Incy Wincy Spider Page 6

  Chapter 5

  Sydney - Wednesday: September 23

  And now Maria was gone also, I was not about to make any promises to anyone about anything. "Let's see what happens, but no promises from me Steve." I said, becoming angry.

  "I know, I know you too well," he said, resignedly.

  "And me you," I said cooling down right away. On the very few occasions I got angry at Steve, I could never stay angry for very long.

  "Yep," he said

  "If anyone is going to need stopping it might be you, you like her as much as I do, maybe more" I said

  "I know ? But I am a cop, I can do it in line of duty," he said.

  "There's that," I said.

  "There is," he agreed.

  "Are you going back to the office now?" I asked, changing the subject, before we went somewhere in the not forgotten past, neither one of us wanted to revisit.

  "Yeah, see what's been happening, I guess they would like for me to show my face once in a while. What time are you picking me up?" He asked.

  "About seven thirty," I said.

  "So early? That heap of yours can't go any faster? The trip to Canberra is only three hours," he said, smiling.

  "Be nice to Doris, she is sensitive. I want to make sure we are not followed and all that. That's going to require some driving around in the wrong direction for a while," I explained, even though I did not need to.

  "I knew that," he said. "You want me drop you at your office?"

  "Yeah, thanks," I said.

  I found the office as depressing as when I'd left it. Maria's absence was like a solid wall. I thought I'd better make myself useful; Maria would hate to see me moping around like Eeyore, in the Hundred Acre Wood. So, I picked up the phone and called Lidia to give her the good news. Good news always cheers me up. Her mobile only rang once before she picked up.

  "Hi Lidia, it's Louie," I said.

  "What happened, Louie? Mho rang and said you never showed up?" she asked with genuine concern in her voice.

  "Something came up, please apologise for me. Anyway, I have been told by Detective Lucas, who is in charge of Ian's case, that you are no longer a suspect. So I guess my job is over before it even got going," I said.

  "That's great news, they found the killer?" She asked, brightening a lot.

  "Not exactly," I edged.

  "Not exactly? What does that mean?" She insisted.

  "Well, another man was shot last night in the same way as Ian was and with the same gun," I explained.

  "Why that's terrible!" She said, alarm in her voice, "who was he? Was he gay too?" she asked.

  "His name was Tom Stevens, the police are not sure about the gay part, yet," I said.

  "Oh no!" she said.

  "What?" I asked.

  "But I know him! We knew him," she said, becoming more than just alarmed, maybe even a little panicky.

  "You did? How?" I asked. I was getting that funny feeling. You know the one, like when coincidences are not coincidences.

  "He was one of Ian's biggest customers. He came to dinner a number of times. Oh shit, what is going on?" She was now definitely panicky.

  "Was he gay too?" I asked.

  "No, well, I 'm not sure. But he was continually making passes at me? if that means anything," she said.

  "I see ? It could have been a show," I said.

  "Louie? Can you please stay on the case, I am a bit frightened. Two deaths so close together ? and I knew them both. I need for you to stay on, I'll pay you double if necessary," she insisted.

  "Calm down Lidia, I will stay on for a little longer and the pay is fine as it is. The Police are working hard on this and as I said, Detective Lucas is a good friend of mine. So, don't worry, Okay?" I reassured her.

  "Thanks Louie, I feel better already," she said.

  "By the way do you have Henry's mobile number?" I asked.

  "I do, but ? It's on my mobile, I don't remember it, I'll get him to call you, will that be all right?" she asked.

  "That's fine Lidia, thanks and take care," I said

  "You too Louie, bye," she said.

  A minute or so later my mobile rang, I answered it.

  "Yes?" I said.

  "Hello Louie, it's Henry. You wanted to talk to me?" he asked.

  "That's right Henry, thanks for calling ? err ? There has been another shooting, a Mr. Tom Stevens."

  "But we know him!" said Henry, surprised.

  "So I believe, which is the reason for the call. I am going to be a little busy the next couple of days on something very urgent. Could you please stick close to Lidia and postpone days off etcetera?" I asked.

  "No worries, Louie, consider it done," he said

  "Good, thanks Henry. Cheers," I said.

  "Cheers," he said and we hung up.

  I speed dialled Steve. "Yeah?" he said.

  "Anything new?"I asked.

  "Not yet," he said.

  "I got something," I said.

  "Yeah? What?" he asked.

  "That Stevens guy, was one of Ian's best customers, he visited the Harrison's house frequently, for dinner," I said.

  "Did I tell you this case is beginning to shit me?" he asked.

  "You did," I said. "Anyway, Lidia did not take it too well, actually she freaked out, so she asked me to stay on ?"

  "Well, that's good news anyway," he said.

  "Yeah, I asked Henry to keep a close watch on Lidia," I said.

  "Good thinking ? Hey! And you did it without Maria's help too," he said.

  "That's not funny," I said.

  "I know, don't worry, mate ? I am sure she is all right, I feel it in my bones," he tried to reassure me.

  "Easy to say, hard to do," I said.

  "Yeah, I know that," he said.

  "See you at seven or so," I said.

  "See ya." And we hung up.

  I took one last look around the office and then I locked it up. I left Doris in the underground parking area of the office block and walked to my flat. Sergio, the espresso cafe owner saw me walk by and signalled that he would be bringing up my usual as soon as possible. I shook my head at him, I wasn't hungry.

  I was worried about Maria, her disappearance and AIA's involvement spelled witness protection to me and I did not trust anyone or any part of the Government to be tamper-proof. Someone, somewhere would talk for money, and that would be the end of it. I knew I had to get to Maria as soon as possible and extract her away from their hands.

  I had a long hot shower, wondered around the apartment in a towel getting some clothes together. I got a stubby of Carlton D. from the fridge, sat down at my small desk and took apart and cleaned my two guns, worked their action to make sure all was working as it should. I reloaded them, making sure, the clips were full and that one cartridge was in the spout; and locked the safeties on: locked and loaded, is the often-used term.

  Since leaving the Police Force, I don't normally carry a gun at all. Most of the cases I have worked on have been divorces and other type of surveillance, seldom is a gun required. In fact, the last time I had used a gun was on a job I had done for Robyn.

  When I expect that I may need a gun, I always carry two - better sure than dead is my motto.

  My main gun is a Glock 18. This is the select-fire version of the Glock, available only for Military and Law Enforcement personnel. The Glock 18 can fire a single shot or a burst of three-shots in quick succession. It will take clips with 10, 17, 19 or even 31 x 9 mm caliber Luger Parabellum rounds. A very handy gun and very versatile. The quick Bang-Bang-Bang all within about half a second, is likely to scare, whoever you are shooting at, shitless, and so it can be a good deterrent. They can't even count your shots, as they have no way of knowing which clip you are using.

  Glock was founded by a German engineer Mr. Gaston Glock, who since the early 1960's owned and operated a firm for the manufacture of mostly Industrial machines. In the early 1980s, Glock was invited to bid on a new contract for a new age pistol for the Austrian military.
This was a new challenge for the company, since pistols were not its normal product line.

  With its polymer frame, the Glock pistol that they designed was light in weight had the highest magazine capacity of any other pistol in its class. The pistol did not have any external safety lever or any other controls, which must be deactivated prior to making the weapon ready to shoot. In this way, the pistol was faster, simpler and safer to use than any other pistol. By merely pulling the trigger to the rear, three independent safeties are automatically deactivated and re-activated when the trigger is released. It was a breakthrough in firearms technology.

  Steve carries the police issue Glock 22.It has a capacity of 15 x .40 S&W calibre rounds - Steve reckons that if you haven't hit what you are aiming at after 15 shots, you might as well throw the gun at them. That way, you might have a better chance of causing some damage.

  My second gun is quite unusual. I got it from a Russian KGB defector that I had the pleasure of working alongside when I did that job for Robyn. I managed to save his life on two occasions and in gratitude he gave me his own, a very rare PSS Silent Pistol. The PSS (Pistolet Sptsialnyj Samozaryadnyj, if you must know) is a special self-loading pistol, which was developed for special personnel of the KGB, as well as for some elite elements of the Soviet Army. Fortunately, he also gave me a box of cartridges for the PSS, as this gun only takes a special type of silent ammunition called the 7.62mm SP-4 silent cartridges. The great advantages of this gun are that it is light, only as thick as a matchbox. It still delivers a substantial punch, and does it almost silently. With a very short barrel, the PSS is not very accurate - it was obviously designed to be used for the KGB for their 'close work'.

  I got dressed in jeans and in a very loose fitting T-shirt that declared to the world that Metallica Rocked. The Glock went into a waistband holster under the T-shirt and the PSS in a calf holster under the jeans. I then sat down on my minute balcony facing The Harbour and nursed my beer until it was time to fetch Doris from the Parking area and drive to Steve's place.

  When I pulled up outside Steve's place. He was already waiting for me on the street, nursing a smoke and an almost empty bottle of Corona.

  "You're late," he said, getting in the passenger seat and closing Doris's door carefully and with the respect she deserves.

  "No I'm not. I'm 15 minutes early," I retorted.

  "For you ? that's late," he said.

  "Yeah, I know that," I conceded.

  "Where are we going?" he asked, but he knew.

  "We'll head toward Lucas Heights, a few stretches on the Heathcoate Road should let us lose a tail, if we get one," I said.

  "Sounds good to me," he said, lowering the sun visor. The mirror in the passenger's seat sun visor in my car is angled especially so that the passenger can easily spot cars following us. It's like a rear view mirror for the passenger. That way we both could keep an eye on our wake. After about three quarters of an hour, Steve grunted and said, "He is there and he is good at it."

  "Yes, I think so too. When did you spot him?" I asked.

  "A while back, but I wanted to make sure," he said.

  "Yeah me too," I said.

  "What are we going to do about it?" he asked.

  "We will have to lose him for now; we need to get to Canberra." I said.

  "Sounds good," he said.

  Tailing someone at night is an art, and not many people can do it successfully. No one can do it at all, if the car you are tailing switches its lights off. At night, the only things you can follow are the taillights and the cones of the headlights. However, switching your lights off at night while driving where there are no streetlights is very dangerous. It is remarkable how pitch black everything is, you cannot see anything, unless ? you have night vision gear.

  This is exactly what Steve removed from my glove box and placed on my forehead, ready to lower over my eyes.

  "Tell me when you are ready," he said. We had rehearsed this move a number of times when we were still partners. Putting on your night vision goggles before you switch off your headlights can blind you for a few minutes, which is even more dangerous. So, we had to time the process pretty carefully. And practice makes perfect. We had used this method many times before, mostly while tailing a perp.

  At the appropriate moment, I would say, "Now," to Steve and simultaneously switch off my lights as he lowered the goggles over my eyes. After a momentary vision adjustment phase, I would then accelerate fast around a few more corners and then, if we were the ones being followed, chuck a quick u-turn and wait for the tail to go past. We would note the tail's car and registration number, if possible, then we would pull out and either tail them in turn or continue in the opposite direction without lights till the street lights were back.

  As we rounded the next corner, I said, "Now."And switched the lights off as Steve lowered the goggles, it went down without a hitch.

  "Good work," I said

  "You bet," Steve said. "But I really hate the next bit, though," he added, as I accelerated reaching dangerous speeds quickly. I could see the road well, but Steve had to sit there in complete darkness while the car took off like a rocket. It must be the definition of trust. I am not sure I could do it without screaming my head off. Steve just sat there, his knuckles white, squeezing his knees tight. A good man, Steve is.

  We were parked on the other side of the road, hidden by some trees, by the time our tail flashed past us, going very fast. I guess he was panicking that he had lost us, which he had, of course. We were just about to pull out when another car went past, going just as fast. I looked at Steve, he looked at me.

  "Another tail?" I said.

  "Or a tail on a tail?" he said.

  "Buggered if I know, but if I had to guess ?" I said pulling out quickly and accelerating away, in the opposite direction.

  "? AIA." Steve finished for me, nodding.

  "Yeah ? well, I hope that they get booked for speeding," I said.

  "No need to hope," he said.

  "How's that?" I said

  "Well, we always used this road and pull this trick around about here," he said.

  "You know me too well," I said.

  "I do," he said. "So, anyway, I got a couple of the highway boys to set up a radar trap a couple of K's on. They'll catch them both and we'll see what's what," he concluded, happily.

  "You are a sneaky bastard," I said.

  "That I am, but I had a great teacher," he said.

  "You're heaps sneakier than me," I said.

  "Yeah, right," he said.

  Canberra, Australia's capital city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, 280 km south-west of Sydney, and 660 km north-east of Melbourne. It's peculiar and completely useless location was a compromise between rival cities, Australia's two largest cities:Sydney and Melbourne, they both wanted to be the Capital of the new Federation. The city is a planned city and was designed by a husband and wife team from Chicago, USA, of all places, following an international contest for the city's design: Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin in 1913. The word 'Canberra' is said to have been derived from the word Kanbarra meaning 'meeting place' in the language of the local Ngabri people. However,it is firmly believed by some historians that the wily tribe pulled a funny trick on us Europeans, and that Kanbarra may actually mean 'lady's breasts' (possibly, referring to the two local peaks:Mount Ainslie and Black Mountain).Me, I prefer the second alternative ? I mean, how many capital cities, in the world, are simply called 'Tits'?I rest my case.

  We got to Canberra in just under three hours like Manx cats - with no tails. At a quarter to eleven, we parked Doris in a large hotel underground parking area. We took the lift to the lobby, exited the hotel and flagged down a taxi, which took us to a nondescript block of flats, not very far away. I paid the driver and entered the block of flats. As soon as he had driven off, I reversed our direction and walked to another block on the opposite side. As we took the lift to the fourth floor. I looked a
t Steve with some disbelief.

  "I am surprised at you," I said. "I was sure that you would have made some wise arse comment about all the spook-moves."

  "I figured that if you like to play 'I spy', why spoil it for you?" he said.

  "Now, that's better," I said, satisfied.

  "I try," he said.

  "You're a trier, that's for sure," I said

  "Is that a word?" he asked.

  "Works for me," I said. "Now be a good boy, I don't want you to upset Robyn. She is not what we would regard as entirely sane, but she is our only contact, so be a good boy, right?" I warned him.

  "Is that her name? Robyn?" he asked, avoiding promising.

  "One of them," I said.

  "I see," he said.

  On the fourth floor, we walked to unit fourteen and I knocked.

  "What? No special knock three times, pause and then knock twice or something like that?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

  "No need," I said.

  "I see," he said. He thought about it for a few seconds. "So, where is the video camera?" he asked, looking around.

  "You'll never find them," I said.

  "Them? More than one?" he asked.

  "You bet," I said, not really knowing the first thing about it. Then the door opened and there was Robyn. Robyn's sexy telephone voice belongs to lady that you would need to look at twice to even notice. Not only does she look very ordinary, but also, she looks like someone's grandmother. As she opened the door, she smiled and said, "Well, here they are, the terrible twins. Louie and Hughie. That was a nasty trick you pulled back in Sydney ? Your doing Steve?" she asked.

  "Trick?" asked Steve and he was suddenly nervous, I could not figure it.

  "The Highway Patrol radar trap," she said.

  "You know about that?" he asked.

  "Sure I do, the second tail was ours, he escaped being booked only because I had warned him how tricky you two can be," she said.

  "Why was he there at all?" I asked, faking a hurt tone in my voice. "Didn't trust me to lose a tail?" I added.

  "Better sure than sorry, I always say," she smiled. "So, I guess you want to know about Maria?" she added. Robyn was not one to waste time beating around the bush.

  "You bet we want to know. Where is she?" I said a bit too heatedly.

  "Now, now Luigi ? relax, she is perfectly all right, no need for you to worry. No need at all," she assured me with a placating touch of my shoulder. "Come and sit down and I'll tell you as much as I can," she added, gently pushing me towards a lounge room.

  "Luigi?" Steve asked, smiling.

  "Yes, Luigi is his actual name ? Hugo," she smiled back at him.

  "Hugo?" I asked, smiling in turn. His nervousness at been called Hughie was suddenly revealed and I just had to smile.

  "No one knows my first name," Steve asserted. "And no wise arse comments from you either or I'll have to shoot you," he added looking at me.

  "We do. We know everything about you Hugo," Robyn assured him.

  "Hugo?" I repeated, smiling even wider. Steve warned me with an evil look, and made out that he was about to go for his gun.

  "I took the liberty of making you boys some sandwiches and some coffee, I am sure you're hungry," Robyn said, on her way to the kitchen.

  "N?" Steve was about to say he wanted none when I quickly kicked at his leg.

  "She takes it really personally if you don't enjoy her food, so toughen up, because it's usually pretty different, I think it's a mild form of torture, she is not sane ? remember? And you better look like you are enjoying it, if you don't want to piss her off, and you don't want to piss her off, trust me."

  "What can she do? She is a lil' ol' lady," he said.

  "Last time I pissed off this lil' ol' lady, my car got repossessed, my visa got cancelled and I got a delivery of a ton of cow manure on my door step," I said.

  "Hey! I remember that! That was her doing? Wow!" he said, surprised. "I am really going to enjoy these sandwiches now, boy am I hungry!"

  "Now you have the right idea, Hughie." I said, smiling, and he was about to have a go at me, but my kick stopped him. I could see that Robyn was on her way back to us. She returned, smiling carrying a tray with two blue-vein cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches for each of us and mugs of coffee. The mixture sounds pretty bad, but in fact, they were pretty nice, we did not have to act too hard. The coffee, on the other hand, was undrinkable - weak as piss, too much milk, enough sugar to bake a cake with and already forming slimy skin on its surface. Eeww!

  "Good boys," she said as we finished our sandwiches and sipped our coffee. I kept my eyes on Steve as he sipped his. For a moment, I thought he was going to bring up all the sandwiches onto Robyn's nice coffee table. I smiled at him, knowingly.

  "Thank you very much Ma'am, they were delicious ? and this coffee, it's just as I like it" said Mr. Crawler himself. And a fraction of a second before I was about to.

  When she returned from clearing the plates, she sat down and looked at me intensely.

  "About Maria, I should tell you to keep out of it, Louie, but I know that's not going to happen, so I will tell you as much as I can and hope you see that you have to keep out of it," she said. The tone in her voice had a warning label written all over it. The preceding display of grandmotherly love was gone. I told you, the bitch was a sandwich short of a picnic.

  "Right," I said.

  "Right," Steve agreed.

  "As you probably have already surmised, Maria is in a witness protection plan. I placed her into your office intentionally, because I knew that, with you two around, she would be pretty safe. Last week, very bad people found her and we had to get her out of there quickly. She is in a safe house right now. Waiting to be placed in another location with a new identity. Her name is not Maria off course," she said.

  "Another identity? Is that going to work any better than the last one?" Steve asked, a little too aggressively. He hated all the spooky bullshit. Like me, he preferred to take care of the disease, not remedy just the symptoms.

  "Who are these very bad people?" I asked, while placing my hand on Steve's arm to de-fuse the situation before it got more heated.

  "You don't need to know that," she answered me.

  "That is exactly what I need to know, Robyn. As Steve says, another identity sounds like a palliative, not a cure," I said. Her answer to my question had started to piss me off too.

  "That is the best I can offer," she said, as if the matter did not bear further discussion.

  "Well thanks for the sandwiches and the really lousy coffee. I guess we'll catch you later, Robyn. Come on Steve, we are finished here," I said, standing up. Steve looked at me puzzled, but he stood up too.

  "Are you going to leave it alone?" she asked, remaining seated, sounding like a scolding aunt.

  "The fuck I am not. We drove all the way up here because I thought you were going to help, you know? But I can see that the word 'gratitude' is meaningless to the likes of you. But, Robyn, here is a warning for you: no tricks and no getting in my way, I don't care if you look like a granny. I will ride right over you, and your band of keystone spooks, like a Victa mower through grass!" I said angrily and it wasn't an act. I had helped Robyn in the past pro-bono, and I had been almost killed. I felt entitled to her help, not to her obstruction.

  "I believe you would, Louie, I believe you would. Well, one can't say that I didn't try. Come sit down Louie ? see if we can work something out," she said, patting the seat next to her on the lounge.

  I retraced my steps and sat down, feeling that we were being manipulated by an expert, which we were. Steve followed suit, but said nothing. Both of us continued to ignore the almost full mugs of that hideous coffee, which were now, fully skinned over and looked even worse. Steve's had a little moth on its surface, trapped and flapping its little wings, I wondered if it was crying out for our help.

  We sat silently, waiting for her, it was her move. She seemed to be considering how much, or more like
ly, how little she was going to tell us, and how much of it was going to be lies. Then, she started. "Two years ago, one of my agents infiltrated an international criminal group operating in Melbourne. That agent was able to acquire a list of all the politicians, members of the police and judges, which are being paid off by this organization in this country. Unfortunately, her cover was blown and she did not get away, they killed her in a fake car accident. We could not prove anything against them, though. We have no idea whether that information still exists," she paused for a moment, and then continued. "That agent had a twin sister, you know her as Maria. Somehow, somewhere, Maria was seen by a member of that criminal organization and immediately a hit was put on her in the mistaken belief that she was actually her sister, and that somehow she had escaped from the accident. Ever since then we have had Maria in a witness protection plan, even though she cannot supply any information at all, to anyone."

  Robyn paused again and I took the opportunity to comment. "And you have done all this through the goodness of your heart?"

  "Yes, that's right," she smiled wryly at my sarcasm. "We have kept her under surveillance all the while, for her protection. Last Friday we got word that she had been found, soon after we moved her away."

  "Surveillance, uh?" Steve said. "That's how they found her, they just followed one of your flat feet around and they led them right to her," he added, angrily.

  "I'm sure that's not possible," she denied.

  "Robyn, your story does not make any sense and sounds like a heap of bull to me," I said.

  "It's exactly as it happened," she said, lying through her teeth.

  "I think you have a cluster fuck on your hands, Robyn," I said, finally realising why she had agreed to see us at all.

  "What do you mean?" she said, getting angry.

  "I'll tell you what I mean. You, my dear Robyn, have no fucking idea where Maria is right?" Her expression told me I had hit a painful bull's-eye. "She figured out your little trap and decided she didn't want to be bait any longer. And now you have nothing," I finished with satisfaction.

  "What makes you think that?" she said, trying to stay calm.

  "Easy," said Steve. "First, it's the main reason you agreed, so easily, to see us at such short notice, you wanted to know if we knew anything. Second, you suspect that Maria does know something about that list, or you would have had no interest in her safety at all. And third, Maria is a lot smarter than you guys, she figured that you had arranged the whole thing to exert pressure on her, just in case she knew something. She made herself disappear and left you with your figurative dicks in your hands," he finished. I told you, Steve is no dummy.

  "Exactly," I said. Robyn now looked decisively uncomfortable.

  After a short pause, she said, "That's just not so." I could see that she was lying.

  "Who is this organization that you are talking about, anyway?" I asked.

  "They are an international ?" She started with the bullshit again.

  "Yeah you said that," I said, just ahead of Steve.

  "They are controlled by one man, a Russian," she said.

  "Russian mafia?" I said.

  "Possibly," she said - which meant definitely.

  "Who is this man?" I asked.

  "His name is Vladimir Tarasoff, but he is known as the Redback. I guess because he is a red Russian and he is toxic like a venomous spider. He lives and operates in Melbourne. But they have offshoots all over the place," she said.

  "Why don't you arrest him?" Steve asked.

  "Been there done that, with all the people he has in his pocket he is out within the hour," she answered.

  "Why don't you take him out?" I asked.

  "First we need that list ?" then, realising she had said too much, she added "? The AIA does not sanction assassinations, they are illegal."

  "Yeah right. And the Tooth fairy is my grandmother," I retorted.

  "Do you know where Maria is?" she asked directly.

  "So, you have lost her. If I knew where she was, would I have driven all the way here? And more to the point, would I be so stupid as to tell you?" I asked.

  "Yes, you might ? If you wanted something in return," she said, judging me from her own motives.

  "I don't think so, not a million years, especially where Maria involved," Steve said, and then he turned to me. "I thought you told me that Robyn was smart?"

  I said nothing.

  She looked at me and at Steve for a few minutes, she was deciding something, finally she stood up. "I guess we are finished here," she said.

  "Right," I said.

  "Right," Steve agreed.

  And then we left.

  "That was a big fucking waste of time," Steve exclaimed as we descended in the elevator.

  "Maybe," I said.

  "You don't think so?" he asked. I put my fingers to my lips and pointed to my ear. He nodded and we remained in silence until we returned to where Doris was parked.

  "Let's search the car for bugs," I whispered in Steve's ear as we were walking toward Doris. He nodded. Half an hour later, we had two bugging devices in our hands. A search of the exterior revealed a tracking device. Spooks - predictable like night follows day. I placed the tracking device onto a car parked a few spaces away from ours, and after forcing open one of its doors I threw in the bugs under the passenger seat. That done we headed back to Sydney, feeling a lot happier.

  We had both been in deep thought, for an hour or so. I knew what Steve was thinking, after about an hour of silent driving; Steve finally looked at me and asked, "So what did you do for that old bat?"

  "Robyn?" I avoided.

  "No my grandmother! Who do you reckon?" he answered.

  "OK ? You remember about six months after I opened my agency; I was involved in a case that ended up with my getting shot?" I said.

  "Yeah. It was touch and go for a while. I almost went out and bought a black suit and all," he answered. "I figured you must have stuffed up somehow and were too embarrassed to explain how you happen to get shot on one your first cases as a private dick," he added, smiling, emphasizing the 'dick' word.

  "Gee thanks! Well, it was on a case that I got roped in by Robyn. I had to sign the official secrets act and all that bullshit. I guess that still applies ? Anyway, it ended up that I was put into a situation where I had to shoot this guy, and he shot back before he died and almost killed me, as you know," I said, my foot increasing the pressure on Doris's accelerator as my anger at the recollection grew inside me.

  "Take it easy, Fanjo ? I'd like to get to Sydney alive and not in a body bag," Steve said, checking his seat belt. "Who was the guy?" he added in a strained voice.

  "Sorry," I apologised and eased Doris back to a safe, barely legal speed. "It doesn't matter now who he was. What matters is that I found out later that Robyn had planned for exactly what happened. She had used me as a killing tool."

  "How can you still trust her?" he asked.

  "I don't trust her at all," I said.

  "Well, how come you agreed to take Maria on?" he asked.

  "I was going to tell Robyn to go fuck herself, but she turned up with Maria ? one look and how could I refuse?" I said.

  "True," Steve agreed nodding. "She is something all right, our Maria is ..." he finished, a dreamy look in his eyes. I hated when that happened as I knew how much I liked her and how much he liked her.

  "Why did you work for her in the first place?" he asked the obvious question.

  I hesitated for a few moments. "She knew about Sonia and Mr. Sin and what I did, she said she had evidence ?" I admitted.

  "She fuckin' blackmailed you?" he exclaimed, angry.

  "Yeah, that's right. And I fell for it like a moron," I grimaced. "But no more?I found out that she had nothing, whereas I have proof of what she arranged for me to do," I added.

  "Fuckin' bitch, she had a hide, bringing Maria to you." he said.

  "Robyn is 90% hide," I confirmed.

  "And the remaining 10% is all bullshit,
" he agreed.

  "So, now it's up to us," I said.

  "Where do we start?" he asked.

  "Not sure ? What about the tail, you reckon the highway boys detained him?" I asked.

  "Might have, let's see," he said, and removed his mobile phone from his belt and speed-dialled a number, then waited a few seconds for it to be answered.

  "Hi Bob, it's Steve, how you doin'? Yeah me too ? err ? How did it go last night?" he asked, then paused while he listened. "Oh yeah? Good work, man! How long can you keep him there? Oh yeah? Shit! Why so soon?" he asked, and again paused while he listened. "Well ? Do you reckon you can keep him overnight, at least?" He looked up at me enquiringly and I nodded. "Just, lose the paper work or somethin'? good thanks. See ya." He disconnected.

  "They got him on a stolen vehicle charge, but there is pressure from above to let him go and he is all lawyered up already, none other than Mr. fucking- arsehole-himself-Gillespie," he said, with obvious disgust at even having to say the name.

  "Wow! They must want him released real bad, to get Gillespie in," I said.

  Gillespie was a top criminal solicitor, with the emphasis on the word 'criminal'. Other words like sleazy, slime, and turd would apply equally well. Gillespie was the antichrist to most police officers in Sydney.

  "No point questioning him, now," Steve said.

  "No point. We'll just follow the prick when he is released and see where that takes us, right?" I said.

  "Right," Steve said.

  We drove quietly for a few more kilometres. Steve was beginning to nap, when a sudden thought entered my head, from nowhere.

  "Fuck me!" I said. Steve jumped up, suddenly alert, he looked around and then in the rear view mirror.

  "What's wrong?" he asked, concern heavy in his voice, then he looked at me. "What are smiling about, you prick?"

  "I think just figured out where Maria is," I said, smiling still.

  "You did? Bull shit!" Steve exclaimed. "Where?"

  "Yeah ? I reckon she's at Mum's," I said.

  "Your Mum's? How do you figure that?" Steve asked in a doubtful voice.

  "Yep ? listen to this; a few weeks ago Maria came with me to Sunday lunch at Mum's and ?" I started to explain, but he interrupted me.

  "You took her to lunch? At your mum's? To your parent's house?" he said, a worried look on his face.

  "It was just lunch at Mum's, no need to get your knickers in a knot" I tried to reassure him.

  "Yeah right," he said, dejectedly.

  "Will you get your mind off your dick for a moment and focus?" I said at him

  "Yeah, yeah ? right ? So, you took Maria to meet your parents ? So what?"

  "It wasn't like that ?" I lied, as that had been my plan all the time. "? Anyway if you will let me finish?" I added, trying to ignore the fact that he had found me out so easily.

  "Yeah, yeah ? So, go on," he said, now knowing he had been right, his dejection level increasing.

  "That reminds me ? good friend of mine. Tell me this: how does Maria know about Roger?" I asked, looking at him in turn.

  "What do you mean?" he asked, pure innocence oozing in his tone.

  "You know what I mean ? You prick," I insisted.

  "Well, she happened to come by my flat one night, a few weeks ago ?" he edged.

  "Happened to come by?" I asked, sarcasm in my tone.

  "OK, OK, so, I asked her over for dinner. Is that illegal? Nothing happened anyway, if you must know," he admitted.

  "And you were going to tell me about it ? when?" I asked.

  "I wasn't," he admitted, now smiling. And I had to smile too.

  It was a funny situation in a way. But it wasn't funny anymore, not without Maria. After a brief pause, I continued with my theory. "You know how my brothers are: Any excuse to kiss a pretty girl. On that Sunday, as I introduced her to all of them, each one kissed her twice on each cheek ? Even the old man got into the act!" I said.

  "The kisses on the note?" he said, joining the very faint and hopeful dots I had placed before him. He shook his head. "It's a bit slim, isn't it?"

  "At the time, Maria said that she'd never been kissed by so many in such a little time," I explained. "It had made everyone laugh because she held up a V sign while imitating Winston Churchill's tone and voice. And there were seven crosses on the note!"

  "Still ? pretty slim," he said, doubtfully.

  "I'll ring Pip and we'll see," I said, trying to sound confident. Steve's doubt had brought me down to earth, it was very slim. Pip is my eldest brother, Filippo, which in Italian is shortened to Pippo and hence in Aussie to Pip. I dialled his number. He answered immediately.

  "What kept you?" Pip said, and I felt a whole lot better.

  "I'm getting slow," I said, smiling and nodding to Steve. He was smiling too, happy to have been wrong.

  "Yes, you are," Pip said.

  "Mum OK?" I asked.

  "She's good and wants you to come over on Sunday for dinner, bring Stefanino too, he's family," Pip said and hung up. Stefanino was the affectionate Italian version of Steve.

  "She is there?" Steve confirmed, impatiently.

  "Yep, she's there. But they feel that we ought to stay away until Sunday dinner time," I said.

  "Why? Is she OK?" he asked.

  "You know, you don't question Pip, unless you have a spare hour or so, and he hung up anyway. But hey, relax, she's got my six bro's looking after her as well as Mum and Dad, there is no way anyone is going to get near her unless they let 'em," I said.

  "As usual, Maria does the smartest thing possible," Steve nodded in admiration.

  "As usual," I agreed.

  The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and we sat quietly. Neither one of us minded being quiet. I was thinking about Maria, my sneaky friend beside me was probably doing the same. I wondered if it was true that nothing had happened in his flat. I have seen Steve with the ladies before, he is smooth as silk and his eyes always get 'em in the end. "Nah," I told myself. "Maria would not fall for a cheap parlour trick." But I did not really believe it, because there was nothing cheap or tricky about Steve, he was just a natural. Ladies just went to him like bees to a flower. "Fuck it," I said to myself. I wasn't going to let jealousy of my best friend get to me. "No fuckin' way. If they did what they did, good luck to them. I should be happy for my best friend," I thought and I almost believed it, even.

  We arrived outside the Police Station, where the guy that had tailed us was being detained, with plenty of time to spare. On the way we had stopped at an all-night Maccas, got some burghers and a couple of mugs of their espresso coffee. We ate and drank in silence. We had done this type of thing many times before and incessant talking drives you nuts after a while. So, we just sat and waited, watched the sunrise, the street come alive, and waited some more. We watched shops open, people rushing to catch a train or a bus, and waited some more. We watched school kids in their prim uniforms get on school buses, mums delivering the younger ones personally, and waited some more.