Peter Corris - Follow the Money

She turned into a street not far back from the water and drove slowly past a big four-level apartment complex, glowing white in the sunshine. The gym I'd mentioned was directly opposite. The apartments were obviously top of the range-large, with balconies big enough to accommodate a lot of greenery. She made a turn and we went down a narrow street beside the block. The corner apartments featured two balconies and views across the beach and the water all the way back to the city.

'Look up, top floor, of course,' Felicity said. 'On the corner. Multi-million dollar view.'

We completed the circuit and stopped below the complex.

'What's the security like?' I said.

She shrugged. 'I forget. I'm sorry… I didn't realise how coming back here would affect me. Shit-that bastard! I need a drink.'

And I needed to think. We went to the pub, sat under an umbrella with a bottle of wine and a seafood basket and watched the boats coming and going and the well-heeled people having a good time in the middle of the week. She dipped a chip in the tartare sauce, ate it and reached over to touch my hand.

'Why don't we just book a room and forget about all this?'

She burst into laughter as soon as she spoke. She'd had two glasses.

'I'm sorry,' she said. 'It's a line from a movie. I couldn't resist it.'

'What movie?'

'I forget.'

'How about the security?'

'I'm sorry, I really don't know. It was only a couple of times and I didn't notice.'

Something about the apartment block worried me, something half noticed. We finished the food and the wine, had coffee and walked on the beach for a while. Then we drove back and I saw what hadn't registered properly-a For Lease and a For Sale sign discreetly displayed at street level. The agent was local.

'Can you remember the number of the apartment?' I asked. 'Twenty.'

The estate agent-thirtyish, well-groomed, pearly white shirt -probably perked up when he saw the Saab stop outside. Could've felt a drop in spirits when he saw me but regained confidence at the sight of Felicity in her stylish clothes and her air of affluence. She said we were interested in the Belle Vue apartments.

'Bargains there,' he said, 'for leasing and buying. It's the GFC you see. Some of the owners took very hard hits.' 'Selling their boats,' I said.

'Indeed, and their apartments, though some have other homes, of course, and are leasing their places out here until things improve.'

'I like the look of the one at the top on the west corner,' Felicity said. 'Is it available?'

He gestured for us to sit while he went behind his desk and rummaged for a document. 'Here we are. Number 20. Yes, it's for sale.'

'How much?' I said.

'It'd be negotiable, dear,' Felicity said. 'Would it be vacant possession or is there a tenant?'

'It's vacant. Has been for some months. The owner, well, I have to be discreet, but he's very hard pressed. Would you like to see it?'

'Ball park figure,' I said. He looked at me with dislike. 'Two million.' I got to my feet. 'No way. We can do better.' Felicity got up reluctantly. 'But…' 'No,' I said. 'Thanks for your time.' 'I'm sorry,' Felicity said. We left. The rough diamond and the pearl. We got in the car and she started the engine. 'I'm sorry, Cliff. A wild goose chase.'

'You know,' I said, 'under certain circumstances I reckon chasing wild geese could be fun.'

She laughed. 'I can see why Miles thinks so much of you. You can cope with things, can't you?' 'What else is there to do?'

Neither of us said much on the drive back. I asked her to drop me at a taxi rank. She pulled expertly into a tight spot, leaned across and kissed me on the cheek. Another one.

'I enjoyed today more than anything I've done for a while.

You've done me some good. I hope you find him and it all works out for you, Cliff.' 'Thanks. And for Miles?' 'Why not? Goodbye.'

The Watsons Bay dead end didn't depress me. Felicity had said it did her some good and the same was true for me. I'd enjoyed her company and her resilience struck a positive note with me. Too many of the people I've dealt with professionally have been diminished by their experiences. Felicity was a refreshing change. Money helps.

I had a quiet night and slept well. I woke up stiff, but forced myself to go to the gym. As often happens, I felt better once I started. I put in a solid workout and after a splash around in the spa I felt good. Good enough to face a solid breakfast at the Bar Napoli and shoot the breeze with the barista and some customers. As usual, it was sport and politics, although they're increasingly coming to look much the same.

The Balmain Tigers were offering a hundred grand commission to anyone who could find them a major sponsor. 'How about you, Mario?' a customer shouted, holding up the headline at the owner who'd drifted in as he did at whatever time pleased him.

'Ugly game. Nessunagrazia, nessuna competenza.'

I looked at Fortunato, known as Lucky, by the coffee machine. He shrugged. 'Means no grace, no skill.'

Not the place to argue with that. They went on to discuss the axing of the annual Norton Street Italian Festival by the local council. Not enough sponsors. It was something Lily and I had enjoyed. I missed her and I'll miss it.

I drove home feeling clear-headed, but without any fresh ideas about locating Richard Malouf. As it turned out I didn't need any. My mobile was ringing when I got through the door. I answered it.

'Hardy.'

'Mr Hardy, this is Richard Malouf.'

My hand tightened around the phone. ' Yes? Go on.'

'You'd be sceptical, naturally. You don't recognise my voice?'

'I only spoke to Malouf a couple of times. I don't remember anything about his voice.'

He went on to describe our meetings in Perry Hassan's office in precise detail, down to what we talked about. It was hard to see how anyone else could have had that information, but I wasn't buying it just yet. I asked a series of questions based on things Rosemary had told me and drew on some of the things Gretchen had said. I threw in a curly one about Felicity Pargetter and he fielded it neatly.

'OK,' I said. 'Suppose I believe you, what's the purpose of this call?'

'You've gone to a lot of trouble to find me. I'm impressed by your efforts. I thought you might want confirmation of my existence.'

'You're talking to yourself. If you're Malouf you're a target for people much more dangerous than-'

'Oh, I know that only too well. That's why I need your help. I siphoned off quite a bit of your money. It was only an exercise in proving to myself and others that it could be done, but still I can understand that you'd want it back. I can give you the precise figure if you like.'

I was convinced now. I remembered Malouf's cocky, self-satisfied manner more than his voice.

'So you're sitting somewhere on your boat tapping the keys with everything at your fingertips, is that right? I want the money back, sure, but there're two people dead and a few others very distressed and it all stems from you. You're the shit that hit the fan, or the fan itself, I'm not sure which.'

He laughed, still pleased with himself. 'Very graphic. I admit we've got a tangle here, but in my experience tangles can be… untangled. I think there's a way to do that.'

'Get you off the hook for killing the man who was identified as you?'

'Certainly. I admit I gave Selim the idea of pressuring Rosemary, but the detail's not important. That's not what I mean. I'm talking about a deal with the police to… absolve me of my…'

'Massive embezzlements.'

'If you want to put it that way, but believe me there's something very much bigger behind all this. Something global that would be of concern to every level of government in this country.'