The Bat(116)

McCormack gave the final orders.

‘Yong, you distribute the photos of Toowoomba to our people. Watkins, you stay with me in the control room – they’ve got cameras there covering the whole aquarium. Lebie and Harry, you start searching. The aquarium closes in a few minutes. Here are the radios, put the plugs in your ears, fix the mikes to your lapels and check you have radio contact at once. We’ll guide you from the control room, OK?’

As Harry got out of the car a gust of wind caught him and almost knocked him over. They ran for shelter.

‘Fortunately it’s not as full as it usually is,’ McCormack announced. He was already breathing heavily from the short sprint. ‘Must be the weather. If he’s here we’ll find him.’

They were met by the security manager who showed McCormack and Watkins to the control room. Harry and Lebie checked their radios, were ushered past the ticket windows and set off along the corridors.

Harry checked for the gun in his shoulder holster. The aquarium seemed different now, with all the light and all the people. Besides, it felt like an eternity since he had been here with Birgitta, as though it had been in a different era.

He tried not to think about it.

‘We’re in position.’ McCormack’s voice sounded secure and reassuring in the earpiece. ‘We’re studying the cameras now. Yong has a couple of officers with him and is checking the toilets and the cafe. We can see you, by the way. Keep going.’

The corridors in the aquarium led the public in a circle back to where they had started. Harry and Lebie were walking anticlockwise so that all the faces were coming towards them. Harry’s heart was pounding. His mouth was dry and his palms were wet. There was a buzz of foreign languages around them, and to Harry it seemed as if he were swimming through a maelstrom of different nationalities, complexions and apparel. They walked through the underwater tunnel where he and Birgitta had spent the night – where children were standing now with their noses glued to the glass watching the marine underworld go about its undisturbed everyday business.

‘This place gives me the creeps,’ Lebie whispered. He walked with his hand inside his jacket.

‘Just promise me you won’t fire a shot here,’ Harry said. ‘I don’t want half of Sydney Harbour and a dozen sharks in my lap, OK?’

‘No worries,’ Lebie answered.

They emerged on the other side of the aquarium, which was as good as deserted. Harry swore.

‘They close the ticket office at seven,’ Lebie said. ‘Now the people who are still here have to be let out.’

McCormack contacted them. ‘Afraid it seems as if the bird’s flown, boys. You’d better come back to the control room.’

‘Wait here,’ Harry said to Lebie.

Outside the ticket-booth window there was a familiar face. He was wearing a uniform, and Harry grabbed him.

‘Hi, Ben, do you remember me? I came here with Birgitta.’

Ben turned and looked at the animated blond hair. ‘Yes, I do,’ he said. ‘Harry, wasn’t it? Yeah, yeah, so you’ve come back? Most do. How’s Birgitta?’

Harry swallowed. ‘Listen, Ben. I’m a police officer. As you’ve probably heard by now, we’re on the lookout for a very dangerous man. We haven’t found him yet, but I have a feeling he’s still here. No one knows this place better than you do. Is there anywhere he could have hidden?’

Ben’s face was swathed in deep, thoughtful folds.

‘Well,’ he said. ‘Do you know where Matilda is, our saltie?’

‘Yes.’

‘Between the crafty little sod we call Fiddler Ray and the big sea turtle, well, we’ve moved her now, and we’re going to make a pool so that we can have a few freshies—’

‘I know where she is. This is urgent, Ben.’

‘Right. If you’re fit and not too jittery, you can jump over the plexiglas in the corner.’

‘Into where the crocodile is?’

‘It spends most of its time half asleep in the pool. From the corner it’s five or six steps to the door we use when we wash and feed Matilda. But you’ll have to be nippy because a saltie’s incredibly fast. It’ll be on you, all two tons of it, before you know what’s hit you. Once we were going to—’

‘Thanks, Ben.’ Harry broke into a run and people scattered to the side. He folded his lapel and spoke into the mike: ‘McCormack, Holy here. I’m going to check behind the crocodile pen.’

He caught Lebie by the arm and dragged him along. ‘Last chance,’ he said. Lebie’s eyes widened with alarm as Harry stopped by the crocodile and took a run-up. ‘Follow me,’ Harry said, jumping onto the plexiglas wall and swinging himself over.