Time: Present Day

Location: HereAfter

Carter was about to attack the screen when it changed, he looked down at his silver cord which was glowing bright red. His emotions were overwhelming, he didn't begin to calm down until he heard some familiar voices. It was Teacher and Ken.

"He'll be okay, remember your experience Ken, it's little different for him,” Teacher explained.

"Here we go, we're back at the restaurant again. Wish I could order the seafood linguine, that was excellent," Ken said.

Carter turned to see Ken smiling back at him in the seat where his Mum had been earlier. He turned to look for Teacher on his right but he wasn't there. "Watch your movie Carter Cheval," Teacher's voice echoed through him.

On the screen there was Layla, his Layla, God he missed her. He looked down to see his cord had changed to a bright honey gold. When he looked up he saw that Layla, his grandmother Monique, his "mother" Amanda and Ed were having lunch. They met there regularly apparently to remember him and reminisce about the good times.

Ed said, "Look I've done what I can. I've asked the police to co-operate with you, Tony said you can see the CCTV footage now that's it's not required for evidence. However my initial decision still stands, I'm prepared to give you girls time off occasionally, but the network is not going to fund a vendetta, understood?"

"Yes Ed. That’s all we ask, we can pay expenses, so long as you don't get in our way too much," Amanda said.

"Carter was my friend and colleague too remember, of course I won't stop you finding whoever's responsible. If there's a story in it somewhere, then that'll be a bonus, so long as you come to me first, to have the first right of refusal . . , deal?"

"You've got a deal . . . right Layla?" Amanda piped in.

"Too right, let's ring Tony now and get going then," Layla agreed enthusiastically.

Monique said, "Let me ring Tony, I know how to handle him, he won't say no to me."

"Here then use my phone," said Layla handing over her mobile phone.

Before Monique could dial Tony's number, the phone rang, it was Pink's 'Fuckin' Perfect', Monique looked a little puzzled, then answered, "Hello, no, no I'll get her."

Monique gestured for Layla to take back her phone, "It's the paramedic, the one who tried to save Carter, he wants to talk to you," Monique said with a puzzled expression.

When Layla took back her phone she placed it on speaker and said, "Hi, it's Layla speaking."

"Hi, Layla it's Greg, the paramedic. Sorry to bother you, but the last time we spoke, you asked me to contact you if I thought of anything else." He waited till she acknowledged that she understood what he was saying, then he continued, "There was something else I felt was odd about that priest, he had a ring on his left hand, a diamond ring."

"Lots of men wear diamond encrusted rings these days." Layla explained.

"Yes I know but why would a priest wear a human skull ring, a skull with three or four diamonds in the forehead? It just seemed out of character to me and then he pissed off when people needed him. I've been mulling it over ever since that night, and I've come to the conclusion that perhaps he wasn't a priest at all. But then, if that's true why was he dressed like that, then I thought maybe he was going to a fancy dress party or something. I don't know, tell me have you checked out the CCTV footage yet?"

"Not yet, we were just about to arrange it. It's been locked away as evidence but the cops have closed the case until the bikies show up again or there is new evidence coming to light," Layla explained.

"I see, well if I can help with anything else let me know..okay?" he said.

"Actually, there is one thing, do you remember if was there anything unusual about any of the other victims?"

"Two of the others had horrific injuries like Carter, an older guy and the waitress. It's my guess that all three were killed by more powerful guns than the others. To my mind all the others that were killed or injured were hit by smaller calibre machine gun fire. I'm just going on my experience, you'd have to double check that with the autopsy and hospital records, and the police should know what types of guns were used."

"Okay, that's interesting don't know what it means but it gives us something to go to the cops with anyway, a couple of reasons to ask to see the CCTV footage, I guess. Thanks Greg, you've been a great help, and you did do a wonderful job, thanks for everything," Layla said.

"That's okay, it's my job, bye, gotta go now," he said turning on the siren and hanging up.

"What was that all about?" asked Monique.

"He was just suggesting that we take a look at the autopsy reports as well as the CCTV footage. He isn't certain, but he thinks Carter and a couple of other people were maybe killed with a different type of gun to the others," Layla said looking forlornly at Amanda.

"It's okay if you don't want to. I'll do it. It might be too painful for you two," Layla offered.

"No, we're all in this together, aren't we Mum?" Amanda said.

"Yes, hand me the phone, now what do you want me to ask Tony for?" Monique asked.

They explained what they needed as Monique dialled the Darlinghurst Police number put the phone on speaker.

"Hi, it's Monique Cheval here, is Tony around, can I speak with him then . . . yeah I'll wait, thank you."

"Hello, Monique? what can I do for you?" Tony reluctantly agreed for them to all come down and view the footage from the restaurant but made it plain that he wouldn't be wasting his time. They would have to go through it all themselves. Also he didn't think that they could see the coroner's reports, because of privacy issues and anyway, why would they want to, didn't they realise the case was closed.

Monique was about to say something when Layla shook her head instead she said, "Okay we'll be right down.”

Chapter 33 - Good Cop? Bad Cop?

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