Live and Let Bondi

by Clare Kauter

  He shrugged. “Pretty much. If I was going undercover, I’d want him as my backup.”

  I folded my arms. “Then that kind of begs the question of why you sent him to Queensland.”

  Adam frowned. “What?”

  “Was he traumatised by it or something?”

  “Billy? I figured he was.”

  “You didn’t ask him?”

  “I didn’t have a chance,” he replied. “He transferred out a couple of days after it happened. I didn’t have time to speak to him properly at all.”

  Now I was thoroughly befuddled. “What?”

  “Nat, I don’t understand why you’re so confused.”

  “Earlier tonight, Billy told me that you had him demoted and sent to Brisbane,” I said.

  “What?” Adam frowned. “Are you serious?”

  I nodded. “He said that you weren’t happy with how that case went down so you had him shipped out.”

  Adam shook his head. “Nat, I didn’t have him transferred.”

  “But he said…”

  “He performed exceptionally on that case,” Adam said. “I don’t think I would have been able to do what he did. No way would I have punished him for that.”

  I frowned. “But –”

  “I thought he’d transferred because of stress.”

  “But he said he was forced to. By you.”

  Adam shook his head. “I didn’t –”

  “I know,” I said. “But that’s what Billy thinks.”

  “Why would he think –”

  “Because someone here wanted to get rid of him,” I said, everything clicking. “Because they knew he’d figure out what they were up to.”

  Adam frowned. “Nat, what are you talking about?”

  “My suspicions about the dodgy things going on around this office. I didn’t want to tell you until I had something more than vague feelings, but if someone went to the trouble of getting rid of Billy…”

  “What is it?”

  I took a deep breath. “I think –”

  There was a knock at the door. I stopped talking. What the hell? Who was that? Billy, coming to apologise?

  “Hello?” called a voice as the door creaked open. “Anyone here?”

  Not Billy. Ella. When she saw Adam and I were in the room together alone, her eyes widened slightly and her cheeks reddened.

  “Oh, sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realise –”

  “Hi, Ella,” said Adam.

  “We’re not sleeping together,” I stated.

  Adam glanced at me, raising his eyebrows. “You and Ella? Good to know.”

  “No, you and me,” I told him.

  “I already know that,” he replied.

  I nodded at Ella. “She doesn’t.”

  Adam looked amused. “Seriously? Do people actually think that?”

  I nodded. “They do.”

  “I have a far more interesting reputation here than I do at home.”

  Ella was just opening and closing her mouth like a fish, with no idea what to say.

  “Billy’s not here,” I told her.

  Finally she recovered her voice. “Oh, I was looking for you, actually,” she said, shifting uncomfortably.

  My brow wrinkled. “Why?”

  “I…” She took a deep breath. “I wanted to apologise. For everything. That was super uncool. And you didn’t deserve that. I’m just – it was so awful. And I just wanted to apologise to you.”

  I raised my eyebrows at her. That wasn’t what I’d been expecting. “Oh. Well, thank you,” I said, suddenly feeling kind of awkward.

  “I’m sure that was the last thing you needed after the day you had,” she continued. “Billy told me what happened to the two of you at the beach.”

  “It’s odd that you got shot at by someone with a bow and arrow,” Adam said thoughtfully.

  “Yeah. That’s a pretty weird choice of weapon,” said Ella.

  Adam shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant.”

  “What did you mean?” I asked, wondering where he was going with this.

  “The bow and arrow is a weird choice of weapon,” he said. “But there’s more that’s strange about it.”

  “It’s easier to get than a gun,” I said with a shrug.

  “True,” he said, “but you have to admit that it seems like it was done by someone who knew Rogers’s cases and wanted to throw suspicion on someone else.”

  I nodded slowly. “Just like with the murder.”

  Adam nodded. “Who would know about his cases?”

  “Maybe his brother Roy,” I said, “but that doesn’t make any sense. Why would he work so hard to get the case reopened if he was responsible for the murder?”

  “So probably not him. One of the other lawyers at Parker & Yates, maybe?” Adam suggested. “They’d know what Rogers was working on. It’d make it easy to set up his clients. Who did you say told you about the archery case?”

  My eyes widened as a sick feeling settled in my stomach. “Oh my god.” I picked up my phone immediately and tried Billy’s number. He didn’t answer.

  “What’s wrong?” Adam asked.

  I turned to Ella. “Do you know where Billy is?”

  “Uh… On his way home, I think.”

  “Are you sure?” I demanded. “Did he say that?”

  “Uh, no. Not exactly.”

  “Did you talk to him after I left?”

  She nodded, looking embarrassed. “Yes.”

  “What did you talk about?”

  “Um…”

  “Ella, it’s important. Please.”

  “Well, we had, um, an awkward moment,” she said. “And then he… he mentioned that he’d bumped into his ex recently and he was still trying to figure things out…”

  “Oh, shit,” I said. I turned to Adam. “I think Billy’s on his way to meet up with our murderer.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Billy

  My phone buzzed in my pocket once again. I took it out and looked down at the screen. Nat. Again. I ignored it. If she was calling just to berate me for being an idiot, I didn’t need to hear it. My phone buzzed once more, this time with a text:

  Don’t meet up with Eric! He’s dangerous!

  God, didn’t I know it. I had the scars on my heart to prove it. But how did she know I was on my way to see him? Man, she really was a good PI. She’d be fine to solve the Rogers case when I quit and committed to life as Martha’s toy boy. It wasn’t like I could go back to work now. I’d insulted Bruno, embarrassed Ella and pissed off Nat. Who was left?

  The walk to Eric’s house passed more quickly than I expected it to. I think my anger at him fuelled me to walk faster than usual. When I arrived outside his home, I double-checked the address and then strode up to the front door and banged on it. Footsteps approached and a few moments later Eric appeared.

  His eyebrows shot up when he saw me. “Billy.”

  “Yes,” I said. “I’m drunk and I want to tell you how much I hate you.”

  “How could I resist?” he said, but I was already pushing past him into the house.

  “This is a nice place,” I said. “Very spacious. Echoey and hollow. Like your heart.”

  “Oh good,” he said, walking into the kitchen area of the house. It was open plan, so we were still in the same room. “It’s drunk and morose Billy.” He sighed. “Why don’t you tell me all the ways I’ve ruined your life?”

  I glared at him. “Oh, I plan to.”

  “Good,” he said. “Do it.”

  I walked towards him, pointing my finger at him and trying to ignore the slight spinning of the room. You’d have thought that with all the distance I’d covered getting here I wouldn’t be quite so drunk by now. Unfortunately that was not the case. I focused on my pointed finger and tried to get my brain under control.

  “Oh god,” said Eric. “You’re not going to vomit, are you?”

  “No,” I snapped. “But if I do, I’ll make sure to do it on that hideous co
uch. I’d be doing you a favour.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Still bitter about the couch,” he said with a sigh. “It’s been years since we bought that, Billy. Get over it.”

  “It’s ugly,” I said. “I’ll get over it when it stops assaulting my eyeballs.”

  “What do you want?”

  I clenched my teeth. “I came here to tell you that you’re a bad person.”

  “Well spotted. Anything else?”

  “We got into that safe deposit box. We know what was in there.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I’m impressed. You’re telling me you broke into a bank?”

  “I’m not saying anything of the sort,” I replied. “Just letting you know that we have evidence your firm intentionally sent the wrong person to prison for murder.”

  For a moment, he seemed flustered. Then he regained his composure. “My firm?” he replied. “I don’t think so. If that box belonged to Jake Rogers, he opened it up without the firm’s knowledge. The firm had nothing to do with it.”

  “Then why were you so keen to get the key back from me?” I asked. “You knew there was something in there that could damage your firm. Your precious firm. So you pretended you’d missed me and tried to play on my feelings.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Please. Like you wouldn’t have done the exact same thing to me for your company.”

  “I – I wouldn’t have.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Really.”

  “Really,” I responded. “I couldn’t play on your feelings. You don’t have any.”

  He laughed softly. “True enough.” He leaned over and took a knife out of the knife block, touching the blade to feel how sharp it was. “You shouldn’t have come here, Billy.”

  I eyed the knife. “Why? Are you planning on using that thing?”

  He nodded. “Yes, I am.” Then he turned to the fridge and removed a bag of carrots. He held them up. “On these. You really think I’d stab you?”

  I thought for a moment. “It would make sense if you were the murderer. You were dating the guy who ended up dead. You were the one who told me about the archery place.”

  He frowned. “Why does that matter?”

  “Because I got shot at by someone with a bow and arrow today.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Are you serious?”

  “Yep. Down at Bondi.”

  “Shit,” he said. “I knew that guy was a psycho.”

  “What guy?” I asked, wondering if he was talking about himself in the third person. If so, then he’d kind of just proved his own point.

  “The guy who was suing that archery club,” he replied. “The one who attacked Jake. It’s got to be him, right?”

  I shrugged. “Doesn’t look like it. He’s friends with the guy he was going to sue now. Plus he wouldn’t have even known Nat and I were working on the case. We haven’t spoken to him. He probably still doesn’t know we exist.”

  Eric frowned. “But if someone’s shooting at you with a bow and arrow, that seems like too much of a coincidence.”

  “Unless you did it.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Please, Billy. Why would I try to kill you? Why would I kill Jake?”

  I stared into his dead eyes. “No, you’re right. You wouldn’t.”

  “Exactly. I’m not a murderer.”

  “No, it’s not that,” I said. “I can see you killing someone. I just can’t see you actually getting your hands dirty and stabbing someone. You don’t have enough passion in your soul for something like that.”

  “Why, thank you,” he said flatly, slicing up a carrot. “That’s why dating you was so much fun. You always say such flattering things about me.”

  “That’s as flattering as you deserve.”

  He rolled his eyes. “So, you still haven’t solved this case,” he said. “How long do you think it is before they demote you and ship you off to the next state again? Or do you think they’ll just fire you this time?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Well, either way, at least this time you won’t have to go through that messy business of breaking up with me because I’m no longer worthy of your company.”

  “What, did you really expect me to stay with you when you dropped to half the salary and moved to another state in disgrace?”

  “Thank god you didn’t,” I replied. “I can’t imagine how awful it would have been if we’d stayed together. Pamela and I are so much happier without you.”

  He raised the knife and pointed it at me across the bench. He moved so fast it startled me and I stumbled back slightly.

  “Don’t you dare bring Pamela into this,” he said.

  “Why not?” I asked. “She’s my cat.”

  His jaw dropped and for a split second I fully expected him to charge at me with knife in hand. Huh. So apparently there was something he cared about. Me claiming ownership of our cat. Interesting.

  “You sack of festering, mouldy –”

  He was cut off by the sound of a knock at the door. Pity. Guess I’d have to wait to find out just what I was a mouldy, festering sack of.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Natalia

  We piled into Adam’s hire car and headed out to find Billy, all the while with me trying to call him. He ignored his phone every time. I sent him a text warning him about Eric, but I was worried he wouldn’t see it in time. Or that it was already too late.

  I didn’t really know why I thought Billy was going to see Eric. I just had a gut feeling. A bad feeling. If he hadn’t gone home with Ella, then Eric seemed like the next most likely candidate. Argh, Billy. Why not just answer your phone?

  We decided that splitting up to look for Billy was our best option. The plan was to drop Ella at Pirate Kev’s so she could ask around and see if anyone knew where Billy had gone. Once we’d left her there, Adam and I continued to Billy’s house.

  “You really think Billy’s ex is our murderer?” Adam asked.

  “You ever met him?”

  “Never had the misfortune.”

  “Well, if you had, you wouldn’t have any doubts that he was capable of it.”

  “But why would he have done it? Do you have a theory?”

  I shrugged. “He admitted that he and the victim were sleeping together.”

  “OK. You might be onto something there.”

  “He didn’t seem cut up about the death at all. Stone cold. He even tried to ask Billy out in the same conversation.”

  “Sounds like an all round great guy.”

  I nodded. “Oh yeah. Billy has impeccable taste.” I paused. “That’s not entirely fair. I am warming to Ella.”

  “So have people thought you and I were getting it on this entire time?”

  I sighed. “For about the last three months.”

  “They been dicks about it?”

  “Yep.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. It’s Bruno who started the rumour.”

  “You know that for a fact?”

  I sighed again. “No. Just a strong suspicion.”

  “What happened at that bar tonight?” he asked. “I’m guessing you were there with Maggie and you ran into the people from work.”

  “Yes,” I said through clenched teeth. “But I really don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I’m sorry you’ve had such a shitty day, Nat.”

  I gave him a sad smile. “Thanks, Adam.” I sighed. “Billy thought you and I were sleeping together too.”

  “As well as thinking I was the one who had him transferred?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “That’s why he was acting so weird.”

  “Man, maybe he’s not as great an investigator as I remember,” said Adam. “Especially if he’s completely obliviously on his way to meet up with his murderous ex boyfriend.”

  “Well, he has been drinking pretty heavily lately.”

  “Oh, good. He’ll be nice and easy to murder then.”

  “The perfect victim,” I said.

  We re
ached Billy’s house and Adam let me out of the car while he tried to find somewhere to park. I raced up to Billy’s front door and banged on it.

  “Billy, are you in there? Billy!”

  I tried peeking in through a window, but it was completely dark inside. I took out my phone and turned on the torch, pressing it up against the glass. Inside I saw a pair of glowing eyes and momentarily freaked out, then I heard a loud, angry yowl from the creature and remembered Billy had said he had a cat. I cast the light around the room and the beam fell on a side-table by the door. I looked in the key tray. Empty. Billy struck me as the kind of person who would put his keys in the same place religiously. That and the hangry cat suggested that Billy wasn’t just passed out upstairs with earplugs in so he couldn’t hear me or something. He wasn’t here.

  I ran back down to the car to tell Adam, but he was on the phone when I arrived. Who was that voice? Ella! Had she tracked him down?

  “Did you find him?” Adam asked.

  “Um, no,” she said, her voice sounding a little quiet and shaky.

  Adam frowned, concerned. “Ella, are you OK?”

  “They – they said –” She sucked in another breath. “I might need some help.”

  “Ella, what’s going on?” I asked. “Are you in trouble?”

  “I don’t know – I – I just don’t –” she stammered.

  “Ella, calm down,” said Adam, his tone gentle. “It’s going to be OK. Just tell us what happened.”

  She sucked in a breath and then spoke, sounding a little more composed. “There were some guys inside that I recognised. They were there earlier, before I left,” she whispered. “I figured they were the most likely to know where Billy went. So I asked them.”

  My heart hammered in my chest. Oh god. She sounded really panicked. “Did they see Eric?” I asked. I’d given her a picture to flash around, just in case he’d turned up at Pirate Kev’s to meet Billy. “Did you see him?”

  “No, but they said they’d seen Billy.”

  That should have been a good thing, but Ella didn’t sound happy at all. There was something wrong.

  “They said they knew where he’d gone and they pointed me down this street.”