Prohibited Zone (21 page)

I just shrugged. ‘It's your story. I'm sure you're proud of it.'

‘West, you have already committed a criminal offence by assisting Saira Abdiani. As has Paddick, I point out, and Ms Peake-Jones. It is also a crime to hinder police. Lying to police is considered to be hindering them.'

‘I'm not lying.'

Tarrant's fingers finished their tap dance and he rapped his knuckles on the table in a quick finalé.

‘You know, I'm not particularly interested in you, West,' he said, ‘or how much you've lied or what you actually did to help the girl. What I'm interested in is finding the girl.'

‘I don't know where she is. It's the truth.'

‘Do you know the whereabouts of Ms Peake-Jones, then?'

‘Not at the moment.' For all I knew she had rolled onto the other side of the bed by now.

‘When did you last see her?'

‘She was at the Arkaba.'

Technically, that was not a lie; the lawyers would call it evasion.

‘Was that the last time you saw her?'

I decided to remain silent on that one. Tarrant stood up.

‘You are digging yourself into a very big, lonely hole,' he said.

‘That's what mining engineers do.'

‘You're going to have to come clean soon – for the girl's sake.' He felt around inside his grubby suit, found a soiled card and flicked it at me. ‘I think you'd prefer handing her to me than to your friend Hindmarsh and his colleagues.'

‘Hindmarsh, the arsehole from ASIO? Is he still hanging around?'

‘Like a bad smell. He's been talking to his boss. His boss is leaning on my boss. My boss is leaning on me. I'm leaning on you. That's a lot of leaning. You might fall over.' As they left he turned to me. ‘And tell your brother to cut out the weed before it rots his brain.'

As soon as I heard their engine start I returned to the bedroom with the idea of getting back into bed with Kara. But she was awake and dressed and sitting on the bed brushing her hair. She was wearing a grey spaghetti-strap tank top that showed the tan skin of her shoulders and arms, and a pair of old jeans. She looked remarkably fresh.

‘How is Mr Mark of the Year?' she asked. ‘Or perhaps I should call you Mr Bonk of the Year.'

‘It would only be right.'

She reflected for a few seconds. ‘Maybe not. The year is still young.' She smiled. It was a nice smile. I wished I had seen it more often. She studied me. ‘Your face is horrible, by the way.'

‘My mother loved me.'

‘Not sure she would now.'

I had to clamp my hands over my face to stop a smile. It would have hurt too much.

‘I thought you'd still be sleeping.'

‘Can't, too much to do. Anyway, I heard voices out there.'

‘It was just the cops, looking for you and Saira.'

‘Oh. And what did you say?'

I summarised the conversation for her. She applied a few more thoughtful strokes to her hair and then tossed the brush aside, messed it all up with her fingers, hooked some of it behind an ear and jumped to her feet.

‘Maybe you're not such a blabbermouth after all,' she said. She put her hands lightly on my hips and brushed my swollen lips with her much nicer ones. Her voice became a whisper.

‘Thanks for being with me last night. It was nice.'

‘You did most of the work.'

‘It was a team effort. Maybe we should do it again sometime.'

‘That would be nice.'

We smiled into each other's eyes for a few seconds; that, I could manage. Then the energy went out of her gaze as her mind seemed to shift to other things. Perhaps it was the wall going back up. She turned away to put on a long-sleeved button-up shirt over her tank top.

‘What are you doing today?' I asked.

‘I have to meet the
60 Minutes
crew to brief them about Saira and Woomera. I have to check on Saira. And a few other things. What will you do?'

I thought about Lucy and how my life was starting to get complicated.

‘I have a couple of things to sort out, too.'

‘Well, stand-by. I might need you.'

I stood to attention, as much as I could given the condition of my body. ‘Roger that.'

She picked up her phone and started stabbing away, ignoring me, so I left her to it.

Luke had re-emerged, dressed, and was eating a piece of toast smeared with a thick coating of cholesterol.

‘What did the cops want?' he asked.

‘The Afghan girl.'

‘Seems like everyone wants the Afghan girl.' He looked at his watch. It was one of those large, multi-function jobs with a wide, velcro band.

‘Gotta go to work,' he said. He had a part-time summer job selling fishing rods at a shop in Tea Tree Plaza on the other side of the city. He loved fishing, and that made him a good salesman of fishing gear. Every now and then he and I would spend a week west of Ceduna hauling in snapper and salmon.

‘I'm sorry about Bozo,' I said.

‘Yeah. Poor bugger. He was a bit stupid, but he was always trying to please me.' He didn't look at me as he finished his toast, took a swig from the milk bottle and grabbed his keys. ‘See ya,' he said, his head still turned away.

‘Yeah, see ya.' I followed him out to the car. The air was already warm and the sky was washed out, blue and cloudless, yesterday's cool change having fizzled. There seemed to be something missing from the scene.

‘Where's my ute?'

‘Oh yeah, I forgot. Rolley took it.'

‘Rolley took it?'

‘Yeah, hope that was okay.'

‘What does Rolley want with my ute?'

‘Don't you know? Rolley's a panelbeater. He'll do you a good deal. He wants you to call him, talk about insurance. It's called The Body Builder, his place.'

Kara emerged from the house, carrying her satchel.

‘Which way are you headed?' she asked Luke. Luke pointed his hand in a vaguely easterly direction.

‘Anywhere near the city?'

‘It would be a sizeable detour.'

‘Can you give me a lift?'

Luke thought about it. ‘On one condition.'

‘Which is?'

‘That you tell me why my brother looks like the Elephant Man this morning.'

She laughed and looked at me. ‘He does, doesn't he? It's a deal.' She gave me a peck on the cheek and a squeeze on the arm and looked me in the eye for half a second.

‘Thanks for that,' I said.

When I checked my phone I found a text message from Colin. ‘Pigs on trail/Smuggled frozen bird/They know that much.' I texted him back with ‘Your haiku will thrive/Inside Yatala prison/Will visit often.' Then I felt sorry for him and sent a more reassuring message, telling him of my own encounter with Tarrant, that I thought he was bluffing and that, most likely, Col wouldn't ever be charged. Then I spent half an hour on Luke's landline. First call was to Lucy.

‘Sorry about last night,' I said when she answered.

‘What happened to you?' She wasn't sure yet whether to be concerned or annoyed. I told her briefly about the kidnapping and my various injuries.

‘By the time I got back to Luke's it was nearly four a.m.,' I said, ‘and I just crashed.'

‘Is she alright? Kara?'

‘Yeah, she'll survive.'

‘Is she with you now?'

‘No. But plenty of people seem to want to know where she is, and also where the Afghan girl is. Hey, can I come over?'

She took her time to reply. ‘Steve, I'm not sure it's a good idea that you come around here anymore.'

‘Why? Is Mike back?'

‘No, it's nothing to do with Mike. I'm just not sure this relationship is good for me anymore.'

‘Why do you say that?'

More taking her time. ‘Let's just say that a woman can do a lot of thinking as she lies awake all night waiting in vain for her lover to show up.'

‘Jesus, Lucy. Let's talk about this, can we?'

‘I'm sorry you got hurt, Steve,' she said, and hung up.

I sat for a while, thinking. Then I sat without thinking. Then I grabbed a packet of frozen mixed vegetables from the freezer and applied it to my face while I called the claims hotline of my insurance company. Yes, the polite man told me, my policy did cover malicious damage but, no, I hadn't taken the hire-car option, which would have supplied me with wheels while I waited for my own car to be repaired. He took the details of my claim and made reassuring noises about it before ringing off, saying he would contact The Body Builder and probably arrange for a couple of other quotes as well. In the meantime, I was to report the incident to police.

Next call was to The Body Builder. A chirpy receptionist asked me to hold while she fetched Rolley from the floor. I could hear the sound of metal being mangled in the background.

‘G'day, Rolley. Steve West,' I said when he finally came to the phone. ‘You have my ute.'

‘You mean that bitta squashed tin?' he asked cheerfully. ‘Luke told me what happened. What a bugger about Bozo, eh? But don't worry about your ute, mate. Give us a few days and we'll have it lookin' hotter 'n shit. What sorta cover you got?'

I told him I had already put in the insurance claim and he'd hear from them soon.

‘Cool,' he said.

‘I've got to report the incident to the police, but I doubt I will have time today.'

‘That's okay. We've got a form here. I'll think of something and you can sign it later. You've got seventy-two hours.'

‘Thanks, Rolley. Now my only problem is that I'm minus some wheels.'

‘Aw, didn't Lukey-boy tell you? I'll bring somethin' home for yer this evening, but meantime you can drive my car. It's parked outside the house. Keys are on the bench.'

So they were, when I looked closely, hidden behind the remains of what had probably been Rolley's breakfast. I gave him my phone number and rang off. I was sitting there wondering what to do next when Baz Rice called.

‘I hear you had a bit of late-night entertainment,' he said. ‘Kara texted me.' It was a longish moment before I realised he was probably talking about the kidnapping, not what happened after. ‘It's all getting a bit serious, eh?'

‘You're telling me. The arseholes had a gun.'

‘Yeah, well, keep your head down, brother. You'll have to tell me all about it sometime. Maybe I can help you make sense of it.'

I had a thought. ‘What about now? I could use an extra brain.'

‘I've always said that about you.'

18

W
E AGREED TO MEET AT A PLACE
B
AZ KNEW
in North Adelaide, where the waitresses were cute and the coffee was good. He was already there when I arrived, chatting to one of the waitresses and making her laugh. She looked about eighteen but could have been twenty-one. She was wearing a black apron and looking at him adoringly. Baz was clearly enjoying her company, too, but he lost his easy smile when he saw my face.