Page 37 of Rough Stock

‘Oi!’ Broken ribs or not, Craig would thump that smart-mouth prick.

‘Reel it in, Stone,’ ordered Finn, as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. ‘We’re meant to work together.’

‘There’s no I in team.’ Amara screwed her nose up at Stone.

‘No, but there is an E and an M in it and if you’re part of the clever crowd who can read letters backwards, Duchess, it spells ME.’

‘This can’t be the Stock Squad?’ Craig mumbled to Izzy.

‘It is.’ The policewoman approached with her hand out. ‘Hi, I’m Constable Amara Montrose—’

‘Duchess,’ coughed Stone into his hand.

‘—from the South Australia Police Equestrian Division.’

Craig shook her tiny hand. ‘I’m Craig Callahan, and my wife…’ he said, glaring at Stone.

‘Isobel Callahan,’ replied Izzy formally, while coolly shaking Amara’s hand. Was this too much for Izzy? When she was usually working on the other side of the law. Or had the morning they’d shared been too overstimulating for her? Should they have just gone home?

No, he wanted to help Ginny. And having Izzy with him, helping ask the questions, was a bonus. Izzy knew the law, like Craig knew livestock.

‘So, are you going to join us, Craig?’ Finn dumped a large folder and his coffee on the table as he dragged out his chair.

‘Craig has some conditions, such as accommodating his current injuries.’ His wife was playing lawyer. Didn’t that just make her smart and sexy, especially when she was on Craig’s side.

‘We get that. And look, it’s not a full-time gig at this stage. Constable Montrose and I will do the bulk of the work.’

‘Why do you have Stone?’ Craig asked.

‘Because I’m beautiful and they need someone to make the Stock Squad look good.’

‘Don’t make me hurl, Stone.’ Amara rolled her eyes.

‘Stone is our helicopter pilot,’ said Finn, ‘and he’s good with wildlife, like you are with livestock. Did you see Ginny?’

‘We did.’

‘With your tracking skills, did you see where the thieves came in and how?’ Finn pulled out a map across the table, that displayed the layout of Ginny’s farm.

‘Here.’ Craig tapped on the map as both Amara and Stone joined them at the large round table that was big enough to sit twelve. ‘They travelled down from the neighbour’s firebreak and cut the fence here… Then they cut through these fences here, here, and here to select their stock.’

‘Did you work out what vehicle they used?’

‘They had two ATVs, one of them a six-wheeler. We’re guessing electric ones.’ Craig scrolled through his phone and showed them a picture of the tread marks that he’d taken at Izzy’s suggestion. ‘Their tyre impression is much lighter, as their weight is more evenly distributed than the traditional fuel-engine ATV, and Ginny and her family didn’t hear them.’

‘Who’d have an electric vehicle out here?’ Amara asked. ‘There are no docking stations to fuel up. I know farmers would rather skip filling up a diesel generator to then wait six hours to recharge an electric car. When it’s much easier to just fill up their diesel utes and go.’

‘I’ve got one,’ said Stone. ‘I run it from the house to the hangar and leave it to charge under solar panels all day. But I doubt I’ll see any cattlemen who’d bother to tow a diesel generator or a bunch of solar panels behind them to charge up those electric vehicles. They wouldn’t last long on a muster, that’s for sure.’

‘I agree.’ Craig even nodded at the crocodile wrangler, forming a truce of sorts.

‘Would an electric vehicle be strong enough to cart a bull?’ Amara asked.

‘It’d kill the battery time.’ Craig looked to Stone for confirmation.

‘Agreed. At home, I’ve used mine to drag my helicopter from the helipad to the hangar. It’s not fast, but steady, and I’m not paying for fuel, but I’m still hesitant about using them near the avgas when refuelling.’ Stone was a clever man when he wasn’t being a smart-arse. ‘But a six-wheeler is rare.’

‘I agree. Most cattle stations prefer to hang on to their quads, if they can. They’re cheaper to run.’

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