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Bridger had been promoted, she
had expressed an interest in Detective work and Bridger had needed
an extra pair of hands when they were looking into the abduction of
Marion Watson. She had proven herself a capable officer and showed
promise. He had not seen her since then but Bridger was glad she
had stuck around. She would help fix the gender balance on the
team, with Becky Wright being the only other female.
    "Maybe we
should look into making it a more formal arrangement", Bridger
said.
    "I'd second
that", John said, the darkness hiding the fact that he had his eyes
planted squarely on Jo's backside.
    The darkness
was also hiding the red flush spreading up Jo's neck and into her
cheeks as well as her radiant smile.
    "You said 'New
boss' Jo?" Bridger queried.
    "Yeah,
we'll it’s just Gillian Holler, she's acting Senior Sergeant, only
until they get a replacement, you know after..." Jo's voice trailed
off. She did not need to spell it out. When one of their colleagues
had jumped off Lawyers Head, ending his life on a rock jutting out
of the cold Pacific Ocean, he not only left a hole in the
investigation into his past but also a large hole in the staffing
levels back at the Central Police Station.
    Bridger did
not reply, instead they all walked over towards the blue Subaru
parked on the very edge of the car park partially hidden in the
darkness. The doors were open to the world along with the boot and
there were compact discs lying on the seats and foot-well. The
glove box hung open but looked empty and there was a strong smell
of cannabis in the cabin area. Bridger looked at the driver’s side
door lock, it had been punched open, he could see the tell tale
signs of a hotwire start with part of the wiring loom hanging below
the dashboard.
    He had never
figured out how it anyone actually did it, even with as many as he
had come across in his career.
    The rest of
the car looked intact apart from that.
    "I'd say they
had another car parked here, probably their own, and just ditched
this one here. It's as good a place as any to dump a car", Bridger
said. He looked over at the houses on the other side of the park,
across the road. Far enough away not to notice anything suspicious,
the car park was used any time of the day and night because of its
views over the city and out to the harbour. They would be well used
to seeing cars come and go. He would get someone to speak with the
occupants though, if only to tick that box. "Let's have a scout
about and see if we can find anything", he suggested.
    Jo had
found a pile of empty cider cans near the swings and had already
marked them as evidence. Bridger had seen John walk through the
area a few minutes prior without giving them a second thought. He
guessed everyone placed different importance on what was lying
around. A DNA sample from the cans may throw up a good suspect; it
would certainly prove that they had been in the area around the
time the car was abandoned and left wide open for them to find. He
knew that the council workers cleaned up in the area almost every
day. It was one of the more scenic places in the city. The tourist
buses stopped here on their way around Dunedin. The obedient
tourists would snap pictures on the advice of the bus driver who
did not want the view tarnished with piles of rubbish. Bridger
looked out into the darkness, the City lights shined brightly in
the darkness below them like stars; the view was
impressive.
    A memory
flashed though his mind of his wife Laura sitting beside him in
their car, looking at the same view. He remembered her telling him
then that she thought it was beautiful, she had said she found it
hard to distinguish between the view of the city and the stars in
the night sky. They had been so happy back then; he was almost at a
loss to remember why they separated.
    Shaking
himself out of the memory, he forced himself back to reality.
    "Good
work Jo", he said, "Get them bagged up and we will get them tested
for fingerprints and DNA.