Wasted Lives, a Detective Mike Bridger novel by Mark Bredenbeck

planners had made one good decision in
their design of the city; they retained a green belt that circled
the city on the lower hill suburbs, just above the Octagon. It made
it a beautiful city to live in.
    What a pity it
does not stop us spoiling it though, he thought bitterly.
    Maybe he
had jumped the gun a little in his rush to arrest Tama. He looked
about the room at the faces before him. There was more room now
they had it to themselves again and everyone was at their
respective desks, but the mood could not have been more different
from earlier. Anticipation of a quick result had reduced itself to
disbelief in a system that did not allow them to hold someone long
enough while they gathered evidence. Everyone has the right of
being promptly charged or, in the absence of evidence, be released
without charge... that was the rule. However, it was a rule that
gave them problems today. Tama was guilty, that was the consensus
within the team but the rules were against them. You should ideally
gain evidence before arresting someone because once you did the
clock started ticking, if it was not there after a certain period
then the suspect walked out the door without charge. Bridger had
played with the hand he had been dealt and now Tama knew the gamble
he had taken, Bridger would now be playing the rest of the deal
with a handicap.
    Evidence was
one thing they were scarce of in this case, Bridger had taken the
gamble and arrested Tama quickly hoping that he would catch him off
guard so soon after the robbery. The outcome he would have liked
would have been a full confession from Tama and the shotgun located
at his house. A nice neat little bundle all wrapped up and ready
for court. That would have allayed the fears of the public while
they gathered evidence on Tama's co offenders. It would also have
done wonders for his confidence after his last efforts let him down
so badly.  It did not turn out the way he had hoped and he
felt deflated in front of his colleagues.
    "Don't kick
yourself Mike, we all would have done exactly the same thing in
your shoes, it was the right call", Brian spoke with sincerity "We
moved fast...., as we should have, in an ideal world we would have
had more evidence before we grabbed him and sure it didn't pay off
this time....., but tomorrows another day".
    "I agree, this
might sound harsh but Mr Chen can't get any more dead", Grant said,
"We have as long as it takes to get these guys, this is only day
one".
    The rest of
the team grunted in agreement.
    The support of
his team did not do much for Bridger's mood. Another thing that was
bugging him was the use of resources in the district. Tama was a
hot suspect for a murder and his movements needed to be monitored,
especially right after he were released. He had spoken with Stan
Walton, officer in charge of surveillance, who had told him that
the team was out of town. He could not even get a valid reason.
Bloody sneaky beaky types they are always so secretive. Matthews
had not shed any light on the reasons either just saying that at
this stage their job was priority. He would have to just suck it up
and get on with it.
    "Right, let’s
work out where we go from here then", he said, "We need to work on
the assumption that Tama along with two others robbed that store,
although we can't rule out the fact that it may be someone else
entirely.  One of them pulled the trigger, but they were all
involved in a joint enterprise. We need to nail down Tama's
friends. Who would he do this type of thing with?” Bridger looked
around the room for ideas.
    "I still think
the gang connection is where we should be looking" Becky chipped in
"As Brian said earlier, it would be a big step up for Tama, he
wouldn't do this without the encouragement of someone pretty
serious....,  Joseph Kingi would be my bet".
    "And I think
we should take a closer look at Martin McLaren as well, it’s
possible that is where Tama sprang from this morning before we
found him", Brian