I was about to switch off when a camera caught an image of Phil Fitzwilliam and Sean Wells. Fitz was looking up at the shattered windows and his expression was close to one of satisfaction. Wells had missed this, but when Fitz stared appraisingly at Megan, Wells shot him a look of pure contempt.
19
Early the next morning, I phoned Megan’s flat. Hank answered sleepily. ‘It’s Cliff. This is important. Don’t let Megan out of your sight this morning. Don’t let her go for the papers. Don’t let her go for a swim. Don’t let her do anything but stay with her till you get to the office. Can you secure the door to the street?’
‘What? Yeah, once the other tenants are in. But that means no clients. Why. .?’
‘Before they get there, and we’ll let them in one at a time. We’ll just tell them it goes with the territory of sharing premises with a private eye. What time will you be there, precisely?’
Hank was alert now, sensing my seriousness. ‘You name it.’ It was six twenty-five am, barely light. ‘Eight o’clock sharp. I’ll be there. I’ll fill you in then.’ ‘You’d better do that, Cliff. You’ve been holding back on me. . on us.’
I cut the call and took a big pull on the coffee I’d made to try to pep myself up after a minimal and restless sleep. My next call was to my oldest friend, Frank Parker, retired
deputy commissioner of police but still with consultative roles of various kinds. He answered, only marginally less sleepy than Hank.
‘Frank? Cliff Hardy.’
‘Oh, Jesus, at this hour? I saw the news last night. What trouble are you in now?’
‘Nothing special-bit of murder, intimidation, that sort of thing. I need some information about a certain long-serving, highly discreditable officer.’
‘Are you on a secure line?’
‘Is anyone these days?’
‘True, well, I’ll take a risk. That’s the way it is with you, Cliff, right?’
‘Keeps you young, Grandpa. Phil Fitzwilliam. I don’t want details, just his current status.’
I knew that the police internal affairs unit kept a running check on officers who’d stepped over the line, whether they’d been brought to book or not. One of Frank’s unofficial consultancies was with internal affairs. Frank had risen in the ranks through the tumultuous years of the New South Wales police service. Never mentioned in inquiries or Royal Commissions, he’d kept his nose clean through integrity and sheer intelligence-a rare combination in that world. He’d come close to disaster more than once when corrupt officers had tried to draw him in to their conspiracies. On one of these occasions, I’d been able to help him stay clear of the mess. Frank was grateful and loyal and he hated bent cops.
‘Code red,’ he said. ‘Very compromised. Heading for a fall.’
‘How hard a fall?’
‘Professionally? Total.’
‘Legally?’
‘Hard to say. Possible he’d do some time. It’d depend on the quality of the lawyers he could afford.’
‘What’s the time frame?’
‘Sooner rather than later. Be careful, Cliff. He’s not just a money siphon, he’s a vicious bastard and word is there are a couple of people under the dirt on his account. Not lately, but. . Are you likely to cause him grief?’
‘Maybe.’
‘That’d be nice, but take care.’
I thanked him and rang off. Frank’s son, Peter, was my anti-godson-all of us, Frank, his wife Hilde and me being staunch atheists. I’d taught Peter to surf until he was better at it than me. It was a close bond and Lily had been a part of it. I thought about her as I hung up. A freelance journalist, her pursuit of a story about police corruption had resulted in her murder. She’d have enjoyed a target like Phil Fitzwilliam.
I was at the door to the King Street building at a couple of minutes to eight and Hank, carrying a cardboard tray with three coffees on board, turned up on the dot with Megan.
‘You look like you’ve been peppered with birdshot,’ Hank said.
The cuts, now scabbing, made my face feel tight and sore. Smiling hurt, so I didn’t smile. Hank looked tired, Megan looked worried; we weren’t a happy bunch. I held the coffees while Hank unlocked the door, relocked it and kicked a wedge firmly into place.
‘Unless things have changed we’ve got about an hour undisturbed before the others get here,’ I said. ‘I’ve got a bit to tell you.’
I told them. About my longstanding enmity with Phil Fitzwilliam, about his approach and his threat to Hank’s licence.
‘You should have told me before,’ Hank said.
‘Yeah, but I thought it was bluff and. .’
‘You thought you could handle it yourself,’ Megan said. ‘Typical.’
‘Something like that. Anyway, I spotted him again giving Margaret and me the eye and there he was again last night.’
Hank worked on his coffee, still antagonistic towards me. ‘Doing what?’
‘Being unpleasant, but I watched TV footage of the Double Bay stuff last night and I saw him taking a look at Megan. That worried me. Phil was notorious for getting to people through their family members. Applying pressure by proxy, sort of.’
‘He can’t pressure me,’ Megan said. ‘I haven’t done anything since a bit of shoplifting when I was twelve. Oh, and one warning for dope possession.’
‘You don’t have to have done anything. Phil’d have access to cocaine, heroin, eccies-whatever you like, if he wanted to go that way.’
Megan still looked sceptical. ‘Why would he?’
I finished my coffee. I’d already had some, strong and black, at home and now I was feeling a bit wired after no breakfast and God knows what chemicals in the pills I had to take. I could feel ideas jumping around in my head in no particular order and with no solid foundation. It must have showed.
‘Are you all right, Cliff?’ Megan said. ‘Maybe we should leave this until-’
‘Maybe we shouldn’t,’ Hank said.
I pulled myself together with an effort. ‘Hank’s right. I’m guessing now, trying to make connections, but Frank Parker tells me Fitzwilliam is in the gun with internal affairs. “Compromised”, he said, and likely to need a lot of money for legal help to keep out of jail. I reckon he’s in the pocket of whoever doesn’t want an investigation of Henry McKinley’s death.’
‘Yeah,’ Hank said, ‘that plays, but who is it-Tarelton or Lachlan?’
I turned to Megan. ‘What have you come up with on Lachlan?’
She shrugged. ‘Very secretive. Ostensibly some kind of resources exploration outfit, but basically money movers. Registered in the Bahamas. A blog says they launder money, but it’s a pretty hysterical blog. More sober sources say they’re cashed-up, smallish, keen to grow.’
‘Follow the money,’ Hank said.
‘I’m way out on a limb here now,’ I said, ‘but if I had to bet I’d like Lachlan for stopping the investigation and Tarelton for disrupting our meeting. My guess is that Tarelton still has hopes of getting through to the water, while Lachlan’s worried about anyone finding out what happened to Dr Henry.’
‘What about Lachlan’s loan to Tarelton?’ Hank said.
‘It’d be small beer compared to what they’d face if they were convicted for arranging the murder of a prize-winning Australian scientist working for the common good.’
We sat around talking the thing over until a hammering on the street door broke up the meeting and Hank let the first of the other tenants in. I could hear him explaining things to the woman who ran a picture framing business and heard her laugh obligingly. Hank has a way about him.
‘You said you had a casual working for you,’ I said when Hank returned. ‘The guy who nearly knocked me down the stairs. Apologised nicely but didn’t introduce himself.’