The Tattooed Man

by Alex Palmer

  Harrigan found himself almost gaping at Marvin, usually so meticulously calculating. Even Edwards looked startled.

  ‘I have no idea how you can interpret what I just said as a personal accusation,’ he said sharply. ‘All I was doing was talking the politics.’

  The commissioner intervened before anyone else could speak.

  ‘The special assistant commissioner has clearly misunderstood you, Minister. Let me assure you that if any of my officers were compromised, they would only have time to clear their desks before they left this building for good. Then they’d be subject to the full force of the law.’

  ‘I don’t doubt that’s true. Which brings me to my next question. I’ve just given you information that indicates there are corrupt police in this force. What are you going to do about it?’

  ‘I will be contacting the Police Integrity Commission immediately this meeting is over,’ the commissioner replied, clearly stung. ‘I will direct all my officers to cooperate fully with their investigation. But, before they can act, they’ll need to interview you. They’ll need access to all the information you have.’

  ‘I’m available whenever they want to talk to me. Which brings me back to the dossier. What do you intend to do with that?’

  ‘We will assess this information comprehensively, including verifying its authenticity. We will also put every effort into finding its original owners. They have a right to know it’s been stolen. But if it is from an intelligence organisation, then we do have to maintain a strict confidentiality. We may endanger the lives of the agents involved if we don’t.’

  ‘I’m not a fool, Commissioner. I’m aware that’s necessary. So far I’ve told no one else about that dossier except your people and my own staff, who I know I can trust. But let me tell you, I will not tolerate having this information ignored or suppressed. I’ll put it up on the web if I have to. I’ll blank out the names of any innocent parties but I will still put it up there. I’ll investigate it myself. I’ve told you. It’s my son with a bullet in the back of his head. I want his murderers found. End of story!’

  Edwards spoke with extraordinary control, intensely and ferociously angry. The weight of his grief was balanced on the finest edge. Everyone waited, almost as if they weren’t breathing. Harrigan glanced at the commissioner who nodded.

  ‘Perhaps we should take this information down to the task force, Minister,’ Harrigan said in his detached voice. ‘Let them get started on it.’

  ‘I think that’s a very good idea. Yes, let’s go and meet the workers. Yesterday you wanted me to make a statement. I can do that now. Do you mind, gentlemen? Are we finished?’

  ‘Thank you for your time and information, Minister. It’s clearly very valuable.’ The commissioner spoke smoothly, rising from his seat and extending his hand. ‘We’ll be doing everything we can to solve this appalling crime. You have my word on that.’

  ‘Thank you, Commissioner. I’ll hold you to it.’

  ‘You have my word as well, Minister,’ Marvin said, also extending his hand. Edwards shook it with a sardonic smile but did not speak. Marvin didn’t miss a beat. ‘Let me show you downstairs. I can introduce you to the members of the task force.’

  ‘No, Marvin. I want to speak to you first,’ the commissioner said. ‘Paul can do the introductions if any need doing. Thank you.’

  ‘Before I go, Commissioner, I’d like to say that I was very impressed by the way Commander Harrigan and Inspector Gabriel handled the scene yesterday. I have confidence in them. I hope you see it that way as well.’

  ‘Thank you, Minister. I can assure you I will keep in mind everything you’ve said this morning,’ the commissioner replied, as always sphinx-like when receiving a compliment on behalf of someone else.

  Walking out behind Edwards and Trevor, Harrigan hadn’t quite pulled the door shut when he heard the commissioner say, ‘Marvin. I want to discuss the way you handled yourself in that meeting. I expect better than that from my executive officers.’

  The tone of voice didn’t bode well. Harrigan walked away quickly, any residual pleasure at seeing Marvin slapped down expunged by the strangeness of his behaviour. The commissioner’s pervasive paranoia might simmer close to the surface but Marvin was usually as cold-blooded as they came.

  The complexities of this investigation were becoming hazardous. All Harrigan could do was protect himself and his people; anticipate what other people would feel, how they would act and, if need be, forestall them. He was a professional watcher, after all. What else was there for him to do with his life?

  8

  Outside in the corridor, Harrigan waited for the lift with Trevor and Edwards. Edwards’ adviser stood in the background, the invisible man.

  ‘Let me give you some free advice,’ Edwards said. ‘You should both watch your backs. Your special assistant commissioner has got it in for the two of you for some reason.’

  Trevor looked like he didn’t want to reply to this.

  ‘If I could ask you a question myself, Minister,’ Harrigan said quickly.

  ‘Go ahead.’

  ‘I understand you know a Dr Elena Calvo.’

  ‘I do. I consider her a friend. I was talking to her on the phone only this morning. She made me feel almost human. Why do you want to know?’

  ‘An employee of hers, a Sam Jonas, was waiting outside at Pittwater when I left yesterday. She was asking after you. Apparently, Dr Calvo was concerned for your welfare when you failed to appear at a meeting.’

  The elevator arrived and they stepped inside.

  ‘I don’t know that name,’ Edwards replied, frowning. ‘Did this person have a card?’

  ‘Yes, she did.’

  ‘Then she could easily be one of Elena’s security people. She’s a very security-conscious woman. I don’t think you need worry about that. We did have a meeting scheduled and I wasn’t there. Elena’s the CEO of a company I was instrumental in getting onshore here. A biotechnology corporation: Life Patent Strategies. Exactly the sort of thing we need in my opinion. What am I talking about? Of course, she mentioned you this morning. She saw you on TV last night. I told her I hoped to talk to you today. Apparently you’re on her list of investors.’

  ‘I requested some information. I haven’t made up my mind whether I intend to invest. It might look like a conflict of interest.’

  ‘Don’t be so scrupulous,’ Edwards replied. ‘You should invest, it’s a very fine company. I opened their facility at Campbelltown eight months ago myself. It’s an extraordinary building. At the time, it was one of the achievements of my career. If it burned down tomorrow, I don’t think I’d be able to care now.’

  ‘What kind of a woman is Dr Calvo?’ Harrigan asked after a pause.

  They had left the elevator. Edwards stopped to collect his thoughts.

  ‘She’s remarkable. Very competent, very intelligent, very attractive. And very, very driven. She has immense energy. I could use some of that now.’

  He looked exhausted, trying to draw out useful information from things that had ceased to have meaning for him. They were approaching the door to the incident room. Harrigan could hear the buzz.

  ‘I don’t think we need to go into the incident room, Minister,’ Trevor said. ‘There’s a conference room down here. You’ll be more comfortable there.’

  ‘What do you think I’m going to see in there that I won’t like?’ Edwards asked. ‘Why don’t I go and have a look?’

  With his adviser behind him, he walked quickly inside the room. Harrigan and Trevor followed. The room was crowded. Telephones rang, paper was accumulating in ever-growing piles on everyone’s desk, there was a sense of hurried activity. Edwards and his adviser walked over to the room’s whiteboard. There, as Harrigan had known it would be, was pinned a large, full-colour photograph of the Pittwater murder scene. The room became silent, people watched.

  ‘Were you afraid of me seeing this?’ Edwards asked. ‘You forget, I’ve seen it in real life. It was the first thin
g that came into my mind when I woke up this morning. I’ll probably die seeing it, whether I want to or not. Let me tell you, it can’t do anything to me on paper. It’s time for me to talk to your people. Who have you got organised?’

  ‘I’ll take you over and introduce you to them, Minister,’ Trevor said. ‘Can we get you some coffee? Maybe something to eat?’

  ‘Thank you. My adviser too. We’ve both been working most of the night. Thank you for your time, Commander. I’m sure I’ll speak to you again.’

  Edwards walked away with Trevor, his faithful adviser behind him. Not more than a few moments later, Marvin entered the room and came up to Harrigan.

  ‘Why did you bring the minister in here? Can’t you find him some better accommodation?’

  ‘He came in of his own accord. What are you doing here?’

  The level of noise in the room had increased as the members of the task force returned to their work. Marvin’s arrival quietened them again. Harrigan could see people staring in surprise at the arrival of so many heavyweights in their space. It would fuel the gossip for days.

  ‘I’ve come down here to see how your people are spending my money. Why wouldn’t I want to know that?’

  He turned and walked away quickly, going into Trevor’s office. Harrigan followed, angry at having to walk in Marvin’s footsteps. When he reached the office door, he saw Marvin flicking through the papers that covered Trevor’s desk.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

  ‘I’m your inspector’s senior officer. I can look through his desk if I want to. I’m paying for this and I want to be fully informed about what’s going on.’

  Trevor appeared in the doorway, still carrying the dossier the minister had given him in the commissioner’s office. At the sight of Marvin, blood rushed into his cheeks.

  ‘You’d better sit down, mate,’ Harrigan said. ‘It’s your office.’

  Before anyone could move, Marvin sat at Trevor’s desk.

  ‘Couldn’t you find somewhere better for the minister than a small room at the back of this badly ventilated mess of a place?’ he asked Trevor abruptly. ‘Who’s that you’ve got talking to him?’

  ‘Frankie’s dealing with him.’

  ‘Looking at her will put him off his lunch. Couldn’t you get someone more senior than her? Didn’t you recruit her? How do I know she’s any good?’

  ‘Frankie knows what she’s doing.’

  ‘It’s not whether you think that. It’s whether I do.’

  ‘No, that’s a question for me, Marvin,’ Harrigan intervened angrily. ‘What do you think you’re doing, talking to my inspector like this? Get up from that desk. Did God rip into you because you made a fool of yourself just now? Now you’re taking it out on us. Don’t bother. We’ve got work to do.’

  ‘The commissioner doesn’t rip into me. He listens to what I have to say. But he will rip into your inspector if he doesn’t do his job properly.’ Marvin turned back to Trevor, ignoring Harrigan. ‘The money’s mine. I expect you to run your operational decisions past me for my countersigning. If you want God on your side, you’d better start doing that today.’

  ‘No, mate,’ Harrigan interrupted. ‘You don’t make operational decisions. God said that was my responsibility and I’m not sharing it with you.’

  ‘You’re not here. You’re on leave.’

  ‘Nothing is going to happen on this job without me knowing about it. You can get that through your head right now.’

  Marvin looked at him silently for a few moments. Then he glanced around at the pictures of home and family on Trevor’s desk, at the Sydney Roosters football club scarf draped over the filing cabinet. In a relaxed way, he got up from behind the desk.

  ‘How do you know you can trust your inspector?’ he suddenly asked. ‘I’ve often heard it said that he’s an embarrassment to you.’

  ‘What did you say?’

  Trevor’s voice made it clear that he was close to losing it. Urgently, Harrigan signalled to him to stay silent.

  ‘You’ve never heard that from me, Marvin. You be very careful saying things like that.’

  ‘How do you know he’s not a security risk as well? Did he leak any of the information that’s in today’s papers? Was he paid for it? How much?’

  ‘You look me in the face when you say that kind of thing!’ Trevor almost shouted.

  ‘Quiet!’ Harrigan ordered. ‘You keep your scuttlebutt to yourself, Marvin. I have complete confidence in Trevor. I’ll say so to God whenever I’m asked to. But I don’t have to, do I? The minister said it himself.’

  ‘Aren’t you two golden-haired boys?’ Marvin spoke very softly. He moved closer to Harrigan. ‘It’s your career down the toilet if this goes belly up. You should be careful what you do and who you rely on.’

  ‘You know, Marvin, you never come down here to get your hands dirty. Why are you so interested all of a sudden? You must have a reason. Come on. Share it with me. I’d like to know.’

  ‘I told you. The money’s mine. I want to know how it’s spent.’

  Marvin walked out, the rest of the incident room silently watching him go. Trevor sat down at his desk and put his head in his hands. Unlike other offices in the building, Trevor’s office walls weren’t made of glass. People couldn’t see inside. Harrigan shut the door.

  ‘Don’t let him bait you like that again!’

  ‘Jesus, boss.’ Trevor rubbed his large forehead. His face and neck had turned a deep, dangerous red. ‘He’s getting to me. He’s been on my fucking back ever since I got here this morning. Where are we up to? What are we doing? He was down here bending my ear when his PA rang to tell him Edwards was here. I never saw anyone run out of here so fast in my life. Fucked if I know where that “security risk” stuff came from. I’m not letting him get away with saying that sort of thing about me.’

  ‘No, I told you. Don’t let him bait you. If you do, you’ll end up hanging yourself. That’s how he works. Take this and put it away with yours. Then get your head together. Tell me exactly what you told Marvin this morning.’

  Trevor locked both copies of the dossier away in his filing cabinet. Then he took a packet of tablets out of his desk drawer and swallowed one of them. Slowly the red flush faded from his face and neck. The big man suffered from hypertension. Too much pressure could put him in a hospital bed or worse. Did Marvin know this? Was it all part of the plan? Harrigan glanced at one of the photographs on the desk, just visible side on. Taken at a party sometime somewhere, it showed Trevor with his partner of eighteen years, Vincent, an accountant who had his own business at Randwick Junction. They were sitting side by side on a sofa, laughing. Harrigan reflected how pictures of the people who mattered to him were always hidden in his wallet. Trevor had never had any such qualms. He’d always said he was big enough and ugly enough to look after himself. Not if the Tooth had him in his sights.

  ‘What did I tell him?’ Trevor said. ‘It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours. I’m still trying to put a game plan together. I’ve got a forensic scientist coming in later in the week to have a look at the contract and tell us what it all means. I’ve got Stuart Morrissey coming in today, that’s something. I’m going to talk to him myself.’

  ‘Morrissey?’

  ‘He volunteered, would you believe? His lawyer rang the hotline just after the news broke last night. He wanted to see us as soon as we could fit him in.’

  ‘What are you going to ask him?’

  ‘We’re giving him a light dusting over. We’ll get serious when we’ve got our information sorted out. He’s due about now if you want to watch.’

  ‘I think I will.’

  ‘That’s it so far. I don’t even know how much money I’ve got. Marvin hasn’t fucking told me. He’s still working it out, he says.’

  ‘Can I use your phone?’ Harrigan reached over and rang the commissioner’s personal assistant. ‘It’s Paul Harrigan here, Chloe. The special assistant commissioner’s neglected to send a copy
of the preliminary budget to the task force. Has he given anything to the commissioner yet? Can you email a copy to Inspector Gabriel? If you could keep him informed as well. Thanks.’ He hung up. ‘She’s not stupid. She’ll keep you up to speed if Marvin wants to play games. You’ve got that dossier to get started on now.’

  ‘I’ll get a team on it,’ Trevor said. ‘We’ll have to work fast. If that is a secret service dossier, they’ll take it off us as soon as they know we’ve got it. Meantime, God is calling in the PIC. What else can happen?’

  ‘If the PIC do find anything, all hell will break loose,’ Harrigan said. ‘The hares are running, mate. I don’t know where they’ll finish up.’

  ‘This feels fucking dirty. I hate it when you don’t know who you can trust and who you can’t.’

  ‘We walk through the minefields carefully. Here’s something else I want you to look into.’ Harrigan handed over Sam Jonas’s card. ‘This is the woman who was waiting for me when I left Pittwater yesterday. She was asking far too many questions.’

  ‘This is the one who works for this Elena Calvo?’

  ‘That’s right. Find out what you can about Jonas and Calvo and check out Calvo’s connection to the minister. See if it’s got anything to do with this job or not.’

  ‘Sure thing. What’s this about you investing in Calvo’s company?’

  ‘I’m not investing in her company. I got them to send me some information. That’s it.’

  ‘It was just a question, boss.’

  ‘Don’t get any funny ideas, mate.’

  Trevor held up his hands in a gesture of appeasement. There was a knock on the door. At Trevor’s call it was opened by one of his senior people, Ralph, looking cadaverous in his cheap suit.

  ‘Old Stewie’s here with his lawyer. Are you ready to go?’

  ‘Ready and willing. I got a bit of extra info this morning, mate, so if I drop it into the questioning, can you go with it?’