The Coast Road

by Peter Corris

  ‘I know nothing about a threat to you or a killing.’

  ‘Maybe. I hope so for your sake. I think you’ve been instrumental in Buckingham getting hold of the land adjoining your husband’s property. It goes without saying that Frederick Farmer’s death wasn’t an accident.’

  I didn’t put it very well and she could feel the amount of speculation involved. It gave her confidence. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘You do. I’ve got someone following the money trail. Someone good. The connection’s there and she’ll find it.’

  ‘Bugger you!’

  ‘What would Phoebe think if she heard language like that? Here’s the real question, Tilly—why does Buckingham want the land so badly that he has one, maybe two people killed for it?’

  She was more composed again now, although she suddenly looked a lot older, more like her real age than the one she could easily pass for when she had everything fully under control. Her hands were clasped together in front of her on the desk with her elbows tucked in as if she needed physical as well as mental control. The precise, up-market voice that had slipped momentarily when she’d sworn was back in place. She sat very still. She wasn’t one of those people who needed to make a show of thinking, weighing things up. No wrinkling of the brow, no scratching of the chin. She just did it.

  ‘Before I answer that,’ she said, ‘let me tell you something. God, I don’t even know your name.’

  ‘Hardy.’

  ‘Mr Hardy. I have had what could politely be called a “past”. To be blunt, I was a stripper when I was young and a call girl when I was a bit older. I did . . . performances for police functions and for footballers. I have two convictions for prostitution and one for wounding. That was when a client got out of hand. I served a short sentence. Larry Buckingham was present at a couple of my strip shows and he has photographs. He also has friends in the police and found out about my convictions. When he saw notices of my marriage to Frederick and read that I had established this business, he got in touch with me. As well as the photographs he has statements from some of my former clients and the police records. Frederick Farmer was a very straitlaced man and you cannot hold a real estate agent’s licence if you have a criminal record. Buckingham’s been blackmailing me virtually since the day of my marriage.’

  ‘He got you to provide a hideout for Wendy and company?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And forged some link between your company and one of his?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘That’s all very interesting,’ I said. ‘But you haven’t answered my question. Why does Buckingham want the land?’

  She clasped and unclasped her hands. She wore rings on several fingers of both hands and they grated together. ‘I swear to you that I don’t know.’

  I didn’t want to, but I believed her. It had cost her a lot to say what she’d said to a total stranger and a hostile one at that, and it wasn’t something she’d do lightly. She could see herself getting into another tight spot when she was already in one. I reckoned that a good part of what she’d said was the truth.

  ‘What’s Buckingham like?’

  ‘He’s a brute.’

  ‘Couldn’t you . . . manipulate him?’

  She smiled but there was no humour in it. ‘When I was younger, maybe. I’m talking about much younger, like, say, thirteen. But I was still a good girl at thirteen.’

  ‘He and Wendy Jones were lovers, I’m told.’

  ‘Yes, she’s how old, would you say?’

  I thought about the showy entrance she’d made at the casino in her red dress and all the trimmings. Probably looked older than she was. ‘Mid-twenties, maybe.’

  ‘A bit less, and her time with Larry was at least ten years ago.’

  ‘They’re still connected?’

  ‘Yes, in some way. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s got something on him the way he has on me. She’s got some pretty tough friends, unlike me.’

  ‘Again, that’s interesting,’ I said. ‘Tell me more about Wendy. How do you know her?’

  ‘I’ve been Larry’s . . . companion a couple of times when he’s needed someone he could rely on to keep her mouth shut and who wasn’t about one-third of his age. He introduced me to Wendy.’

  ‘What sort of occasions?’

  ‘It’d be more than my life’s worth to tell you.’

  ‘Meeting someone isn’t knowing them. You seem to know a lot about her.’

  ‘Not really, but she approached me after Frederick died with an offer to buy the place. They assumed that I’d inherited it rather than Elizabeth. I was curious and strung her along. We met a couple of times. Then I told her the truth.’

  ‘How’d she take it?’

  ‘Badly. She looks . . . well, you know how she looks with those ghastly jewel implants, but she’s a shrewd young woman.’

  ‘Do you think she’d know what’s behind all this?’

  She shrugged. The talking had restored her confidence more than I would have wanted. ‘Possibly,’ she said. ‘Probably.’

  ‘You’re going to have to help me find a way to isolate her and put her under pressure.’

  ‘No. I’d be much too afraid.’

  I reached into my shirt pocket and took out a miniature tape recorder. I pressed the buttons and played back my last words and hers. ‘Your future,’ I said.

  25

  She was a woman who’d played a role for some time and had probably coped with some difficult moments in that role. This was harder. She kept her cool, but I imagined I could see the conflicting possibilities working behind her smooth façade. She could bluff, try tears or maybe her feminine appeal, of which there was plenty. Nothing in my manner would have encouraged those options. You can’t make the jump from stripper to real estate queen without being pragmatic and resourceful. My guess was that Matilda Sharpe-Tarleton Farmer would do her best to turn the situation to her own advantage.

  ‘What do you have in mind?’

  ‘I need to talk to Wendy, one on one. Put certain propositions to her.’

  She shook her head. ‘I doubt you can do that. I don’t know anything much about what went on and I don’t want to know, but I do know that Wendy wants to lie low for quite a while. She’s frightened, I think, but she’s the kind of woman who’s dangerous when she’s frightened.’

  ‘It’s worth a try,’ I said. ‘Ring her and tell her that the coast is clear at the hotel—the would-be buyers aren’t keen. Then you say Elizabeth Farmer is interested in selling her land but will only talk to her.’

  ‘Elizabeth doesn’t know Wendy.’

  ‘But Wendy knows about her and how important the land is. She knows Elizabeth has been using me to sniff around. I could’ve told her about Wendy and now she’s playing it her way. She’ll bite. She’ll contact Buckingham and he’ll tell her to do it. He wants the place that badly.’

  ‘It might work but I’d be taking a big risk if it doesn’t. Buckingham would ruin me. What guarantee do I have that he won’t anyway, however it turns out?’

  ‘Not much of one, but look at it this way. If you don’t do it I’ll give this tape to the police who’ll want to question you about some of the admissions you’ve made on it—harbouring criminals, for example. And your agent’s licence is history. Part of the bent cop connection Buckingham’s got in the Illawarra has come apart and it’s likely some of those cops’ll start singing.’

  ‘That’s not much reassurance.’

  I shrugged. ‘With a lot of luck this could finish him. He’s already in trouble and he desperately wants that land for some big deal or other. That’s why he’ll tell Wendy to do what he says. The signs are that the land thing is his big play. If it doesn’t come off, chances are he’s stuffed and he’ll be too busy to worry about you. Or not able to do you much harm anyway.’

  ‘He’ll harm me. Bet on it.’

  ‘I’ll put in a good word for you.’

  She snorted, sounding more like the old T
illy than the new model. ‘It all sounds very iffy to me, but you’ve probably got enough nerve to pull it off. All right. I haven’t got much choice. I’ll do it.’

  I gave her explicit instructions and she made the call. She played it straight and Wendy asked for some time as I expected she would. Matilda hung up looking strained around the eyes. This was tougher than flogging decaying terraces to yuppies.

  ‘You did that well,’ I said. ‘But you shot me a look just before you said “Never heard of him”. Was that what I think it was?’

  ‘Yes. She was asking if I’d had any contact with you.’

  ‘Okay. She’ll be ringing Buckingham now.’

  ‘I bet you wish you could hear the conversation.’

  ‘You’re right. But I’ll tell her the hotel phones are bugged and I have heard it.’

  ‘You’re a devious bastard. That’ll put me in still deeper. My calls here must be piling up. Do you think I could do a little work?’

  ‘You’ve got some nerve yourself.’

  She shrugged. ‘Life must go on. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to need every cent I can find when this washes up. Whoever wins.’

  Pragmatic to the max. She had it right—it felt like a contest between Buckingham and me. ‘After Wendy calls back,’ I said.

  She fidgeted and I tried not to while we waited for half an hour. The call came and Wendy agreed to come to the agency at six o’clock to meet with Elizabeth Farmer. I told Matilda to make her calls and to be sure they were about the real estate business and nothing else. I’d be listening. I also told her to get one of her minions to bring up some coffee and to make sure none of them worked overtime.

  The coffee arrived and although the woman bringing it looked surprised at the company her boss was keeping, she didn’t comment. Matilda busied herself and I tried to get Elizabeth Farmer on my mobile to put her in the picture but she wasn’t answering at the university or at home. Maybe getting in a quick nine holes before dark. My next call was to Hank Bachelor, the young American working part-time for a security outfit and doing the TAFE private eye course. I keep him on a small retainer for backup work. If Wendy arrived with one of her mates I wanted to know about it. I gave Hank the time and the address and the descriptions.

  ‘You want information, Cliff, or action?’

  ‘If she’s got a mate with a bazooka you’d better shoot him, otherwise just let me know.’

  ‘Got it.’

  Matilda looked at me across her desk. ‘You’ve thought this all out, haven’t you?’

  ‘Tried to, but shit happens.’

  ‘You never said a truer word. Elizabeth hates me, doesn’t she?’

  ‘I think that’s fair to say.’

  ‘Dykes,’ she muttered and got back to her work.

  Time went by; a couple of the office staff came in for quick consultations; Matilda’s phone rang and she answered it; she made some calls; the working day ended. At five forty-five I heard a buzzing and clicking.

  ‘Last one to leave sets the security alarm,’ Matilda said.

  ‘Okay, let’s go down and disarm it. You can buzz people in, right?’

  ‘Yes.’

  We dealt with the alarm and went back to her office.

  ‘When she rings, you let her in. Then you call her up here.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘Then we see how it goes.’

  At a minute to six my mobile rang.

  ‘Cliff, blonde chick on a Harley. No passenger.’

  The intercom cut in as the call ended. ‘Matilda? It’s Wendy.’

  Matilda pressed a button. I was standing at the open door near the top of the stairs and heard the door lock release. Boots scraped on the polished wood floor. I waved at Matilda.

  ‘Up here, Wendy,’ Matilda called.

  She came up the stairs with a springy step and took a long stride into the room. I was behind the door. I tripped her and she fell hard. I had a pair of plastic restraints ready and I had them on her with her arms behind her back before she could draw breath. When she did, she snarled and spat.

  ‘What the fuck . . . ?’

  ‘Shut up,’ I said. I grabbed her by the collar of her leather jacket and heaved her into a chair. Her eyes blazed at me and the jewel implants in her teeth glittered.

  ‘You’re Hardy,’ she said.

  ‘That’s right. Nice to meet you.’

  ‘Matilda, you’re fuckin’ dead.’

  I told her to shut up again and laid it out pretty much as I had for Matilda but with a different spin. I emphasised her association with Lonsdale and the evidence the police had on him in connection with the MacPherson killing. I told her about Barton and Henderson and the attempt on my life and how I thought Larry Buckingham was involved with them and with the killing of Tom Purcell, the undercover cop.

  ‘I’m sure you know him by some other name, Wendy. Tough little guy, drove a beat-up Land Cruiser. Hung around dealing dope at that shitty racetrack you bikies use.’

  ‘Dunno what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Then there’s the bugs in the telephones at the hotel. Should be some interesting stuff there. You and Buckingham.’

  She didn’t react, just listened, occasionally running her tongue over her teeth jewels. I had to play the ace.

  ‘I’ve got a witness who saw you acting suspiciously around a house under the scarp in Wombarra. House burned down and a man died in the fire. She can identify you. That’s a big one, Wendy.’

  That got her attention. ‘What the fuck d’you want?’

  I leaned closer to her. She smelled of sweat and cigarettes and some of the sweat was fresh. ‘That stuff about the fire doesn’t have to come out,’ I said. ‘I can control that. And Lonsdale was acting under Buckingham’s instructions, not yours. You can probably get clear of all this. All I want from you is information.’

  She licked the jewels again, then her lips. She looked across at Matilda, who turned her head away. ‘Like what?’

  ‘Why does Larry Buckingham want those pieces of land?’

  The way she chewed the question over told me that she knew the answer. I felt a surge of excitement at being so close to it.

  ‘You’ll let me go if I tell you?’

  ‘Yeah. Might take a while and Lonsdale has to go down, but with a bit of luck you can drive off in your Beemer, win some more dough at the casino.’

  She smiled. ‘Mattie Lonsdale’d like to meet you again after what you did to him in the car park. His knee’s buggered.’

  ‘Too bad. Well, what’s it to be?’

  Before she could answer my mobile rang again. I swore, took it out and answered it. ‘Hank?’

  ‘No Hank here, Hardy. This is Larry Buckingham.’

  I didn’t say anything.

  ‘Still there, Hardy?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I believe you’ve got my girl Wendy and my girl Matilda there with you, that right?’

  ‘Yes again.’

  ‘That’s cool, because I’m sitting here with your girl Dr Elizabeth Farmer and she’s not looking too happy. I’d say we have to talk, wouldn’t you?’

  26

  I never was much of a poker player and the women could see that something had gone wrong. My knuckles whitened as I gripped the phone. ‘Say what you have to say.’

  Wendy grinned. ‘It’s Larry, isn’t it?’

  ‘Shut up!’

  ‘Hey,’ Buckingham said. ‘I can hear Wendy. Tell her everything’s going to be all right.’

  ‘Larry!’ Wendy Jones yelled.

  ‘Sounds like you got a control problem there, Hardy. Everything’s under control here at the doc’s place. I just have to ask the doc a few questions. I’ll get back to you.’

  ‘Wait.’

  He hung up. Wendy was jigging in her chair. ‘He’s too smart for you, dickhead. Get these fuckin’ things off me.’

  ‘What is it, Hardy?’ Matilda said quietly.

  ‘He’s got Elizabeth. How I don’t know, but it g
ives him the upper hand.’

  ‘You bet it does,’ Wendy said. ‘He’s not the gentlest guy with women. I oughta know. You better do as he says.’

  ‘He hasn’t said anything yet.’

  Matilda came close to biting her manicured nails. ‘You’d better let us both go. I’ll have to put distance between me and him, and you should go and help Elizabeth.’

  ‘Fuck her and you too,’ Wendy said.

  I said nothing, thinking hard to no purpose. The phone rang again.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Cliff, Cliff can you come, please?’

  ‘Elizabeth. Has he hurt you?’

  ‘No, I’ve hurt him. Tania came waltzing in and distracted him. I hit him with a five iron. He’s unconscious. He had a gun. I was so frightened.’

  I could feel the smile spreading across my face. ‘How badly is he hurt?’

  ‘Tania says he’s concussed. She’s done first aid. What should we do? I think there’s a man outside. Tania says she saw someone.’

  ‘Lock the doors and call the police and an ambulance.

  I’ll be there before them and I’ll help you handle it. It’ll be all right.’

  ‘Hurry.’

  ‘I will.’ I hung up. Wendy wasn’t looking so chipper now. ‘Sorry, ladies, the tables have turned again. Elizabeth clobbered him with a golf club and he’s out cold. The cops are on their way.’

  Matilda recovered first. ‘What now, Hardy?’

  ‘You both stay here. The deal’s still on.’ I rang Hank’s mobile and told him he was needed. He buzzed and I let him in. Hank stands at about 190 centimetres and is wide. He filled the doorway.

  ‘I want you to entertain these ladies while I’m away. Could be a while.’

  ‘Lucky I brought my mouth harp,’ Hank said.

  I went down the stairs and out at a dead run. Elizabeth’s house was only minutes away by car and I pulled up outside to see a guy standing uncertainly by the gate. I hopped out and let him see the .38 in my hand.