Blood at Yellow Water (29 page)

The constable left wandering what the joke
was. Popolo picked up the phone and gave orders to Sergeant Barker
at the Jabiru Police Station to keep Bert O’Shea under surveillance
until warrants could be processed for his arrest and transport to
Darwin. He commenced the process of obtaining warrants for
arresting O’Shea and for searching O’Shea’s house and the office of
the Land Council in Jabiru. Then he dialled Commissioner Fisher’s
number.

Fisher was at a meeting in Canberra when
Popolo rang but he returned the call to Popolo fifteen minutes
later. He shook his head in disbelief when Popolo told him about
the capture of the hit-run driver and his confession. He
congratulated Popolo and asked to be informed once O’Shea had been
arrested.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON - JABIRU

Sergeant Barker and two police constables drove up
to the front of Bert O’Shea’s house and parked behind O’Shea’s car
sitting in the driveway. They got out of their car and climbed up
the steps to the front door. The house was a “Queenslander” style
home built on stilts and looked like it had recently gone through a
major renovation. One of the constables walked around the veranda
to the back of the house in case O’Shea tried to escape that way.
The sergeant knocked on the front door and called out O’Shea’s
name. Receiving no answer, Barker tried the door handle, found it
unlocked and pushed his way into the house.

The house had a lived-in look about it but
there was no sign of O’Shea. They spread out to search the house.
One of the constables checked the main bedroom and suddenly swore
loudly.

“Sarge, you better come and look at
this.”

Barker strode into the room to see O’Shea
lying prostrate on the bed. At first he thought he was asleep but
then he saw the hypodermic needle and a small bottle of liquid on
the chair beside the bed. He checked O’Shea’s pulse but could find
none.

“Is he dead?” asked the constable.

“Yep, looks like he’s overdosed. Don’t touch
anything and call for an ambulance and forensics.”

Barker pulled out his mobile and told Popolo
the news. He had to hold the phone away from his ear to lessen the
impact on his eardrum of the roar of the expletives coming from the
other end.

Barker waited for the forensics team to
arrive and do its work before ordering his fellow officers to
search the premises. They found O’Shea’s computer and personal
files in the study and boxed them into cardboard cartons and packed
them into the police wagon. Barker picked up O’Shea’s mobile phone,
wallet and keys. They drove back to the town where they entered the
offices of the Kakadu Land Council and continued their search for
any incriminating evidence.

SATURDAY MORNING - CANBERRA

Jake arose early and walked from his motel to the
nearest newsagency and bought a copy of the National newspaper. He
walked into a café, ordered scrambled eggs and coffee and spread
out the paper. There were two stories on the front page, one was
the latest poll on the political parties showing that the
Government’s popularity was still sliding downwards, the other in
big bold headlines reading “LAND RIGHTS CORRUPTION LINK TO MURDER”.
There followed an article under the by-line of Helen Kwang
detailing payments made to Bert O’Shea, President of the Kakadu
Land Council in the negotiation of land rights to develop the mine
at Jabiru. The article continued onto Page Two where specific
allegations were made about corruption in the Land Council and
linking it to the hit-run murder of Barry Buckstone.

He rang Bill and outlined the contents of
the article. Bill seemed excited and said that Lizzie had heard
that the police had found O’Shea dead at his home. The whole town
was buzzing over the news.

Jake finished his coffee and pressed Helen
Kwang’s number on his mobile. She answered within a few seconds.
Jake congratulated her on her article in the National.

“The story’s largely thanks to you Jake. I’m
getting swamped with calls over this. I keep telling people to wait
till tomorrow’s edition of the paper.”

Jake reiterated what he had heard about
O’Shea’s death.

“Jake do you know whether it was suicide or
something else?”

“No, it’s too early to know that at this
stage.”

“God, this case gets more sinister every
day. O.K., I’ll chase this up and verify it. This will add some
extra juice to tomorrow’s article.”

“Listen, I’ve got some news for you Jake.
Percy staked out the Manuka Post Office and guess who turned up to
collect our bogus parcel?”

“It wouldn’t by chance be our new Prime
Minister would it?”

“Correct! What’s more I’ve found out who
signed the registration for the Post Box number at the post
office.”

“Surely not Crichton?”

“No, but close. It was signed by Anthony
Wiley, 32 Hugheson Street, Garran, A.C.T.”

“Crichton’s Chief-of-Staff! Oh wow, that’s
good enough.”

“Well it wouldn’t necessarily prove anything
in a court of law - but it tells us that Crichton’s up to his neck
in this.”

Jake paused for a second and said, “What’s
your next step Helen?”

“I’m going to follow-up this story about
O’Shea’s death and see if I can find someone to speak about it. My
Editor-in-Chief insists on checking with some top level government
officials before publishing my article about the contract on rare
earths.”

“They’ll deny everything of course. You
could start with John Fisher, the Commissioner of the AFP. He’s a
straight-shooter and understands the political repercussions.”

“Right, I’ll ring him. Will you be around
Canberra for a while Jake?”

“Well, I’m scheduled to go to Sydney and
Melbourne to talk to some Australian companies about the new Japan
Australia Treaty. I’m planning to go to Sydney tomorrow
afternoon.”

“That’s fine. I’ll keep in touch with you
over the O’Shea business.”

“I look forward to reading your article
tomorrow.”

“Great Jake, keep an eye on our on-line news
as well in case something breaks this afternoon.”

“Will do. Thanks again for the dinner last
night.” Jake rang off.

MONDAY - DARWIN

The news about the arrest of Stringer and the death
of O’Shea broke in the afternoon. The N.T. Police Chief’s office
was being hounded by the media. In view of his involvement in the
case, Assistant Commissioner Popolo was asked to give a press
conference. He agreed reluctantly as his dislike of the media was
only slightly lower than that of his hatred of criminals. The press
conference was held in the Board Room at Police Headquarters in
Darwin and was packed by journalists and photographers. Popolo was
uncomfortable speaking to the media and resolved to keep it
short.

He walked into the room and the hubbub
subsided as his imposing presence filled the room. He stood on the
dais and gave a concise account of the arrest of Stringer, alias
Anstey, for the murder of Barry Buckstone. Stringer had confessed
to the hit-run attack on Buckstone and had implicated O’Shea.
Police had raided O’Shea’s home but found him dead, possibly from a
drug overdose. They had also confiscated a number of computers and
documents found at the homes of Stringer and O’Shea as well as at
the office at the Land Council and were analysing these for
evidence of their complicity in the crime. He finished up by
circulating a press statement which they could use for their media
outlets. He then asked for questions.

A barrage of questions followed seeking
details of the arrest of Stringer and the apparent suicide of
O’Shea. After appealing for order, Popolo took the questions one by
one, keeping his answers to known facts. The reporter from the
National raised his hand and asked whether the murder of Barry
Buckstone was connected to the allegations of corruption in regard
to the development of the Jabiru mine.

Popolo indicated that investigations were
proceeding into the allegations but it was too early to make any
conclusions. He took two more questions and walked out of the
conference room.

The National’s representative phoned Helen
Kwang immediately and outlined the main points of Popolo’s
conference and sent her a copy of his statement.

MONDAY AFTERNOON - CANBERRA

Helen was finishing off her article for the next
day’s edition of the National. She phoned AFP Commissioner Fisher
and questioned him about his knowledge of the corruption inside the
Land Council. He suggested they meet privately in an hour at a
coffee shop at the Civic Centre in Canberra. She found the café and
saw him sitting discreetly in the back corner. After exchanging
greetings, Fisher stated

“I read your article in the National Helen.
This discussion has got to be off-the-record Helen. We’re talking
about some sensitive matters here some of which could have serious
implications for the Government. Tell me what you’ve got.”

“We’ve got a copy of a letter demonstrating
that a trust company owned by O’Shea received bribes so that the
Land Council would remove its opposition to the Jabiru mine. We
intend to publish the story tomorrow morning.”

“How did you get hold of this letter and are
you sure of its authenticity?”

“I can’t tell you where I got it from but
it’s authentic all right. Here read it.”

She passed a copy of the letter over. Fisher
read it carefully and looked up.

“You got this from Jake Stafford didn’t
you?”

“I told you I can’t reveal my sources but
you can keep the copy if you want. We’ve also obtained copies of
transactions from the Bank of Bahamas which shows payments of $2.25
million made to O’Shea’s trust company. You can have them as well.”
Helen handed over copies of lists of transactions.

“This looks like evidence of a serious case
of bribery and provides a motive for the killing of Barry
Buckstone. I’ll pursue it.” Fisher placed the papers in his
briefcase.

She went on to outline details of the
contract to supply rare earths to the Japanese which the National
was proposing to publish over the next few days. She left out the
part about the possible involvement of the Prime Minister. He
listened attentively.

“Personally I have no problem you publishing
that as it’s a contract between private companies. If it were a
confidential government contract you would be in legal trouble if
you released it. However, I suspect it won’t go down well with some
high level ministers and officials as well as some powerful
business people. I’d say the Jabiru mine is doomed once these
disclosures are made and some people will be facing criminal
charges. I’m sure the high-ups will try to suppress the story.”

They finished their coffee and left the
café. Helen went back to her office and recounted the discussion
with her Editor-in-Chief, Colin Black.

Black said “That’s good work Helen. There is
political pressure on us from the very top level not to publish any
of this with veiled threats to sue us and of withdrawal of
government advertising from the National if we do publish. I’ve
talked to the Managing Editor and as long as we stick to the facts
we’ve got the green light. So let’s go with it.”

“Thanks Col. It’s going to be an interesting
couple of days.”

Helen strode back to her office, sat down at
her computer and went to work on her article.

MONDAY EVENING - SYDNEY

Jake let himself into his room at the Novotel hotel
in Sydney, threw his coat and tie onto a chair and pulled out a
beer from the mini-bar. He’d flown to Sydney the night before and
his day had been filled with appointments with companies and food
and agricultural industry groups interested in hearing about the
new free trade provisions of the treaty with Japan. He slumped onto
the queen sized bed and sipped a beer while looking out the window
at the bustling Darling Harbour. He turned on the television to
watch the national seven o’clock news. His attention was drawn to
the second item on the newscast which was a televised excerpt of
Sam Popolo’s press conference providing details of the arrest of
Stringer for the murder of Barry Buckstone as well as Bert O’Shea’s
apparent suicide. A reporter outside the Darwin Police Station
suggested Buckstone had been murdered because he was about to blow
the whistle on corruption by O’Shea, the President of the Kakadu
Land Council in regard to the Jabiru uranium mine. Jake watched the
rest of the news but there was no other information on the
Buckstone murder.

Jake rested for an hour, left the hotel and
found a seafood restaurant along the harbour. He ordered a bottle
of white wine and relaxed over a plate of delicious seafood while
watching people strolling around the harbour front. Back in his
hotel room, he called Shoni to let her know he planned to be in
Tokyo on the following Monday. Since her return to Japan, Shoni had
been staying with her parents before looking for a job. After all
they had been through, they found it easy to talk to each other and
Shoni was anxious to learn about developments with Barry
Buckstone’s murder. She promised to meet Jake on his arrival at
Narita airport.

Jake called his father to bring him up to
date on the news of O’Shea’s death and suggested he buy a copy of
the National first thing in the morning. Finally he rang his sister
Melanie to let her know he would be in Melbourne for the weekend
and hoped to catch up. She insisted he stay with her at her family
home and that his nieces were looking forward to seeing him.

Jake watched television in bed before
nodding off to sleep.

TUESDAY - CANBERRA

The National’s front page exposé of the confidential
deal for the Australian company Energet to supply rare earths to
Matsushita of Japan quickly became the hot topic for the day with
all the media outlets seeking comments from the P.M.’s office. The
article outlined the shareholding arrangements between Ruby
Resources, Mitsustrata and Northern Consulting. The media was quick
to draw the conclusion that the secret rare earths deal was the
catalyst for the Chinese terrorist attack on the Australian and
Japanese Prime Ministers and the destruction of the plant at the
mine. The disclosure of names of companies involved in the contract
was the subject of widespread speculation.