We’ve all got too much work to do.’
‘Yeah. I’ll just finish my cigarette.’
‘No, it’s okay, Grace. I’m not rushing you. Take your time. I’ll see you later.’
‘Yeah, sure,’ she said, embarrassed by her hypersensitivity.
He walked back to his office, a little lighter in spirit than he had felt all day. The watchers inside the cafeteria had no idea that they had just witnessed the unprecedented event of Harrigan apologising to a member of his team.
24
Less than an hour after he had spoken to her in the cafeteria, Harrigan startled Grace by appearing without warning at her desk, with his tie loose and his sleeves rolled up. He handed her a file and leaned on the desk with both hands.
‘She’s just a little prostitute,’ he said. ‘I’ve told her I’m offering her immunity if her story checks out, but so far she’s being very cagey with the details and I don’t know why. I want you to talk to her on your own. You have to put her at her ease. You can do that, I’ve seen you do it before. Read that file and think about it. Bring your cigarettes with you when you’re ready. She’s asked if she can smoke and I’ve told her she can. She’s smoking like the proverbial at the moment.’
He disappeared in the direction of the interview room. Grace drew breath and opened the file, and thought, you’re on, girl, better tune up the vocal chords. The head shot showed an olive-skinned girl, her shoulder-length dark hair dyed with blonde streaks. Gina Farrugia, aged twenty-two, resident of Potts Point. One conviction for possessing a trafficable amount of heroin. Released into the detox program seven months ago. Known associates: one lover, Mike Sullivan, ex-boxer, sometime bouncer, small-time dealer, occasional police informer, addict. That was all. A thin file. When she reached the interview room, Trevor was waiting with Harrigan.
‘You ready, Gracie?’ he asked her.
‘Sure.’
‘Keep it gentle and take your time. I’ve told her who you are. You remember — I want this information,’ Harrigan said.
How could she forget?
Grace opened the door expecting to feel ordinary tensions filling the air, zigzags of apprehension and defensiveness. The atmosphere in the grey box this afternoon had another quality to it. The young woman looking up at her exuded an animal smell, fear, something as palpable as a small rustling creature curled up tightly into a corner of the room, head pressed to the wall. The air was heavy with cigarette smoke, the ashtray filled with ash and stubs. An empty cigarette packet lay beside it.
‘Hi, Gina,’ Grace said to a barely perceptible nod. ‘How are you?’
There was no direct reply. As she sat down, she saw Gina’s gaze shift past her to the blank eye in the wall.
‘Who’s watching us?’ the girl asked.
‘You don’t have to worry about that. You’re just talking to me. Do you want my card?’
The girl glanced at the card and pocketed it.
‘Don’t I have to worry about that?’ she said to Grace. ‘You know something I don’t, do you?’
‘No. There’s just nothing for you to worry about. No one here’s going to do anything to you. Do you want a cigarette?’
‘Yeah.’
Grace lit both their cigarettes and put the packet and her lighter in the middle of the table.
‘Help yourself,’ she said.
The girl nodded. She sat there, smoking quickly, and then spoke too quickly.
‘If you want to know why I didn’t come in before — I couldn’t get here. That’s the truth. I just couldn’t get here. I would have come in sooner if I could have.’
‘That’s not an issue for me, Gina. As far as I’m concerned, you’re here now and that’s all that matters. The only question for me is what you’ve got to tell me.’
‘That’s something else, isn’t it? There’s a reward, isn’t there?
$25,000? I need to know. Would I get that?’
‘You certainly could. If you’ve got information, then you should get at least a part of it. Maybe all of it. It would depend on what you’ve got to tell us. Is that very important to you?’
‘I just need to know, that’s all. When would I get it?’
‘You need it soon, do you?’
‘Yeah, I do.’
‘Probably as soon as you want it, in that case. But it all does depend on what you’ve got to say. Why don’t you just relax for a bit and think about what you’ve got to tell me? We’ve got plenty of time if you need it.’
There was a brief pause. Gina was tapping ash into the ashtray, frowning. She glanced up at Grace and then at the blank window again. Grace saw panic in the girl’s face, a split in the fabric, control briefly lost and then regained. She ashed her cigarette and picked up the packet, turning it over and over in her hands before taking out another cigarette and lighting it.
‘What if I want something else? I mean, what if I want something besides the money?’
‘What else do you want?’
‘Couple of hours? Of your time. Would you do that for me? Just a couple of hours.’ Her hands were shaking as she looked at Grace.
‘That’s all I want. And the money. When I get it.’
‘Why do you want my time?’ Grace asked.
‘I just do. You don’t have to worry, nothing’s going to happen. I promise. And I do promise.’
‘You want two hours of my time? What do you want to do?’
‘What do I want to do?’ The girl bit her lip. ‘Nothing really. I just want the company. You know all that junk food, chips and that? It’s my favourite food, I love it. Do you want to have a hamburger with me? One with everything? We could do that.’
‘I don’t mind,’ Grace replied equably. ‘I like junk food when I’m in the mood. You want me to go and have a hamburger with you? We can do that. What else do you want to do?’
‘Just sit somewhere and talk. That’s all. That really is all I want.’
‘That’s all?’
‘Yeah.’
Grace was silent for a moment. The girl crushed out her half-smoked cigarette and waited.
‘Why do you want that, Gina?’ Grace asked.
‘I just want the company, that’s all.’
‘Have another cigarette,’ she said and waited while the girl lit it up.
‘There isn’t anyone else you want to be with for two hours?’ she asked.
The girl shook her head without speaking.
‘Gina,’ Grace said, ‘what happens after two hours?’
‘You just go home.’
‘But what do you do?’
‘I go to work.’
‘You’re still working?’
‘Yeah. It keeps the money coming in. I just don’t want to be alone this evening.’
‘You could stay here.’
‘No,’ she looked around at the ugly room, ‘I don’t want to stay here. I want to be out there. It’s just that my boyfriend’s not around and I don’t know where he is right now. I get worried about him. I didn’t want to be alone out there just thinking about him.’
‘Okay,’ Grace said after a pause, ‘I think I can do that. That shouldn’t be a problem.’
