Read The Bat for Free Online Page A

with the spiritual world than you whities, you know, sir.”
    “In my department we don’t base our police work on that sort of thing, Kensington.”
    “A joke, sir. I’ve got a bit more than that on this matter.”
    Watkins shook his head. “Just be on the plane early tomorrow morning, OK?”
    They took the freeway from Sydney. Lithgow is an industrial town of ten to twelve thousand inhabitants, but it seemed more like a medium-sized village to Harry. Outside the police station there was a flashing blue light nailed on top of a post.
    The chief there received them warmly. He was an overweight, jovial type with a stack of double chins and went by the name of Larsen. Distant relatives in Norway.
    “Do you know any of the Norwegian Larsens, mate?” he asked.
    “Well, there are quite a few of them,” Harry replied.
    “Yes, I heard Gran say we’ve got a lot of family there.”
    “You sure do.”
    Larsen remembered the rape case, no problem.
    “Fortunately, that doesn’t happen so often here in Lithgow. It was at the beginning of November. She was bundled over in a backstreet while walking home from the night shift at the factory where she worked, dragged into a car and driven off. He threatened her with a big knife, took a turning onto an isolated forest road at the foot of the Blue Mountains, where she was raped on the backseat. The rapist had his hands round her throat and was squeezing when a car hooted behind them. The driver was on his way to his log cabin and thought he had surprised a couple making love on the deserted forest road, and for that reason did not get out. When the rapist got into the front seat to move the car, the woman managed to scramble out of the rear door and ran over to the other car. The rapist knew the game was up, jumped on the accelerator and made a break for it.”
    “Did either of them get the registration number?”
    “Nope, it was dark and everything happened too fast.”
    “Did the woman get a decent look at the man? Did you get a description?”
    “Sure. Well, sort of. As I said, it was dark.”
    “We’ve got a photo. Have you got an address for the woman?”
    Larsen went to the filing cabinet and began to flick through. He was breathing heavily.
    “By the way,” Harry started, “do you know if she’s blonde?”
    “Blonde?”
    “Yeah, fair-haired, white.”
    Larsen’s double chins began to wobble as he breathed even harder. Harry realized he was laughing.
    “Don’t think so, mate. She’s a Koori.”
    Harry searched Andrew’s face.
    Andrew looked up at the ceiling. “She’s black,” he said.
    “As coal,” Larsen said.
    *   *   *
    “So Koori’s a tribe, is it?” Harry asked as they were driving away from the police station.
    “Well, not quite,” Andrew said.
    “Not quite?”
    “It’s a long story but when the whites came to Australia there were 750,000 Indigenous Australians spread between many tribes. They spoke over 250 languages, several of them as different as English and Chinese. Many tribes are now extinct. As the traditional tribal structure collapsed, Indigenous people started to use more general terms. The Aboriginal groups who live here in the southeast are called Kooris.”
    “But why on earth didn’t you check if she was blonde first.”
    “A slip. I must have misread. Don’t computers flicker in Norway?”
    “Shit, Andrew, we don’t have time to waste on such long shots.”
    “Yes, we do. And we have time for something which will put you in a better mood as well,” Andrew said, suddenly taking a right.
    “Where are we going?”
    “To an Australian agricultural show, the real thing.”
    “An agricultural show? I’ve got a dinner date, Andrew.”
    “Oh? With Miss Sweden, I assume? Relax, this is done in two shakes. By the way, I take it you, as a representative of the legal authorities, are aware of the consequences of having a private relationship with a potential witness?”
    “This dinner forms part of the