him, but the suspicion leapt into my mind that the other performer was Stefan Parnevik.
A note, smudged and greasy, was attached: ‘It’s all on his hard disk’. Wendy was well and truly pulling the plug on Larry.
I closed the file and sat looking at the screen, pretty much as I had after reading Aaron De Witt’s email that had come to me like a message from the other side. Should I turn the disk over to the cops and put one more nail in Buckingham’s coffin? Was it necessary? Would a police investigation turn up Kristina’s identity? What consequences could that have? But most of all I wondered about Marisha Karatsky and Kristina and Stefan Parnevik and Bucking- ham. And everything that Karen Bach had told me about the Karatsky women. All the old suspicions were back in full strength.
Over the next couple of days I phoned Marisha and listened to her answering machine message until I could recite it in my sleep. After about a week she answered.
‘Yes, who is this?’
‘It’s Cliff Hardy, Marisha.’
‘Ah, the leaver of no message. A no-show.’
‘That’s right. Well, I’m showing now. I’ve been wondering how you were.’
‘Now that your case is over and all the loose ends… tied off?’
‘Yes. Sort of.’
‘You don’t sound very sure. Well, I’m fine. I’ve been to New Zealand, you see. It’s a beautiful country with a very good government.’
‘So they tell me.’
‘You’ve never been there?’
‘No.’
‘That’s strange. In Europe, you visit the neighbouring countries if you can. Why don’t Australians visit New Zealand very much?’
You’re playing with me, I thought. ‘I don’t know.’
‘You should.’
‘Okay.’
‘Well, I met with Kristina and she’s fine. She’s finished with Stefan who has gone somewhere else, and she is studying and working as a ski instructor in Auckland.’
‘Is there snow now in Auckland?’
‘Of course not. This is an indoor training facility. In the season she’ll work at the ski resorts.’
‘That sounds good.’
‘Yes. So how are you?’
The distance between us was ten times greater than between Sydney and Auckland. I told her I was okay and doing routine stuff.
‘I’m moving there. To New Zealand. Perhaps you could visit.’
‘Perhaps.’
The conversation ended there and left me more doubtful than ever. It just sounded too pat. You don’t get rid of a character like Parnevik so easily-that’s if you
