‘Then you and Twizell hare off to find the sister and this is all about something you haven’t explained.’
‘It’s separate. It’s non-criminal.’
‘Everything’s criminal, Hardy, with the Tanners concerned and with you, I suspect.’
‘Hector said he had places to go to that no one knew about. I asked Kristie if she knew about them and she said no.’
‘Do you believe her?’
‘I think so.’
‘You think. Okay.’ He took his notebook out. ‘Rego number of the 4WD this Templeton took off in?’
‘I didn’t notice.’
‘Great help. What else do you know about him?’
‘Not much. He used the name Roger Tarrant when he was working for the Tanners.’
I knew more, but I’d leave Watson to find that out for himself from internal sources.
Looking disgusted, he scribbled a few notes. ‘No idea where to look for him?’
‘Where there’s caves.’
‘Fucking caves everywhere.’
‘Twizell’s a local boy.’
He put the notebook away. ‘Thanks a lot, Hardy. Just what I need. You’ve given me a rogue cop and someone under duress who’s going to be forced to violate his parole and no idea where to find them. Plus Hector Tanner out in the wind with a heavy who’s prepared to do nasty things with a bolt-cutter.’
‘Sorry.’
‘So you’re just opting out and getting on with your own cosy little business?’
‘I hope so.’
He got up and finished off his drink. ‘I doubt it. You’re at the Maritime, right?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thanks for the drinks. Stay there. You’ll be hearing from us.’
He walked out, moving very steadily the way you do when you have a heavy, but not too heavy, load on.
~ * ~
I went back to the motel, checked Twizell out and tried not to think about him. I couldn’t help thinking about Templeton, weighing him up the way Twizell had. I had a score to settle with him from back when I didn’t know he was a cop and I felt I owed him something more now. It was only luck that I hadn’t caught some of the shotgun pellets and it only takes one in the right spot to do a lot of damage.
I tried to put myself in his shoes and, as I sifted through the things he’d done, I knew what I’d be worried about— certainly Hector Tanner, the police service he’d deserted and possibly the people who’d stolen the buried money in the first place. And the difficulty of recovering it if Twizell talked, as he probably would. He might have to use Twizell and if he did, the odds might shift.
I’d had enough to drink and had no interest in food. A motel room can be one of the loneliest places in the world. I watched the news on television but my interest in the royal wedding was less than zero and it seemed to be blotting everything else out except the death of Bin Laden. Pakistan was getting shitty about it, but an American commentator made the point that it had probably assured Obama of another term.
‘Is that why he did it?’ the interviewer asked.
‘Look,’ the commentator said, ‘he took a big risk and it came off. The American people like that.’
‘What? Taking a risk?’
‘No, the risk coming off. That’s seen as leadership.’
‘Is it?’
‘You tell me.’
I picked up Lord Jim and lost myself in it for an hour. I’d set myself to read some of the classics—Conrad, Hardy, Trollope—and I’d been doing it with pleasure for a while. Couldn’t come at Henry James, no matter how hard I tried. I was jerked out of the nineteenth century and the jungle and all the moral dilemmas by my mobile.
‘Cliff, you bastard, it’s Marisha. Why’d you take off like that?’
‘Things to do. Knackered after a hard day, and I wanted to let you and Kristie get acquainted and get to work. How’s it going?’
‘Oh, right, change of subject. Cliff deftly avoids emotional difficulty. Lily told me about that. Well... pretty good. I’m out on the balcony now and she’s having a shower so I can talk. She’s cagey but she’s given me some good stuff and I’m sure there’s more to come. It’s one of those times when you get on to something and realise you couldn’t have done without it. Know what I mean?’
‘I do. That’s good. I’m hoping she’s going to take me to the documents my client’s interested in tomorrow’
‘Okay. What about Twizell and the cop and the buried money?’