‘There lie Joe Agnew and Tania Bourke,’ Williamson said.
13
A rake, I thought. What good is a rake. Where’s the shovel?
Williamson took the gun away and turned me around back towards the track. He used the gun to steer me but he prodded the undamaged side. ‘Little charade, Hardy. I’m a Federal policeman. Narcotics. Teach you to mind your own fucking business.’
I felt some warmth creep back into my cold, stiff, tingling body.
‘God,’ I said. ‘I thought…
‘Yeah. You held up pretty well.’ He swung the torch beam over footprints and other marks in the sandy soil. ‘Clean her up, boys. Just like she was.’
I stumbled back to the beach and got my feet wet again getting in the boat. Williamson gave me some of the details as we made the trip back to the speedboat and some more on the run to Bayview.
‘Agnew and Bourke were part of a big drugs operation,’ he said. ‘Bourke was a courier. Have you worked out what Agnew’s part was?’
‘Yes,’ I said. My eye was hurting like hell and it was all a charade. Still, I had to play along. I didn’t know what Williamson’s complete plan was; there was still time and opportunity for him to erase me. ‘He was in at the Customs end. He watched for certain flights and bits of luggage. I don’t know how they’d have worked it. All that stuff looks pretty random to me when I’ve travelled.’
‘It is, or it can be. If you’ve got the luggage handlers and some of the Customs men fixed it’s less random. It was complicated but it works. Worked.’
‘What happened?’ We were back in the speedboat now, a smoother ride than the dinghy but not smooth enough for me. ‘Haven’t got anything to drink on you, by any chance?’
‘No. The usual thing happened. People got greedy, started to cheat. We got someone inside and looked like cracking it.’
‘Where does Darcy fit in?’
‘He’s an informer
‘Which means he’s a dealer as well.’
‘Set a thief. He knew Bourke and Agnew. Knew Bourke pretty well, in fact.’
‘Yeah, his girlfriend’s not too happy about that.’
He shrugged his well-tailored shoulders. ‘He knows it. His problem.’
Rolf handled the wheel like an artist. The shore lights were coming up fast-the trip back always seems shorter than the one out. Soon there’d be people around instead of dark stretches of water, telephones not trees. I would have felt better if I’d been able to see properly. As it was, the blanked-out eye felt like a hot coal in my head, but there were still things I needed to know.
‘Who killed them?’ I said.
‘The man who was trying to take over from the big man.’
‘When?’
The boat bumped the piles; Rolf tossed the ropes, jumped to the jetty and tied us up. He stood and lit a cigarette. He was a bit of a specialist, Rolf. ‘This all happened a while back,’ Williamson said. ‘Don’t trouble yourself. Look, can you get up here? Ladder’s awkward.’
‘I can do it.’ I climbed onto the marina walkway. My boat was tied up where they’d be able to see it from the office in the morning. I was dizzy and the shoulder and eye injuries made me feel as if I’d taken a hard left-right combination. I hung on to the handrail all the way back to dry land.
‘The thing is this,’ Williamson said. ‘Oh, I’ve got someone to drive you home. Don’t worry about it.’
‘I won’t lick your boots either.’
He ignored that, intent on his story. ‘Bourke had got hold of a big shipment. She diverted it. Agnew helped. They got killed. The big man’s still looking for them and the stuff.’
‘Who is he?’
He shook his head. ‘Can’t tell you. But you know him. Everyone knows him. He’s getting close. When he moves to get the stuff we’ll get him. That’s all you need to know.’
‘Like hell, it is! Jesus.’
‘Sit down in the car. Come on.’ He led me to the Falcon and helped me in. Then he put my Colt in the glove box. Rolf was hanging around and Williamson turned to him. ‘Got anything to drink? Brandy or something?’
Rolf shook his head. ‘Got a joint.’
‘That’d be right,’ Williamson said. ‘Hardy, any use to you?’
‘No. What about the flat in the Cross and the house over there?’
‘Part of the set-up. We’ve left them as they were. Keep an eye on them.”
‘You know how I got into this?’
‘Yeah, the girl who got killed outside the Greenwich place.’
‘Well?’
‘We had nothing to do with it.’
‘Nothing?’
‘Well, only after the fact. We passed the word to the police not to… disturb things. You have my word, Hardy.’
I snorted. ‘Shit, what’s that worth?’
‘Suit yourself. All I’m saying is that we had nothing to do with the girl’s death and it was completely unconnected with our operation. Completely.’
‘Why the hell couldn’t you have just told me this?’
‘Darcy told us how you acted when you broke in on him. The girlfriend told us about the phone call. You were getting warm, right?’
‘I suppose so.”
‘We knew you’d get somewhere at the bank, one way or another. Or somewhere along the line. If you’d looked into the leasing of the house on the island you’d have been led somewhere else. Another house. It’s the way they lived. The trail’s there to be followed. I mean that’s why it’s there. And we didn’t need you tramping around on it.’
‘Still…’
‘Still nothing. You’ve got a reputation. Hardy. You know what for?”
‘Sustaining physical damage?”
‘Stubbornness. I was told I’d have to convince you. You looked pretty convinced back there in the park. Are you convinced. Hardy?’
‘I’m convinced,’ I said.
‘Rolf’ll drive you home. You’ll have to get that eye seen to. It looks pretty bad.’
14
I don’t know what time it was when I got home. I was barely conscious. Rolf got me into the house and Helen set to work with hot water and cottonwool. She phoned Ian Sangster who left his Friday night bridge game to come.
‘Christ,’ he said. ‘You look like you’ve gone a few rounds with Fenech.’
‘Try a tree,’ I said. ‘Or more precisely, a branch. How bad is it, Ian?’
He put his bag of tricks down, took out one of the medieval instruments they use, and examined the eye closely. ‘It looks bad, Cliff. You need a surgeon. I’ll get you into hospital tonight and with luck I can get one of the best men in Sydney on it tomorrow.’
