by Ian W Taylor
*
FRIDAY - CANBERRA
Percy Usifail was having trouble staying awake. He’d been sitting on a park bench with his camera on his knee for four hours watching people coming and going into the post box area at the Manuka Post Office. He had picked a location where he had a good view of the foot traffic going into the area but wouldn’t be noticed himself. So far he hadn’t recognised anyone and was beginning to think that Helen Kwang had sent him on a wild goose chase. It was now getting dark and, although the area was well lit, it was becoming more difficult to recognise faces.
Suddenly, a large black Holden Commodore pulled up outside the post office and Percy noticed the car had government registration plates. A large ruddy-faced man got out of the car. Percy started clicking his camera. The man disappeared into the post box area and came back a few minutes later with a large green envelope in his hand. The addressee on the envelope in big bold letters was “Ruby Resources” and was clearly visible. Percy smiled as he recognised the man. He took some more shots as the car drove away.
As Percy walked triumphantly into the Canberra offices of the National he could see Helen in earnest discussions in the boardroom talking to senior management.
Helen was explaining to senior managers and the editorial team the contents of her first article on ‘Jabirugate’ as she called it. She had submitted it to her editor earlier in the day and had provided copies for each of the people around the table. In view of the explosive nature of the allegations, the Editor-in-Chief had involved senior management and the paper’s legal team. Initially she had wanted to run with the story on the rare earths contract in the same edition but because of its sensitivity the Editor-in-Chief wanted to check with top levels of government before agreeing to publish it. However they were prepared to run immediately with the story over corruption in the Kakadu Land Council and the link to the hit-run murder of Barry Buckstone. In the article she outlined the payments made by Northern Consulting to a trustee company owned by Bert O’Shea, the President of the Land Council. There was enough evidence to suggest that the O’Shea had been bribed to secure his support for the development of the Jabiru mine. The article also made a link to the death of Barry Buckstone who had threatened to expose the bribery payments. After some questions, the meeting broke up, having agreed to run the article in the next day’s edition.
Helen returned to her office to see Percy sitting in her office grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“Take a look at these beauties.” Percy thrust his camera at her.
Helen eyes widened as she clicked through the view finder and saw the familiar face of Malcolm Crichton holding an envelope with Ruby Resources written across it.
“Wow, so Jake was right. Crichton’s involved with Ruby Resources. These photos don’t prove anything in themselves but they sure cast suspicion over Crichton.”
She looked up at Percy. “You’ve done well Percy. You might have another photo on the front page of the paper shortly.”
Percy beamed at the praise from Helen. He reckoned he was already a chance to get a Walkley award, the premier Australian awards for journalism and photography, for his pictures of the train wreck at Jabiru. He waddled out of the room as she picked up her phone to dial her contact at the post office.
