Peter Corris - The January Zone

The words came out of Trudi in an uncontrolled rush. ‘He’s the health food man. I mean…the shop…two doors away.’

‘Shop? What shop?’ Tobin was excited and fighting to regain his breath. His voice was strained and rising in pitch.

January took control. He pulled a chair up for Trudi and motioned for me to sit too. Gary and Ken were behind him so he was the only one standing in the centre of the room which was the way he liked it. ‘Calm down.’ he said. He took the drawing from me, examined it and nodded. ‘This is a good likeness of a man named Charles who is known to me and my staff. Inspector Tobin, I take it you had this made up from a witness’s description?’

Tobin was impressed. ‘That’s right, Mr January.’

‘It fits,’ Trudi said. ‘It fits everything. His wife…’

January held up his hand. ‘Let’s keep this in perspective. Cliff, I gather you have an understanding with Inspector Tobin?’

‘That’s right. A deal-he agrees to soft-pedal things and I’m on the spot at all stages to protect your interests. Mrs Weiner’s safety is the big concern.’

‘Good. You have my authority to act on those terms. I want to be consulted at every stage.’

It was too much for Ken. He practically spluttered as he took a step away from the wall and towards January. ‘Now, hold on. We can’t…’

‘Shut up, Ken.’ Tobin had himself under control now and was seeking his share of the initiative. ‘I want to handle this discreetly as Hardy says, but I have to ask you this-has this man…Charles, any reason to take violent action against you?’

‘No,’ January said firmly. ‘But he may believe he has.’

‘That’s acceptable, Mr January. You’ll understand that there are procedures to follow.’

‘I should hope so. I’ll leave it to you. Gary, come with me. Trudi, I want you to act as liaison between Hardy and me.’

Trudi nodded. She was doing her best to keep anger, contempt and possibly several other emotions under control. ‘Where will you be?’

‘Party HQ until early afternoon and, ah…this number after that.’ He took out a gold pen and waited until Gary handed him a card. He wrote and passed the card to Trudi. Then he turned to look down at me. I took another close look at the drawing. I could scarcely remember Charles but I had a clear picture of his wife. January coughed and I looked up. ‘Do it right, Cliff. I want to be there when anything happens.’

I nodded. ‘We’ve got a minimum force agreement, I think.’

Tobin nodded.

‘Good,’ January said briskly. ‘I’ll be talking to the State Police Minister within the hour, Inspector.’

‘Talking?’ Tobin said.

‘I’m sure you understand. Come on, Gary. Hardy, a quick word outside.’ I followed them out of the office. January grabbed my shoulder and dug his fingers in. It was his bandaged hand he was using and there was plenty of strength in it. ‘I never touched her!’ he hissed. ‘It was all an act!’ He let go and moved off quickly.

I went back into the office. Ken had turned to the window and was muttering. Tobin stood up taking care to miss the edge of the desk. ‘If you’d care to wait outside, Hardy, Ms Bell? My colleague and I have arrangements to make. Could you give me the address, Hardy? And the lay-out as best you can. What’s where, and the staff position.’

‘What arrangements?’

‘A simple look-see first. Nothing heavy. Just to see if he has other premises, somewhere to put the woman. No contact and a report back to here which I’ll let you in on.’

I told him the address and Trudi gave him some of the other information he wanted. We went out of the office and walked down a corridor to a waiting room that had a TV set, magazines and a cafe bar.

Trudi’s hand shook as she accepted the plastic container in which the paper cup of coffee sat. ‘That’s it,’ she said fiercely. ‘I’m finished with that cold-blooded bastard. His woman’s lying somewhere with a bloody gag in her mouth and all he can think of is how to handle it discreetly.’ She gulped some coffee. ‘And you’re just as bad!’

The coffee was lousy; I couldn’t imagine Tobin drinking it, even rum-spiked. ‘It looks that way, I agree. But don’t forget Karen Weiner’s got a lot at stake as well. Have you met her?’

‘Once or twice.’

‘I’d say she was a tough nut. At least as tough as January. It could be that he’s handling it just the way she’d want him to.’

Trudi snorted her disbelief. ‘What about you? Are you going to sit around and watch them protect their areas first, last and always?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘I don’t trust Tobin. He wasn’t really interested in the lay-out of the health food shop and he didn’t even ask us about vehicles. He’ll do whatever will work out best for him. Big question is, will Charles be there?’

‘He’s always there. I’ve never been in the place and not seen him around.’

I nodded. ‘That’s useful. Tobin’ll sniff that out too, but he’ll be careful, so at least we’ll have a bit of time.’

‘To do what?’

I left the coffee on top of the machine. ‘I’m going to get hold of Mike Borg and try to beat Tobin to the punch.’

‘Thank God. A good idea at last. What can I do?’

‘Something important but not much fun. You stick here until you can get Tobin to give you some idea of what he’s got in mind.’

‘Oh no, Cliff, I…’

‘Look, you can play it any way you like. You can abuse him, threaten him. Don’t be nice, be an impossible bitch.’

‘That sounds better.’

‘When you know something just get out of here.’

‘And then what? D’you want me to sit around at your place watching Gunther and the cat?’

‘No. First you ring somewhere I can ring. Somewhere you can leave a message. Can you trust anyone…near the office?’

‘Julian. He’ll be in the pub. He’s always there.’

‘Right. Ring him and tell him what’s happening. Then you go…’

‘Where? Where do I go?’

‘God knows what it’ll be like near the office. Does the roof of that building the health food store’s in meet the other roofs? I mean is it flat across a couple of roofs?’

‘No, I don’t think so. Who looks at roofs? Can’t swear to it but I think it’s got a sort of attic’

‘He could be looking out. If he sees you at the wrong place and the wrong time it could be trouble.’

‘I can get to the pub down the back way. He couldn’t see me from any angle.’

‘Do that then. Mike and I’ll take a look around and we’ll meet in the pub to decide the next step. January might have to put in an appearance. You know where to reach him, don’t you.’

‘Mm, he’ll come for sure.’

‘Yeah. Guts aren’t his problem. God, it’s a bloody rough plan but its something.’

‘What if you can’t locate Borg?’

‘I said it was rough.’

But I did locate him. He was sitting in the rooftop spa at the Gazebo looking up at the pale blue sky. Maybe he was dreaming of Broken Hill.

‘Hey, Hardy,’ he said. ‘You should try this, it’s great.’

‘Maybe later. How’d you like to do a little work?’

‘What kind?’ He pulled himself up. The pale, freckled shoulders breaking the surface of the bubbling water were knotted with muscle.

‘When does your plane go?’

‘Tonight. Come on, I was so bloody bored. What’s going on?’ He got out of the pool, picked up a towel and rubbed himself. He was thick and solid all the way down. There was at least one bullet scar on his upper body.

‘To do with January. Have you got a gun?’

‘I’ve got two. Let’s get to my room and you can fill me in. I can cancel the booking.’