‘You reckon you’re going to survive this?’
I didn’t like the way the talk was going; he was playing with me and I felt clumsy-witted. The chance of getting him off-balance seemed remote.
‘Well, do you?’
‘I don’t know’, I said. ‘You tell me.’
He yawned. ‘Depends how it goes.’
‘How else can it go? You said yourself you could shoot a man’s ear off at that range and in those conditions. If he comes, he’s dead, isn’t he?’
He almost grinned. ‘He might have a gun-like you.’
‘What?’
He made the pseudo-laughing noise again. This time it sounded like the gurgling mud outside. ‘I saw you get it from the car. Saw you switch it to your pocket. But you didn’t have the guts to use it, did you?’
‘Biding my time.’
‘Well you waited too long, sonny Jim. Just ease it out slowly, put it on the floor, and give it a kick over here.’
I did what he said, and I had the odd sensation that my body temperature had dropped when I surrendered the gun. I shivered, although it wasn’t cold; my throat was dry and it closed on me when I tried to speak. The fear was back.
‘What was that again?’ His voice was full of mock concern and politeness.
‘Why’d you wait so long to get the gun, Hayes?’
‘Just having fun.’
‘That’s not professional.’
‘Well, in fact I figured you’d play along more if you thought you had an edge. It worked.’
We sat in silence for a while, then he shifted in his chair.
‘Know the best way to stay awake when you’re tired, Hardy?’
‘No.’
‘Concentrate on your bladder. Tell yourself you need a piss. Pretty soon you will. That gives you something to think about. You don’t have the piss and you stay awake.’
‘I could do with a piss right now.’
‘Me too. But you can have one. Get up!’
I climbed off the floor and we went back to the toilet which was off the kitchen. I pissed, zipped up and when I turned around he had a couple of lengths of light rope in his hand.
‘Right, Hardy. Into the bedroom. We’re going to wrap you up for a while.’
He instructed me to get on the bed; he tossed me one of the pieces of rope and supervised me while I tied up my legs. Then he tied my hands behind me, and tightened up the knots all round, like a man tightening the wheel nuts on a car.
‘Why?’ I said.
‘Who knows? Hostage maybe. I keep my options open. Goodbye, Hardy.’
He clicked off the night-light, and closed the door.
20
Lying there on the bed in the darkness, head down and arse up, the Chesterton quotation, or something of it, came into my head-to do with fucking: ‘the position is ridiculous, the expense damnable’. I used to think it was funny, but it didn’t seem so funny anymore.
By cranking my neck around and lifting my head, I could just get a look out a window where a holland blind ended a fraction above the sill. It was still very dark out and I wasn’t anxious for it to get light. After a while the birds started up in the trees-incongruously happy chirpings. I cranked and lifted again, but it still wasn’t dawn or even pre-dawn. My arms quickly got cramped and sore, and the split skin on my ear was throbbing. I wondered whether it really had been a lack of guts that had kept me from trying to use the gun on Hayes, or was it an instinct for survival. Or were they both the same thing?
The door opened; I felt the wind of it rather than heard any noise. I went tense and my jaw clamped tight. So did my eyes, and the back of my neck tingled. I couldn’t see why he’d get impatient and do it now, but who could tell how a Queensland cop turned hit-man, who’d killed eight people, was likely to think? I expected to hear a noise; I hoped that’d be all.
‘Hardy! Hardy!’ The voice was Frank Parker’s, but it sounded sweeter than Cleo Laine.
I grunted something unintelligible even to me.
‘Lie still’, he whispered..’And for Christ’s sake, don’t fall off the bed when you’re loose.’
He undid the knots and I rolled over and sat up. Parker was wearing one of my denim shirts and dark pants. He’d daubed something on his face to cut down on skin shine at night. Christ, I can see him, I thought. It must be getting light. I strained my ears but couldn’t pick up any boat noise.
‘How?’ I said.
‘I watched your place most of the day. Thought Catchpole’d show up. I got the word to him that you lifted Tiny.’
‘Thanks! You’re a ruthless bastard, Frank.’
‘Worked, didn’t it? I wasn’t expecting Hayes to come into the bag. Is this place what I think it is?’
‘It’s Collinson’s bolthole.’
‘Uh huh. Where’s “Bully”?’
‘Christ, you don’t know?’
‘No. I lay low for a while trying to work out what was going on-saw out the front and decided to nip in to get you out. Where is he?”
‘He’s out in the scrub, waiting for Collinson who should be coming over the horizon in a boat pretty soon.’ I scratched at my own cheek. ‘What’s this, bit of drama?’
‘Yeah. Do you want your gun?’
‘Shit, yes!’
He gave it to me. ‘How’d he get it off you?”
The relief I was feeling almost made me giggle. ‘He asked me nicely. I’m telling you, Frank, this guy is good. He’s got a perfect setup out there for blowing Collinson away.’ I got off the bed and swore as my calf muscle cramped.
‘You okay? We’d better get out there.’
‘Right.’ I rubbed the leg and hobbled. ‘Have you seen the kid?’
Parker shook his head. He had his gun ready, and mine in my hand felt huge. Bloody guns. I thought, but the time had come now. We went into the front room: the pre-dawn light was lifting in the sky, visible through the uncurtained front door. The water level was up; the jetty looked solidly based now, ready to serve its purpose.
‘Can’t go through here’, I said. ‘He could be keeping an eye out..’
Parker nodded, and moved towards the side door we’d all used. We edged along the verandah to the front of the house, but it was hard to get far enough forward to look along the scrub without being seen.
We crouched behind a bush, maybe ten feet from where Hayes would be, maybe closer. The water lapped at the narrow strip of greyish sand, slapped at the jetty pylons. Parker shook his head.
‘We step out there, and we’re dead. He’d see us long before we’d spot him. We’ll have to wait for Collinson to come before we can move. Hope for some confusion, or start some.’
‘He’s not the easily confused type. Did you see the dog.’
‘Yeah.’
I mimed the three chopping blows Hayes had used on the Doberman, and Parker sucked his teeth.
There was nothing in the clear, pale sky to impede the flood of light as the sun came up. The dull, leaden look of the water receded towards the shadows on the far side of the cove, and a deep green spread across the surface.
