Peter Corris: The Reward

OK, I said. Seans a very troubled individual.

Penny glanced across at me. Thats almost civilised.

Max took the photos back and tucked them away. Hes on the board of this and that, as the mother told you, but hes worse than useless. He was managing director of a couple of things for a while but people had to step in to prevent them from going bottom up. He rakes in more money than you and I can imagine, but for all that hes a… what was it, Pen?

A cipher, Penny said.

I made scrambled eggs on toast and we ate, drank wine and waited for Claudias call. I set the recording device to start taping the second she spoke and I brought the upstairs phone down and plugged it in at the kitchen so Penny and I could both listen. The phone rang at nine oclock precisely.

Cliff, whore those people youve got with you? And dont lie to me.

Thats a bad start, Claudia. Where are you?

Not far away but youd never find me. Oh, maybe you would if you had a week or so, but this is all going to be over well before that.

What is?

Come on, I answered your question and gave you some information. Give a little. If theyre technicians to trace the call Im disappointed in you. Thats unimaginative.

I was standing in the doorway to the living room with the kitchen phone at full stretch. I could see Penny on the other phone mouthing the dialogue to Max. He was nodding. They were doing more than communicating, they were communing. Both disabled, but I envied them.

You know how to appeal to my vanity, I said. Theyre not technicians. The man is Max Savage, hes a consultant to the police, investigating old cases. The woman is his assistant. Theyre friends of mine.

Thats interesting. I look forward to meeting them. Having a few drinks are you, something to nibble?

Claudia, what the hell…?

Humour me. Ive been dieting for weeks. Oh, forget it. Look, Cliff, I want you to set up a meeting between Mrs Beckett, Wallace Cavendish and you and me. You can bring your friends along if you like.

That might not be easy. Cavendish

Will be waiting for your call. Hell agree, believe me.

How many people can you manipulate all at once, Claudia?

Plenty, if I have to. Arrange with Cavendish to meet tomorrow night out at that godawful place in Wollstonecraft. Nine oclock, say.

Are you sure you dont want Sean Beckett there, and Estelle. How about I fly Peggy Hawkins down from the Gold Coast?

Very funny.

I was tired of being the wall against which the ball was being bounced. The working theory at this end, Claudia, is that youre associated in some way with the people who kidnapped and killed Ramona Beckett. Anything to contribute?

No, please just do as I say.

Its please, now, is it? Why dont you come along to my place and meet Max and Penny? We dont really like getting run around the block like this. Tell you what, you come here and well tell you what you want to knowwho suppressed the kidnapping note.

Im sorry, Cliff. It has to be this way. You can tell me that tomorrow night.

Terrific. By the way, will I get the reward, too? The fucking pot of gold.

She hung up on me, the second woman to do it in one day. Great going, Cliff.

Penny replaced the receiver and turned off the tape-recorder. I came back into the room with the whisky and wine and refreshed my drink and Maxs. Penny accepted some more wine.

Your telephone manner stinks, she said, addressing me but facing Max.

She got under my skin. Im sick of being manipulated and all this mystery woman shit.

Male ego challenged.

If you like.

Max said, I think I got most of it from Pen, but was there anything said that gives us a better idea of whats going on?

Penny and I shook our heads. Not even worth playing the tape, I said.

Penny sipped her wine. Id say shes an Australian whos lived in the States for a while. What was that about dieting? Is she fat, Cliff?

No.

Thin?

No.

What?

In between.

Jesus, men!

Look, shes a beautiful woman, but shes forty or thereabouts. Shes not a girl or one of those anorexic models. Shes got a womans figure. I cant see any reason why shed want to diet. Anyway, shes lying. She ate her share the night we had a meal together.

I cant see any reason why shed want to do anything shes done, Max said. Im completely in the dark. Did you do any digging on Cavendish? Turn up former employees and so on?

It was one of the things Id been supposed to do and I hadnt even thought about it. I shook my head.

Max looked peeved. We need to get some leverage on this woman. As it is, shes making all the running.

But she wants to know what we know, Penny said. About the suppression of the note. That seems to be the one thing she doesnt have. You dont seem to be her favourite person, Cliff.

I knew what Penny was up to with that statement. She was going to get a read from my expression and body language. I tried to keep both as neutral as I could. Im nobodys favourite person right now, including my own.

On that bright note I think we might take our leave, Pen, Max said. Thanks for the drinks and tucker, Cliff.

I called for a wheelchair-equipped taxi and we had a bit of a wait. The conversation was desultory but friendly. Wed healed the breach right enough and Max and Penny had done a whole lot more in that direction. We loaded the wheelchair into the taxi and Max and I shook hands.

Ill ring you tomorrow afternoon, I said. I might have something on Cavendish by then. And we can talk about what to do tomorrow night. Thats if shes rightif Cavendish agrees to a meeting and can arrange it with Mrs Beckett.

Max nodded. She seemed very sure itd play like that. I wonder why shes so confident?

I shrugged. Ive never seen her any other way, except maybe angry. Shes not a person with doubts.

Max glanced in to where Penny was sitting patiently. A person without doubts has no imagination. Goodnight, Cliff.

The taxi drove off and I stood in the street for a while speculating about where Claudia might be. There were no high-rises overlooking my spot, nowhere for her to take up a position with binoculars. Then it hit methe house for sale on the other side of the street, the one shed ostensibly been interested in buying. I went inside, got a torch and my lock-picks and walked down towards the house. It was a double-fronted timber job that had been on the market for quite some time. Unusually for the area, it had a deep front garden and a driveway of sorts. To judge by the state of the weeds, the double gates to the drive, which was fringed by overgrown shrubs, had been opened recently and a car had been parked inside.

The lock on the front door was an old Yale, easy to pick. I had it open inside a minute and stepped into the hallway. The house had a cloying, moist, musty smell indicating rising damp. If the vendors had put a high price on it, buyers would have been deterred by the smell. I went into the first room on the left. The street rose sharply beyond my place. From the front window of this house, which was set up on high foundations, the view back to my gate and the side of my house was clear. The room was devoid of furniture, but an old bentwood chair had been placed by the window. Two of the panes had been cleaned. Two styrofoam coffee cups sat on the dusty boards beside the chair. My respect for Claudia Vardon went up a few more notches.

I went back, half hoping that shed be there, standing in the doorway or sitting in a chair in the living room. She wasnt, of course. I washed the glasses, plates and frying pan and made some coffee. I sat and played the tape through but learned nothing new from it. Great voice, I found myself thinking uselessly.

It wasnt late and I wasnt tired. I went for a walk about the block and strolled down to the water below the big apartment complex at the end of the street. The grass had recently been cut and the fresh-mown smell was strong and pleasant as I sucked in deep breaths and did a mental review of the whole Ramona Beckett matter. The lights of the city skyline shone in the still water like a distorted duplicate of the real thing. The more I thought about the case the more it seemed that we hadnt been grappling with reality but with some kind of shadow or mirage. Suddenly, I was tired, mentally and physically, and I tossed a couple of stones into the water to break up the image and went home.