putting Hank in any danger. I'm not interested in being a single mother.'
I settled in at home, threw out some old food and made a list of new stuff to buy. I went to the gym for a very light session and Wesley swore when he saw my injuries.
'You're getting too old for this shit, man.'
I stepped on the scales. 'You're right. Hey, I've lost some weight.'
'Could be in your brain.'
I'd asked Megan to bring in my mobile but she'd said she couldn't find it even though she'd rung it and listened for the signal. Not surprising; I often couldn't find it myself. I hate the thing. But I hunted around and eventually found it under a couple of CDs that had slid over it on the desk where I'd left it turned off after downloading the photographs of Houli. I thumbed it on and the blinking symbol told me there were unanswered calls.
'Hardy! This is Miles Standish. Please call me.'
'Hardy. Standish. Where the hell are you?'
There were two others like that, getting more agitated. I punched in his number.
'Yes?'
'Standish, this is Hardy, what-?'
'Jesus Christ! I've been ringing-'
I cut him off. 'I've been in hospital after being bloody nearly killed by that Lebanese bastard you know so well. Don't come on strong with me, mate. You went into smoke. Are you still holed up in McMahons Point with your girlfriend?'
'How the hell did you know that?'
'Never mind. You drop out of sight and now it's all about where I am. What's the trouble?'
'My life's in danger.'
'Our lives are in danger all the time.'
'This is no joke. I need your help.'
The original 'me' guy-absolutely no interest in others. 'I'm not sure I can help you or if I want to. You didn't exactly tell me much of the truth at our first meeting.'
'I suppose not, but I thought we had an arrangement.'
'Yeah, perhaps we do. But I'll want to know all about your dealings with Nordlung-you and May Ling and Freddy Wong and Selim Houli-before you tell me your problem. By the way, your wife thinks you killed Richard Malouf.'
'She's crazy. But Jesus, how do you know-?'
'I was doing my job. I'll meet you at your office.'
'No!'
'Where, then?'
He named an apartment block at Darling Harbour. I knew it as a place publishers and movie people used to accommodate their big-name visitors to Sydney. I'd done some bodyguarding for a couple of these types. Standish gave me the number of his apartment. He was calmer but still edgy. I didn't want him calm.
'Will May Ling be there?'
'I… I don't know.'
'Have you got any money?'
'I can get some. How much?'
'As much as you can rustle up. I'll be there in an hour.'
I wanted Standish to be as rattled and vulnerable as possible if I was to find out what was going on. Frightened was good, too, and he was clearly that already. And I thought it wouldn't do any harm to have money in my pocket because I had a need for some right then.
Along with my PEA licence went my right to carry a gun. I'd had an illicit one for a while until, after a nasty confrontation two years earlier, I'd thrown it into Balmoral Bay. But I didn't fancy going off to visit Standish, who had dealings with the Wongs and Houli, unarmed, so for the second time I broke a serious law and bought a. 22 Ruger Bearcat pistol from an ex-biker named Ben Corbett.
Corbett, a paraplegic following an accident, lived in a below-ground flat in Erskineville. He didn't want to let me have the gun without payment up front, but I persuaded him with a bottle of Bundy and a packet of Drum.
'I'm only renting it, Ben,' I said. 'You'll get it back with five hundred-'
'Six hundred.'
'OK, six. In a couple of days-unfired, I hope.'
'You're a wanker, Hardy. What happened to your fuckin' ear?'
I still had a dressing on the ear that Yusef had battered and torn. 'A dog bit it.'
Corbett snuffed out his rollie and took a big slurp of his rum and Coke. 'You're a wanker, Hardy.'
He never had much of a way with words.
The Meridian Apartments were reached via a bridge across the lower reaches of the city streets to Darling Harbour.
With money coming in, I got as close as I could by taxi because parking was impossible. I walked across the bridge in the cool blustery wind wearing an old bomber jacket with the. 22 deep in the torn lining of one of the interior pockets. I still had aches and pains, but who hasn't in their mature years? Rain threatened and the water was a dingy grey. I had no real reason to feel encouraged, but I was keen to meet Standish. I had a lot of questions, and forcing my way to answers was what I did best.
Standish opened the door to my knock and I was shocked at his appearance. Gone were the boyish bounce and the confident manner. His tan had a yellow tinge and his shoulders drooped, reducing his height. He was in shirtsleeves and the shirt wasn't fresh. His pants were wrinkled and his shoes were scuffed. No tie. Some don't look right with a tie and some look wrong without one-Standish was one of these. I'd been prepared to bully him but there was no need.
In size and decor, the apartment was more suited to a writer than an actor or rock star, and Standish had made it look more middle range than it really was by his sloppiness. Clothes, newspapers and magazines were scattered around the living room and there were glasses, coffee cups and takeaway food containers he hadn't bothered to bin or put away in the kitchenette.
I didn't have to ask whether May Ling was there-she wouldn't have been able to tolerate a pigsty like this for a minute. Standish slumped into a chair and waved me to another. I walked to the window and looked out over the water.
With my back to him I said, 'Who do you think wants to kill you?'
'Freddy Wong and Selim Houli.'
'Unless?'
'Why d'you say that?'
'Either of them could do it with no trouble at all, so there must be an unless or an if not about it.'
'You're right. Unless I can find Richard Malouf for them.'
Square one, I thought. 'Why do they want him?'
'I don't know.'
'You must have some idea.'
'I don't. I thought that they might be other victims of his swindle but they said not. May Ling is Freddy Wong's cousin. When she heard that I'd hired you to find Malouf she told Freddy. She tells him everything-he's got some kind of hold over her. I just wanted you to follow up on Stefan's story about seeing Malouf but then the shit hit the fan. Stefan got killed. May Ling said we were both in danger. I had to meet with Freddy Wong or she'd… something horrible'd happen to her. Then Houli turned up and the threats came thick and fast. It was only May who stopped them from… What happened to you?'
It was as if he'd just remembered I'd told him I'd been injured. I gave him some of the details and he looked more frightened than ever.
His voice, previously a powerful instrument of charm and persuasion, shook. 'I had to pretend I had other ways to find Malouf but I don't. I don't!'
'Take it easy,' I said. 'Got anything to drink here?'
'Scotch, in the kitchen.'
