"So... what did you think of the kid's theory?" Inspector Rebecca Harold asked to Inspector Cohan after getting off the zoom meeting with a group of Americans, including one female Rattlesnake Animalian.
"The idea that the mystery gold nugget suspect had stolen a historical Australian uniform?" Inspector Cohan commented, "to be honest... I find it similar to some of the calls we got when the gold nugget was just supposed to be something that was "lost." People called in to say the gold nugget was theirs, and obviously wanted it... but couldn't given any reason as to how or why it was left there. Some failed to mention points of fact on the geography of the area where the first nugget was found on Archibald Walters' ranch and others provided a timeline that would be impossible for them to have left the nugget and gotten to where they were. Thus... I can't fully believe it."
"You don't believe it's possible?" Inspector Rebecca Harold looked over the conference room desk that they were seated at and had to use for the zoom meeting, as Inspector Cohan's own office wasn't large enough for it.
"Given what is known on photo, yes," Inspector Cohan asked, "I did some digging and showed copies of the image to representatives in the Australian Army, just to see on what the patch indicated, and they were actually pretty quick to respond. The noted that no present Australian unit has a patch like that, not a division, not a brigade, not anything... so it's not part of any present unit."
"But the kid said it was a historical patch," Inspector Rebecca Harold reminded him, "supposedly from the Vietnam War era..."
"The army also said they didn't recognize it from any historical patches, either," Inspector Cohan answered, "and our own tech guys were able to enhance the image on the patch and noted that the two dots that are in the outline of Australia that we can see... are the locations of the two Animalian colonies. One here and one in Northland, or roughly. And there, while Alice Springs was around during the Vietnam War... the Northland Colony was NOT and wasn't built in or with an existing town, at least not in the way the colony here is run. So, it's not a historical patch. the only real possibilities are is that the patch is part of some sort of anarchist group that our suspect could be a member of... or that it's entirely new and for purposes we can't know for sure on until we can question him. And the jacket itself was probably just bought in an army surplus store."
"And so... we can only wait to see what that patch is to represent," Inspector Rebecca Harold said with a sigh as she stood up from the table.
"Until your collogues in the Federal Police can confirm the Brisbane address that we've picked up from the tip from the hotels here in Alice Springs," Inspector Cohan spoke.
Inspector Rebecca Harold nodded at this, as this was the thing they were largely waiting on. The reports from the hotel managers and the fact that they listed the same address in Brisbane had been the first real clue in the mystery that might enable them to get the answers as to who the mystery gold nugget suspect was, but because Brisbane was outside Inspector Cohan's jurisdiction, there was some measure of bureaucratic back and forth over how much or how quickly help would be made. Inspector Cohan had some hope that Inspector Rebecca Harold's role in the Federal Police would ease things along, but so far there had been some back and forth between her agency and local law enforcement in Brisbane over the reason for the requests for not only checking the address but then also placing monitoring systems to see if the suspect they were following at least visited the location. All they could do was wait... and the call to arrange the zoom meeting had come in, and it became something that they could use while waiting.
The two carefully set about cleaning things up so that the conference room could be readied for other functions that were often something that came in the room. Sometimes it was there for officer commanding the inspectors could discuss case assignments with them, or orders from the Alice Springs chief of police on the department's policies and so on. It could also be set up for press conferences where there were larger cases that were up to the inspectors in terms of dealing with some major crime, but not one that reached the level of the entire Alice Springs police force. The relative openness of the room did allow for the conversion, and thus worked with the zoom meeting. Thus, the screen was easily folded up and placed in a containment locker along the wall, while Inspector Cohan's laptop was folded up. From there, they returned to Inspector Cohan's own office, largely to review the information and any and all possible tips that they had, at least while waiting for the bureaucratic battles on jurisdiction at Brisbane were handled.
As they made it to Inspector Cohan's office, Inspector Rebecca Harold's cellphone ran. She quickly checked it while Inspector Cohan set his laptop in a filing cabinet int he back of his office, and she gave a smile as she recognized the number.
"I think we have some good news," Inspector Rebecca Harold announced and then hit the speaker button to answer the call, "Go ahead, this Inspector Rebecca Harold, with Inspector Cohan of the Alice Springs police."
"And he's the one that's gotten all this attention over a gold nugget left on a guy's ranch?" came a laughing voice back.
"Along with enough other evidence to indicate that the suspect may be involved in something... bigger... than just leaving behind gold nuggets," Inspector Rebecca Harold answered, "and while we've gotten a lot of aliases... you're supposed to be getting us access to the one thing that might actually allow an arrest to be made."
The laugh that answered was quite jovial and Inspector Cohan raised an eyebrow at it, but this was likely something coming from within the Federal Police, so he stayed silent for the moment.
“And we may have gotten that,” came the response, “we were able to scout the address okay. That wasn’t the problem… and it IS a real address. Pretty swanky looking mansion, if you ask me.”
“That fits with some of the other stuff the suspect has done,” Inspector Cohan spoke up, “Did you see him?”
"We didn't see anyone there when we drove past the address, Inspector Cohan," was the answer, "and that was mostly just to confirm that this address wasn't just a delivery box or some business that your suspect would have access to. That's all we could do, and that's where jurisdictional issues set in. The local police didn't want to put surveillance there, and requests for ownership and tax records from the house have met with opposition on the basis of what you're looking for. I mean... trespassing and minor vandalism don't come off as something that would be worth such a level of surveillance... like you're looking for some kind of mobster."
"The longer this case has gone on, the more I get the sense that this guy is operating on something on that level," Inspector Cohan grumbled, "otherwise, the guy's actions make no sense."
Inspector Rebecca Harold nodded to him and then looked to her phone, knowing that the caller wouldn't respond to what her present "partner" had grumbled at, "have you made any progress?"
"Well, we made some with the local police and the judges," the caller responded, "and were able to set up some cameras at spots where we can monitor who comes in and out. We also did get the right to have one plain clothed officer observe the area at a distance. Beyond that... not so much."
Both Inspector Rebecca Harold and Inspector Cohan were silent as they continued to listen to the answer.
"And ultimately, as we've followed the rules... your guy did show up," the caller then continued, "and has also seemed rather secure... almost confident."
"Can you make the arrest?" Inspector Rebecca Harold asked.
"That's what we're moving on to now," came the answer, "we're monitoring things to make sure he doesn't leave, and we should have a warrant ready, along with at least the right to hold him until you and Inspector Cohan can come to Brisbane, if not the right to transfer him to Alice Springs for the local charges there."
And with that Inspector Cohan and Inspector Rebecca Harold gave a smile as the case with the mystery gold nugget suspect was finally reaching a point where real answers could be gotten.