‘There’s something else that worries me,’ McCormack continued. ‘The bloke can slip out the rear door unnoticed and be ten steps away from the busiest streets in Sydney where he can be sure to disappear in seconds. Yet he takes the time to put on a costume which is bound to attract attention. But which also means we have no description of him. You almost get the feeling he knew the police car was there to keep an eye on the door. And, if so, how is that possible?’
Silence.
‘How’s Kensington doing in hospital, by the way?’ McCormack took out a lozenge and started sucking.
The room was silent. The fan was blowing noiselessly.
‘He’s not there any more,’ Lebie said at length.
‘Crikey, that was a short convalescence!’ McCormack said. ‘Well, never mind, we need all available units as quickly as possible now because I can tell you this: chopped-up clowns create bigger headlines than raped girls. And as I’ve told you before, boys, those who think we don’t need to give a stuff about the newspapers are mistaken. Newspapers have got chiefs of police dismissed and appointed before in this country. So unless you want me thrown out on my ear you know what has to be done. But go home and sleep first. Yes, Harry?’
‘Nothing, sir.’
‘OK. G’night.’
Things were different. The curtains in the hotel weren’t drawn, and in the glow of the neon lights in King’s Cross Birgitta undressed in front of him.
He lay in bed as she stood in the middle of the room dropping garment after garment, all the while holding his gaze with a serious, almost sorrowful expression. Birgitta was long-legged, slim and as white as snow in the pale light. From the half-open window could be heard the sounds of an intense nightlife – cars, motorbikes, gambling machines playing barrel-organ music and pulsating disco music. And beneath all this – like human crickets – the sound of loud conversations, indignant screams and boisterous laughter.
Birgitta undid her blouse, not consciously or sensually lingering over it, but slowly. She just undressed.
For me, Harry thought.
He had seen her naked before, but this evening it was different. She was so beautiful that he felt his throat constrict. Before, he hadn’t understood her bashfulness, why she didn’t take off her T-shirt and panties until she was under the blanket and why she covered herself with a towel when she went from the bed to the bathroom. But gradually he had realised that it wasn’t about being embarrassed or ashamed of her body, but about revealing herself. It was about first building up time and feelings, building a little nest of security, it was the only way that would give him the right. That was why things were different tonight. There was something ritualistic about the undressing, as though with her nakedness she wanted to show him how vulnerable she was. Show him that she dared because she trusted him.
Harry could feel his heart pounding, partly because he was proud and happy that this strong, beautiful woman was giving him her proof of trust, and partly because he was terrified that he might not be worthy of it. But most of all because he felt that all he thought and felt was on the outside, for all to see in the glow of the neon sign, red then blue and then green. By undressing she was also undressing him.
When she was naked she stood still and all her white skin seemed to illuminate the room.
‘Come on,’ he said in a voice that was thicker than he had intended, and folded the sheet to the side, but she didn’t move.
‘Look,’ she whispered. ‘Look.’
30
Genghis Khan
IT WAS EIGHT o’clock in the morning, and Genghis Khan was still asleep as the nurse let Harry into the single hospital room. He opened his eyes as Harry scraped the chair moving it close to the bed.
‘Morning,’ Harry said. ‘I hope you slept well. Do you remember me? I was the one on the table with breathing difficulties.’
Genghis Khan groaned. He had a broad white bandage around his head and looked a great deal less dangerous than when he had been leaning over Harry at the Cricket.
Harry took a cricket ball from his pocket.
‘I’ve just been talking to your solicitor. He said you’re not going to report my colleague.’
Harry tossed the ball from his right hand to his left.
‘Considering you were on the point of killing me I would have taken it very amiss if you’d reported the guy who saved my bacon. But this solicitor of yours clearly thinks you have a case. First of all, he says you did not assault me, you just removed me from the vicinity of your friend on whom I was in the process of inflicting serious injury. Secondly, he asserts it was chance that allowed you to escape with no more than a fractured skull instead of death from this cricket ball.’