Alex Palmer - The Tattooed Man

‘Was your ex-wife involved with Cassatt’s activities in any way?’ Harrigan asked.

‘She certainly was. It’s also true to say that Cassatt was angling to be involved in hers and Beck’s,’ Edwards replied. ‘My ex-wife’s house is very big. Julian had his own self-contained flat. Nattie didn’t always know when he was there. One day, she was entertaining Beck, Stuart Morrissey and your Ice Cream Man in her lounge room. There’s a mezzanine floor just above it. Julian had had a hard night. He’d gone up there to look at the view and recover. They were just below him, talking. He heard every word they said.’

‘You’re telling us your ex-wife and those three individuals were in business together.’

‘It’s exactly what’s in the dossier. According to Julian, they were importing diamonds. Blood diamonds, conflict diamonds, diamonds mined illegally in places like the Congo or Angola. It’s a filthy business. This meeting was about landing their first shipment. Beck had organised supply from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, although he didn’t say exactly where in that nation. Nattie and Stuart said they had arrangements in place for the diamonds to be marketed here. Cassatt said-and I’m sorry to have to say this to you-he and another policeman named Jerry Freeman had organised protection for the couriers. Does anyone here know that name?’

There was a heavy silence while Edwards’ listeners stared at him.

‘The name Jerry Freeman is known to us but he’s no longer a serving police officer,’ Harrigan replied. ‘You’re saying that both he and Cassatt were involved in this diamond-smuggling scheme.’

‘That’s my information. They had people onside in both customs and the police. What they needed now was the money to make payments to those corrupt officers.’

The commissioner had gone white with shock. He sat forward so quickly he surprised the other listeners.

‘That’s a most serious allegation, Minister. I hope you have solid information to back that up. I don’t intend to have my officers’ integrity slurred on the basis of rumour.’

‘I’m only telling you what I was told. I would suggest to you that the information is solid as it stands.’

‘You should realise that Cassatt was a liar, Minister.’ Marvin spoke more sharply than was usual. ‘He could have been boasting.’

‘This is hardly my field,’ Edwards replied, ‘but at a gathering like that, how could he be lying? He’d have to deliver. Evidently he did deliver. I don’t remember any reports of your people seizing shipments of contraband diamonds in the last few months. Unless you want to correct me now.’

His listeners responded with silence. The commissioner sat back, his eyes bright with anger, outrage written on his poker face for those who knew how to read it. Marvin’s face had a watching expression, half-shrewd, half-fearful.

‘When did this meeting happen, Minister?’ Harrigan asked.

‘Four months ago.’

‘Why didn’t your son tell you this earlier?’

‘Put yourself in his shoes. He’d be dobbing in his own mother. Later he heard in the media that Cassatt was most likely murdered. He decided to leave it where it was.’

‘Why tell you about it now?’

‘It was mainly to do with Beck. The key to this whole story is this. Beck had another venture going with Nattie and Stuart Morrissey that was altogether separate to this diamond business. A consortium that was involved in researching some kind of experimental crop lines. That sounds ordinary but apparently it wasn’t, not according to Julian. Nattie stumped up the money to get this agricultural consortium off the ground. She was repaid later out of the profits from the diamond-trading scheme. The whole point of that venture had been to finance the consortium. Evidently, the start-up costs alone were huge. Just recently Beck seemed to be suggesting to Nattie that I might like to be involved as well. They were close to signing a contract, it was going to lead to a new phase in the business. With my contacts in government, I could be useful to everyone. If need be, I could protect their interests. That’s when Julian came to me. He said he knew it was the last thing I’d want to do.’

Harrigan decided not to ask the minister why Beck would be so sure of his cooperation in the first place.

‘You’d want to protect your son in that situation, Minister.’ Marvin was still flicking through his copy of the dossier. He spoke in a neutral voice without looking up.

‘Of course I would. He was getting his life on track, I wanted it to stay that way. I told Julian I’d talk to Nattie and we’d sort things out. I’d tell her and Beck to go jump in other words. Julian could live with me from then on. He said he was planning a quick trip to Tasmania in the meantime, they were mounting a blockade. I think he came home early because he knew I’d be talking to Nattie the next day. Now they’re both dead.’

They waited for some moments while Edwards again controlled himself.

‘We found the contract you’ve just referred to at the scene yesterday. The shootings prevented it from being signed. It’s a complex scientific document, it’ll need analysis before we can say what it’s about,’ Harrigan said carefully. ‘It identifies their venture as the International Agricultural Research Consortium. The amount of money specified for payment on delivery is extremely large, inconsistent with what they were producing. Do you have any information on that?’

‘None at all. Julian said they were very closemouthed about the details.’

‘So, as I understand it, Cassatt wasn’t involved in the consortium, just the diamond-trading business. Did he know anything about this consortium?’

‘He certainly knew about its existence and, according to Julian’s account of that meeting, he was angling to become involved in it. Presumably he was murdered before that was possible.’

Speedily removed, Harrigan translated to himself.

‘Beck was a strange man by Julian’s account,’ Edwards continued. ‘He kept trying to impress people. He gave Nattie the diamond she was wearing when I found her. He gave Stuart diamonds as well. I can only assume they were examples of his blood diamonds. They were rough diamonds, they needed to be cut.’

‘Were they cut here, Minister?’ Trevor asked.

‘Yes, they were. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you who did it.’

‘Do you know what sort of visa Beck had?’

‘He had an Australian passport. It was thoroughly legitimate. Julian said he boasted about getting it. He said the officials were stupid.’

‘I can see his point,’ Harrigan said. ‘Assuming that dossier to be authentic, in coming here Beck could only have had the aim of involving himself in more illegal activity. The entire history you’ve given us shows that to be the case from the moment he arrived. How thorough were the character checks?’

Edwards could only shrug. His face was haggard. ‘Clearly, not good enough,’ he replied in an exhausted tone.

‘Excuse me, Minister,’ Marvin interrupted urgently. ‘There’s something very significant we have to consider ahead of anything. It’s imperative this dossier be assessed under the utmost secrecy. If this is from a secret service agency, there will be important matters of national security to consider. We could be endangering any personnel who might be identified by it. I think it’s vital that knowledge of this dossier does not go out of this room.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Edwards replied sharply. ‘How can it be assessed if it doesn’t go out of this room? Don’t you trust your own people?’ Suddenly he laughed loudly, without humour. ‘Special Assistant Commissioner Tooth, isn’t it? Well, Special Assistant Commissioner, I’ve been in politics for a long time and I know exactly what you’re up to. I don’t intend to have this information buried by you or anyone else.’