I did the drive in a sombre mood and I did it reinforced by the blues. I checked back into the same motel. Same room even. I was distributing things about when there was a sharp knock on the door.
I was back in hostile territory so I’d brought the .38 in from the car. I put it within arm’s reach behind a curtain and opened the door. A tall woman wearing a leather coat stood there with her fist raised to knock again.
‘Cliff Hardy?’ she said.
‘Yes.’
‘I’m Kristie Tanner. I have to talk to you.’
I stepped back and motioned for her to come in. The butt of the pistol was sticking out from under the curtain. She noticed.
‘Jesus,’ she said, ‘you’re jumpy.’
‘Yeah, thanks to a meeting with your brothers.’
‘I know about that. Roger told me.’
I pulled out a chair for her. ‘Roger?’
She unbelted and took off her coat. She wore a dark blue dress, short and tight on her generous figure. She was well above average height but her very high heels made her look even taller. Her features were good but they had a slightly heavy, mannish quality. Her hair was brown and short; she wore a lot of makeup, skilfully applied. She moved purposefully, a bit like brother Joseph, as she dropped the coat over the back of the chair and sat.
‘Roger Tarrant, he ... drives for Hector.’
I shoved the pistol into my overnight bag. ‘Oh, Rog. Yes, I’ve met him.’
‘He said you broke two of Clem’s ribs.’
‘Two, was it? I was worried it was only one.’ I rubbed the arm where Rog had hit me. ‘I owe him something too.’
‘I wouldn’t,’ she said. ‘He’s a dangerous man. Anyway, he’s on your side.’
I sat on the bed. ‘I’m feeling pretty dangerous myself just now, but I don’t understand. You’d better explain.’
‘Did you go to see Johnnie about the cave?’
‘What cave? And that’s a question, not an explanation.’
She took a deep breath. ‘Johnnie’s a caver, or he was. He says he found a lot of money, all vacuum-wrapped and sealed. Close to a couple of million, he reckoned. This was in a deep cave. He didn’t say where.’
My scepticism must have shown.
‘It’s true. He says he moved it to another cave while he thought what to do. The trouble was, as he was coming back up the cave roof fell in and he was lucky to get out alive. He broke an arm and a leg and hurt his back. He was in hospital for months. That’s where I met him. I was visiting a friend. I knew we were related from his name—second cousins or something. Tanners and Twizells, all part of the same mob.
‘And he told you this story?’
She nodded. ‘Bit by bit. We started a relationship, hands under the bedcovers, screen around the bed when he got more mobile. Like that. Eventually he told me he needed help to get the money out. He knew about my family and he said he needed people like Hec and Joseph. The money was probably stolen; the cave was on private property. He needed equipment after it collapsed and the cooperation of the owner of the land, who mightn’t want to cooperate. You understand?’
‘He thought Hec and Joseph’d be good persuaders?’
‘Yes.’
‘So, what went wrong?’
She sighed. ‘Got anything to drink here?’
I opened the mini-bar. She opted for vodka with ice—a true Tanner. I had a light beer.
‘My bloody brothers,’ she said. ‘They’re greedy bastards. They decided that if they knew where the cave was they didn’t need Johnnie. Joseph would’ve tortured him but Hec wouldn’t go that far, partly out of consideration for me, I think. Hec got hold of some drug that makes you tell the truth. They got Johnnie high on booze and pills and shot him up with this stuff.’
She took a big slug of her drink and closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she spoke again it wasn’t much above a whisper, as if the memory had constricted her throat. ‘Johnnie went right off his head. That’s when he attacked me and nearly killed me. He was delusional, I know that. It really wasn’t his fault, not altogether. Anyway, he was yelling and I was screaming and Joseph and Hector were yelling and there was blood everywhere. A neighbour called the police and they took Johnnie away.’
I’d put most of the little bottle of vodka in her glass. She reached for the bottle, added the rest and knocked it back.
‘Johnnie punched me and kicked me and managed to use a knife before Joseph got him off me. They rebuilt my face but I’m not as good-looking as I was. They made me look like a transsexual. A lawyer told me I should sue, but I’d had enough of lawyers and doctors by then. As for the rest of me, want to see the scars?’