'You guys don't seem to be in shock,' he said.

Dimarco took a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and offered them around. The paramedic took one; Hank and I refused. 'I guess we've been under fire before,' Dimarco said.

'Is that right?'

A plain clothes detective had come up quietly. I was busy blotting my minor facial cuts with a wad of tissues, but I looked up when I heard the voice. It was Phil Fitzwilliam.

'You gentlemen, and I don't include you, Hardy, have some explaining to do.'

Dimarco whipped his mobile phone from his pocket. 'Not without my lawyer present.'

Hank produced his mobile, but didn't say anything.

'How about you, Hardy?' Fitzwilliam said. 'Are you going to call in that c.u.n.t Garner, like you always do?'

I stood up and shook some of the fragments of gla.s.s from my clothes. 'Gee, Phil, I thought you meant I didn't have to do any explaining, that I was free to go.'

Two more detectives-the one I'd seen with Fitzwilliam before, and another, looking as if he might be of equal or senior rank-had joined Fitzwilliam, who bit back whatever response he'd been going to make to my remark. 'Two of these men are known to me, Inspector-private enquiry agents; one disbarred, both of ill repute. I don't know the other man.'

Dimarco, quite recovered and poised, produced his card. 'Clive Dimarco, vice-president of Global Resources.'

The man Fitz had deferred to was about his age but in much better physical condition. His suit was good without being too good, and he held himself like a man used to being listened to, not needing to bully-unlike Fitz. He ignored Dimarco's card.

'I'm Detective Inspector Sean Wells. You're going to have to accompany us to Surry Hills to answer-'

He stopped as I brushed him aside. Megan had got through the police barrier somehow and was hurrying towards us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Horace Greenacre arguing fiercely with a cop, pointing at Megan. I could feel Hank thrusting forward but I sensed Fitz-william interposing his bulk.

Megan looked me with a depth of concern she'd never shown before, not even back in San Diego.

'Cliff, you're bleeding! Hank, are you OK? What happened? I'm sorry, I ...'

Hank put his arms around her.

Looking down I saw that my shirt was splattered with blood. I said, 'It's OK, just a few scratches. Looks worse than it is. Someone broke up our meeting. It's a good thing you weren't there, but what kept you?'

'My sister, half-sister, rang. She wanted to get back in touch. I couldn't stop her yakking, and then I couldn't get a cab.'

Fitzwilliam was glowering, and Wells was looking aggressively in the direction of the TV crews.

'We have to go to Surry Hills,' I said. 'Shots were fired.'

'My G.o.d!'

Hank handed her his car keys. 'Don't worry. Go home. We'll sort it out and I'll be back in a few hours.'

'Don't bet on it,' Fitzwilliam said.

Greenacre had finally persuaded the police to let him through and he came bustling up, puce-faced with indignation. 'What the h.e.l.l have you done to my office? I'll sue the lot of you.'

Wells took charge. 'You'll have to accompany us, sir. This is a very serious matter. A man's been badly hurt and property has been severely damaged. We'll need statements from everyone involved.'

Hank was holding Megan by the shoulders, half shielding her from the police. 'She's not involved!'

Wells nodded. 'You're free to go.'

Hank released her and Megan jiggled the keys. 'I don't know. I-'

'That's it,' Wells barked. 'We've stood around long enough for those TV b.a.s.t.a.r.ds to get pictures and make up stories. Fitz, Carter, let's get moving.'

The cops herded us, and it was either fight or go. Megan understood and backed up.

'How's your f.u.c.king heart, Hardy?' Fitzwilliam whispered as we moved away from the TV lights and towards the cars.

'Cold as ice where you're concerned,' I said, 'and I'm considering just what recent conversations I might put in my statement.'

It would depress me to work in any inst.i.tutional building, but the Surry Hills Police Centre would depress me more than most. The designers have done their best with the lighting and the pot plants, but the place carries an aura of bureaucratic and hierarchical insensitivity and fear. The junior cops fear their seniors, the senior cops fear the top bra.s.s, and they fear the politicians, lawyers and each other. Whenever I go in there, I get the sense that the police service doesn't have catching criminals at the top of its agenda.

Wells delegated a uniformed officer to put Hank and me together in one room and I saw Greenacre and Dimarco being ushered into separate rooms. In cla.s.sical police style we were left alone for a spell. The room was comfortable enough, with carpet, inst.i.tutional chairs and table, and an air-conditioner doing its thing. No windows; we were two floors below street level. Who ever heard of an interrogation room with a view?

'Reckon this place is bugged?' Hank said.

'You're the expert.'

He prowled the room. I tried to use my mobile but got no signal. Hank tried with the same result.

'I know why they didn't take the phones,' he said. 'I'm betting on a listening device of some sophistication.'

He raised his voice, 'Hear me, a.s.shole?'

We sat in silence for a while before Hank said, 'I could do with a coffee.'

'Ask the guy with the earphones.'

Hank opened his mouth to shout again when Wells entered, or rather stood in the doorway.

'You can go,' he said.

I eased up out of the chair. It'd been a long night and, although I considered myself to be fully recovered, there was the odd creak and crack. 'Why's that?'

Wells smiled, well aware of what he was saying. 'Mr Dimarco's legal representative has made some strong representations.'

Hank waved his mobile. 'So you let him call out, while we were locked in the soundproof booth?'

'If you like,' Wells said. 'I'd suggest that a senior executive of an international firm ranks above a private detective like you with one strike against him, and another who's struck out. I think you follow me, Mr Bachelor.'

'f.u.c.k you,' Hank said.

Wells swung away, leaving the door open. 'I liked The Sopranos, too,' he said. 'You forgot to add "c.o.c.ksucker".'

Hank was a coffee addict and couldn't go much longer without a fix. We stopped at a Starbucks in Oxford Street.

If the barista was surprised to see a man with congealed blood spots on his face, she didn't react. Probably not unusual in Oxford Street. She took our orders and our money without a blink.

'Nice to have friends in high places,' Hank said.

'Hardly friends, but I reckon it rules out Global as the people who killed McKinley.'

'Leaving Lachlan and Tarelton. What's your bet, Cliff?'

We sat at a distance from the only other table occupied. The coffee arrived; I didn't really want it and I pa.s.sed mine over to Hank after he'd drunk most of his, hot as it was, in a couple of gulps.

'Lachlan,' I said, 'on the follow-the-money principle. Dr O'Neil said Lachlan had lent money to Tarelton. That'd put Tarelton under pressure, but what if Lachlan had borrowed the money somewhere themselves? More pressure maybe. We know something about Global and Tarelton, but we know hardly anything about Lachlan.'

Hank moved on to the second mug. 'Megan was working on it but she didn't come up with anything that I know of. Hey, I should get home.'

'Me, too. I need to clean up these cuts and make sure I haven't got gla.s.s in my ears. How come you got away clean?'

'I hit the deck a mite faster than you, buddy.'

We walked, keeping an eye out for a cab. I was late for my evening meds and the thought annoyed me. How many times in rehab had they told me not to resent the fact that I had to take the medication for the rest of my life?

'Cliff,' Hank said when we'd almost reached Whitlam Square, 'I heard what you muttered to that a.s.shole cop. What was all that about?'

'Tell you tomorrow. Here's a cab. What d'you reckon's closer-Glebe or Newtown?'

'Fifty-fifty.'

'Toss you for the fare.'

I won.

I cleaned up, took the pills and was about to go up to bed when I realised that I was wide awake with my mind buzzing. No chance of sleeping. I poured a scotch to replace the one I hadn't finished in Greenacre's office. I switched on the television and channel-hopped until I found a late news broadcast. The event in Double Bay got second billing. With the cameras kept at a distance and smoke in the night air, the shots of Hank, Dimarco and me weren't as clear as they might have been and the focus was initially on Holland being loaded into the ambulance and then on the firemen getting the troublesome electrical fires under control.

The cameras tracked Megan running towards us but Hank's bulk quickly shielded us all from the lens. The commentary accompanying the pictures had virtually no content, but that didn't stop the flow: 'This does not appear to be a terror-related incident, although that possibility has always to be borne in mind with several alleged terrorists facing trial and the well-known habit of terrorist organisations to ...'

I was about to switch off when a camera caught an image of Phil Fitzwilliam and Sean Wells. Fitz was looking up at the shattered windows and his expression was close to one of satisfaction. Wells had missed this, but when Fitz stared appraisingly at Megan, Wells shot him a look of pure contempt.

19.

Early the next morning, I phoned Megan's flat. Hank answered sleepily.

'It's Cliff. This is important. Don't let Megan out of your sight this morning. Don't let her go for the papers. Don't let her go for a swim. Don't let her do anything but stay with her till you get to the office. Can you secure the door to the street?'

'What? Yeah, once the other tenants are in. But that means no clients. Why ...?'

'Before they get there, and we'll let them in one at a time. We'll just tell them it goes with the territory of sharing premises with a private eye. What time will you be there, precisely?'

Hank was alert now, sensing my seriousness. 'You name it.'

It was six twenty-five am, barely light. 'Eight o'clock sharp. I'll be there. I'll fill you in then.'

'You'd better do that, Cliff. You've been holding back on me ... on us.'

I cut the call and took a big pull on the coffee I'd made to try to pep myself up after a minimal and restless sleep. My next call was to my oldest friend, Frank Parker, retired deputy commissioner of police but still with consultative roles of various kinds. He answered, only marginally less sleepy than Hank.

'Frank? Cliff Hardy.'

'Oh, Jesus, at this hour? I saw the news last night. What trouble are you in now?'

'Nothing special-bit of murder, intimidation, that sort of thing. I need some information about a certain long-serving, highly discreditable officer.'

'Are you on a secure line?'

'Is anyone these days?'

'True, well, I'll take a risk. That's the way it is with you, Cliff, right?'

'Keeps you young, Grandpa. Phil Fitzwilliam. I don't want details, just his current status.'

I knew that the police internal affairs unit kept a running check on officers who'd stepped over the line, whether they'd been brought to book or not. One of Frank's unofficial consultancies was with internal affairs. Frank had risen in the ranks through the tumultuous years of the New South Wales police service. Never mentioned in inquiries or Royal Commissions, he'd kept his nose clean through integrity and sheer intelligence-a rare combination in that world. He'd come close to disaster more than once when corrupt officers had tried to draw him in to their conspiracies. On one of these occasions, I'd been able to help him stay clear of the mess. Frank was grateful and loyal and he hated bent cops.

'Code red,' he said. 'Very compromised. Heading for a fall.'

'How hard a fall?'

'Professionally? Total.'

'Legally?'

'Hard to say. Possible he'd do some time. It'd depend on the quality of the lawyers he could afford.'

'What's the time frame?'

'Sooner rather than later. Be careful, Cliff. He's not just a money siphon, he's a vicious b.a.s.t.a.r.d and word is there are a couple of people under the dirt on his account. Not lately, but ... Are you likely to cause him grief?'

'Maybe.'

'That'd be nice, but take care.'