Table of Contents

PRAISE FOR FELICITY YOUNG

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LIST OF SHORTENED FORMS USED IN THIS NOVEL

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

EPILOGUE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

OTHER STEVIE HOOPER TITLES

PRAISE FOR FELICITY YOUNG

An Easeful Death is a delightful pot pourri of police corruption, injustice, tangled emotions, treachery and misunderstanding— Mary Martin website

An Easeful Death is bound to keep you up at night— Scoop Magazine

[An Easeful Death] is tight and well-written— Adelaide Advertiser

An Easeful Death is an exciting whodunnit page-turner from a talented West Australian writer, and a welcome addition to Australian crime fiction— Western Suburbs Weekly

Felicity Young is an intriguing new addition to the upper echelons of Australian thriller writing... Harum Scarum is a well-crafted page turner that explores themes that concern every parent— Sun-Herald

Harum Scarum is an enjoyable read with considerable credibility—Aussiereviews.com

Harum Scarum is a gripping, chilling thriller. A page turner—www.eurocrime.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Felicity Young was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1960 and went to boarding school in the United Kingdom while her parents were posted around the world with the British Army. When her father retired from the army in 1976 the family settled in Perth. Felicity married at nineteen while she was still doing her nursing training and on completion of training had three children in quick succession. Not surprisingly, an arts degree at The University of Western Australia took ten years to complete. In 1990, Felicity and her family moved from the city and established a Suffolk sheep stud on a small farm in Gidgegannup where she studied music, reared orphan kangaroos and started writing.

Having a brother-in-law who is a retired police superintendent, it was almost inevitable she would turn to crime writing. Felicity Young’s first novel, A Certain Malice, was published in Britain by Crème de la Crime in 2005. An Easeful Death (2007) and Harum Scarum (2008) were published by Fremantle Press. Take Out is her third Stevie Hooper crime novel.

To Ben, Tom and Pip

And to Mick, as always, with love

LIST OF SHORTENED FORMS USED IN THIS NOVELAFPAustralian Federal PoliceAPBall points bulletinCCCCorruption and Crime CommissionCODcause of deathDCPDepartment for Child ProtectionEEGelectroencephalogramET tubeendotracheal tubeGBHgrievous bodily harmICUintensive care unitID cardidentity cardMCISMajor Crash Investigation SquadOICofficer in chargePDQpaint data queryRANRoyal Australian NavySCSSerious Crime SquadSOCOscene of crimes officerUNIFEMUnited Nations Development Fund for WomenUWAThe University of Western AustraliaWACAWestern Australian Cricket AssociationWAPOLWestern Australian PoliceTable A

PROLOGUE

Mai and the other planters follow the farmer and his ‘mechanical buffalo’ as it chug chugs along, ploughing the ground into soupy mud. They separate the tied bundles of rice seedlings and then plant them individually into the furrows. It is back-breaking work, but neighbour helps neighbour. Soon a carpet of dazzling green will cover the paddies. The rice shoots will grow, the weather will dry the seeds and after the harvest there will be much celebrating in the village.

Mai thinks of the fun times to come and they are the only things that keep her going. She works alongside her mother and sisters. Her father leaves before the short lunch break. He tells them his back is sore. Mai’s mother says nothing, but Mai knows she will be blushing with shame under the scarf that covers most of her face. With the help of these neighbours their own family paddy was planted several days before.

They break for lunch, flick the mud from their feet like cats and find a patch of ground a little less soggy than the rest to sit on. Mai’s three younger sisters eat sticky rice and play jacks with the other children on a scrap of timber. Mai rolls her shorts further up her legs and steps into the tepid water of the drainage ditch to hunt for frogs and small fish to add to their evening meal of steamed rice. The liquid movement of a snake glides across the skin of her calf. She stands rigid, like a water bird on one leg, and concentrates on the buffalo on the bank. The buffalo’s ears flick ineffectually at the surrounding halo of flies. Grass shoots are stretched and snapped by his lips and tongue, teeth crush and grind upon the pulp. The scent of his breath sweetens the metallic tang of mud from the surrounding fields. Damp air presses against Mai’s skin. In the dishwater sky, heavy clouds roil. Only when she is sure the snake has gone, does Mai move again and continue with her lunchtime hunting.

When the day’s planting is finished, Mai and her mother and sisters get a lift in the farmer’s pick-up to their house in the village on the banks of the river Pai. The house is built on stilts to protect it from floods. A colourful assortment of open umbrellas hangs underneath the floor and sways in the weak breeze. Bicycles lie on top of one another under the shelter, chickens perch on rusty handlebars. All around the village, buffalos bellow at the approaching storm.

A satellite dish on the tin roof makes the roof tilt to one side. Mai’s father says they are a privileged family. No one else in the village has a satellite dish and because of this he is a very big man.

But there is no noise from the TV tonight. Mai climbs the steps to find her father with the usual can of Singha beer in his hand, sitting on a fruit crate watching an Elvis Presley movie with the sound turned down. A stranger in an embroidered silk dress sits on a crate next to him. She wears dainty red shoes and carries a bag that sparkles like diamonds under the single light globe. The woman must be very rich: the TV doesn’t get turned down for anyone.

Her mother places her hands together and gives the woman a little bow. Her father hauls himself up from the crate. ‘See this woman, Mai?’ he says. ‘She used to live in a village like ours and came from a poor family too. She went to Bangkok and made lots of money.’

Mai bows to the woman as her mother has done.

‘Would you like to come to Bangkok with me, Mai? Would you like to be rich like me?’ the woman asks in a high fluting voice.

There is a long silence. Mai’s mother starts to cry. Mai doesn’t understand why. This is the most exciting thing she has ever heard and she finds herself gulping air like a frog. She is twelve years old and cannot take her eyes off the woman’s diamond purse. She wants so badly to have a purse like that.

‘You go with this woman, Mai,’ her father says, ‘and you will never be hungry again. You will have all the jewels and fine clothes a young girl could ever want.’