‘No worries,’ Ralph said, only the blink of an eye indicating he was presumably always pleased to have Harrigan breathing down his neck whenever he was at work.
Stuart Morrissey was in the interview room standing with his hands in his pockets and his back to the door. When Trevor and Ralph walked in, he turned round, his eyes sharp in his deeply lined face. Through the one-way glass, Harrigan saw a shortish, thin man in his mid-fifties with greying hair. Stuart’s expensive clothes settled onto his narrow frame as if they were slightly too large for him. Knowing Morrissey as he did, Harrigan could only guess that one way or another some other poor sod had ended up paying for them.
Trevor had just got through the preliminaries when a man Harrigan knew to be one of Marvin’s sidekicks opened the door to the viewing area and walked in. Other members of Trevor’s team who were watching turned to look at him. One of them glanced at Harrigan who shook his head. Throwing him out would only up the ante. Better to give Marvin no ammunition at all.
Stuart’s solicitor was clearing his throat. Harrigan had encountered this man a number of times before with a similar type of client. Groomed to perfection, Lawrence was as sharp as they came with the law. As sharp as whatever had skimmed his perfectly shaven chin that morning without leaving a nick. Baby smooth. Nothing would stick.
‘There are a few points I’d like to make clear before we start,’ he said. ‘We’re here voluntarily. Anything that’s said today will be without prejudice to my client. Also, we won’t be answering any questions about ex-Detective Senior Sergeant Michael Cassatt. For the record, we have no information that could assist you with anything to do with him.’
‘I’m not entirely certain what you mean by “without prejudice”,’ Trevor said.
‘My client has come here offering information of his own free will. We expect that willingness to assist will be reciprocated.’
‘We can discuss that later if you wish,’ Trevor said, ‘but we have a few questions first. Stuart, two nights ago you were supposed to be at a dinner at Natalie Edwards’ house in Pittwater with her and a Jerome Beck. What was that dinner about and why weren’t you there?’
‘I’ve got a question of my own,’ Stuart replied. ‘Why haven’t you released Jerome’s name yet?’
‘We’re still trying to find out if he has family anywhere,’ Trevor said. ‘Looks like you and Nattie Edwards were all the contacts he had out here.’
‘I don’t know anything about that. I hardly knew him. Lawrence told you that on the phone last night. I can’t help you there.’
‘The question we’ve asked you, Stuart. Could you answer it?’
‘I had a visitor as I was leaving to go up there.’ Stuart spoke unwillingly. ‘He wanted to go for a drive. By the time we got back, it was after midnight. It was too late to go anywhere. I got home to a message from Nattie asking me where I was.’
‘What time did she leave it?’ Trevor asked.
‘8:05. I rang back but no one answered. I rang the next morning as well. I left a message, you should have found it. They must’ve all been dead. I can’t believe it.’
‘Has this visitor of yours got a name?’ Trevor asked, unmoved.
‘Ray Foster.’
Harrigan noted the name without surprise. Foster was a well-known debt collector with a nasty reputation as an enforcer. This was the Stuart they knew, after all.
‘You owe someone money and Foster took you for a drive to let you know exactly what was going to happen if you didn’t pay up. Is that the story?’ Trevor asked.
‘I told him there was no need for this carry-on. If he’d just let me go where I was going, I’d be able to pay him. He wasn’t listening.’
‘Lucky for you he wasn’t,’ Ralph said.
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ The solicitor leapt in.
‘Your client is lucky to be alive. That’s a statement of the obvious.’
‘Jesus Christ,’ Stuart said. His face was stripped of all its masks. He looked sick with shock and fear. ‘I saw that picture on the net this morning. I’ve known Nattie for years. She was my friend. Why shoot Julian like that? He was just a kid. I had nothing to do with it. I couldn’t do anything like that.’
For possibly the only time in his dealings with Stuart Morrissey, Harrigan believed him. His grief and his terror were too real.
‘What was the dinner about?’ Trevor asked.
‘If I could interrupt here,’ the solicitor said. ‘You would have found two copies of a contract at the scene. Am I right?’
Trevor glanced at Ralph.
‘I can show one of them,’ Ralph said. ‘This is it.’
He placed the bagged contract on the table. The dried bloodstains were dark against the blue cover.
‘Christ,’ Stuart said softly and looked away.
‘Only one?’ the solicitor said. ‘Where’s the other one?’
‘You only need to see one in this context,’ Trevor replied. ‘Was this dinner put on to celebrate signing this contract?’
‘Yeah,’ Stuart replied, still looking away.
‘It’s a very complex document,’ Trevor said. ‘What exactly is the International Agricultural Research Consortium? How would you describe your mission statement?’
‘My client wishes me to advise you that he had only an investor’s role in that consortium,’ Lawrence said. ‘He went into it on the advice of his good friend Natalie Edwards and took no part in its management. He has no detailed knowledge of its activities other than a general understanding that it was involved in the development of proteinenriched crop lines for Third World countries.’
‘Can he tell us where this consortium is based? Where it does its research? Where it grows its crops? Presumably it does do all those things.’
‘I’m afraid my client has no information on any of those matters.’
‘Stuart, aren’t you the joint owner of a property with your brother, Harold? It’s somewhere out west,’ Ralph said. ‘What about out there?’
‘That dump! Nothing would grow out there. There’s no water.’
‘Anything relating to my client’s property near the Riverina has to be decided jointly by both brothers, including access.’ The solicitor spoke quickly and sharply. ‘You cannot go onto that property without my client’s permission and he sees no reason to give it. If you do go there without his permission, your actions will be illegal and your evidence tainted.’
‘You’re telling us you were prepared to put money into a business you knew nothing about?’ Ralph said.
‘Jerome was the one with all the details. Nattie told me to put some money in because it would be worth it. I trusted her.’
‘You’re the sole principal left, Stuart. Are you going to continue with the business?’
‘I don’t see how I can do that. I don’t know enough. No, it’s finished as far as I’m concerned.’
‘Where’d you get your diamonds from, Stuart?’ Trevor asked.
‘What does that have to do with this interview?’ the solicitor asked.
‘My information is that those diamonds were a gift from Jerome Beck. The stone Mrs Edwards was wearing when she was found was also a gift from Beck. Do you know where he got them from?’
‘Who told you that?’ Stuart asked.
‘A rock solid source, Stuart.’
Harrigan watched Stuart look from Trevor to Ralph. He hesitated. ‘He was like that. Generous.’
‘Very generous, you’d have to say. How much are they worth?’ Trevor asked.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Don’t you have them insured?’ Ralph asked. ‘Or don’t you have enough information regarding their provenance to find an insurer? Do you know where they came from?’
‘Out of his safe. No, I don’t know where they came from. Why would I ask?’
‘A man you barely know asks you to put money into a scheme you know nothing about. At the same time, he gives you diamonds because he feels like it,’ Ralph said. ‘I wish I knew someone like that.’
‘This whole line of questioning is grossly insulting to my client,’ the solicitor said.