4338.209 · July 28, 2018 AD
The Institutional Gatekeeper
Half an hour on hold with airport admin, then dead air. Sarah's patience snaps. She needs Ellen Lowe—the station's institutional memory who knows every quirk, every shortcut, every person worth calling. Ellen sits at her desk with Facebook open and a cat meme glowing. She'll complain, but she'll do it. Because Ellen has connections everywhere. And beneath her theatrical disinterest, she's already working on something else entirely. Something for Senior Sergeant Mason Wright that Sarah doesn't know about.
Sarah slams the phone down after half an hour on hold with airport bureaucracy. She needs Ellen Lowe—decades of institutional relationships, connections at every airport and ferry service. Ellen can get information in twenty minutes that would take Sarah three hours.
Ellen sits at her desk, Facebook glowing. A cat meme. Classic Ellen—theatrical disinterest masking genuine competence.
Sarah asks for help tracking Jamie Greyson and Kain Jeffries through airports and ferries. Ellen complains but agrees. The ritual dance they always perform.
What Sarah doesn't see: moments before her arrival, Ellen closed a browser tab. Oscar Lahey's Facebook profile. Sarah's brother, who Ellen is quietly researching for Senior Sergeant Mason Wright. Mapping his London exile, his deliberate disconnection from Tasmania and his sister.
Ellen knows things Sarah doesn't. That Jamie Greyson worked at Vaucluse, where Sarah's grandmother Jane lives. That Jane's dearest friend for decades is Thelma Rose Jeffries—the matriarch at the manor, Louise's mother-in-law. That the Jeffries name carries weight beyond wealth, tangled in disappearances dating back to 1821.
Ellen holds threads connecting Sarah's investigation to her own family. Threads Sarah will probably never see unless someone tells her. And that someone won't be Ellen.
Just another Saturday afternoon at Hobart Police Station. Ellen managing multiple investigations, balancing visible and invisible work, holding institutional memory that spans generations.
The cigarette packet waits behind her monitor. First page questions will have to wait.
