The Halloween holiday could often be a big thing and there were always different ways of celebrating it, however, for Inspector Cohan and Inspector Rebecca Harold, their focus was not on things commonly associated with Halloween. Their focus remained on asking questions of a man who had been a major point of interest for a good portion of the year, and starting with a gold nugget left on the property of Archibald Walters. At first, it had been a case of a simply trying to return an item, but soon expanded into something that had only raised questions for Inspector Cohan and trying to get leads proved difficult because of cash payments and the fact that their suspect used a laundry list of aliases to hide his tracks. It raised suspicion but produced no leads until recently.
It had started with one of the Alice Springs hotels reporting seeing the "mystery gold nugget suspect" after Inspector Cohan had gotten permission to put a still-shot from Archibald Walters' security footage in the local papers that would enable everyone to see the face of the man that been doing something that would indicate something bigger but could only be nailed with something like trespassing. That was all enough to get an actual address, which turned out to be in Brisbane, and which Inspector Rebecca Harold's cohorts in the Federal Police could then check to see if the address was real and then work with Brisbane officers to carry out the arrest. That took a little bit of time, but it did come, and as had seemed to be the MO of the suspect, seemed to be quite tame. There was no fight, no resistance, or anything of that nature. All that remained was to question him.
"You okay?" Inspector Rebecca Harold asked, noting Inspector Cohan rocking side to side on his feet as they waited in one of the Alice Springs interrogation rooms. The promise had been that their suspect would be brought right to him, and that his lawyer would also be present.
"I really don't know..." Inspector Cohan spoke, "this whole case has been bizarre. The gold nugget seemingly appeared out of nowhere, was found by an Animalian... and yet our suspect is Human, and despite all the questions... there isn't an awful lot that we can charge him with... and some of the questions I have may not be answered because they'd indicate a crime... or the intent of one."
Inspector Rebecca Harold nodded at that. They were reasonable worries, but to a great extent, with him finally captured, they might gain answers. And at the same time, because there was so little they knew about their suspect's motivations and why he'd done what he'd done, there was the chance that real answers could be given. All they had to do for the moment was wait. And they didn’t have to wait for too much longer. After a few moments, the doorknob turned and the mystery gold nugget suspect was brought in with one of the Federal Police officers escorting the man. An attorney followed after the pair as they moved around the desk to the opposite side of Inspector Rebecca Harold and Inspector Cohan.
“You’ve kept the place fairly clean, congratulations,” the suspect commented to Inspector Cohan in an actually rather friendly tone, “I’ve seen places that have essentially failed at that.”
"Could you explain that?" Inspector Cohan asked.
"Is that really relevant to your case?" the lawyer spoke up as he sat down beside the suspect, "from what I've received... it would appear that all you are charging my client with is trespassing and a relatively minor case of attempted vandalism."
"Those are the primary charges, yes," Inspector Cohan answered, "but they are not the limit of the questions the Alice Springs Police Department has. In part because we have no knowledge on our suspect's real name. We have lots of pictures of him, but with nearly everyone that has seen him... has given a different name for the same "face." That's left us with questions."
The lawyer looked to the suspect and gave a frown. It was almost as if the lawyer knew something but wasn't going to just blurt it out. The suspect remained calm and unconcerned.
"I really don't want to draw too much attention to myself," the suspect answered, "it gets in the way of business and only adds stresses on me that I don't want to deal with."
"And that business includes trespassing on private land?" Inspector Cohan answered.
"Martin, let me handle this," the lawyer spoke to the suspect, "this is all minor and..."
The suspect raised one hand and the lawyer quieted down for a moment.
"The business where I've made my money doesn't involve trespassing," the suspect, Martin, spoke, "that's more in real estate, and to a degree, I've actually been quite good at it. Even through everything. It's something that's even kept me coming across all of Australia, and my firm has even handled some affairs here in Alice Springs, if that is what your concerned with."
"So, you trespassed on Archibald Walters' ranch and the ranches by his as part of a real estate deal?" Inspector Rebecca Harold asked.
"No... a lot of that was more a side project, and one with a noble cause," Martin spoke, "I suppose there may have been ways around that... but even I don't have the money or influence to get a bunch of old ranchers to just cave or give in..."
"So, leaving this gold nugget was nothing more than some elaborate prank?" Inspector Cohan asked.
"I suppose you could phrase it that way," Martin answered, "and I assure you, I desired no physical harm to any of the local ranchers. I've had tough business with them before... when the Animalians started setting up their colony here. I'd hoped to buy up the land to allow them a proper colony city like they had elsewhere..."
"Martin, they can add to your charges if you keep this up," the lawyer spoke with a strong tone, "for using false names is among their charges, and that can make you look..."
"I don't think there is any real threat here, and ultimately, my use of aliases violates no law," Martin answered, "I've never asked anyone to give my alias money for any reason or asked for money using that alias. That's only to maintain some privacy and avoid a lot of direct attention. And when I've paid, I've paid in cash. All of it is MY money. No one is going to care on who I say I am."
Inspector Cohan and Inspector Rebecca Harold had to privately concede that point. There was also the knowledge that much of what they had that would stick would ultimately only require a fine and likely wouldn't affect Martin's real estate business all that much. The one thing they had was to try and see if they could get some answers as to what and why Martin was up to.
"The trespassing does violate the laws regarding permission to be on private property," the lawyer reminded him, "that combined with playing to aliases is only going to raise questions on their part..."
"Then... let's by all means answer them," Martin answered, "my goal and hopes involved no crime and I'd hoped that something good would come out of it. If there was a way that I could have achieved this without the trespassing, I would have used it... and I'll pay whatever fine you'd administer for it. I'll even repeat that to the judges here when you have your hearing."
"So... what were you up to?" Inspector Rebecca Harold asked, "why leave gold nuggets on a rancher's land?"
"Ultimately to help the Animalians," Martin spoke plainly, "sure... people have been tolerating the furry mates here, but how things have gone in Australia and in other places have been very different. Animalia, itself, was built off of land donated by ranch and farm owners donated and divvied up to the uplifted animals."
"They also got a lot of financial support from Horizon... the company that was doing all the experiments that accidentally created the Animalians," Inspector Cohan spoke, "and they've provided similar help to nearly every colony the Animalians have established."
"Outside of here in Australia," Martin countered, "Most of the Animalians here are heavily reliant on integrating new forms into existing jobs and needs in existing cities and towns. About the only one that has any "independence" was in the northeast, where the landowners were more than willing to sell land to Horizon and so that they could then build a new town there for the Animalians."
"And they're all doing good, so far as all things are being reported," Inspector Cohan commented.
"And free to set their own path," Martin answered, "the ones here in Alice Springs don't have that..."
"And your plan to help them was to leave a gold nugget on some rancher's land?" Inspector Cohan asked.
"It didn't start that way," Martin looked down, "when the idea for the "colony" here was started, I figured that things could work out similarly to Animalia itself. And so I sent agents out to see if the ranchers would be willing to sell their land and livestock and allow the Animalians to then buy in and have a key economic pathway to success. But the agents were turned down..."
"The ones that most of the Animalians here seem to "follow" run the zoo here," Inspector Cohan commented, "there wouldn't seem to be the need for them to get into ranching..."
"Still it was the idea..." Martin said slowly, "the gold nugget thing was mostly just to render attention and interest in the land. As people ask, that might have gotten the ranchers to sell. I wouldn't think that anyone would seriously think that the area would be a sudden or undiscovered gold site, but they'd still gain interest in the property."
"And that's all this was about, Martin..." Inspector Cohan spoke.
"Mamsy," Martin answered, "and yes. Just something that might raise enough interest in the land that the old ranchers might be willing to sell. And I wouldn't even interject myself into the sale, and thus make money off of it. And the colony here at Alice Springs would then gain the room to grow on its own, just as the other Animalian colonies have."
"And the landowners?" Inspector Rebecca Harold asked.
"If they sold, it would all be within the law and they'd get a financial gain out of it," Martin spoke, "nothing that I'd set up would have had the intention of being harmful to anyone."
"This all comes off as an elaborate prank," Inspector Cohan commented, "if you had no harmful intent... why put so much effort into this?"
"They're trying to set you up," the lawyer spoke.
"No... we're merely trying to get closure, as there has been much to this case that just doesn't make sense on the surface," Inspector Cohan clarified, "as even with this... there isn't much we could add to the charges, if at all."
Martin only nodded, "if only to do something for those that have seemed to be so peaceful... and often shying away from so much of Humanity's stresses and problems... Things that still haunt me. Boys fighting in the mountains... all because one group's religion demands attacking others. And I was sent along with them... into Afghanistan into the fighting with Al Qaeda and the Taliban... Took grenade and rock shrapnel to my head... and lay under a bunch of little rocks listing to bullets ricochet everywhere and then just hearing blabbering among the sands..."
Here, Martin's voice fell off a bit, and it gave some idea that Martin Mamsy may have served with the Australian forces that had been sent to Afghanistan as part of America's "War on Terror" after the 9/11 attacks. That might lead to some questions, but with an actual name, the army would surely have records. Though, to Inspector Cohan, the way Martin's voice fell off and he seemed to pause between things, it almost sounded like he was mentally wrestling with memories. In this, if the Australian Army did have records of a Martin Mamsy serving, it could be possible that Martin's unit may have gotten into a fierce fight, and he'd been wounded in it and had been wrestling with painful memories. It made his success in the real estate business after his military service all the more impressive, but it also made Inspector Cohan wonder if some of Martin's motivation might just be to try and heal his own pain.
"The Animalians don't deserve that," Martin then finished.
"And within Australia, they haven't been forced into anything like that," Inspector Cohan spoke, "if worry over that was what inspired all this... that may be..." He paused to look over to Inspector Rebecca Harold.
"No one would force them here to go off to war in some foreign land," Inspector Rebecca Harold commented, "about the only Animalians that might end up at war might be those that are Ukrainian, and they'd already have reason to see enemies on THEIR land."