‘Yes.’ And then quickly, as though he wanted to get it over with: ‘You’re in a bit of a spot, Alec. You’ve pleaded guilty, which was sensible in the circumstances, but looking at it from Freeman’s point of view, that means your report on Blackridge was fraudulent.’
‘It was your idea,’ I said. ‘You introduced me as representing Trevis, Parkes amp; Pierce.’
‘Which you weren’t of course. But then I’m not going to admit that I knew that.’
‘Then you’ll be committing perjury.’
‘If I am called — yes.’
‘You will be,’ I told him.
‘But you went along with it. You didn’t deny it. And you wrote that letter. Les included it, every word of it, in his annual report. Signed — Alec Falls, Mining Consultant. It was that letter, more than anything else, that was responsible for the rise in the shares; that and the assay figures based on the surface sampling — ‘
But I wasn’t letting him get away with that. ‘The surface samples were taken by Petersen’s geologist from an area recommended by Culpin. If the dust was planted there it’s nothing to do with me.’ And I added, ‘I think you’ve forgotten something.’
‘What’s that?’
‘If anybody takes the can, it’s Chris. Remember? Culpin salted the area with nickel tailings taken from Western Mining by the aborigine, Gnarlbine. You know it, I know it.’
‘I don’t know anything of the sort.’
‘Nothing to worry about. That’s what you told me.’
I can still see that thin-lipped smile of his, the way he shook his head. ‘No, I’m afraid I don’t remember.’ And then he was leaning towards me across the table. ‘Now look, Alec, I’m here to help you. But not if you’re going to put words into my mouth. You understand?’
I understood, all right. He would lie. Even under oath he would lie. He was crooked as hell, but it would be my word against his. ‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t think you’d want to be reminded of what you said.’
He nodded, knowing that he’d made his point. But just to be certain, he added, ‘This case will be before a jury. And they’ll all be Australians.’
‘And you’re an Australian and I’m not.’
‘Right. You haven’t a chance of implicating me, or Chris. In fact, if you try that, I can promise you things will go badly for you, very badly indeed. You had an option, don’t forget. And you took it up — 5,000 shares.’ He was smiling, sure of himself now. ‘Your only hope — and that is what I want you to understand — is to persuade Les Freeman to withdraw the case.’
‘And how do you suggest I do that?’
‘If you were to offer him something in exchange. Information, see. A company like Lone Minerals is dependent entirely on prospects. A really good prospect, something that would put the company on the map — if you could offer him that, then I’m sure he would have his lawyers back down.’ He was watching me now, his face tight-lipped, his eyes slitted, his whole body tense as though willing me to accept.
The brazenness of it! The sheer thick-skinned audacity … ‘You have the bloody nerve to come here — ‘ I stopped, suddenly aware that I was shouting. ‘What do you want?’ I was still trembling, but I had myself under control now. I knew very well what he wanted.
‘Come on,’ he said quietly. ‘You’re not that dense. You were with Garrety when he died. And we all know why he went into the Gibson.’ He left it at that, his eyes fixed on mine, waiting. And I let him wait, the silence hanging in the stuffy air of that little room. In the end he sighed. ‘Okay. I’ll spell it out for you. Garrety knew the location of McIlroy’s Monster. That right?’
I didn’t say anything, watching fascinated at the sudden gleam that had come into his eyes, the naked greed of the man. I could deny it of course. But if I denied it, then there had to be some other reason why Garrety had gone into the Gibson, and I wasn’t going to admit that. So I kept my mouth shut, the two of us staring at each other in silence. At length he said, ‘We’re pretty certain he never reached the actual location. His Land-Rover had broken down and that’s the reason he stopped where he did. There’s no copper there as far as we know.’ He leaned a little further forward, his eyes searching my face. ‘Or is there? You were with him there when he died. You’re the only man, apart from that black, who knows what’s there in the ground.’ He was staring at me, tense and waiting.
‘It was your plane then that came over us?’
He nodded. ‘Yes. Chris chartered a Cessna on my instructions. He made two flights. On the second flight he flew very low several times over Garrety’s last camp. He could see him working on the Land-Rover’s engine, the black standing beside him. And there was a rock showing through the sand. He says it was some form of conglomerate, and as far as he could see there were no indications of copper. But then Chris isn’t a geologist and he wasn’t on the ground. You were.’
For a moment, just for a moment, I thought of telling him it was the location. But then he said, ‘You tell me Chris was wrong and we can move petrol up to the Stock Route and have a helicopter and a geologist on the spot inside a week.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘Culpin was right. It’s a conglomerate formation.’ I didn’t want him sending a helicopter in when the real location was only twenty or thirty miles from the Kurrajong Soak. They could easily fly a radial search.
‘So where is it then?’
I didn’t answer.
‘For Christ’s sake don’t be a fool, Alec. You can’t handle a thing like this on your own. It needs a consortium. And if Les goes ahead with this case, you’ll be in prison for a long time.’
I still didn’t say anything. I was thinking of Ed Garrety and his love of Jarra Jarra, the hopes he’d had, the dreams. Giving me that battered wallet, he had handed to me on trust — an obligation, a challenge perhaps. It wasn’t something I could just give away, even if it did mean my liberty. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did that.
‘Look,’ Kadek said. ‘You’ll get three years at least. Don’t think in those three years nobody’ll go looking for the Monster. They will. And they’ll find it. Everybody’s talking about it. Prospectors, I mean. A man dying like that, a mining man with him at the time — just because you’re out of touch, don’t imagine they haven’t put two-and-two together. If it’s there, they’ll find it all right, so you might just as well …’
‘Go to hell!’ I said, and I got to my feet. I was angry then, angry at myself for being tempted. Nobody likes the prospect of wasting three years of their life, and I knew he was right. Three years was what my lawyer had said. ‘If there is copper there, then it belongs to Janet Garrety.’
‘It doesn’t belong to anybody. You know that.’ He had followed me slowly to his feet. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll leave you now. But think it over. There’s no immediate hurry. Nobody can peg a claim at the moment, and it may be a month or two yet before the ban is lifted. So you’ve still some time. And your lawyer knows where to contact me.’
I didn’t understand what he was talking about. ‘What ban?’ I asked.
‘Didn’t you know? The Minister of Mines imposed a ban on pegging so that mining registrars could catch up with the backlog.’
‘When?’ I asked. ‘When was the ban imposed?’
‘Initially on January 22, and then on February 3 he announced he was reserving all Crown land. Nobody could peg after that.’ He tucked his briefcase under his arm. ‘Well, you think about it.’ In addition to dropping the charges, I’m sure I could persuade Les to do something for you personally if it turned out as big as the name implies. Mining consultant to the consortium throughout the development period. That would set you up in Australia for the rest of your life.’ Again that tight-lipped smile. ‘Think about it. And when you’ve made up your mind, all you have to do is tell your lawyer feller. Okay?’
He left me then, and when I got back to my cell, all I could think about was that Chris Culpin had pegged the hollow on Coondewanna the very day the ban had been imposed. That claim of his had never been registered and couldn’t be registered until the ban was lifted. I wrote to Janet that night, and then I started on my manuscript. By then, you see, I knew there was something in me that prevented my ever bartering the possibility of freedom for the knowledge Ed Garrety had passed on to me. It might be nonsense but it didn’t matter. I suddenly found I had principles, and at a time when I could least afford them. A bit of a joke that.