Facing the Music

by Brian Smith

  ‘We suspect the sling was damaged in the first place,’ Mike spat at him, getting to his feet. A voice within told him not to mention any of Bob Kennedy’s suspicions and he retained enough composure to listen to the warning. ‘They should have found it, but your delegate distracted them with one of his silly stunts.’

  Reardon, whose height meant he continued to look down at Mike, said, ‘Didn’t turn out silly though, did it? Can I see the sling?’

  ‘No, WorkSafe have it.’

  ‘When we get right down to it, all you bosses are the same. You cut corners, skimp on safety, and when you get a problem, try to find someone else to blame.’

  ‘That might be the way others work, but it’s not our way and we have the track record over many years to prove it.’

  The response came from a short, thick-set man of florid complexion now standing in the doorway, his round, pugnacious face framed by remnants of ginger hair at either side of his bald head.

  Reardon turned to regard him and used the same words with which he had been greeted by Mike the day before, ‘And you are?’

  ‘If you’d been around for more than five minutes you’d know I’m Vern McKenzie,’ he replied. ‘What you don’t know is that as of this morning I’m the acting MD of this company. But I know you, Alan Reardon, the man who had to be shifted out of WA and be found a slot in another state. Do your homework before you start throwing accusations around. Meanwhile …’ He paused to signal a change of tack. ‘I’m here in my new role for a briefing from the project manager, so I suggest you get back to Riverside where I hear you’re spending a lot of your time.’

  ‘I’ll take a personal interest in the WorkSafe report on this,’ Reardon replied, but his voice had lost its sting. When there was no response, he pushed past Vern and was gone.

  Mike sat with an amused smile as he watched him go. ‘Sit down, Vern. Have you been chatting with George Fowler again?’

  ‘You know George and I go way back. We’re both survivors. He’s one of the few union bosses I’ve ever trusted.’

  Vern twisted his head and lifted his chin to indicate the departed Reardon. ‘I’m told that young Turk got himself into strife in Perth and George has given him a chance here. You wouldn’t think it to see or hear him, but the fire-eating state secretary of the Building and Construction Union can be a kindly soul. Watch your step with Reardon, though. I bet he’s out to make a name for himself over here. I don’t know why, but he’s taking a lot of interest in Riverside. Best for us he stays there.’

  ‘So you’re taking over as MD?’

  ‘Jim insisted. Just while Ben is laid up. I hope it won’t be for long.’

  ‘Have you heard how Ben is? I tried the hospital but they said he wasn’t a patient.’ Mike didn’t mention his brief conversation with Jacqui.

  ‘He’s in the Alfred. Jim told me cracked ribs and possibly some internal injuries they’re not sure about yet.’ Vern scratched at the ruddy flesh on the side of his face. ‘A funny business. All Ben can remember is you coming up behind him. You were the only one to see what happened and, from what I’ve heard, were pretty vague as well, although you say there was a black SUV involved. You must have seen more than you told the police.’

  ‘It was pelting with rain and happened so quickly,’ Mike replied defensively. Vern was starting to sound like one of the cops.

  Vern regarded him carefully. ‘Come on, Mike. Best you tell me the truth. I know you’d had a row with Ben. Did you see the chance to let off some steam and give him a fright but got too close? Was that how it happened?’

  ‘No, I’ve told you what happened and that’s the truth, although the family seems to have decided it was me. Have you come to fire me?’

  Vern scowled at him. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘You already know Ben and I had a row yesterday before his accident. I reacted when he said I wasn’t up to the job and only got it in the first place because I was your favourite.’

  ‘He said that?’

  ‘Not quite in those words, but that’s what he meant, and he said quite a bit else, including that he was thinking of taking over here himself, and would decide overnight. If he believes it was me who ran him down that’ll settle it.’

  ‘I’m not here to fire you.’ Vern gave a small, uncharacteristic smile and added, ‘Not yet anyway. Now tell me about the faulty sling.’

  Mike was part way into an account of yesterday’s accident when Vern interrupted. ‘Let’s get to the point. I made sure you were made project manager so we would have someone on site who I could trust to make up for the lack of any real construction experience in our MD and our architect. But you’ve been plagued by blunders lately. What’s going on?’

  ‘We think we’re being got at.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The sling had been tampered with and we think some of our other recent problems were the result of someone trying to sabotage the project. We also think Ted Horton is involved.’

  ‘The union delegate?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Bullshit.’

  Mike blinked at the strength of Vern’s response. ‘George Fowler vouched for him when he came on to this project. You sure you’re not trying to cover up your own mistakes? Maybe Reardon was right.’

  Vern gave a deep sigh. ‘I told you I didn’t want to take over. Particularly, I didn’t want to be saddled with this project. It’s the wrong option at the wrong time and we’ve borrowed heavily on it, putting the whole company at risk. Now, when our backers are getting nervous, the man who dreamed up the project and insisted it was our great leap forward, gets himself into hospital.’

  ‘But Ben told me last week it’s selling well.’

  ‘You’ve seen the figures,’ Vern scoffed. ‘Off the plan sales have been steady but not spectacular. The budget was always too tight and by taking on the development as well as the construction risk we’re more dependent on the money men than ever before. You should know that. What do you sit in on the finance meetings for if you don’t pay attention? Now with some competition …’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean Riverside.’

  ‘But they’re upmarket from us. That’s the beauty of this project, feeding off them.’

  Vern shook his head. ‘You’ve really swallowed Ben’s pitch, haven’t you? Always the salesman. What if Riverside comes down to meet us? Have you thought of that?’

  ‘What have you heard?’

  Vern sat back as though retreating. ‘Look, I’m not saying we shouldn’t get into the development game. We could have put our toe in the water with a smaller project, a safe one like those we built the company on, not this one, the first high-rise residential we’ve ever done. Now we have a man with little experience leading us down the most ambitious road we’ve ever tried, putting at risk the company we’ve spent years building.’

  Vern’s voice dropped and Mike was unsure whether he was continuing to address him or had lapsed into a reverie of his own. ‘Jim was a fool to bring Ben straight in as MD and now we’re in trouble he wants me to sort things out for him like I’ve done so often before. Why should I bother? It’s a pity whoever put Ben in hospital didn’t put him properly out of action. Perhaps having him out of the way for a while will give us a chance to put things right, but he’ll be back ruining things again.’

  Mike could not believe what he was hearing. Never before had Vern voiced the slightest criticism of Jim to Mike or anyone else and, despite the provocation, had adopted the same stance towards Ben. Vern looked up to see Mike observing him and passed his hand across his lips as if wiping them clean. ‘But I was talking about Riverside. They have a totally different set-up. Angelo Rossi, he knows how to do it.’

  ‘The boss of Rubicon Development?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Vern nodded and screwed up his eyes as if focussing on a distant scene. ‘One time Angelo’s company was a small construction firm, smaller than us. He didn’t jump into the Riverside project str
aight off like Ben’s trying to do.’

  ‘Come on Vern,’ Mike objected. ‘Riverside is huge. CityView is not even the size of one of their towers.’

  Vern paid him no attention, his gaze still far off. ‘Angelo started small and had no need to find backers with big money like we’ve had to do. Then, when he’d reached the stage where he needed that kind of support, he hit the jackpot, married into it.’

  Mike laughed. ‘Is she rich as well? Angelo and Carla, the glamour couple of the building industry. Lissa showed me an article on them in New Idea about six months ago. They had photographs of the pair of them at their holiday pad, the other side of Flinders. Quite a place! My dad was over with us at the time and he said she reminded him of Sophia Loren, the Italian actress all the men of his age get randy about.’

  ‘Don’t know about that,’ Vern growled. ‘I do know Carla’s the daughter of Mario Mancini, the owner of Mancini Transport, who’s made a bundle from real estate, as well. He looks and acts like a pillar of society these days but it wasn’t always that way and they say he still has his finger in many pies, from the highest level of government down. Mario had the money and the connections to set Angelo on his way to the top. That’s how he got control of all that land in the Docklands and funded the Riverside development. He’s done very well.’

  Mike had never heard Vern speak of anyone in the admiring tones he was using to describe Angelo Rossi. Vern’s admiring tone persisted.

  ‘And Angelo never stands still. So what would you do if you were in his position?

  ‘What?’

  ‘With the gloss gone off the luxury end of the market, I bet he’s holding quite a few unsold units in the last completed tower and the next stage is starting to come out of the ground already. So I’d also bet he’ll be looking to revamp that stage to appeal to just the punters we’re pitching to. If Ben can see an opportunity I’m damn sure Angelo will see it too. That’s why they’ve slowed the work over there.’

  Mike went to explain he had noticed the slower tempo in the sounds he heard when he walked past the site but Vern had not finished. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s why Reardon is spending so much of his time over there.’

  ‘Has George Fowler told you this?’

  ‘Our only hope is if we can finish CityView before Riverside takes the market away from us. So you’d better get your act together and have this site humming along to completion ahead of time, before Riverside can change course. And ahead of budget, before our bankers have any more second thoughts. Meanwhile, I’d better check on our other sites. At least we know what we’re doing with them and I don’t see any problems.’ He turned to leave, tossing over his shoulder, ‘Make sure you let me know the minute there are any new developments.’

  Mike sat trying to come to terms with the sudden change Vern had undergone. Everyone knew Vern and Jim did not always agree, but Vern’s fierce loyalty to Jim meant he never mentioned a word of those differences to anyone else. Not anymore. What had caused the turnaround? And the way he poured the bucket on Ben? Mike was brought from his musings when Bob Kennedy poked his head in the door. ‘Got a minute?’

  ‘Only if you’ve got some good news.’

  ‘Good and bad. Depends how you look at it.’

  He sat down opposite Mike, who stared at him enquiringly.

  ‘You told me to keep an eye on Ted Horton. I thought I’d go a bit further and recruited a few of the blokes I trust.’ Seeing the concern on Mike’s face, he hastened to add, ‘You know Rocko, Matt and Bluey; they’ve been with Findlay’s a long time and they’re rock solid loyal to the firm.’

  He gave a small grin. ‘Actually it’s really Jim Findlay they’d go to the wall for – he’s always treated us like one of the family. Bit early yet, but maybe they’ll feel like that about you one day. I can’t see Ben’ll ever make it. Anyway, when I hinted at my worries about Ted, they opened up to me. Just lately, he’s been bad mouthin’ all of us as well as tryin’ to stir up trouble. They’re pissed off with him, but I told them to play along and see what they could get out of him. That’s what they did in the pub after work yesterday.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘Not much. Not to them. They told me he seemed pretty shaken up by what happened to Joe and Paddy – sort of as though he was somehow to blame – but when they tried to press him, he started goin’ on about safety on the site – the usual stuff he’s been pushin’.’

  Mike showed his frustration by squaring his shoulders and drawing in a deep breath.

  ‘Hold on,’ Bob continued. ‘He took a call on his mobile and the first thing he said to the caller was that two of our blokes were in hospital. Whatever the guy on the other end said brought him up sharp and he went into that smarmy routine of his – agreein’ a lot with whatever was said to him. Finally he said, “OK, Bruno, six o’clock at the Hibernian.” He left soon after and the guys gave me a call to tell me what happened. I know that pub, it’s not far from my place, and I reckoned it might be interestin’ to see who the shit was meetin’ up with. I got there in plenty o’ time and waited across the street for him to arrive. It was bucketin’ down and I was worried I’d miss him, but I didn’t want to wait inside in case he saw me. Anyway, I did spot him and went in after him. It was pretty crowded so I could get quite close to him where he had his back to me. He had to wait a while but eventually the other bloke turned up – a stocky thug with a shaved head and tatts; looked like he was in one of them bikie gangs. I couldn’t hear what Ted was sayin’ because he had his back to me and was talkin’ soft. No problem with Bruno. He was really gettin’ stuck into Ted. “Yeah, well I was fuckin’ busy knockin’ over a sittin’ duck,” was the first thing he said. “You’ll hear about it tomorrow”.’

  ‘Did he mean Ben?’ Mike asked.

  ‘Ben?’

  ‘Oh, you haven’t heard? Ben was hit by a car, when riding his bike home last night. A hit-run. He’s in hospital and Vern McKenzie is acting as MD. I was coming along behind and saw the SUV that did it. Didn’t get his number though.’

  Bob scratched his chin. ‘Yeah, well, I guess it might have been this Bruno bloke. He didn’t say any more about that, but gave it to Ted. Told him he was piss weak and had no guts. I don’t know what Ted said back but Bruno threatened him – somethin’ about he’d been well paid and if he tried to get off now he’d end up in deep shit. You can see he’s a lovely guy for Ted to be playin’ with.’

  ‘Where’s the good news?’ Mike asked impatiently.

  ‘I’m just gettin’ to that. The guy said somethin’ about being on a roll, no time to stop, and asked Ted what they could do next. Again, I couldn’t hear Ted, but Bruno said, “Yeah, you don’t need to get worried some fucker is goin’ to get hurt and I know where we can get bloody good cash for stuff like that. Tomorrow night. I’ll meet you here at ten.” I couldn’t tell what Ted said but I don’t reckon he was too keen because the thug said, “Can’t be that much to set it up. You’ve got all day tomorrow, ya bludger.” Then he gave Ted an evil grin and said. “Don’t let me down, Ted. I’d hate to lose you, ya little arsehole”.’

  ‘I wonder if they’re after our electric cable. We’ve just had a delivery ready for the sparkies to get moving on the lower floors.’

  ‘Yeah, you could be right,’ Bob said. ‘Don’t forget the fittin’s. I hear there’s a good market for that stuff these days. We need some extra security on the site. Those patrols are just too easy to avoid. Look what Ted and his pal have done already with security seein’ nothin’.’

  ‘No. If we do that Ted’ll find out. You know how rumours spread around here.’

  ‘So, what are you goin’ t’do?’

  ‘We are going to wait for them to arrive and catch them at it.’

  ‘You don’t think we should have one or two of our guys with us?’

  ‘No, we have to keep this tight or we’ll warn them off.’ Mike grinned and added, ‘Worried about handling Bruno, are you?’

  He knew this w
ould stir Bob, who was said to have been a good boxer in his youth and still boasted he could handle any of the guys on site who tried to give him lip.

  Bob shrugged his shoulders. ‘It wasn’t me I was worried about. I can handle the bikie, no problem. I guess you can look after Ted – the little runt.’

  He stood up to leave, but turned to face Mike again. ‘I had to make some changes in the crewin’ so we could keep on with the southern crane. Weasel-voice wanted it shut down until WorkSafe finish their investigation, but I told him to get stuffed and, for a change, he didn’t argue back. Backs up the idea he had a hand in yesterday’s sling failure and feels bad about it.’

  ‘You can ask him after we nab him tonight.’

  Vern McKenzie was sitting at his desk, reading the phone messages Freda had presented to him on his return to the office, when his mobile rang. He did not recognise the number of the caller. ‘Yeah,’ he said irritably.

  ‘Pity about your MD being put out of action.’

  Vern’s face soured further. He didn’t know this voice and he was careful to give his mobile number only to a select few – mostly key people at Findlay’s – and never to strangers.

  ‘Who is this?’

  ‘You can call me Ivan.’

  Vern did not imagine a burly Russian was speaking to him. This man’s voice was higher, his slight accent more middle European and the rhythm of his speech somehow conveyed to Vern a picture of a short, rather fastidious person.

  ‘I have a strong interest in the affairs of Findlay Construction. You’re going through a very bad patch – questions from your bankers, problems at CityView and two of your workers and your MD himself, all in hospital. Now you are in charge, an overdue recognition of your talent.’

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘It would be in all our interests, particularly your personal interest, for us to meet. I have some proposals to put to you.’