Peter Corris - The Coast Road

‘Don’t bother. A phone call from an associate of mine to you here set things humming at the place. I was watching.’

She shook her head. ‘A stupid mistake.’

‘I think you’ve made a few.’

‘Possibly. So you’re a private detective. You work for money. Perhaps we could come to an arrangement.’

‘No, I work for people. Don’t even think about it. But there could be a way out of this for you. I’m not sure. It’ll depend on what you tell me now.’

She nodded.

‘Your firm is connected in some way to Kembla Holdings. Kembla Holdings’ principal is Larry Buckingham. His ex-lover is Wendy Jones who’s running around with a guy who tried to kill me and did kill someone connected to

your husband’s Wombarra land.’

‘I know nothing about a threat to you or a killing.’

‘Maybe. I hope so for your sake. I think you’ve been instrumental in Buckingham getting hold of the land adjoining your husband’s property. It goes without saying that Frederick Farmer’s death wasn’t an accident.’

I didn’t put it very well and she could feel the amount of speculation involved. It gave her confidence. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘You do. I’ve got someone following the money trail. Someone good. The connection’s there and she’ll find it.’

‘Bugger you!’

‘What would Phoebe think if she heard language like that? Here’s the real question, Tilly-why does Bucking-ham want the land so badly that he has one, maybe two people killed for it?’

She was more composed again now, although she suddenly looked a lot older, more like her real age than the one she could easily pass for when she had everything fully under control. Her hands were clasped together in front of her on the desk with her elbows tucked in as if she needed physical as well as mental control. The precise, up-market voice that had slipped momentarily when she’d sworn was back in place. She sat very still. She wasn’t one of those people who needed to make a show of thinking, weighing things up. No wrinkling of the brow, no scratching of the chin. She just did it.

‘Before I answer that,’ she said, ‘let me tell you something. God, I don’t even know your name.’

‘Hardy.’

‘Mr Hardy. I have had what could politely be called a “past”. To be blunt, I was a stripper when I was young and a call girl when I was a bit older. I did…performances for police functions and for footballers. I have two convictions for prostitution and one for wounding. That was when a client got out of hand. I served a short sentence. Larry Buckingham was present at a couple of my strip shows and he has photographs. He also has friends in the police and found out about my convictions. When he saw notices of my marriage to Frederick and read that I had established this business, he got in touch with me. As well as the photographs he has statements from some of my former clients and the police records. Frederick Farmer was a very straitlaced man and you cannot hold a real estate agent’s licence if you have a criminal record. Buckingham’s been blackmailing me virtually since the day of my marriage.’

‘He got you to provide a hideout for Wendy and company?’

‘Yes.’

‘And forged some link between your company and one of his?’

‘Yes.’

‘That’s all very interesting,’ I said. ‘But you haven’t answered my question. Why does Buckingham want the land?’

She clasped and unclasped her hands. She wore rings on several fingers of both hands and they grated together. ‘I swear to you that I don’t know.’

I didn’t want to, but I believed her. It had cost her a lot to say what she’d said to a total stranger and a hostile one at that, and it wasn’t something she’d do lightly. She could see herself getting into another tight spot when she was already in one. I reckoned that a good part of what she’d said was

the truth.

‘What’s Buckingham like?’

‘He’s a brute.’

‘Couldn’t you… manipulate him?’

She smiled but there was no humour in it. ‘When I was younger, maybe. I’m talking about much younger, like, say, thirteen. But I was still a good girl at thirteen.’

‘He and Wendy Jones were lovers, I’m told.’

‘Yes, she’s how old, would you say?’

I thought about the showy entrance she’d made at the casino in her red dress and all the trimmings. Probably looked older than she was. ‘Mid-twenties, maybe.’

‘A bit less, and her time with Larry was at least ten years ago.’

‘They’re still connected?’

‘Yes, in some way. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s got something on him the way he has on me. She’s got some pretty tough friends, unlike me.’

‘Again, that’s interesting,’ I said. ‘Tell me more about Wendy. How do you know her?’

‘I’ve been Larry’s… companion a couple of times when he’s needed someone he could rely on to keep her mouth shut and who wasn’t about one-third of his age. He introduced me to Wendy.’

‘What sort of occasions?’

‘It’d be more than my life’s worth to tell you.’

‘Meeting someone isn’t knowing them. You seem to know a lot about her.’

‘Not really, but she approached me after Frederick died with an offer to buy the place. They assumed that I’d inherited it rather than Elizabeth. I was curious and strung her along. We met a couple of times. Then I told her the

truth.’

‘How’d she take it?’

‘Badly. She looks…well, you know how she looks with those ghastly jewel implants, but she’s a shrewd young woman.’

‘Do you think she’d know what’s behind all this?’

She shrugged. The talking had restored her confidence more than I would have wanted. ‘Possibly,’ she said. ‘Probably.’

‘You’re going to have to help me find a way to isolate her and put her under pressure.’

‘No. I’d be much too afraid.’

I reached into my shirt pocket and took out a miniature tape recorder. I pressed the buttons and played back my last words and hers. ‘Your future,’ I said.

She was a woman who’d played a role for some time and had probably coped with some difficult moments in that role. This was harder. She kept her cool, but I imagined I could see the conflicting possibilities working behind her smooth facade. She could bluff, try tears or maybe her feminine appeal, of which there was plenty. Nothing in my manner would have encouraged those options. You can’t make the jump from stripper to real estate queen without being pragmatic and resourceful. My guess was that Matilda Sharpe-Tarleton Farmer would do her best to turn the situation to her own advantage. ‘What do you have in mind?’ ‘I need to talk to Wendy, one on one. Put certain propositions to her.’

She shook her head. ‘I doubt you can do that. I don’t know anything much about what went on and I don’t want to know, but I do know that Wendy wants to lie low for quite a while. She’s frightened, I think, but she’s the kind of woman who’s dangerous when she’s frightened.’

‘It’s worth a try,’ I said. ‘Ring her and tell her that the coast is clear at the hotel-the would-be buyers aren’t keen.

Then you say Elizabeth Farmer is interested in selling her

land but will only talk to her.’

‘Elizabeth doesn’t know Wendy.’

‘But Wendy knows about her and how important the land is. She knows Elizabeth has been using me to sniff around. I could’ve told her about Wendy and now she’s playing it her way. She’ll bite. She’ll contact Buckingham and he’ll tell her to do it. He wants the place that badly.’

‘It might work but I’d be taking a big risk if it doesn’t. Buckingham would ruin me. What guarantee do I have that he won’t anyway, however it turns out?’