Erica looked at me angrily. ‘You both know more than I do. Who are these crims? What’s this about tapes and videos?’
Grey buttoned his jacket again and sucked in some breath and stomach. He had an odd mannerism of stretching up, as if he’d been trying to make himself taller since he stopped growing at fourteen. ‘Crims,’ he said. ‘Yes, as Miss Fong observes, they are crims. And you know crims can usually find each other. One or another can be made to talk or be bought. But Mountain is a different story; he has no criminal connections, none of any use anyway.’
I nodded, on the theory that he might be the sort of man who likes to be agreed with.
‘Added to which,’ he said slowly. ‘I lack local knowledge. I do not live in this city.’
‘That’s your bad luck,’ I said.
‘I happen to think otherwise, but there we are. But I pride myself on being a good judge of character, Hardy. I believe you know things you won’t reveal.’
‘That’s a professional manner I cultivate,’ I said. ‘Good for business.’
Grey frowned and moved the gun. Erica threw her cigarette butt at the fireplace and missed by a mile. ‘He doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t!’ She moved closer to me. ‘He’d have told me. There’s no point in killing him or beating him up.’
‘Touching.’ Grey sat down on the arm of a chair and flesh spread out on either side of his bottom. As I looked at him, taking in useless details like the ring with the big stone in it that he wore on his left hand and his highly polished shoes, I suddenly realised that he was right. I did Know something that I hadn’t realised I knew until then. Another line of enquiry. I tried to blank the thought out in case Grey could read facial twitches and movements of the eyes. But he just pushed up with his polished shoes mid levered his bum off the chair.
‘I agree. No point in using force. Hardy’s reputation for stubbornness exceeds that for intelligence. It wasn’t an intelligent move to go to that coffee bar, was it, Hardy?’
I shook my head. ‘Not as it turned out. Felt right at the time.’
‘Besides, I’m a businessman and I don’t think I could watch a man being tortured. And those two louts out there would probably make a mess of it.’
I tried to keep my voice steady. ‘Probably.’
‘ And,’ he emphasised the word with a slight movement of the gun, ‘I don’t want Hardy damaged because I want him to go on looking for Mountain.’
‘He will,’ Erica said.
‘Exactly, but from now on he will be looking with a view to handing him over to me when he finds him.’
I saw it then and I didn’t like it.
‘He won’t do that,’ Erica said quickly. ‘He’s promised me he’ll help Bill. We’ll give the car back and try to keep Bill out of trouble.’
‘Noble,’ Grey purred, ‘but it won’t be like that.’
‘Why not?’ Erica snapped.
‘Because we’re going to take you away with us, my dear. And contrary to what I’ve just said, I’ll give some thought to sending you back to Hardy in pieces in order to keep him keen. And if he finds Mountain he’ll notify me or I’ll kill you. You value Miss Fong’s life more than Mountain’s, don’t you, Hardy?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
16
No,’ Erica said.
‘Oh, yes. Hardy is being sensible; that’s something else he’s known for.’
‘It sounds as if you’ve been doing some work on me.’
‘Don’t flatter yourself. It didn’t take long and there wasn’t anything subtle to find out.’
He wasn’t trying to bait me, he was just stating the facts as he saw them. He was a man who dealt in facts. I was dealing with a few myself, trying to think of some way to head off this hostage strategy. This time Grey did seem to read my mind. He raised his voice while keeping the gun steady.
‘Come on, you two. We’re leaving!’
Flabby came into the room and gave me a look that suggested he hadn’t forgiven me for the battering I gave him in the car park. Peroni strolled in with a glass of wine in his hand. He took a sip and then emptied the almost full glass on the carpet. The gesture marked him as the one who’d done over the house before. His face was creased in a smile showing his bad teeth and the fact that he enjoyed this sort of work. He tossed the wine glass in the fireplace where it broke. Erica jumped, and Peroni’s grin widened until it changed into a wince of pain. He put his hand up to touch the puffiness around his jaw where it had slammed into the side of my car.
‘You don’t look so tough now,’ he said.
‘I was angry at the time.’
‘Aren’t you angry now?’ He stepped up close and thrust his face forward so that I could smell his bad breath. He slapped me hard with his right hand; I rode back a bit, but the slap stung.
‘I want a free go,’ Flabby said.
I could feel blood from where my teeth had cut the inside of my mouth. ‘I wouldn’t if I were you,’ I said. You’re too slow. I could cripple you while you were shaping up.’ I jerked my head at Grey. ‘It’s really the other way around-he needs me more than he needs you.’
‘True,’ Grey said crisply. ‘Miss Fong is coming with us.’ He went to the hallway door and gestured with his gun. We trooped into the hall and Grey looked at Erica’s bag. ‘Handy. We’ll take that along. You can leave the liquor and cigarettes though. I’m a teetotaller myself.’
Erica looked desperately at me. I tried to look determined and resolute which is easier to do when you’re not the one being carted away.
‘Leave her the creature comforts, Grey. The smart hijackers keep the hostages happy.’ I lifted the bag, zipped it up and handed it to Erica. ‘Play along, love. He’s more bark than bite. I’ll do everything I can. How do I reach you, Grey?’
‘You have an answering service?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll leave messages, give you telephone numbers and instructions. You’d better take this seriously, Hardy.’
‘I do. And you better understand that I’m not the only friend Miss Fong has in the world. There are some Chinese around who’ll eat these two and you as well if anything happens to her. If you let Peroni touch her you can say goodbye to your balls and his.’
‘I’ll bear it in mind.’ He nodded to Peroni who opened the door and they backed towards it so that I was facing two guns.
‘Leave the Colt,’ I said. ‘I might need it.’
Flabby looked reluctant, but Grey’s sharp nod made him set it down just inside the door.
‘Your car is disabled, Hardy. Stay where you are for a minute or two and think. Do the work you’re supposed to be so good at. There’s no reason for your little friend to come to any harm.’
Erica’s face was a mask of anger and fear; Peroni and Flabby went out and Grey followed, still keeping his little flat gun ready. He slammed the door. I stood in the hall and listened to car doors open and close. A well-tuned engine started and a car purred away.
I stood there for what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes. The cat came in and rubbed itself against my leg which meant that it wanted food. I opened the front door and looked at the Falcon parked across the road. It had no obvious list, so the disablement was probably mechanical. They’d closed the gate; Grey would probably have wiped his feet on the mat if I’d had one.
Under stress we revert to the old patterns. I re-plugged the phone and rang Grant Evans, gave him a description of Grey, and asked him to check it through as many computers as he could.
‘He said he wasn’t from Sydney,’ I said.
