‘So she knows where it’s going to be.’ Nick managed to get the end of the duct tape free. He pulled out a length and started to tape Bad Ben’s ankles together. ‘And she’s told Trent a furphy.’
Nick wasn’t getting it. It felt like fingers were around my heart, slowly crushing it. I could hardly breathe from the pain.
‘Chanel?’ Martine rubbed my back as I leaned over.
‘They know,’ I wheezed. ‘They know Billy is under cover.’ He could already be dead.
‘Whoa, Chanel. Don’t go there.’ Nick straightened up from taping up Bad Ben. ‘Billy needs you rational. Not all churned up about something that hasn’t happened.’
Yet, was the unspoken word. But he was right. I needed to remain calm. I needed to have hope that they wouldn’t finish him till after the job was done. And now we held the pieces of the puzzle that would allow us to save him.
I took a couple of deep breaths while I struggled with my panic. I couldn’t get rid of it so I pushed it to the side in my brain and ignored it. If the worst came to worst, I would give it free reign.
‘Martine.’ I sat back up. ‘Tell us what you know about this nappy shipment tomorrow.’
‘It arrived from China two days ago. It was clearing customs today.’
There was a knock on the door.
‘Shit,’ I said.
‘Pizza,’ Nick said.
We looked at the room. Drugs lay scattered everywhere around an unconscious Big Bad Ben. It did not look good.
The next knock was louder.
‘I’ll get it,’ Martine said.
I watched as she opened the door a crack. ‘Oh hello, big boy.’ She blocked the pizza boy’s view through the door with her body. ‘We’re having a special party in here and we could use a man like you. Would you like to come and join me and my friends?’
She opened the door as three pizza boxes were shoved into her hands. ‘Come back if you change your mind,’ she called after the fleeing pizza boy. She shut the door and turned to face us. ‘Of course we’ll never be able to use that Pizzeria again, but small price to pay.’ She shrugged and placed the pizzas on the kitchen bench top.
Nick licked his lips and looked from Big Bad Ben to the boxes.
‘He could wake at any time.’ I knelt down next to him. ‘I think we should put him in the recovery position so he can breathe.
‘He’s going to find it difficult breathing around your knickers,’ Nick said.
‘Why my knickers? Why can’t we use a tea towel?’
‘Knickers are more fun, but fine, if you want to be all prudish about it we’ll use a tea towel.’
I grabbed a tea towel from the drawers and handed it to Nick. He shoved some into Bad Ben’s mouth and taped it into place.
I helped him roll the man onto his side. We bent his knees and pulled his hands behind his back so we could tape them together.
‘I can’t eat with him there,’ Martine said. ‘His face is freaky enough, but any minute now he’s going to open his eyes.’
‘Let’s put him over under the stairs.’ Nick grabbed his feet and started to pull. ‘Geez, he’s heavy.’
‘Here.’ I grabbed his arms and hauled as hard as I could. Between us we managed to move him an inch.
‘Oh for goodness sake, put some back into it,’ Martine said as she grabbed his legs.
With her help we dragged him over to the staircase. We positioned him so his back was to us, and then, as an afterthought, I hung a sheet from the handrail to block our view of him.
‘That’s better.’ Martine nodded in approval.
I grabbed the broom from the pantry and swept the entire mess of drugs and shards of plate and bottle over to the bin. I left a slushy champagne mess in my wake which Martine dried up with a towel.
We grabbed a pizza each and took up our conversation where we had left off.
‘How are they getting the drugs past customs?’ Martine took a bite of her Vegetarian pizza.
‘It’s the chemical that gives it the blue colouring,’ I said. ‘It neutralises the scent so the dogs can’t smell it.’
‘Give me the details of the drop off.’ I nipped at a strand of mozzarella with my teeth. It was good pizza.
‘The trucks are picking up the nappies at the wharf in Botany Bay at 9.30 A.M. They are expecting the trucks to arrive about an hour and a half later.’
‘Where exactly is the warehouse?’
‘It’s in Randwick. It backs onto the racecourse there.’
I grabbed my phone and opened Google Maps. ‘Where is it?’ I held my phone out to Martine.
‘It sits on this street here.’
I stared at it. ‘Much cover up that street?’
Martine took another bite while she considered my question. Finally, she shook her head. ‘It’s all warehouses with six foot wire fences. They’ll see us coming a mile off.’
‘So we’re going to have to come over the back,’ I said. ‘The question is, how are we going to get onto the racecourse undetected. I’m pretty sure there will be security cameras everywhere.’
Nick looked up from his pizza. ‘Are we are talking about The Randwick Racecourse?’
‘Yeah. Do you know that area?’ Martine asked.
‘Nope.’ Nick bit into his pizza. ‘But I know how we can get access to the racecourse.’ He looked up and said, ‘Thank you, Lord.’
‘What are you talking about?’ I asked.
Nick’s smile was triumphant. ‘Tomorrow, at half past ten at the Randwick Racecourse, the first Miss Muddy contestants will cross the start line.’
***
‘Just ring him already,’ Nick said.
I grimaced. ‘I’m trying to work out what to say.’
‘How about, “Hey Trent, your girlfriend is the rat and tomorrow’s drop off is not where she told you.”’
‘Oh yeah.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘That’s going to go down like a tonne of bricks.’
He looked at his watch. ‘It’s getting late.’
I let out a huff of air. He was right. There was no other way. We needed the Tactical Group to be there. I was going to have to tell Trent about Gloria. An ache set up in my chest. Like the poor guy hadn’t been hurt enough in the last six months.
I rang Trent’s number and held the phone to my ear, trying to ignore the fact that my hand was trembling.
‘Hello.’ It was a woman’s voice. Gloria’s voice.
I let out a screech and hung up.
‘What?’ Both Martine and Nick said together.
‘It was her,’ I hissed. ‘What should I do?’
‘Ring back and ask for Trent.’ Nick rolled his eyes like it was the obvious answer.
‘What if she’s suspicious?’
‘She’s going to be suspicious if you don’t ring back,’ Martine said. ‘I’m guessing he has your number in his phone.’
Shit. She was right.
‘Besides,’ Nick said. ‘This is life and death, and I’m not talking about our lives when I say that.’
Billy. He was talking about Billy.
I clenched my teeth as I dialled back. It was going to take every bit of acting skill I had to be nice to that bitch.
‘Hello? Chanel?’
‘Oh hey, Gloria. You wouldn’t believe it, a huge spider just ran up my leg as I rang. Urghhhhhh.’ I shuddered. ‘One of those huge, hairy ones.’
‘Huntsmen?’
‘Yeah. One of those.’
‘Oh, yuck. I hate those things.’
‘I’ll have nightmares tonight. Hey, is Trent there?’
‘Sure. What shall I say you are calling about?’
I let out a screech and hung up again.
I turned to Nick and Martine. ‘She wants to know what to tell him I’m calling about.’
‘What is she?’ Martine said. ‘His secretary?’
‘Tell her you’re apologising for your Mum’s behaviour today,’ Nick said.
I nodded as I dialled back. ‘Stupid spider,’ I said wh
en she picked up. ‘Thought it was dead. You know they can still crawl with only five legs.’
‘I’m sure they can crawl with only one,’ she said.
There was silence for a few seconds. ‘Ummmm. Trent?’ I said.
‘Oh yes, sorry what was it about?’
‘Oh, I wanted to apologise to him for today. At the ceremony. It’s my Mum. She can be a little insensitive sometimes.’
‘Oh.’ Her tone was frosty. ‘Sure. I’ll get him.’
I could hear murmuring and then Trent said, ‘Yellow.’
‘Trent,’ I said. ‘I need you to listen to what I have to say and only answer me with yes and no. Do you understand?’
‘Urrr. Yes,’ he said.
‘Gloria thinks I am apologising for Mum’s behaviour today. That’s not why I rang. Did Gloria tell you where the drop off is going to be tomorrow?’
‘Yes but….’ He stopped.
‘Is it in Randwick?’
‘No.’
‘She’s lying. Ring me when she can’t hear you talk. Now say, “That’s okay. It didn’t worry me.”’
‘That’s okay.’ His voice was stilted. ‘It didn’t worry me.’
‘That’s great,’ I said. ‘Have a good weekend.’ I hung up. If I stayed on too long she might get suspicious.
‘Urghmmmmmthmm.’ The noise was accompanied by thumping.
Martine let out a squeal and we all turned to the staircase.
Big Bad Ben was awake and had managed to flip over. The sheet was tangled around his legs so we could see his eyes. They promised a long and painful death.
‘Thwraaghhhh.’ He thrashed so that his legs smacked on the ground.
‘Do you think they’ll be able to hear him next door?’ Martine asked.
‘It’s more downstairs we need to worry about,’ Nick said. ‘Who lives underneath?’
‘Bert Samson,’ I said. ‘He put in a noise complaint with the owner when I had the girls round one night.’
‘Gwaaaarrrrghhhhhh.’ Bad Ben flopped up and down like a dying fish.
‘Maybe we should move him up to my apartment?’ At least we know the tenant below won’t complain.’ Martine let out a little laugh.
I stared at Ben. ‘We could hardly shift him when he was unconscious,’ I said. ‘Imagine if he was fighting us.’
‘There’s only one option,’ Nick picked the duct tape up. ‘We need to turn him into the Michelin Man.’
‘Huh,’ Martine said.
‘You know the ad? For Michelin Tyres?’
Martine shook her head.
‘Geez. What rock in what universe have you been living under?’
‘No need to be rude about it. Just tell me what this Michelin Man is.’
Nick looked up to the roof and sighed. ‘Fine. Michelin Man is the mascot for the Michelin Tyre Company. He is puffy and looks like a whole heap of tyres stacked on top of each other.’
‘Now who’s being silly?’ Martine rolled her eyes. ‘Where are we going to get tyres from?’
Nick picked up one of the cushions off the couch. ‘I’m not planning on using tyres.’
‘Not the pretty sequinned ones,’ I said.
‘Toots, you got other cushions stashed away somewhere?’
‘No.’ I stuck out my bottom lip.
‘Cause we’re going to need them all if we are going to muffle this noise.’
Bad Ben had been screaming into the gag and flopping around the whole time we’d been talking.
‘You really want that little turd Bert calling the cops?’
The drugs were sitting in a bowl on my coffee table like aperitifs.
‘No.’ I picked up the cushions and stalked over to Ben. ‘Shut up,’ I said as I whacked him with one. ‘This is your own stupid fault.’
He growled and lunged at me and I scooted out of the way.
‘Feisty,’ Martine said. ‘Just how I like my men. Oh please, Chanel.’ She turned to me and clasped her hands to her chest. ‘Let me play with him first.’
Ben’s murderous eyes changed to that of alarm. ‘Mffhmmmhhmmh,’ he said as he wriggled backwards.
‘I’ll think about it,’ I said to her. ‘If he doesn’t start behaving you can have him.’
‘Oh goody.’ She clapped her hands together. ‘I have this wonderful gimp outfit he would look amazing in.’
I turned away so Bad Ben couldn’t see the look on my face. I was having a hard time not laughing at the look on his.
‘Chanel. You got much more of this tape?’ Nick asked.
‘I bought a six pack.’ I tilted my head to the side and tapped my lower lip thoughtfully. ‘Do you think that would be enough?’
‘Oh yes.’ Martine laughed. ‘I used to be able to control my last gimp with only two rolls.’
‘You going to behave, Boy?’ Nick knelt down in front of Ben and snapped the piece of duct tape a couple of times. ‘Cause this here tape could hold you steady in some pretty awkward positions.’
Big Bad Ben’s face was a mask of terror as he nodded up and down.
‘Still going to Michelin him?’ I asked.
‘Nah. I think he’ll behave himself.’
‘Oh, pity.’ Martine walked over and bent down to place a cushion under his head. His eyes bulged as she ran a finger down his cheek. ‘He’s such a pretty one.’
I jumped as the disco beat of my phone ringing broke out. Shit. It was Trent.
‘Are you alone?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ he whispered. ‘You have two minutes to explain yourself.’ The vast echo told me he was in the bathroom.
‘Big Bad Ben paid me a visit tonight.’
‘Who is that?’
‘The Crystal’s right hand man. I told Gloria about him. She didn’t arrest him. She told him where I lived.’
‘He told you this?’
‘No.’
There was silence. I could feel myself losing him.
‘While he was trying to kill me, Martine hit him with a nappy. It burst. It was full of drugs. Blue drugs.’
‘What has this got to do with Gloria?’ he whispered her name so I almost couldn’t hear it.
‘The nappy was part of Christina Wong’s prototype.’
‘The nappy queen?’
‘Martyn is doing her accounts now.’
‘The nappy queen gave Martyn a nappy full of drugs?’
‘No.’ I cleared my throat. ‘He stole it. We wanted to see how much fluid it could hold.’
I could almost hear Trent gritting his teeth. ‘You know you are making no sense at all?’
‘Look. Martyn saw Gloria at Christina’s. We know there is a drug shipment coming in tomorrow. There is also a nappy shipment coming in tomorrow. There are drugs in the nappies. You do the math, Trent.’
‘I still don’t see how….’ His hiss turned to a loving tone. ‘Coming love.’ He was silent for a second. ‘I have to go.’ It sounded like he was squeezing the bridge of his nose.
‘Trent,’ I said. ‘Billy’s life is in danger. We need the Tactical Group at Christina’s warehouse.’
‘I have to go.’ His voice was like ice as he hung up.
‘Shit.’ I turned to Nick and Martine. ‘He doesn’t believe me.’
‘I don’t know if I would have believed you either,’ Nick said. ‘I mean when you hear the story like that, it’s all circumstantial evidence.’
I put the phone down and rubbed at my temples with my hands. A headache was blooming. ‘He confirmed that the location she gave him is false.’ I looked at Martine. ‘Do you have any ice cream? I could really use some ice cream.’
‘Oh, what a good idea. We can have an ice cream planning party.’ She looked over at Bad Ben. ‘Would you like some ice cream? I could spoon feed you.’
He shook his head frantically and then closed his eyes.
‘Too bad.’ She grinned at me as she shrugged. ‘More for us I suppose.’
***
I tapped my foot on the floor. The night had been a long one with
hardly any sleep. We had taken shifts watching Bad Ben, but even when it was my turn to sleep I couldn’t.
As soon as my head touched the pillow the panic had taken control of my imagination. Billy had died a thousand times and each time, there had been nothing I could do about it.
I wrapped my hands around my coffee mug and took another sip. The Nurofen was controlling my headache, but not doing anything for the ragged pain in my chest.
‘Here you go,’ Martine put a plate of reheated pizza in front of me.
I stared at it.
‘You have to eat,’ she said. ‘Can’t have you passing out with fatigue during The Muddy.’ We had managed to get last minute tickets online.
‘What time does it start again?’ I picked up the pizza and sniffed at it.
’Ten-thirty.’ Nick rubbed his hands together. ‘Only three hours to go.’
‘Shit.’ I put the pizza down and scrabbled for my phone. ‘I’m meant to be picking Mum and Harry up to take them to the airport at ten-thirty.’
I didn’t want to call her. It would lead to far too many questions. So I sent her a text.
I can’t give you any details other than to say that a work thing has come up. Billy needs me. I won’t be able to take you to the airport. Sorry for the late notice. Love you both. Xxxx
Martine was right. I needed to eat. And then we needed to get ready.
I picked up the pizza and bit into it. It was just as good as the night before.
‘Hey, Big Boy.’ Martine nudged Bad Ben with her foot. ‘You want some food?’
The only movement Bad Ben made was to squeeze his eyes even more tightly shut.
‘Right.’ I put my plate in the sink and turned to my partners in crime. ‘I’m going to work. You get ready.’
‘We know what to do.’ Nick picked up the duct tape and moved over to Ben. He secured the man’s feet to the bottom post supporting the stairs.
Martine picked up the bowl of drugs and the note we had prepared last night and put them on the floor in front of Ben.
This is Big Bad Ben, the drug dealer. He tried to kill me last night. Please take him into custody and I will come in to make a statement when I have finished dealing with the rest of the gang.
Probationary Constable Chanel Smith.
Billy Page 22
