army bloke?’
‘Yeah, I remember.’
‘He was too big for you, mate, too smart and he hit too hard. I think you’re going up against him again.’
‘No, Cliff, I’m going to win this one.’ He turned and went out of the shed and down the track. The wire hurt my hands but not unbearably; I tried to relax in the unnatural position and the feeling of incipient cramp eased off. Clem had cleared a space all around where I was sitting; there were no tools, no nails, no rusty hacksaw blades. Ten feet away there was enough gear to break into a bank. It was early afternoon and warm; I still had on the winter shirt I’d worn in Sydney and in which I’d now slept two nights-it stank. I’ve always liked the north coast and fantasised often about that one big case that brings in an enormous fee which could set me up with a shack overlooking the Pacific. Right then I’d gladly have been in Melbourne, or in church or anywhere else.
I dozed and came awake to the sound of the VW being driven up to the shed. Clem got out and grinned at me.
‘Bearing up?’ I grunted in reply and he worked at the wire so that I had one hand free. I looked at the other hand; the wire was heavy duty stuff twisted tight and hard with pliers, I couldn’t make any impression on it with my fingers. Clem handed me a hamburger and made another brandy and water.
‘Sorry there’s no beer, Cliff, out of the habit of it.’
I looked across at the car as I bit into the hamburger. In the passenger seat I could see a vague, light shape.
‘Who’s that?’
Clem took the cup from me and had a swig himself. He looked confident and assured.
‘That’s Dorothy Farmer; she’s Riley’s girlfriend.’
‘Happy to be here, is she?’
‘Not exactly, she needed some persuading. My mate in town tells me that Riley’d do anything for that girl; crazy about her, he’s told me that a hundred times.’
‘And…’
‘I’m going to call him, tell him I’ve got her and suggest he comes to fetch her and bring along the money. Simple as that.’
‘Kidnapping, Clem; big one.’
‘Who’s going to tell? I get the money and piss off, what’s Riley going to say?’
It sounded all right-if Riley’s feeling for the girl was as strong as Clem thought. Clem went to the back of the shed and rummaged around. When he came back he was carrying a. 303 rifle and a box of ammunition.
‘Jesus, Clem, I thought you were confident.’
‘I am, but Riley’s a cunning bugger, I just want to be sure. Hold tight, Cliff, I’m going to phone him.’
Carrying the rifle, he went towards the house. He took a quick look in the car then he stepped up onto the porch, clubbed the window in with the butt of the rifle and reached around to open the door. He was inside for about ten minutes; I saw the girl in the car stir and her hand go up to her face. Clem helped her gently out of the car and led her into the shed. She was a plump blonde with a lot of make-up over a very scared face. There was an old car seat under the bench and Clem dragged it out and pushed the girl down into it. He put some brandy in the cup and held it out to her.
‘Sorry, Dot’, he said.
She tossed back the brandy and held the cup out for a refill. ‘You scared the shit out of me with that gun, Clem. What’re you on about?’ Her voice was shaky and nasal; she had a frilly blouse on and very tight jeans with high-heeled shoes. She looked as if she’d just stepped out from behind the bar, except that she was as nervous as a rabbit. Clem stood over her with the. 303 across his shoulders. I was dirty-faced, stubbly and stinking with one arm lashed down with wire. She had a right to be alarmed.
Clem ignored her and I decided that it was time to recruit her to my side. ‘You’re a hostage, Dorothy; so am I in a way. Clem’s holding you because he wants something from Riley; when he has it he’ll let us both go. That right, Clem?’
‘That’s right.’
She looked at me as if I had started spouting Shakespeare. She opened her mouth to speak and then she looked at Clem; he was just faintly comic with the big rifle, but not funny enough to cause Dorothy to laugh as she did. She leaned back in the chair and bellowed. Clem swung the rifle around and at that minute I wondered just how cool he was. There was a flush in his face and his eyes looked nervous as he watched the convulsing girl.
‘What…’, she gasped, ‘what makes you think Charlie Riley will do anything for me?’
‘You’re his girl’, Clem grated. ‘He’s nuts about you, Johnny Talbot told me.’
She giggled. ‘Johnny Talbot told you!’ She laughed again and Clem stepped forward.
‘Easy, Clem’, I said.
He grabbed her shoulder and shook it. ‘What’s funny? Come on, Dot, I’m not joking.’
She calmed down and looked up at him, tears had spilled eye black down her face so that she looked like a tormented mime.
‘Riley hasn’t laid a finger on me for two years, Clem’, she said softly. ‘You know who he’s on with now?’
‘Tell me.’
‘Joannie, your wife. Johnny must’ve been too scared to tell you. Two years it’s been now, Clem, near enough.’ She started to get up from the seat and Clem shoved her back savagely.
‘Let me go’, the girl said, ‘I’m no use to you. Let me go, Clem!’
Clem slapped her hard across her tear-daubed face. ‘Shut up! Just shut up and let me think!’
There was a silence and we were all thinking fast and all thinking scared. The girl was telling the truth, that was clear, but I wondered if Clem saw all the consequences.
‘How did Riley take the news, Clem?’ I said quietly. Clem looked at me blankly. ‘He was… sort of shocked.’
‘You told him to get the money and come up here.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Jesus! I know what I’d do if I was him; I’d get hold of the biggest gun I could find and come up here and blow you away. Has he got any guts, this Riley?’
‘He has, he was an SP bookie in Sydney. He’d gone soft when I last saw him, but he used to do his own collecting.’
‘You’re in trouble, son. There’s nothing to stop him killing you, it’s the best end to all his troubles. You’d better get out, Clem.’
‘Shit, where can I go? I was counting on getting the money.’
‘Ring the cops then, it’s your only chance.’
It was exactly the wrong advice; the words seemed to jolt him out of a defeatist mood and into something else, he checked the bolt on the rifle and patted Dorothy on the head clumsily.
‘Sorry, Dot, stay put and you won’t get into any trouble. It makes sense you know. I couldn’t work out why she didn’t come through with the money.’ He was talking to me now and running his left hand along the stained wood under the barrel of the rifle.
I’d seen men do that before, in the army and not in the army, I’d done it myself; it meant you were ready to shoot and didn’t mind being shot at. A lot of those men were dead.
‘I wanted the money, but I came for Riley and I’ll get him. What does he drive, Dot, something flash?’
‘Volvo’, she said.
‘That’ll do, I’ll take that and head up to Queensland and get lost. Want to come along, Cliff?’ He was jocular but there was a desperation in it, as if he was screwing himself up to do something.
‘No thanks, Clem’, I said. ‘Listen, have you ever shot a man?’
‘No.’
‘It’s not that easy.’
‘I’ll manage. Now shut up, I need to organise this.’ He looked around the shed obviously picking the best cover assuming that Riley would come up the track. There wasn’t much doubt about what was best-the plastic-
