The coffee came and Susan O’Neil did as she said she would-shovelled sugar into her mug. ‘I know what he’ll say. He’ll offer the world for information about the aquifer and how to get to it.’
I sipped at my long black; it was very good, and so it should have been at the price. ‘What about the others- Lachlan and Tarelton?’
Susan shrugged. ‘Don’t know anything about Lachlan. All I know is that the bigwigs at Tarelton are going spare. Apparently the company borrowed a hell of a lot of money on the expectation that Henry would deliver and now they’re caught in a debt trap. They’re cutting staff. I’m going to save them the bother by handing in my notice when I can be sure I’ll get what’s due to me.’
‘It’d be useful if we had more cards to put on the table when we meet the man from Global,’ Megan said. ‘Our only interest is finding out who killed Dr McKinley, but I’m sure his daughter would hold to his idea of not exploiting his work. Is there anything else you can tell us?’
‘I don’t think so.’
I decided to be blunt. ‘Do you know the site and the technique?’
‘No, I don’t, thank God.’
She’d almost finished her coffee and was preparing to leave.
‘Could it be a quarry?’ Megan said.
Susan burst into laughter. ‘A quarry? Don’t be ridiculous. Did Henry leave a clue about a quarry?’
‘Maybe,’ I said.
She gathered up her bag. ‘Would have been a red herring then. Didn’t Henry say anything about his research procedure on the DVD?’
‘Nothing,’ Megan said.
Susan sat down again and went back to fiddling with the sugar. ‘I wonder why not.’
‘We should have told you,’ Megan said. ‘Cliff and Margaret found ashes in the fireplace in the cottage. He said he’d burnt all his notes. We weren’t holding back, we just. .’
Susan nodded. ‘It’s OK. He wiped his computer clean of the serious data and mine too before he went missing. I’ve had to cover up, pretend to be analysing his results. It’s been a strain.’
‘There is something else you can tell us, isn’t there?’ I said.
She nodded. ‘I just don’t know why. .’
Megan’s tone was sympathetic. ‘We should have shown you the DVD. We still can. He mentions you in the best possible terms. We think his reticence was out of a wish to protect his daughter, and you, Susan.’
Susan was almost tearful. ‘He was a lovely man. Great fun. I knew he liked me, but there was never the slightest word or gesture out of line.’
He had that area covered, I thought.
‘We haven’t heard a word to his discredit,’ Megan said.
Susan stopped fiddling with the sugar. ‘OK, here it is. Henry’s real research was done from the air. That’s why I laughed at the quarry suggestion. He didn’t go burrowing around on the ground. He chartered a plane and he took photographs and he had a system for analysing them. I helped him, but I only dealt with his figures and his coordinates, comparing them with the geological record.’
I drained my cold coffee and sat back in my chair. ‘Tarelton would have known about that.’
Susan shook her head. ‘No. He worked on the ground first and presented some findings that got the execs excited. That’s when he. .’
‘What?’ I said.
‘He chartered the flights himself. He didn’t tell them shit.’
‘But he told you,’ Megan said.
‘I found out. He put the photos into the system but I knew they weren’t from official sources and they were brand new.’
‘Don’t tell me,’ I said, ‘the photos were all on the computers and they were wiped.’
‘That’s right.’
‘And you were never able to pinpoint. .?’
‘No way. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s all right,’ Megan said. ‘That’s all very useful. Are you sure you can carry on at Tarelton after all this?’
‘Just.’
We started to move and I thought of one last question. ‘Where did he catch the flights from?’
‘You really are a detective,’ Susan said. ‘Bankstown airport.’
17
"Useful,’ I said as Megan drove us back to Newtown.
‘Mmm.’
‘What’s the matter?’
‘I was just thinking what a shitty world it is.’
‘Only parts of it.’
‘Here’s the possibility of a solution to the city’s water crisis and the only people with any integrity, the only ones not trying to make money out of it, get screwed.’
‘Yeah, but at least the greedy ones haven’t made the money yet and maybe they never will.’
‘You don’t think Dr McKinley’s site and other information’ll ever be known?’
‘He did a good job of wiping it off the record.’
Megan was quiet for a while, coping with the heavy traffic along Broadway. At a long traffic light stop she said, ‘I was thinking there’s a job for Hank here. Did you know he has a pilot’s licence?’
‘I didn’t.’
‘He knows the drill. He could go to Bankstown airport and perhaps locate the pilot McKinley hired and then find out the area he was interested in. Who knows? The pilot might even have copies of the photographs. It’d depend on what equipment was used.’
‘You’re keen to discover McKinley’s secret are you, love? That’s not our brief.’
‘I care about the city. So should you and everybody else. No one’s ever going to do anything about saving all the water that just runs into the sea, and the desalination plant’s a crock of shit.’
‘Wouldn’t hurt for Hank to have a go,’ I said.
Margaret emailed that she’d arrived safely, had her daughter with her, and had more or less sorted out the problems with her ex. She told me about the power of attorney and hoped I didn’t find it too great a responsibility. I replied that I appreciated her trust in me and that we were making progress, but were still well short of a resolution.
She replied, confessing that she’d taken a photo of me with her cell phone without me knowing and had shown it to her daughter. Lucinda said I looked like an older, rougher version of Russell Crowe. I could live with that. Bit taller, though.
I phoned Global Resources and was put through to William Holland very speedily.
‘Mr Hardy-very good to hear from you. How do things stand?’
‘It’s time for a meeting. Could you propose a venue?’
‘Well, we have a well-equipped boardroom and-’
‘I bet you do. We don’t. We have a few cubbyholes. I like the idea of Horace Greenacre’s place. He seemed to have a bit of space. Perhaps you could arrange that.’
‘I’m sure I could. When do you suggest?’
‘This evening.’
‘That’s very short notice.’
‘You said it was urgent.’
‘You’re right, I did. Okay. I’ll phone Horace. Shall we say seven o’clock?’
‘Seven thirty,’ I said, just to be annoying.
‘Very well.’
‘That’s 19.30 hours.’
‘You are a very irritating man, for someone who has been stripped of his private detective’s licence.’
He hung up.
‘The lawyer’s place,’ I said to Megan, ‘at seven thirty. We get there about forty minutes late.’
‘Why?’
‘So we can watch the news-see how the water crisis is going.’
I spent the afternoon swimming slow laps in the Victoria Park pool and at the Marrickville gym where Tony Truscott was training. He looked sharp, and he told me the contracts for his title fight were being drawn up.
‘I hope you’ll be there, Cliff.’
‘I will. Did I see you stumble just a fraction when you weren’t quite sure where the ropes were?’
He grinned. ‘You bastard. Yeah, have to get that right. Know the ring like your living room. He will. Did you?’
I laughed. ‘Mate, in my last fight I saw the ropes looking up from the canvas. An old-time fighter told me he could smell where they were. Didn’t have to look.’
‘They moved slower back then.’
‘You’re right. Have you got a firm date?’
‘These Yanks try to screw with your head. It’s maybe this and maybe that. I don’t take any notice. I’m fighting for Lily. That’s all the focus I need.’