'I hate boats,' Rosemary said. 'Nasty, smelly things that crash into each other and sink.'
Sabatini smiled; he'd have smiled at anything she said.
Chang said, 'The name of the boat?'
'Something to do with sport… High Fives, that's it!'
'High Fives or High Five?' the technician said.
'I don't know. I didn't even know it existed until I found a certificate of some kind in his study. It had fallen down behind a slightly warped skirting board, or maybe it was hidden there. I don't know. But it was insured in his name for a lot of money.'
'And you never mentioned this to Houli?' Chang said.
'No. I didn't find the certificate until a while after he did his rampage and I sort of forgot about it. I was so pissed off at Richard, and so frightened that I probably would have told him if I'd thought about it, but I didn't.'
'Where's this certificate now?' Ali asked.
Rosemary looked defiant. 'The boat was insured for three-quarters of a million dollars and I didn't even know he had it. I was so angry I burned the certificate.'
Chang pressed for more and Ali became almost aggressive, but the interview petered out after that. Rosemary went to work with a policewoman as escort and guard for the day. The technician packed up and left and Sabatini got ready to go to work.
'I've got some leave coming,' Sabatini said as we left the building. 'Rosemary's got a lot of frequent flyer points. We're thinking of going away for a while. To the US maybe.'
'That'd be a very good idea,' Chang said. 'I can't keep up this level of protection for very long and Houli's bound to hear that she's talking to us.'
Sabatini looked alarmed. 'How?'
Ali smiled. 'We'll tell him. When were you thinking of going?'
'Jesus,' Sabatini said. 'Sounds as if it should be now.'
'Make it soon,' Chang said. 'And stay in touch with Hardy.'
Ali looked as though he wanted to protest against that but he didn't.
Sabatini headed for a bus stop, leaving Chang, Ali and me standing by our cars.
'That was a bit rough,' I said, 'letting her know you'll leak to Houli.'
Ali shrugged. 'I'm not impressed. That wasn't worth much. With a boat he could be anywhere.'
'Or still floating around in the harbour,' I said. 'How're your relations with the water police?'
The glances they exchanged suggested that such relations were non-existent.
'Try to stay out of trouble, Hardy,' Chang said. 'Take your pills and watch your back.'
'I don't rate any protection?'
Chang had turned away; Ali said something presumably abusive, in a language I didn't understand. Annoyed by some small leaves drifting from a street tree and clinging to his suit, he brushed them off and swore at the mark they left behind. From the look he gave me I was to blame.