Cyanide Games: A Peter Tanner Thriller

by Richard Beasley

  ‘We have contacts in the government. I can’t –’

  ‘And what have the people with contacts in the government been told about Joe?’

  ‘There have been no charges laid yet.’

  ‘I didn’t ask that. They’re obviously interrogating him about something. What?’

  ‘They suspect corrupt conduct. That’s what we’ve been told.’

  ‘Joe’s not corrupt,’ Tanner snapped. He looked at Jackson for a long moment.

  Jackson shrugged. ‘It’s what we’ve been told.’

  ‘Corruption in relation to what?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘What was he doing in Shanghai?’

  ‘I can’t tell you that.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘It’s privileged.’

  ‘Jesus,’ Tanner said, raising his voice. ‘Is that what you expect me to tell Melissa?’

  Jackson squeezed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, some kind of nervous tic. ‘This doesn’t leave this room.’

  Tanner shook his head. ‘I have to be able to speak to Melissa about what we discuss. I’m not going to tell anyone else.’

  ‘I know how Melissa must be feeling, but I can’t –’

  ‘You haven’t got a clue how she’s feeling.’

  ‘This involves a client, Peter. A global client. It’s sensitive. It could be extremely damaging.’

  ‘She’s not going to start spreading rumours about her husband’s alleged corruption.’

  Jackson poured himself a glass of water from the platinum jug on the edge of his desk, but offered Tanner nothing. ‘It involves an exploration licence.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘Coal and CSG.’

  ‘Whose licence?’

  ‘A client’s.’

  ‘Which client?’

  Jackson laughed sarcastically. ‘You know I can’t tell you that.’

  ‘There aren’t that many global mining clients. Which one?’

  Jackson stared at Tanner and shook his head slowly.

  ‘What corruption?’

  Jackson took a deep breath, and then sighed. ‘It’s being said that Joe tried to sell information about what our client would bid for this licence when the government put it up for tender.’

  ‘Who did he try and sell this information to?’

  ‘Another Chinese company, we think.’

  ‘When was this meant to have happened?’

  ‘When the government put the licence up for tender. About three years ago.’

  Tanner paused. ‘Joe would not do that,’ he said firmly.

  Jackson leant back in his chair. He looked at Tanner like he was a child. ‘How well do you know Joe Cheung, Peter?’

  ‘What the fuck does that mean?’

  ‘I’m only –’

  ‘I’ve known him since law school,’ Tanner said. ‘He wouldn’t do that.’

  ‘I’m only repeating an allegation.’

  ‘Where’s the licence area?’ Tanner asked.

  ‘This state.’

  ‘This firm acted on the bid?’

  Jackson shook his head. ‘I can’t discuss client business with you.’

  ‘It was a public tender?’

  ‘I think a few of the bigger mining companies were invited by the government to tender.’

  ‘How is this only coming to light now after three years?’

  ‘I’ve said more than I should.’ Jackson took another sip of water and put the glass down firmly. ‘I’ve got another meeting, Peter.’

  ‘How much does Joe earn?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He’s a full-equity partner, right? What does that mean in a place like this? One point five mil? More?’

  ‘You think that makes him incorruptible?’

  ‘He’s not a criminal,’ Tanner said sharply.

  Jackson stood and retrieved his jacket from a cupboard in the corner of the room. He put it on, then tugged aggressively at each French cuff of his shirt to make things perfect. The guy was anal. He wouldn’t like mess. Joe Cheung had somehow made one. He put his hand on the door. ‘Helen will walk you out.’

  ‘What are you doing to help him?’

  ‘There’s not much we can do at the moment. Not until we know more. The embassy and consulate are –’

  ‘How about finding out where he is? Talk to the consulate, find out when you can see him, and when his family can. This firm has powerful contacts in China, doesn’t it? Find out what evidence they’re holding him on. And I assume you’re getting him a lawyer?’

  Jackson dropped his hand from the door handle. ‘Peter, you’re being a bit naive for a criminal lawyer. This is China. They do things differently. We’ll be told where he is and why he’s there when they want to tell us. And if you listened to what I’ve told you about what we’re hearing, this firm could find itself in a very embarrassing position. One that creates a big conflict with taking care of Joe’s interests.’

  ‘What conflict?’

  ‘The conflict you get between a big client and one of your partners who’s alleged to have committed a crime that could have harmed that client enormously.’

  ‘He’s your partner, Dennis,’ Tanner said. ‘It’s people like Joe who help pay your mortgage. And for that fucking bike over there. What are you proposing to do to help him?’

  ‘When we find out exactly what –’

  ‘Dennis, you’re obliged to provide assistance to him. You need to get him a local lawyer. A good one.’

  ‘If you let me finish. When we find out –’

  ‘You can’t leave him high and dry because of some crazy allegation –’

  ‘An allegation made concerning a major client of ours.’

  Tanner stood up, put his own hand on the door handle and opened it. ‘You need to help him.’

  ‘We need to find out what we’re dealing with first.’

  ‘I’m sure there are some lawyers here who aren’t entirely honest, Dennis,’ Tanner said. ‘Joe isn’t one of them.’

  • • •

  As he walked into the lobby, Tanner rang BBK’s reception from his mobile phone.

  ‘I need to speak to Nadine Jenkins, please,’ he said when the switch operator answered.

  There was a pause. ‘Do you mean Nadine Bellouard?’

  Tanner thought for a moment. ‘I guess I do.’

  A few moments later a familiar voice answered the phone. ‘Mr Gault’s office.’

  ‘Nadine?’’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘It’s Pete Tanner.’

  There was a slight pause before she spoke. ‘Pete . . . is this about – ?’

  ‘What do you know?’ he asked.

  ‘Nothing. I mean – there’s all kinds of rumours. What’s happened?’

  ‘I’m heading to the coffee shop in the lower level of your building. Can you get away for a few minutes?’

  ‘Give me five,’ she said, and hung up.

  She looked older than when he’d last seen her. Maybe it was the shorter hair. It occurred to him how few times he’d actually seen her, despite the many times they’d spoken. She looked anxious, on the verge of tears. He was going to shake her hand, but she grabbed him and hugged him. She smelt of flowers, potpourri.

  ‘Do you want a coffee?’ he asked as they sat.

  She tried to smile. ‘Just water please.’ Tanner mouthed the order to a waitress behind the counter.

  ‘What are people saying?’

  She looked at him for a moment. ‘Joe was meant to be back at work days ago,’ she said. ‘Melissa rang Jenny from the airport – no one knew where he was . . . I rang Melissa. She told me –’

  ‘When did you ring Melissa?’

  ‘This morning. She told me that Joe’s been arrested for some reason.’

  ‘What reason?’

  She shook her head. ‘No one knows. Or if they do, they’re not telling staff.’

  ‘You know as much as me then,’ Tanner said. ‘I just came from a meeting with Denni
s Jackson.’

  ‘Doesn’t he know?’

  Tanner shook his head, thinking it best not to pass on everything Jackson had said. ‘Not yet.’

  ‘Joe wouldn’t have done anything illegal.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘When are we going to know more? They can’t just – they can’t just keep him, can they?’

  ‘It’s China,’ he said. ‘Melissa told me the consulate is trying to find out.’

  Nadine nodded, and took a sip of her water.

  ‘Do you know why he was in China?’ he asked.

  ‘Not really,’ she said.

  ‘Not really?’

  ‘He had a meeting. That’s all we know.’

  ‘When you say “we”, you mean . . . ?’

  ‘Jenny – his new admin. She doesn’t know all the details. He had a meeting in Shanghai with someone. He didn’t tell her who. The trip was being billed to Citadel, though.’

  ‘Citadel Resources?’

  She nodded. ‘He emailed audio files of his time while he was away.’

  Nadine had been Cheung’s assistant for many years. Most times Tanner had called Joe’s direct line, she’d answered the phone. She was French-Mauritian – her name was Nadine Bellouard when she’d started with Joe before her marriage. She had a lively sense of humour, and a loud laugh. Occasionally, before everyone was married, she came with Joe if he met Tanner and others for a drink after work. She and Joe were close. Joe went to her wedding; she came to his. Then she had kids, and was off work for several years. When she came back part time, Joe had a new assistant, and she was allocated to another partner.

  ‘How long has Jenny worked for Joe?’ Tanner asked.

  She paused. ‘Months. Maybe six. Claire’s on maternity leave.’

  ‘She’d know the sort of work he was doing for them, right?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Could you ask her?’

  She looked confused. ‘Didn’t you ask Jackson?’

  ‘Dennis is – he’s a bit anal about privilege.’

  She nodded. ‘I’ll let you know what I can.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘This all . . . it has to be some kind of mistake, doesn’t it, Pete?’

  ‘Sure.’

  They sat for a moment, looking at each other, thinking about Joe.

  ‘I haven’t asked you how you are,’ he said, breaking the silence.

  She smiled faintly. ‘Okay.’

  ‘I used Jenkins when I asked for you.’

  She nodded. ‘We’re getting divorced. That’s why I’m back full time.’

  He nodded slowly. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

  ‘It’s a relief.’

  ‘How old are your kids?’

  ‘Will is eight,’ she said. ‘Lizzy’s nearly five.’

  ‘Joe didn’t tell me.’

  She shrugged. ‘I only told him about three months ago,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t ready before. How’s Dan, anyway?’

  ‘High school next year.’

  ‘Wow.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You seeing anyone?’ she asked, smiling again.

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘What’s that mean?’

  ‘It’s the lawyer’s version of “no”.’

  She smiled, and looked at her watch. ‘I’d better get back.’

  ‘If you can speak to Jenny more,’ he said, ‘if she remembers something about what he was doing there . . . let me know.’

  She nodded. ‘If you hear something – if Jackson finds out what’s –’

  ‘I’ll let you know.’

  ‘It has to be –’

  ‘It’ll be okay,’ he said. ‘You’re right. It’s some terrible mistake.’

  6

  Melissa Cheung’s front doorbell rang just as she was about to call Tanner. Two men in dark suits stood before her when she opened the door.

  ‘Mrs Cheung?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘My name’s Jordan Irwin. This is Steve Marshall. We’re colleagues of your husband’s. From BBK?’

  Her heart started pounding, and her stomach dropped. ‘Has something happened? Is Joe – ?’

  Jordan Irwin smiled and held up his hand. ‘Nothing’s happened, Mrs Cheung. We’re just –’

  ‘Has the firm heard anything? Do you know where he is?’

  The man put his hand up again as a signal for her to stay calm. ‘We don’t mean to alarm you, Mrs Cheung. I was assured you’d been told we were coming.’

  Melissa paused, and took a deep breath. ‘Why are you here?’

  ‘Nothing to do with any bad news about Joe. I –’ Irwin’s eye’s drifted from Melissa to the corridor behind her. Lily Cheung was standing unsteadily in a doorway, and had started to cry. ‘Obviously doesn’t like the look of lawyers,’ he said, smiling.

  Melissa turned around and picked up the child. ‘She’s just teething.’

  ‘Look, Mrs Cheung –’

  ‘Melissa.’

  ‘Thanks. Can we come in for a moment? I’d like to talk about one of the things we’re doing to help Joe.’

  ‘Of course,’ she said. She led the men down the hallway to the back of the house, where there was an open-plan kitchen and a dining table. She offered them seats. ‘Can I make you some tea? Water?’

  ‘We’re fine,’ Irwin said, speaking for both of them. ‘We don’t want to take up more of your time than we need to.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘If it’s to help Joe, I don’t care how long it takes.’

  Melissa sat at the head of the table, her back to the kitchen. She had Lily on her lap. Irwin sat next to her, but the second man, who was maybe six foot five, and built like a rugby forward, sat at the other end of the table.

  ‘One of the things we’re trying to do,’ Irwin began, ‘is put together a chronology of what Joe was doing on this trip to China.’

  ‘You mean what work he was doing?’

  ‘Precisely,’ he said. ‘We don’t know why the Chinese have detained Joe. You probably know from the consulate, we’re having to guess until they give us something specific. They have a very different way of doing things to us as far as arrest procedure and rights are concerned.’ His eyes widened slightly as he took in her Chinese face. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean –’

  ‘It’s okay,’ she said.

  ‘We want to put a document together that outlines exactly what work Joe did in Shanghai, who he met, that kind of thing. Do you understand?’

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘We’ll give this document to the relevant authorities. So they have something official from us – from BBK – that says, look, Joe Cheung was in China on firm business, here’s what he did, here’s when he did it. We don’t know if it’ll clear things up, but it’s a start.’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘One difficulty we’ve got, though, is that we don’t have Joe’s laptop. We assume it’s been confiscated.’

  ‘I’m sure he took it with him.’

  Irwin nodded, and leant forwards. ‘I know this is an intrusion, Melissa, but what we’d like to do is look at Joe’s home computer. Just to check if there’s anything on it that might help us put this document together.’

  ‘Joe usually used his laptop,’ she said. ‘He didn’t often use our home computer.’

  ‘Okay,’ Irwin said, nodding. ‘Like I said, I’m really sorry for the intrusion, but could I take a look anyway? Just to see if there’s any work-related material that could help us. We want to be as thorough as we can. We’re sure Joe was only engaged in legitimate BBK client work in China, and we want to produce something that backs that up.’

  ‘Joe would never do anything he shouldn’t have. He – it’s absurd.’

  Irwin nodded vigorously. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘We’re all astonished about this. We think it has to be some mistake, some –’

  ‘It is,’ she said quickly, her voice catching slightly.

  Irwin nodded again. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Anyway, it�
�ll just take a few moments. Can I check your computer?’

  The other man remained at the kitchen table while Melissa took Irwin into the study. ‘The computer’s actually mine,’ she said, turning it on. ‘It’s got a lot of home stuff on it. You know, photos, our music, our –’

  ‘I won’t be looking at any of that.’

  ‘I’m just – it’s also got some records from my own work. I’m a GP. Not patient details, just –’

  ‘I’m only going to look for things that are obviously BBK related,’ he said. ‘It shouldn’t take long.’

  She paused, then nodded slightly, and left the room.

  Less than five minutes later, Irwin walked back into the kitchen. ‘Can I ask a favour?’ he said. ‘I know it’s an inconvenience, but would you mind if we took the computer with us just to check some things? We really won’t have –’

  ‘Take it with you?’

  ‘Do you have your own laptop?’

  ‘I’ve got one at work, but – why do you need to take it? I don’t think that’s a good –’

  ‘I’ll be honest with you, Melissa,’ he said, ‘there’s material on the computer that belongs to BBK.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘There are some documents relating to work Joe was doing. That’s BBK’s proprietary material. The work product belongs to our clients. Do you see what I mean?’

  ‘No,’ she said firmly. ‘I don’t. The computer is mine. It’s got family photos of –’

  ‘And we’ll be very sensitive about that. But given Joe’s predicament, we can’t leave material our clients own on your computer. We need to retrieve it, and that could take a while to check thoroughly.’

  ‘What material?’ she said. ‘Can you show me, please?’

  ‘I can’t do that. We can’t breach client privilege like that. I can assure you, though, that we’ll only take from the hard drive what’s ours or our clients’, and we’ll get it straight back to you.’

  ‘I still don’t think –’ Melissa stopped talking as Irwin nodded to the other man, who rose and walked out of the kitchen towards the study. Irwin stepped closer to Melissa, only a metre away. Lily stood unsteadily next to her mother, holding her dress with an arm.

  ‘The last thing I want is to have to tell work I don’t have your computer, but it’s got some of our files on it,’ Irwin said, his voice down a notch. ‘I really don’t want someone coming back here this afternoon with a court order.’