knew and that what they didn’t know didn’t matter.
‘Charlie seems to think that his partners are trying to squeeze him out.’
‘I doubt it. I think I’ve said all I have to say.’
‘And I appreciate it. One more thing, the cop question again-evidence?’
He sounded tired and wrung out. His sigh was like a final gust of wind as a storm dies. ‘Only what Steve told me. He said that Charles was having him followed, tracking his movements. That’s it. Goodbye.’
He hung up. As always when a problem looms, the first thing I thought about was a drink, and the Lygon Lodge did a good mini-bar. But these days I fight the urge up to a point, and instead I went for a walk through Carlton. It was cold and windy but there was no rain and the strollers and diners and tourists were out in force. You could eat food from the four corners of the world in a couple of blocks and fill a house with ornaments and paintings and books. I kept my hands in my pockets and just window-shopped, like a lot of the other people on the street.
When I got back to the motel, Marriott was waiting for me with his door open. He was pale and agitated as he beckoned me in.
‘Where’ve you been?’
‘Walking.’
‘You’re supposed to be my bodyguard.’
‘You said you’d be safe down here in Melbourne.’
‘Safe? Shit! I’m not safe anywhere.’
‘What’s happened?’
‘I’ve had threatening phone calls. I know they’re from Rudi. We’re booked to fly back tomorrow. I think he knows when.’
‘How could he?’
It appeared that he’d been at the mini-bar, well and truly. I could see two empty Johnnie Walkers and two Beefeaters and at a guess he had a slug of Stoli over ice in the glass he was waving.
‘You don’t know anything! There’re ways. You just have to know the codes, and Stefan would. We’ll go back via Adelaide. That’ll throw them.’
I shrugged. ‘You’re the boss.’
Suddenly, his bad-teeth smile was smug. The threatening phone calls were apparently forgotten and I had to wonder if they’d ever happened.
‘That’s right. I’m the boss. But we’re mates, too, right? Sorry I was stroppy, Cliff. I’m under pressure.’
Aren’t we all? I thought, but I just nodded and moved towards the door.
He took a step closer to the bed and picked up the TV remote control. ‘I think I’ll watch a movie. Goodnight, Cliff. It’s nine thirty from Tullamarine. Pretty civilised. Hop into your mini-bar, why don’t you? It’s all on Solomon bloody Solutions.’
I gave him a thumbs-up, clinked my keys in my hand and left the room. Charles Marriott might have been a computer wizard and an ace birdwatcher, but he was no actor. No one who’d drunk what he appeared to have drunk, judging from the empties, could have moved as he did when he skirted round the bed and picked up the remote control.
You’re a dangerous man, Charles, I thought as I headed for my room. But dangerous to who-or was that whom?
We flew back via Adelaide and Charlie spent a lot of time on his mobile during the break between planes. He didn’t tell me who he was calling and I didn’t ask. On the flight to Sydney, he got stuck into the complimentary champagne. When I thought he was sufficiently loosened up, I asked him whether I ought to talk to Stefan and Mark.
He almost dropped his glass. ‘No!’
‘Why not? If I’m supposed to be interested in investing, wouldn’t it look a bit funny if I didn’t meet with the other partners?’
He finished what was in his glass and signalled to the hostess for a refill. ‘There’s not long to go. You don’t have to be around the office anymore. Just drive me in and out.’
It was a kind of an answer and I didn’t press him, but my feeling that I didn’t know nearly enough of what was going on got stronger.
I dropped him at home that night and collected him the next morning. His smart suit was a bit crumpled and he looked as if he hadn’t slept well. His breath was bad. He clutched his big briefcase and said almost nothing on the drive. He was going to sit tight in his office and that gave me the whole day free.
I was about to pull out of the car park when I saw a big man in biker leathers come out of the building and approach a blue Honda 1200cc. Something about the way he held himself and the look of the bike were familiar and when he started it up I was sure. Rudi. I swung the Falcon in front of him and he had to stop.
‘What the fuck’re you doing?’ he roared.
I approached him. ‘Hate to stop, do you, Rudi?’
‘Do I know you, arsehole?’
Confirmation. I moved up on him. ‘You should. I’m the one who shoved Charles Marriott out of the way when you pot-shotted him.’
He ripped off his helmet and came at me then but he was a bit fat and a bit slow. I ducked under his wild swing and thumped him hard in the ribs, left side, right side. No good hitting that gut. The wind went out of him and he sagged. I gave him a knee under the chin and he was finished. I pulled him behind a car and pushed his face into the oily bitumen while bending his right arm up his back with one hand and gripping his left ear with the other.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘You’re not as tough as you thought. Do I break your arm and thump you face down and break your nose, or do you talk to me? Which?’ I gave him a touch of both to be going on with.
‘Talk,’ he said.
‘Stefan hired you to hit Marriott, right?’
He laughed and I pressed down on his head. ‘You’re ugly already. Want to be uglier?’
His voice was muffled because he was eating grit and oil. ‘Marriott.’
I eased up. ‘What?’
‘It was a fake, man. Blanks. Marriott got me to do it.’
I let him go and helped him up so he got to a sitting position with his back against a hub cap. He coughed and spat some stuff out of his mouth. ‘You’re a mug, whoever you are.’
‘I’m beginning to think you’re right. I thought… You and Stefan’re mates, right?’
‘Yeah. So what?’
‘I’ve got to talk to him. I’ve got to know what he thinks of Marriott. What does Amie think of him, for that matter?’
‘Shit, I can tell you that. Stefan reckons he’s the most brilliant fuckin’ IT man in the country and that he’s completely nuts. Amie can’t stand him. He came on to her, offered her a million dollars, and she knocked him back. He hates her and Stefan. Whatever he’s got you doin, arsehole, it’s to screw them. That’s for sure.’
What did he have me doing? I realised that I had no idea. Rudi pulled himself upright, and if he’d had a go just then he might have done some damage because I was dumbfounded, but he just stood there and brushed himself off.
‘You hit hard,’ he said.
‘Look, I’m sorry. I’ve got the wrong end of the stick here. I’ve got to talk to Stefan and Mark.’
‘Stefan’s in Brisbane with Amie. They’re tryin’ to stay out of Marriott’s way. He’s been at them. Threatening to get himself committed.’
‘What?’
‘I don’t know much about it. It’s beyond me. Stefan says it’s to do with their fuckin’ partnership. If Marriott’s in the bin they can’t go ahead with
‘The float of the company?’
‘Yeah, the float, and Stefan’s borrowed a hell of a lot against the money he expects to make from the float. He wants to start his own company with Mark and get clear of Marriott.’
