The three of us put our heads together and concocted a story made up of fictitious interviews, the receipt of fictitious documents and aircraft flight plans. The upshot was that we were reporting to our client that we were in possession of information regarding police corruption and McKinley’s discoveries. Megan entered all this into her files on the McKinley case.
Hank left Crimond another telephone message, delivered in a rushed manner, saying that the office would be closed for the afternoon and evening because he and Megan were going to take a joyride flight and then go to an important meeting. He said he hoped to see Crimond’s report and expense sheet when he got in next morning.
We reviewed the material, revised it, criticised it.
‘How bright is this guy?’ I asked.
‘Bright enough,’ Hank said. ‘I mean, efficient.’
Megan looked up from the keyboard. ‘How bright is someone who believes the world was created six thousand years ago?’
‘He’s a creationist?’ I said.
‘Yup.’
‘When does he think the world’s going to end?’
‘Dunno,’ Megan said, ‘but I’m sure he’s got a view.’
‘I still can’t see why he’d cross the line,’ Hank said, ‘unless this bad cop of yours has him by the balls.’
‘Could be that,’ I said. ‘Or money. Creationists aren’t against money. Think of Oral Roberts.’
‘The Hillsong Church,’ Megan said.
Hank laughed. ‘OK, you Darwinians. So we stake the place out and see if he takes the bait, right?’
We took turns watching from a cafe across the street at an angle to the office. Two-hour shifts, about as long as the waiters would tolerate someone sitting over two cups of coffee. Crimond arrived late in the afternoon on Hank’s watch. Megan and I were nearby in her flat when Hank’s call came. Meagan answered and handed me the phone.
‘He’s in,’ Hank said. ‘Been there a few minutes already. Wouldn’t take that long to drop his stuff off.’
‘Where’s he parked?’
‘He doesn’t drive,’ Megan said. ‘He’s an environmentalist. A green Christian.’
‘Shit. If he’s doing what we think he’s doing, it’ll seem urgent to him. How does he feel about taxis?’
‘OK,’ Hank said, ‘judging from his expense sheets.’
Things in inner-west Sydney aren’t the way they are in the movies. There are no taxis sitting, ready to follow other taxis. No spots for a car to idle, waiting to tail another car or a cab. It’s a traffic jungle. We did the best we could while contributing to the pollution and the greenhouse effect: Megan and I got in our cars with our mobile phones and
cruised around the area, trying to cover the multiple directions our quarry might take if he caught a taxi.
Twenty minutes later Hank called my mobile. ‘He’s on the move in a cab, heading towards the city. I’m fucked. Had to sprint to my car but now I’m heading the other way on King. He’s stuck at the lights, but I’m just inching along, no way to get round.’
I was out of it, too, going down Enmore Road. I phoned Megan with the information. ‘Where’re you?’
‘Yee-hah, I’m in King Street at the Missenden Road lights and I see a taxi coming towards me in a little bunch of other vehicles. Has to be him.’
Fine, I thought, plan working, but why did it have to be her? A protective part of me wanted to ditch it, and part of me didn’t. I turned left, trying to snake my way back in the right direction. I dived through a small gap, probably causing road rage before I answered her.
‘Follow him. We’ll fall in behind and catch you as soon as we can. Be careful, love. Be very careful.’
Megan and Hank had hands free communication in their cars; I didn’t, so I broke the law by staying in touch with them on the mobile. Megan kept the taxi in sight and kept up a running commentary as Hank and I tried to catch up-difficult in the thick, late afternoon traffic. Megan was enjoying herself. That worried me.
I was reminded of the John Cleese commercial for golf balls where he said in mock Scots: ‘It’s a Scottish game-it was no meant to be fun.’ This business wasn’t meant to be fun, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. The thing is, it isn’t always fun, and Megan had yet to find that out. She’d kicked a would-be arsonist downstairs and now she was following a taxi like Bogart in The Maltese Falcon. High points; the low points would come. I didn’t want them to. I didn’t want her in the business. I didn’t want the responsibility.
I wrestled with these thoughts as I tracked Megan over the Harbour Bridge. Hank passed me, let me know he was doing it, and I had conflicting thoughts about him, too: Hiring a creationist? Critical of us sceptics?
Hank called me. ‘Got her in sight, looks to be headed towards Manly.’
He hung up and Megan called. ‘Manly,’ she said, ‘and guess whose headquarters are in Manly? Lachlan Enterprises. The cab’s heading that way-see you there, and don’t even say it, Cliff-I won’t let him spot me.’
‘Cruise past,’ I said. ‘Stop as near as you can where you can’t be seen and point it out to us.’
We met up in a street beside Ivanhoe Park. Megan pointed across to an office building that went up about as high as regulations allowed in the area.
‘Pretty good taxi ride,’ I said. ‘Wonder if he’ll put it on his expense sheet.’
‘He better not,’ Hank said grimly, ‘the son of a bitch. That was great work, Meg, keeping the cab in sight all that way.’
‘It’s in the genes,’ I said.
We stood, looking across at the building in the fading light. The breeze from the water did the things it always does in Sydney-lifted the spirits, whetted the appetite and the thirst.
‘They’re up there chewing over the bogus information,’ Megan said. ‘So important that he had to do it in person, not with a phone call. The question is, who in the Lachlan mob is in the game?’
‘The dirty work’d be contracted out,’ I said, ‘but someone inside Lachlan’d be handling the operation.’
‘I can get a list of the principals,’ Megan said.
Hank stretched to his full 195 centimetre height; the muscles in his back and shoulders pushed his jacket up and the sleeves were stretched tight by his biceps and triceps and other muscles most of us don’t have or know about. ‘Fuck that,’ he said. ‘We need to have a meeting with Ross.’
I could feel tension building between the pair and didn’t want it to go any higher. ‘It’s a nice night,’ I said, ‘and we’re in magnificent Manly. I vote we talk about it over a few drinks and something to eat.’
‘Your solution for just about everything,’ Megan said.
Not a great start.
We found a fish restaurant near the water. If there’s a better meal than grilled barramundi with chips and salad and dry white wine I don’t know what it is. We all opted for the same thing-the beginning, I hoped, of restored harmony. The first few glasses would help, too.
‘I’ll be the mug,’ Megan said when she’d demolished half of her meal. ‘What say we assemble everything we have and turn it over to the police. They grill Ross-baby, investigate Lachlan and like that.’
I shook my head. ‘We haven’t got enough on Crimond. A good lawyer’d give him protection and probably threaten Hank with a suit for something-slander, unfair dismissal.’
Hank nodded. ‘The cops probably wouldn’t touch it. It’s all too. . loose.’
Megan speared a chip. ‘So?’
Hank said, ‘I vote we put the pressure on Ross to name names.’
Megan looked doubtful; she nibbled at an impaled chip. ‘Threatening him with what? Violence?’
Hank shrugged.
I’d been digesting what we knew as well as the good food. I had a clean plate and an empty glass. I grabbed the wine bottle and poured the last of it-a small measure for each of us. It was the second bottle. We’d need coffee and a walk before taking to our cars.
‘We’ve established the connection,’ I said. ‘Good first step. Now we have to hook them firmly and get them to show their hand.’
‘How?’ Megan said.
‘By convincing them that we know, or are close to knowing, what McKinley discovered and that we’ve got a lead on who killed him.’
‘You said that. I still say how?’
‘I’m open to suggestions.’
‘Don’t be coy, Cliff,’ Hank said. ‘What’ve you got in mind?’
‘We have to draw someone, anyone’ll do, from Lachlan out into the open. We’re pretty sure McKinley was picked up in Myall. We’ve got the evidence, the specs. What if we’ve discovered a witness?’
Hank and Megan exchanged looks. ‘You cunning bastard,’ Hank said.
I nodded. ‘Thank you. I’m not saying it’ll work, but we’ve identified what they believe to be a mole-sorry for the spook-talk-inside our operation. We’ve already fed him some disinformation. We can feed him some more-like a meeting we’re arranging somewhere with a fictitious witness.’
Hank signalled for the waiter and ordered three long black coffees. ‘They’d want their hard guy, the contractor, there for a meeting like that.’
I drank the last of my wine. ‘I would.’
‘A fictitious witness,’ Megan said. ‘Jesus, we’ll need to be inventive.’
‘Jesus could just be the key,’ I said.