Behind all three were two well-built men whom Grace guessed were bodyguards and, also in white, Sam Jonas. She saw Grace walking towards the group and smiled in a strange way.
‘Yes, Grace Riordan.’ Elena straightened a little when Grace appeared in front of her. ‘Commander Harrigan’s companion. We’re pleased to have you here. Is it true you’re in the same line of work?’
‘Perhaps not any more. I am a trained police officer but I work in another line of business now.’
‘Did you do it for the excitement?’
‘No, it was to see if I could make a difference.’
‘That’s my motivation,’ Elena said. ‘I want to make a difference. Let me introduce you to my chief scientist, Dr Daniel Brinsmead. He is the head of our signature project, which is into burns research. He gave Commander Harrigan a tour of his project this morning.’
‘Pleased to meet you,’ Grace said, shaking hands while at the same noticing the fingerless left hand, the bulk of medical dressings beneath Dr Brinsmead’s clothes. He was taller than her by a head. Once he must have been a good-looking man, fit and strong. Seen so close, the texture of his skin was like some reworked foreign material, almost unnatural. She fought the urge to look away.
‘Are you pleased to meet me?’ he replied.
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll take you at your word. Not everybody is, as I’ve noticed tonight. Yes, I met Harrigan out at Campbelltown today. Have you spoken to him since?’
‘No,’ Grace said, feeling it.
‘So he won’t have had the chance to tell you what happened. You can see from my face why my project is to do with burns,’ Brinsmead said. ‘I’m speaking later on tonight. That’s why I’m here at the door. I want everyone to see me now instead of being shocked when I step out into the light.’
‘As soon as people hear what you have to say, I’m sure you’ll have their complete interest. They won’t be thinking about anything else.’
‘I told Daniel that same thing myself,’ Elena said. ‘Grace, this is Senator Edwards. Grace Riordan. She’s standing in for Commander Harrigan.’
‘I’m pleased to meet you. You look very charming.’
The senator’s eyes were bloodshot, his hands trembling slightly. There was a scent of mouthwash about him. Grace, who had once started drinking as soon as she woke up in the morning, recognised the symptoms. The first thing you did was look for ways to hide your breath.
‘Harrigan’s working, is he?’ the senator said.
‘Yes, he has to be somewhere else.’
‘He must trust you if he’s asked you to stand in for him.’
‘I hope so.’
‘I’m sure he does,’ Elena interrupted. ‘Grace, this is one of my security people, Sam Jonas. I’ve asked her to look after you tonight. If there’s anything you want, just ask her for it. We’ll talk to you later.’
Grace smiled and walked away. Sam followed. Grace stepped to the side, out of the way of the moving crowd where she could talk to Sam with some small privacy.
‘Where would you like to sit?’ Sam asked with a grin. ‘You can consider me your personal servant. Do you want a glass of champagne? It’s good quality.’
‘No, thanks,’ Grace said. ‘I can find my own seat. You don’t have to look after me. You can tell Dr Calvo I asked you not to bother.’
‘We can still talk to each other. You and I are in the same business.’
‘Are we?’
‘Aren’t you in the security game one way or another? You used to be a police officer.’
‘Not any more.’
‘Are you telling me you left all that behind just like that? From what I read in the newspapers, you were handy enough to walk away from a very nasty situation at Jerry Freeman’s house the other day. They left your name out of the press release but you must have been there.’
‘That was mainly down to him,’ Grace said.
‘It didn’t read that way in the papers. He’s the one who took three bullets, and one intrepid journalist reported there was a fourth shot through the door. Was that aimed at you? But you managed to get the door shut just in time. Now that’s dancing with death.’
‘Why do you want to know?’
‘I told you. It’s my job to keep an eye on things for Elena.’
‘Why were you there?’
Sam smiled. ‘To quote you, if you won’t answer my question, I’m not going to answer yours.’
‘You knew what was going to happen. You walked away and left me and him to get shot.’
‘No. I warned you loud and clear if you were listening. After that, it was up to you to look after yourself.’
‘Did you know who was going to be there?’ Grace asked sharply. ‘Or why they’d be coming after Freeman?’
‘Why should I know any of those things? A man like Freeman must have had plenty of people who wanted to get their own back on him, even if it was at the last minute.’
‘You didn’t care,’ Grace said. ‘It didn’t matter to you that two people might end up dead.’
‘Am I supposed to care? Why? No one else does.’
‘Maybe I care if I get shot,’ Grace said, turning to walk away.
‘You’re standing in for Harrigan,’ Sam said. ‘That means you’re here to observe and report back. He thinks you can do that for him usefully. So whatever you say, I’m very sure we’re in the same business. Which is something I wanted to ask you. Is it good or bad having a lover in the same line of work?’
Grace turned back. Sam was watching her with a distant look, one that reduced her to a cipher.
‘Why ask me?’
‘I just wondered what you think. Do you go to bed at night worrying what’s happened to Harrigan? Does he wonder what’s happened to you? Do you gnaw at your fingernails hoping you’ll both be okay?’
‘Why are you trying to be offensive? You talk to people this way for fun?’
‘I’m just interested in you. There’s a saying that love is as strong as death. Do you think it is?’
‘Do you?’
‘I do as it happens, but I’m more interested right now in what you think. Maybe you’ll get to find out if it’s true.’
‘What do you mean by that?’ Grace asked.
‘Nothing in particular. If you don’t want me to look after you, better take a seat. There’s a good turnout.’
‘Who’s here?’
‘Financial institutions, research institutes, university bigwigs, politicians, punters, thieves, rip-off merchants. And you. The innocent bystander.’
‘You are just so in your face,’ Grace heard herself saying. ‘You just hit people with it, don’t you? Does anything frighten you? Keep you in line?’
‘No,’ Sam said with a broad smile. ‘I can say with complete honesty that I’m not frightened of anything.’
‘You just do and say what you want.’
‘Try reaching the point where you can, Grace. It’s very liberating.’
Grace took a seat, glancing back in time to see Sam rejoin Elena’s entourage. Sam spoke a few words to Elena who nodded. Scarcely a debrief. Presumably if Sam was going to report their conversation to her boss, they would go somewhere more private.
Grace looked around at the crowd. Among an otherwise staid group, she saw those people that anyone who lived and worked in this city knew about: dealers in influence and connection. Entrepreneurs who blurred the line between the business and criminal worlds but could still open doors in the big end of town or the government. Shock jocks who spruiked these occasions on air the way they might bet on an untried filly at the track, for a flutter. The women accompanying these men were mostly young, they glittered in the light. Those who were older had held on to the same style of dress, their clothes revealing bodies carrying a little too much age, a cumulative weight hidden by tans and dyed hair. Stuart Morrissey was sitting in the middle rows, one of these old-young blonde women with him.
The room was darkening, a spotlight centring on the podium. In the light, Elena took her seat with half a dozen other people, including Edwards and Daniel Brinsmead.