by Peter Corris
My mobile rang as soon as I started the car. It was a nurse at the hospital where Kev was being treated. She said that Mr Roseberry’s condition had deteriorated and that he wanted to see me urgently. He’d asked the medical staff to hold off on palliative medication until my visit.
‘It’s that bad?’ I said.
‘I’m afraid so.’
I drove to the hospital and was ushered into Kev’s room. A man I didn’t know was there with Kev’s doctor, who I had met, and a nurse. Kev was propped up in the bed and the life seemed to be leaking out of him. His voice was a croak.
‘Sorry to rush you, mate. Is she alive, Marie?’
‘Yes, Kev.’
‘And the kid?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’s all I needed. You’ll do the right thing, I know. Okay, let’s get this bloody thing signed. This is Ed Stewart, Cliff. He’s a solicitor and pretty honest for a lawyer. That’s a joke, Ed.’
Stewart smiled dutifully and produced a document that he, Kev and the nurse signed. The effort seemed to drain Kev to the dregs. He held out a hand and I shook it, gently. ‘Ed’ll explain it to you, mate. I knew I could count on you and …’
A spasm shook him and robbed him of the power of speech. He nodded at the doctor and closed his eyes. The nurse shepherded Stewart and me out of the room. We stood in silence outside the door for a second before walking away.
‘I hope I’m up to making a joke as I go out,’ Stewart said.
‘Me, too.’
We went into a waiting room and Stewart showed me the paper. ‘This is Kevin’s last will and testament, revoking all others, while of sound mind, blah, blah. He had me draw it up this morning. It leaves his estate to be divided equally between Marie O’Day and her daughter Siobhan. And there’s provision for any issue Siobhan might have. You are named as the executor.’
‘What if I hadn’t been able to confirm that they were around?’
‘He seemed to have every confidence that you would.’
Kevin Roseberry died that night. As executor I was responsible for his funeral arrangements. I made them and tossed up whether to contact Marie and invite her along. I decided not. Dealing with her was going to be tricky enough without it happening in an emotion-charged atmosphere. Kev was cremated; I said a few words, so did some of the denizens of the pubs he’d frequented. We had a bit of a wake at the Toxteth Hotel and that was that.
Stewart, the solicitor, said he’d put Kev’s estate through the probate process and then it’d be up to me to arrange the distribution of the assets. No point in putting it off any longer. I drove to Marrickville, located the flat in a small block sitting in a sea of concrete, no balconies, and wearing an air of defeat. I knocked and the woman who answered was recognisable as Marie of the photograph, but only just. She was rail-thin and haggard; her dark, wiry hair had a wide white streak in it of a kind I’d seen before. Not a cosmetic touch—the effect of hair growing back on the site of a serious wound.
‘Yeah?’ she said, packing as much hostility as it was possible to get into the word.
‘Ms O’Day, my name’s Hardy. Your cousin James O’Day gave me your address because there’s something very important I have to discuss with you.’
‘What would that be?’
‘Can I come in, please? It’s to do with quite a lot of money and better discussed in private.’
‘I don’t want any money from Jimmy.’
‘It’s not from him.’
‘I don’t know anyone else with money.’
‘You knew this man. Come on, it won’t take long.’
For a minute I thought she was going to slam the door but she didn’t. She stepped back and let me push through and follow her. I doubted that she’d ask me to sit down or do anything even mildly hospitable. The front door opened straight into the living room, which was shabby but tidy. There was a TV set and a cheap CD player, a well-stocked bookshelf and a milk crate filled with baby toys near one of the chairs.
She was wearing jeans, sneakers and a faded black cardigan. She crossed her thin arms over her thin chest and gripped her shoulders as if she was physically holding herself together.
‘Well?’ she said.
‘Kevin Roseberry died a couple of days ago.’
‘Well that’s one less white prick.’
‘He had quite a lot of money when he died.’
‘Bullshit. What he didn’t piss up against a wall he gave to the bookies and the TAB.’
‘He won a lottery, Ms O’Day. He owned a house worth almost a million dollars and there’s a couple of hundred thousand in investments. I’m a private detective. Kevin hired me to find you. He wanted you and your daughter to have the money. I understand there’s a grandchild, too.’
Her hands flew from her shoulders to her face and she collapsed into a chair. She lost colour and her olive skin went a blotchy pink.
‘What’s wrong?’ I said.
‘Crook heart.’ She fumbled in the pocket of her cardigan and got a pill jar in her shaking hand. ‘Get me a glass of water, will you.’
I went through to the kitchen and filled a glass. When I got back she was struggling to get the top from the bottle. I helped and shook a pill out into her hand. She got it to her mouth and I helped her steady the glass as she drank.
‘Thanks,’ she said. The colour slowly returned and she pulled herself up from the slumped position. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘Jimmy told me you were ill.’
‘Jimmy talks too bloody much. So he told you about Siobhan and the baby, eh? They’re at the park just now. Lovely little kid. Prick of a father, but, just like … Did I hear you right—Kevin left over a million bucks?’
I nodded.
‘To me and Siobhan?’
‘And the grandchild. Kevin hoped there were some.’
She drank the rest of the water. ‘Sit down, Mr … whatever your name is.’
I sat and she looked around the room. ‘Crummy, isn’t it? All we can afford on a couple of pensions. Look, who’s got the say about this money?’
‘When I told Kev I’d located you he made me the executor of his will, so the answer is—me.’
She said nothing for a minute, fixing me with a stare that seemed to strip me bare. ‘Kevin wasn’t a bad man. Just weak, like so many.’
‘Black and white,’ I said. ‘And like some women.’
The first smile I’d seen from her appeared, making her look younger and stronger. ‘You’re not so bad. Okay, let’s see how you handle this—I’ve never been certain that Siobhan was Kevin’s child. Could’ve been one of a couple of others. I was a wild girl at the time. You’ve met one of the other possibles.’
‘Jimmy.’
‘Right. He’s sure she’s his although she’s fairer than both of us. Buggered him up and he gave me a very hard time when I kept saying I wasn’t sure, which was the truth. Oh, I know he gets a bit of money to us from time to time. Bet he doesn’t know I know.’
‘That’s right.’
The smile came back. ‘Men. All right, Mr Detective, what d’you make of all that? Kev’s left his dough to a woman who fucked around, and a child and grandchild who might not be related to him at all.’
I didn’t even have to think about it. The will was rock solid, there was no clause about verifying parenthood or anything like that.
‘Kev was a gambler like you said, Marie. I reckon he’d have taken a punt.’
I put the Currawongs CDs on the shelf somewhere between the Beatles and Dire Straits and whenever I play them I raise a glass to Kev.
BREAK POINT
From The Big Score (2007)
‘You play tennis, right, Cliff?’ Sydney Featherstone said.
‘After a fashion,’ I said.
‘Come on, your mate Frank Parker told me you played at White City. Schoolboy championships.’
‘Yeah, got to the third round of the doubles. Newk and Roche had nothing to worry about.’
‘But you know the diff
erence between a topspin backhand and a lob?’
I nodded. We were in the bar of the Woollahra Golf Club. Featherstone was a senior partner in a sports management agency with top-level clients in a variety of sports. They had men and women on their books, Australians and internationals. Doing well, Frank had told me when he arranged the meeting. An old mate putting business my way.
‘We’re thinking of signing this kid, Cameron Beaumont. He’s just turned eighteen.’
‘I read about him,’ I said. ‘Reached hundredth in the world the other week.’
‘That’s him. Stands about one-eighty-five, ideal for tennis, weighs eighty kilos. Leftie, quick; held the New South Wales junior one hundred metres record. Bench-presses his weight plus quite a bit more. Looks like Tom Cruise with legs.’
‘Sounds like money in the bank. What’s the problem with the superstar-to-be?’
‘He goes missing for days at a time. No one knows where or why.’
‘A girlfriend.’
‘Nothing wrong with girlfriends on the tennis scene. Within reason. If that’s it, fine. But why the secrecy?’
‘A boyfriend, then?’
‘Those who know him say not.’
‘When he comes back is he out of shape, distracted?’
‘No. Plays just as well as ever or better. It’s a mystery we need to solve.’
‘Why? Let him have his privacy.’
‘Are you kidding? There’s no such thing in elite sports.’
‘Is hundredth in the world elite?’
‘At his age, potentially.’
‘Lleyton Hewitt won an ATP event at sixteen, I seem to recall.’
‘He had the background. This kid’s a battler, up from nothing—local courts, no support. Both parents dead. He was fostered out as a kid. Pillar to post. You know how it is. He got on the satellite circuit at sixteen through a sports master at school and he’s been going through the opposition like a dose of salts. It’s a hand-to-mouth living but he’s come on strong just recently.’
‘Why hasn’t he been picked up before this?’
‘That’s a funny thing. A couple of sponsors and management mobs have approached him but he’s pissed them off. Must be waiting for a top-drawer offer.’
‘Have you approached him?’
‘Not yet. There’s one thing I haven’t told you. He takes off on these jaunts from time to time over the last year or so, but always after he wins a tournament or comes close. He’s playing in an event next week that he’s got a shot at winning. A few of the top players have pulled out injured and Beaumont’s in really good form. Got in on a wild card. He’s bound to take off—should give you a chance to see what’s up.’
‘Why is it important that I know something about tennis?’
‘You’re going to have to watch him play. Be bloody boring if you didn’t like the game. Plus, Frank said you were a good judge of character. That comes out on a tennis court, win or lose, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Sometimes,’ I said.
Beaumont was playing late in the afternoon of the first day and I arrived in time to watch him. Just as well. He was up against a veteran who’d beaten a lot of top players in his time. He had a good serve and a wide variety of shots plus experience. It didn’t matter. Beaumont blew him away in under an hour with a mixture of power and guile.
Featherstone turned up at my shoulder as I was loading sun-dried tomato and cheese onto a biscuit. The second glass of white wine, out of a bottle with a label, had gone down well. ‘Impressive, huh?’
‘Definitely. I’d like to see him up against someone his own age, especially a runner.’
‘Not next time up. He’s got a qualifier who can scarcely believe he got through the first round. But if the other matches go according to the seeds and he keeps on like he started, he’ll meet Rufus Fong in the semi. He can run.’
Cambo, as the papers had decided to call him, advanced to his semi-final with Fong. I went along, found a seat in the shade, and witnessed the most devastating destruction of a top-liner by a newcomer since the unseeded Boris Becker won Wimbledon. Fong hadn’t won a Grand Slam event but he’d come close, and had more than a dozen other titles to his credit. He could run all right, but he couldn’t hide. Other players made the mistake of giving him angles. Fong’s speed allowed him to run the balls down and his strength permitted him to return the angles with spades. Beaumont hit straight at him with extraordinary power. Fong had to either get out of the way or play defensively, moving back and off-balance. No contest. Beaumont volleyed away Fong’s weak returns with ease, dispatched his serves, and never went to deuce on his own serve.
Beaumont was demonstrative on court, lamenting his occasional misses—never on crucial points—and giving himself the odd triumphant fist. But he had charm. He applauded his opponent’s few successes with sincerity and shrugged off the several bad line calls he got. At the net, having won, his handshake appeared genuine, and he chatted with Fong all the way to the umpire’s chair. No chucking away of sweatbands, just a courteous wave to the crowd and the signing of a judicious number of autographs.
In the final, Beaumont played an American hardcourt specialist who gave him some trouble. The American dropped the first set but came back strongly to win the second in a tiebreak. Beaumont served some double faults and appeared rattled. But he was his old self in the third. He broke serve early, held his own easily, broke again and held and the American wilted. Beaumont won the match 6–1 in the third set and that’s when I started to go to work.
Beaumont must have checked out of his hotel in the morning because, after the victory ceremony was over and he’d had some obligatory interviews and some photos taken, he changed his clothes, loaded his tennis gear into the back of a beat-up 4WD, and took off. Thanks to my pass, I was close by in the privileged parking area and I dropped in behind him as he left the car park, picked up the motorway and headed west. Not the coast then, but there was nothing wrong with the mountains at that time of year.
Beaumont drove fast but well. His 4WD laboured a bit on the hills and I had no trouble keeping tabs on him in my recently serviced and tuned old Falcon. Daylight saving was a week or so away and the light started to fade quickly in the late afternoon. He stopped in Katoomba, went to an ATM for money and then spent up big on groceries. The carton of cigarettes surprised me, as did the bottle of brandy and the six-pack of beer he bought at the pub after showing his ID. I didn’t have to show mine to buy a half-bottle of Bundy. I had a sleeping bag and a donkey coat, but if I was going to spend a night in the mountains I thought I might need some internal heating as well.
Beaumont drove as if he knew the back roads well. We were soon on dirt, winding through the bush. There was no traffic and I had to hang well back, keeping tabs by the flashes of his brake lights. Eventually, after a hill climb, a descent and another climb, he pulled up outside a cabin set back from the track and shielded by a long stand of she-oaks. By then I was on foot watching this from a sheltered place. I’d stopped a hundred metres away when I heard his noisy engine turn off.
We were at a decent elevation and it was cold. I wrapped the coat tight around me and watched as Beaumont came back to his car to unload the supplies. The cabin door opened and a tall man stood in the dim light—at a guess from a Tilley lamp—inside. Beaumont handed him a box and scooted back for another. The two went inside and the cabin door closed. The windows were curtained but I could see another light come on and silhouettes of the figures moving inside.
It was cold but quiet, and I managed several hours of fitful sleep with a few periods of wakefulness in between. The extra chill just before dawn woke me and I got out to piss, stamp around and get the stiffness out of my limbs. No mail, no neighbours for kilometres—a perfect hiding place. For what? For whom?
I had gym clothes in the car—sweat pants and top, T-shirt, sneakers. I changed into them and equipped myself with a couple of the tools of my trade—binoculars and a good camera with a zoom lens. I’d had nothing
to eat since some canapes back at the tennis while Beaumont was accepting his horrible crystal trophy and his no doubt very welcome cheque. My stomach was growling as I took up my position and saw wisps of smoke from the cabin chimney drift up into the clear blue sky. I could smell the eucalypts and the scents of all the other trees and bushes whose names I didn’t know. One of the names for us PEAs is snooper. I was one now and, in this setting, quite happy about it.
They came out around eight o’clock. I got a good long-range shot of the man. He was fortyish, shorter than Beaumont but more strongly built. Both men carried tennis racquets and Beaumont had a string bag full of balls. Keeping under cover I followed them to where there was a clearing about half the size of a tennis court. Beaumont’s companion was smoking. He puffed away while Beaumont did some stretches and warm-up exercises. For the next thirty minutes Beaumont had balls belted at him, aimed high, low, left and right, at very close range. He missed only two, getting his racquet solidly onto them and knocking them clear of the other man—except one which caught the older man on the shoulder and spun him round. He dropped his racquet and a spasm of coughing erupted from him. Beaumont comforted him with an arm around his shoulder. When he recovered, the session began again. They must have had fifty balls in the bag and Beaumont darted around picking them up from the ground and in the thin scrub around the clearing when they’d all been used. Then they started over again.
After that Beaumont chopped wood at the back of the cabin for an hour. There was a pile of old railway sleepers in a lean-to shed. He carried them out, chopped through them, making half-metre lengths, and then split the lengths with a block-buster. I’d done something similar as a punishment fatigue in the army, and I knew how hard that old weathered wood could be. It made me tired just to watch him.
The day warmed up and the insects buzzed and birds sang. I snapped a few more photos in a better light and with a better background. As a city man born and bred, a few hours in the country goes a fair way with me and I was getting tired of holding my position behind a tree. Beaumont’s host brought out two mugs of tea or coffee. They squatted companionably near the chopping block. The man smoked and spiked his mug with brandy. He also had another coughing fit.
