‘I can tell you how I got this information, but there’s also a question of secrecy and I think that secrecy is important.’
‘Before we go any further, let me ask you this. Did your information come via Sam Jonas in any way?’
‘Why do you think that?’
‘Because in my judgement, there’s no else in this who’s enough of a wild card and who knows more about what’s going on than she does. I know the name of our gunman now. Du Plessis. My guess is Sam knows him. Maybe she’s been on his tail or they’re mates.’
‘I don’t think they’re mates,’ Grace said.
‘It was her. What do you know?’
‘It’s complicated. There’s a connection between Sam Jonas and Brinsmead.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Just take it from me: they’re a team and they’re targeting Elena Calvo and LPS in some way. They may be operatives from a secret service agency, possibly a British one. She’s the professional, he’s the civilian cover, probably chosen because he has a personal connection to Calvo and he’s in the right profession. He’s also ex-army. That counts.’
‘What are these people doing here in Sydney if that is who they are?’
‘Finding out what LPS is really up to. But if they are operatives, I would have expected someone at senior federal government level to know they’re here and to have given them the go ahead. The problem is whether they really are legitimate. If they are, and this information becomes known, we could jeopardise their operation. If we do that, more people could end up dead. At best, we could abort what they’re doing.’
‘Wouldn’t Edwards have known about them?’
‘Not necessarily,’ she said. ‘Their minders might have thought his connection to Elena Calvo made it too dangerous to tell him.’
‘Grace, at the moment we have representatives from every federal agency connected to intelligence in the police building. ASIO, the AFP, your people as well,’ he said, referring to the Orion task force she worked for. ‘I was in a meeting with them all when I got your message. Wouldn’t Orion know if people like this were here?’
‘I would have expected Orion to know, but there’s no reason why I would have been told. ASIO should have been.’
‘If ASIO or Orion do know about these people,’ Harrigan said, ‘and if what they’re doing is legitimate, then I’d expect to have been told by now given what’s happened.’
‘Sam talked like she was the controlling operative,’ Grace said. ‘If she is, she wouldn’t be briefing anyone in those agencies on what they’re doing day to day. Her minders wouldn’t necessarily give any details on the nature of the operation to other than a very few people. You’ve identified a connection between your murder investigation and LPS but that connection isn’t known outside of your squad. And for all we know, their presence here is clandestine and the government hasn’t been told. If Sam and Brinsmead are working for an anti-terrorist cell that has unorthodox methods, then the rules for those cells have changed in the last few years.’
‘I can’t prove the connections,’ Harrigan said. ‘I gave the evidence away.’
‘You didn’t have a choice.’
‘You found him anyway, Grace.’
‘That was pure luck. There’s something else that’s important. Brinsmead has a connection with Beck and this du Plessis. He was in the Congo with them-that’s where he got his burns. They were involved
in diamond smuggling. Also, Sam Jonas isn’t her real name. It’s Sophia something. Whatever they’re doing, it’s serious.’
‘Do you think they’re legitimate?’
‘From the sounds of it, yes. Legitimate and ruthless.’
‘Ruthless enough to shoot dead a senior policeman?’ Harrigan asked.
‘Marvin? Why?’
‘If their target is Elena Calvo, then he was her ears and eyes in the police. It makes operational sense.’
‘They couldn’t do that. If he was an obstacle, they’d organise for someone to tap him discreetly on the shoulder. But that does mean somebody in authority would have to know they were here.’
‘We do have some intelligence that an agency like the one you describe has been on Beck’s tail in the past. Who knows about this?’
‘You and me.’
‘Grace, how did you get this kind of information?’ he asked. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but how do I know it’s reliable?’
Toby stirred. A nurse arrived.
‘I have to check on him,’ she said.
They stepped outside into the corridor.
‘What did you do?’ Harrigan asked.
‘You’d call it illegal entry. Brinsmead wanted to see me at his flat. He wanted to talk about his burns, how he got them. He said he wanted me to understand him.’
‘He took a shine to you.’
Grace shrugged. ‘It was all harmless enough. While I was there, I got hold of a key. After he left to go to LPS, I went back in. I was snooping when Sam Jonas turned up and he came back. Brinsmead was conducting some kind of experiment in his flat and she’d come to clean it up. I think that experiment was to find out what Beck was really doing. I hid in a wardrobe and heard everything they said to each other. They talked about their operation, the instructions they had, how they had to report back. Sam came over as a professional, focused agent. She’s the type; I’ve met people like her before. It’s why she’s so in your face when she talks to you. Everything she does is undercover. That world’s not normal. It’s got very strange reference points. There’s almost no law to control you and nothing’s what it seems. It’s very easy to lose perspective.’
‘Then what would she have done if she’d found you? Grace, you were putting yourself in danger again. When are you going to stop doing that? One day it’s going to backfire on you.’
‘If I hadn’t done it, Toby would still be in that parking station.’
He was stopped. He looked from her to Toby and back to her. This was no place to argue.
‘You’re the fault lines in my life, the two of you,’ he said quietly. ‘You don’t know the things you put me through.’
‘What does that mean? You wish we weren’t? You wish I hadn’t done what I did?’
‘No, it doesn’t mean that. It means the opposite.’
Before Harrigan could say anything more, his phone rang.
‘Yes, as soon as I can. You can tell the commissioner that Toby’s going to be okay. Thanks.’ He put the phone away. ‘I’ve got to go. I’ve got work to do.’
‘You always do,’ she said.
He looked in at Toby through the glass before he answered her. The nurse came out.
‘He’s comfortable,’ she said.
Harrigan nodded to her and went back inside to look at Toby one last time. Gently, he moved some of his son’s hair that had fallen across his forehead. Then he walked back to Grace.
‘He’s very attached to you,’ he said.
‘I like him. He knows what it means to be attached to you.’
‘Is it really that bad?’
‘Sometimes. When do we see each other again?’
‘I’ve got a briefing with the AFP first thing tomorrow morning on where the case is. The assassination of federal government ministers is their responsibility,’ he said dryly. ‘I’ve still managed to convince everyone the best way to solve this is by keeping the Pittwater investigation on track. After that, as soon as I can get some time I want to see you. I’ll call you.’
‘Why can’t we see each other tonight when you’re finished?’
‘Now that you’ve given me this information, I’ve got to think about how it fits in. I have to act on it. I need some head space to work that out. But I will call you.’
They held on to each other again. He didn’t seem to want to let her go and then did. Then he was gone.
‘I guess you will,’ Grace said to herself, watching him disappear down the corridor.
Very shortly afterwards, two uniformed police appeared, heading towards her. Time to be economical with the truth, she thought, preparing to meet them.
25
It was late by the time Harrigan got back to Birchgrove for the night, and later still when he went to bed having spent some time thinking the case through over a glass of whisky. When he woke in the morning, it was early. He felt unexpectedly refreshed from a short sleep. He took a little time to prepare for the day. There was a phone call he had to make; a course of action he had agreed on with Trevor the previous night. He dialled the number, certain there would be an answer even at this early hour.