empty parking lots, young girls ensnared walking home across darkened parks by fiendish predators. I was probably getting too swift for Chief Morris, who had been training boxers since before I was born. But I trusted his advice. He’d made me strong, and he didn’t take less than full commitment in his sessions.

“Tell me about the Georges River case,” I said, batting away his swing at my face. “Why were your guys so sure my girl wasn’t one of the victims?”

I’d given up on the idea that Claudia Burrows was a Georges River Killer victim. But something was nibbling at me about the certainty with which Nigel had shoved me away. Nigel hadn’t even been called to Claudia’s crime scene for a look. How could they know their killer wasn’t responsible?

“Have you guys got a suspect?” I asked.

“Leave it, Harry,” he said.

“You must be pretty set on this suspect if you’re certain he didn’t kill Claudia,” I said. “Maybe because you were watching your suspect when Claudia was killed. Am I right? Have you got enough for an arrest?”

“I didn’t even say we had a suspect.”

“Well, if you don’t have a suspect, I have to assume you’re letting Nigel and his band of asshats push me away because they want it to be a men-only case.”

I punched Pops in the stomach. He fell against the ropes.

“Harry—”

“I’m a good cop, you know.” I thumped my chest with my boxing glove. “Being a woman shouldn’t exclude me from anything.”

“No one’s excluding you.”

“The Camden strangler? Dennis Yama? David Paris, that cannibal guy? They were all me, Pops. Homicide got the credit, sure, but it was the sex crimes side of those investigations that put them on track.”

“Harry, no one’s doubting your abilities.”

“Then why the fuck am I being shut out?”

I pummeled Pops with a series of hits to the head. Without warning, he clutched at his chest and fell into the corner of the ring. I watched in horror as he collapsed.