Pat Ritter. Books

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‘How long have you been in harness racing? My wife and I were in it for fifteen years. I can’t remember you.’ Bundy explained.
‘What’s your wife’s name?’ Ralph asked.
‘Ada Quicksilver, do you remember her?’ Bundy inquired.
‘The only Ada I ever heard of was one day at Rocklea before the races, she trialled a horse, can’t remember its name, she crashed on the track and broke some ribs. That was over twenty years ago.’ Ralph shared.
‘I remember the day. It was the day I was discharged from hospital after I had my pacemaker implanted. How did you know her?’
‘I was directly behind her horse and hit the fence, if I remember; the knee strap got caught in the hopple and the horse fell on the track.’
‘You weren’t the one who came into the first-aid room after the race to see how she was.’
‘Yeah – that was me. I got grazed across the ribs.’ Ralph felt his ribs as if the injury had happened recently.
‘I remember – it must have been move than twenty years ago because I told her never to drive again, she didn’t take any notice or what I said. She drove and eventually got her drivers license.’
‘I remember her. It was 1990. Later that year was when I moved here and have been here ever since.’
‘What about you two reminisce some other time, we have work to do.’ Kate interrupted.
‘Sorry – it’s great to meet another person in harness racing.’ Ralph said, ‘what is it you want to talk to me about?’ He relaxed.
‘Ralph, we’re investigating the disappearance of a twelve year old boy eight years ago from his home. We’re clutching at straws and hope you may help us if you can.’ Kate explained.
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‘Twelve year old boy missing for eight years, how does it connect with me?’ He inquired with a frown of wonderment on his forehead.
‘The missing boy is Peter Clayton. His mother is Mary Clayton which is her married name. Her maiden name was Peacock. Mary told us she went to the 1990 Brisbane Exhibition to watch harness racing events and spent the night in a loft at the stables with a trotting driver named ‘Ralph’. We discovered a name ‘Ralph’ when we searched the records of 1990. Do you know a person named Mary; and if so, did she spend the night in the loft at the stables with you?’ Kate asked. She activated her mobile phone to record their conversation.
‘You bet I do – she was the dream of my life – still is. I only knew her name Mary and wanted to find her. She’d gone before I woke the next morning. Do you know how I can contact her? It’ll be great to see her again after all of these years.’ Ralph’s voice rose with excitement and his face broke into a smile remembering the girl of his dreams. The whistle of the kettle erupted, ‘what’ll you have?’ he asked standing to make refreshments.
‘I’ll have a coffee with milk and Bundy a white tea, thanks Ralph.’ Kate replied. She threw a smile toward Bundy.
Ralph made the refreshments and spoke of Mary while he prepared a slice of cake and bought the items to the kitchen table.
‘She was a good looker, was Mary. I fell in love with her the first time I saw her. She was sitting near the front fence when I stopped to check the gear on my horse. I looked across to see her sitting in the front row. Her eyes sparkled. I won the race and returned to the spot hoping she’d still be there. She was. I gave her the winning ribbon, I’d won. She came with me to the loft at the stables and we spent the night together.’ Ralph explained.
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‘Sounds right, Mary told us a similar story.’ Bundy interrupted.
‘What’s this about a missing twelve year old boy? What’s it got to do with me?’ Ralph asked.
‘Ralph, from your night of bliss with Mary, she fell pregnant and born you a child.’ Kate explained as best she could. Bundy took a sip of his tea whilst he ate a piece of cake.
‘I’m a father.’ Ralph said in disbelief.
‘It appears so. I don’t think Mary would lie about something like that.’ Kate continued.
‘How do you know? I’m not complaining. It’d be great to have a son. Is Mary okay?’ Ralph asked in a concerned voice.
‘She’s very well. A month afterward she found she was pregnant with your child, she met her future husband Les, and they married. Les always thought he was the child’s father. Unfortunately after the boy went missing for a number of years; Les passed away. Mary thought it could have been a broken heart. She said he loved Peter.’ Kate continued.
‘This is one for the books, isn’t it? Poor fellow, what about Mary, how’s she going?’ Ralph asked with concern.
‘She’s going well but wants to know the whereabouts of her son Peter. His name is Peter Clayton. His birthday was in April this year. He would’ve turned twenty-one.’ Kate explained.
‘Ralph, John showed me the racing form for this Saturday night and I see you have a horse entered for the Queensland Championships.’ Bundy explained.
‘To right I have,’ he said with a broad smile on his face. ’It’s taken me a lifetime to find this horse – they say one comes along once in a lifetime. ‘High Class Investigator’ is the name of the horse. I’ve got young Peter
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Peacock driving him. He’s only one I trust.’ Ralph explained.
‘Where is Peter now?’ Bundy asked.
‘Ah, he’s over at Allora helping out his girlfriend’s family with their horses. He’ll be back in a couple of days. Why?’ Ralph wanted to know.
Kate opened her briefcase and withdrew a printed copy of the family tree she’d created before leaving her office and placed it flat on the table in front of Ralph, ‘Ralph, this is a family tree we’re designed on the computer. The main trunk is Peter Clayton who is missing. This photograph is a computer enhanced photograph of what he may look like at his present age. Would you have a look to see if you can recognize anyone in the family tree?’ Kate asked in a soft tone. She placed the print in front of Ralph.
Ralph looked at the print and immediately pointed to the photograph of Peter, ‘that’s young Pete, for sure. Is he the missing person – it sure looks like him.’ Excitement rose in his voice.
‘Are you certain?’ Kate asked.
‘As certain as I’m sitting here – that’s young Pete, his name is Peacock not Clayton.’ He continued.
‘If this is Peter Clayton; his grandparent’s name is Peacock.’ Kate said, ‘how long have you known him?’ Kate asked.
‘Back in 2003 I decided to give the Brisbane Exhibition another go. It was the first time I’d been there since I met Mary in 1990. Anyway, this kid came up to me at the stables and asked my name. I told him it was Ralph Petersen and why did he want to know. He wanted to get into harness racing and asked if I could use him. He was real keen.’ Ralph told them.
‘Did he get into harness racing?’ Bundy asked. He knew Ralph was telling the truth because often there were
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many a young person come to his stables to ask if they could work with the horses.
‘I saw he could work, he mucked out the stables and did what I asked. He told me his parents passed away and he was on his own. I understood because when I was around his age; I started in harness racing, John will tell you. So I gave the young fellow a chance. Do you think Peter is my lad?’ Ralph asked in astonishment.
‘We don’t know.’ Kate said, ‘a friend of Bundy has identified Peter’s DNA from a strand of hair and clothing. If you agree, we’d like you to submit a sample of your DNA so we could compare it with the same examined by Bundy’s friend. It is voluntary. It would determine you as Peter’s father if the results are the same.’ Kate implied.
‘I’m happy to do anything. Can I ask one thing before we do it?’ Ralph asked.
‘What’s that?’ Kate answered.
‘This race on Saturday night is the biggest race I’ve ever been involved in my whole life. Go ahead with the DNA, and if the results are I am the father, would you please wait until the end of the race to tell us. I’d appreciate your co-operation.’ Ralph pleaded.
‘Yeah – I’ve been working on this investigation for eight years now, another few days are not going to make any difference one way or another.’ Kate said.
Ralph submitted to the DNA test. Kate performed the test by placing a swab from the DNA kit into Ralph’s mouth and swabbing the interior. She sealed the swab into an evidence bag for Quincy to examine.

Chapter 18

Kate and Bundy farewelled Ralph, after agreeing they wouldn’t tell him the results of the DNA test until after the race on Saturday night. They would be at Albion
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Park Paceway Saturday night to see the horse compete and after the race meet him in the birdcage.
‘Well Kate – it appears it’s all over bar the shouting.’ Bundy smiled.
‘Bundy – don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Don’t forget you told me that. Yes, it would be great to know Peter is alive. What a story to tell our grandchildren about this investigation.’ Kate smiled.
‘What say we head off to Quincy’s place on the way home to give him the swab? I can’t wait to find out the results.’ Bundy requested.
‘Fine by me, I’ll pull over and phone him.’ Kate pulled to the curb, took her mobile phone from her trouser pocket; speed-dialled Quincy’s number and handed him the phone.
‘You there Quincy – Bundy here,’ he couldn’t get used to these mobile phones. He explained what they’d done and wanted to know if he would be home later in the afternoon. Quincy agreed to stay home and wait. Victoria would have dinner ready when they arrived.
‘Before we leave, where did you live when you were here?’ Kate asked.
‘Turn right at the next cross road, on the right of the next intersection, we lived in the pink house on the corner.’ Bundy explained.
Kate followed his instructions and parked across the road from the pink house Bundy mentioned.
‘Not much has changed. Roses are still growing. House still pink. Not much at all. The drive-in theatre is gone and there are houses there instead. My children lay in their beds, open the curtains to watch the screen at the drive-in. They couldn’t hear the sound – it didn’t matter. It was a novelty.’ Bundy said.
‘I heard Warwick is cold place.’ Kate asked.
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‘Cold – our kitchen had carpet on the floor. The taps froze over and we didn’t have water until almost midday.’ Bundy shared. ‘Enough of this reminiscing – off to Quincy’s place. Victoria is cooking dinner.’
Kate sped off and headed through Warwick and back onto the highway. When she approached the turnoff to Toowoomba, she said, ‘do we go through Toowoomba or is there another way?’
‘I think we should head toward Cunningham’s Gap toward Brisbane. At the bottom of the range we turn off at Esk and head to Kilcoy. Quincy’s place is only a few miles from Kilcoy.’ Bundy explained.
‘Okay – you lead us; obviously you know where you’re going.’ Kate replied and followed Bundy’s instructions.
Late in the afternoon before the sun was low in the sky they entered Quincy’s property. Quincy was in his usual place standing on the veranda. He waved when they parked at the front of his house.
Bundy and Kate alighted from the vehicle; Kate carried the sample of DNA taken from Ralph earlier that day. She handed the sample to Quincy when they reached the top stairs, ‘here is a sample of saliva taken from Ralph Petersen, who we think could be Peter’s father.’ Kate explained.
‘And a good-day to you Kate,’ Quincy said when he took the exhibit bag from her. ‘I’ll get cracking on it early tomorrow morning. How are you Bundy, me ole mate.’ He shook hands with both Kate and Bundy.
‘Dinner’s almost ready.’ Victoria called from the kitchen.
‘Alright – I’ll have a quick chat with Bundy. Kate, do you want to talk with Victoria?’ Quincy asked in a voice to ‘leave the men alone’ tone.
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