Smoking Gun (Adam Cartwright Trilogy Book 1) (16 page)

I interrupted him. “I can guess what you are going to tell me. It was you who recorded the stop-work meeting and put it on YouTube.”

He looked surprised. “So you know about it already? Are you okay with it?”

I grinned and said, “I haven’t seen it but the boss has told me that it helps our cause so perhaps I should be thanking you. But I would like to see it sometime. Can you email me a link?”

“I’ve already sent it.”

***

It took more willpower than I possessed to resist the urge to immediately view the YouTube video. As soon as Jack Gilmore left my office I located the email from him and clicked on the YouTube link. A few seconds later I was watching the video clip. It was a strange feeling to watch a video of myself when I had not been aware that I was being videoed. Somehow the person standing on the table didn’t seem to be me and I found myself watching the video with a curious objectivity and lack of self-consciousness.

My opinion of Toby Jones must have been apparent to all who were at the meeting. And anyone who later viewed this video. As he had been talking I had sought to maintain a neutral expression but I hadn’t managed it. The video showed me to have a disenchanted look. Almost a contemptuous sneer. The physical contrast between us was striking. He was an obese lump in wrinkled and ill-fitting clothes, whereas I was trim and clad in neatly ironed shirt and drill trousers. The sight of Toby Jones being pushed up onto the table and helped down again at the end contrasted poorly with my grinning thumbs-up and nimble descent.

When the video finished, I did not feel pleased with myself. At best, the video portrayed me as being cool and confident. But others could well see me as being overconfident and arrogant. The problem was that given the same situation again I would probably do exactly the same thing the next time. I shrugged my shoulders and rolled my head contemplatively with my eyes closed for a few moments.

I knew that regret is the ultimate waste of time. What has been done can’t be undone. I had achieved what I had set out to do, but I felt a twinge of guilt. I couldn’t help wondering if I had really been justified to deliberately humiliate Toby Jones as I had.

***

Brian Clements called me on Skype that evening. He was his usual ebullient self and instantly cheered me up with his optimistic take on life. “Kate and I have just watched the YouTube clip. Man, you were great. But what about the oombarlo joke? You should have given me some credit. I told it to you years ago when we were just kids.”

I laughed and replied, “Sorry Brian but you told me an oombarlo joke about an explorer in darkest Africa telling outrageous lies about his adventures. I told a quite different joke.”

We were both thinking back to the time when we were fourteen years old and had spent a whole summer chanting oombarlo as our response to almost anything we were told. As far as we were concerned it was a legitimate word in the English language. But that was a long time ago and somehow it never quite made it to the Oxford dictionary. Its resurrection today had been unplanned. It had just happened.

Brian chuckled and said, “Well, I still think that a royalty is due.”

“Brian, when you watched the video clip, did you see me as being cool and assured or cocky and arrogant?”

He hesitated before replying, he knew that I had switched to serious mode. “I’d say cool and assured, but then I know you well. I can’t really judge how others may see you.” Turning away from the camera he called out. “Kate, do you have a minute. I have Adam on Skype.”

A moment later Kate walked into view. “Hi Adam. I loved your YouTube clip. I’m just about to email the link to Christine.”

Brian looked at Kate and said, “Kate, Adam wants to know if people will judge him to be either cool and assured or cocky and arrogant.”

Kate looked directly at the camera and said, “Your opponents will try to pull you down and claim that you are cocky and arrogant. But everyone else, friends and neutrals, will see you as being cool and assured.”

I grinned at the camera and said, “Brian, you are one helluva lucky guy. Kate, many thanks, I value your comments.”

Brian grinned. “See, I told you that she was smart.”

I added. “And sensitive.”

After a few minutes of less serious banter we said goodnight.

***

The following morning I received an email from Kate. It read, “Christine says definitely cool and assured.”

I grinned. For some obscure reason, it made my day.

***

The reception that I received when I arrived at Gibson Construction’s head office in Brisbane was remarkably more friendly than my visit the previous Thursday. Miss Morgan was all smiles, inviting me to call her Ruby and asking if I would like a coffee.

Even Ewan Ryan smiled, stood up and greeted me warmly when I was ushered into his office. A few minutes later we were seated at the conference table sipping coffee and making small talk before getting down to the matter of the meeting with the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Eventually Ryan decided that it was time for business and said, “We will be joined in a few minutes by Gregory Taylor. He’s a lawyer from Gillman, Garry, Clapp and Sayers. You know who they are?”

I nodded. They were one of the biggest firms of corporate lawyers in Brisbane. “Yes. I know who they are.”

“Well. Gregory will be coming with us to meet with the Commission. He has been our legal advisor in this matter. He believes your recent initiatives will benefit Gibson Construction in their relationship with the Commission. He is interested to meet you.” Ryan then laughed. “Hell, everyone who has seen the YouTube clip wants to meet you.”

I grinned. “I suppose that this must be my fifteen minutes of fame that everyone is supposed to have sometime in their life. I suppose that I should try and enjoy it.”

Just then Gregory Taylor arrived. He was a slim, well groomed man in his late thirties with prematurely greying hair. As we shook hands he smiled and said, “Ewan tells me that you don’t believe in lawyers…”

He seemed to be just joshing rather than needling me so I interjected with a friendly grin. “Well, I suppose that you could say that I have DIY in my DNA. I believe in self-help and not relying on someone else to do your thinking. I see that consulting a lawyer is sometimes akin to someone employing a life coach. Employing someone to make all your decisions for you. I suppose my attitude is, if I can do it myself then I will do so, if I can’t then I’d engage an expert. If it’s a legal issue then I might engage a lawyer, but only if I don’t have the knowledge or skills to do it myself or if I don’t have the time.”

Gregory Taylor was not finished with me. “What about today. Do you think that I should attend the meeting with the Commission?”

I replied, “That is a question entirely for Mister Ryan. But if I was in his situation today then I would probably opt for having a lawyer tag along.”

Ewan Ryan gave a dry laugh. “Oombarlo. Oombarlo.”

We all laughed easily.

***

Upon our arrival at the Commission’s offices we were shown into the same conference room that we had been in during the previous meeting. Toni Swan was already there, accompanied by the two young lawyers, Peter Williams and Margaret Smith, who had been at the previous meeting.

Toni Swan didn’t take long to get down to business. “Gentlemen, the reason that this meeting had been arranged was to discuss information regarding corruption in the construction industry with Mister Ryan, the CEO of Gibson Construction. The Commission believes that the Construction Workers Union has been infiltrated by the Comancheros bikie gang and has been involved in organised fraud on a number of construction projects. Gibson Construction has been one of their targets.”

When she paused, Gregory Taylor asked, “Has the Commission grounds for believing that Gibson Construction has acted corruptly in any way?”

Toni Swan responded, “Not at a corporate level, but we suspected that some employees could have been coerced. The information provided by Mister Cartwright last week has confirmed that suspicion. In fact, that new information has probably got us to the point that we can launch several prosecutions against Union organisers with links to the Comancheros. But we need to interview the two whistleblowers as soon as possible. Preferably on a low-key, confidential basis.”

She then paused and looked at me inquiringly so I said, “They are rostered off duty next week. I am certain that they will come down and meet with you whenever you want them to. However, I expect that they would need to have their fares and accommodation paid for by someone.”

Ewan Ryan and Gregory Taylor must have discussed that point earlier as Taylor immediately responded to my comment. “Gibson Construction will pick up the tab for that. Also, while Gibson Construction acknowledges that it is for the Commission to make the decision, Gibson Construction does not wish to have the two whistleblowers prosecuted.”

Toni Swan smiled and nodded. “Good. Neither do we.” Then turning to me she added. “Mister Cartwright, you might be interested to learn that Toby Jones is right in our sights. He could be the first cab off the rank.” Then as if as an afterthought she added. “By the way, you can tell Miss Lex Robertson and Mister Heino Pops that we do not intend to prosecute them, provided of course, that they are fully co-operative.”

I grinned. I was not surprised that the Commission had found out who they were. I had guessed that the Commission would be able to identify them from the bank account statement provided on which their names, and the account number, had been blanked out but not the name of the bank. She was telling me, in an indirect way, that the Commission had not been entirely inactive. The oblique warning was that if the whistleblowers did not front up, and tell all, that the Commission would handle the matter the hard way.

I was curious as to how much more information she would give us. “What about John Hall? Is he on your list of miscreants?”

“Yes, him as well. But why do you ask about John Hall in particular?”

I hesitated before answering. “Lex Robertson mentioned that after Hall left the Mount Godwin construction site that there was no one left to pressure her and Heino. I figured that he had to be involved somehow.” I smiled and added wryly. “Also he’s such an unpleasant sod that I like the idea of him going to jail.”

Toni Swan smiled. “So, I guess that you are also pleased that Toby Jones will probably join him in custody?”

“I sure am.” I paused thoughtfully and said, “I don’t know whether I am a seeker of justice, or merely vindictive by nature. But, yes, I am pleased that Mister Jones has been found out and will be punished.”

Toni Swan smiled and changed the subject. Gesturing towards her assistants she said, “Peter has been looking into your list of approved suppliers and has some news to report.” Glancing at him she nodded an instruction for him to speak.

He had obviously been eagerly waiting for his chance to contribute to the meeting and responded quickly. “We have carried out an in-depth company search and discovered some serious issues. There are half a dozen registered companies on the list that in fact do not carry out any legitimate business. All six of them have been involved in activities aimed at defrauding Gibson Construction and other major building contractors. Four of the bogus suppliers are just shell companies with the directors and company secretaries all being employers of the law firms that set them up. The law firms have all relied upon protestations of ‘client confidentiality’ and refused to disclose the names of the persons who actually control those companies. We are working with ASIC, and the Serious Fraud Office, to prosecute those six companies for breaches of the Companies Act and criminal fraud. If they don’t tell us the real owners of the bogus companies the lawyers themselves will be  prosecuted.”

When Peter paused and looked across at us it was Gregory Taylor who asked the obvious question. “What about the other bogus suppliers?”

Looking like the cat that got the cream, Peter smirked. “We’ve got the Comancheros dead to rights. We can prove both of the other companies have committed serious fraud and we have identified individuals that we can prove to be responsible.”

Toni Swan picked up the thread of the explanation. “We have a list of the companies for you.” As she spoke Peter slid a single sheet of paper across the table to Ewan Ryan and me. “We need you to keep the names of these companies confidential. It is important that they do not suspect that legal action will soon be taken against them. I suggest that you limit knowledge of these companies to your staff on a need-to-know basis.”

I immediately scanned the list of company names. As I looked up Ewan Ryan was looking at me inquiringly, so I said, “Sure. I will have our project accountant postpone any payments to them that might be in the pipeline and we will avoid making any further commitments to them. I think that we can do that without anyone other than the project accountant being aware of our concern regarding these companies.”

Toni Swan smiled and nodded. “Good. Now for some not so positive news. We have not managed to discover any evidence that the Comancheros were involved in the attempt on your life. Our undercover officers report overhearing comments that the Comancheros considered you to be a person of interest, and a threat to their construction site activities. But, so far, we have no confirmation that direct action against you has been attempted by anyone connected with the Comancheros. But we have not given up. It is an active aspect of our enquiries.”

Her news was a disappointment. I’d never been confident, but had hoped that the involvement of the Comancheros would be confirmed, even if individuals could not be named and prosecuted. I was now back where I started, totally bereft of any idea of who had been responsible. I still didn’t even know why I had been attacked. There could be danger lurking out there and I had no inkling of how it might manifest itself.

The rest of the meeting was centred around administrative matters such as the eventual return of the $250,000 to Gibson Construction, after it was returned by the whistleblowers.

At the conclusion of the meeting Toni Swan had the last word. I guessed that she had been waiting throughout the whole meeting for an opportunity to refer to the YouTube video clip in a flippant manner. Flagging a moment of informality by using my Christian name she said, “Adam, please tell the whistleblowers that all will go well if they co-operate fully. But, there must be no oombarlo.”

Everyone laughed. It seemed that oombarlo might just make it into the Oxford Dictionary after all.

***

Later that afternoon, during my visit to the consulting engineer’s offices I rang Leonie Wran and gave her the news from the Commission. She was to pass on the contact information for the Commission that I had been given for the whistleblowers. It was their responsibility to make contact and arrange an appointment to visit the Commission in Brisbane next week.

The rest of the day was spent negotiating changes to the engineering plans with a bunch of office-bound engineers who had little field experience. They had limited understanding of the need of flexibility and compromise on a fast moving construction site and were hard to convince to allow me to make changes. Finally I got the concessions that I needed from them but the effort was tiring and I was glad of being able to catch a slightly earlier flight home to Cairns.

***