Half Moon Bay (16 page)

‘Hi, Ellie. Some lovely shots here for you. I’ve run the proof sheet and done a couple up that looked spectacular. Black and white really is your medium.’ The dapper little man who ran the lab was a huge fan of Ellie’s work, but even to her critical eye, several of the photos were superb.

‘Barry, you’re a darling. How long if I need a couple of others printed up?’ She ran the magnifier over the sheet, assessing the photos.

‘Go and have coffee with that big hunk of yours and be back in two hours.’

‘Since when was Ron a big hunk to anyone other than Mavis?’ She looked surprised.

‘God, not Ronnie, you silly girl. That big He-Man who strode in here in his suit and barked, “Ellie. Where is she?”’ The technician had his hand on his heart. ‘Of course, I couldn’t see him walk out of here without giving him the once-over. So,’ he paused dramatically, ‘I took him out the back and showed him some of your work. Very impressed he was too. He’s gorgeous, and those big brown eyes. So who is Nick?’

‘Nick? Barry, you’ve clearly been living under a rock. Nicholas Lawson is the engineer in charge of that bloody development at Half Moon Bay and he definitely isn’t gay, so don’t waste your energy there. Anyway, which photos do you still have of mine?’ she asked, half amused, half annoyed.

‘You know I have the biggest collection of your early art shots and several of the war in Afghanistan. You’ve seen them. Oops, speak of the devil, here he is again. Can’t keep a good man down. I’ll look busy, shall I?’

Ellie swung around, half expecting to see the white Commodore, but instead Nicholas Lawson was standing by his LandCruiser with a mobile phone in his hand.
Now, that’s a face of thunder
, thought Ellie.

Ignoring the rain, Nick strode towards the door of the photo lab and paused before he opened it, brushing the droplets from his shoulders. Inside Ellie had her back to him and the guy behind the counter was pretending not to have noticed him. When Nick did open the door, he had a pleasant smile on his face.

‘Barry, thanks. You were right on the money with your timing. Ellie, sorry I missed you in Half Moon Bay, but I couldn’t get away. Amy told me where to find you.’ He kept his grin amiable.

‘What was it you had to talk to me about that’s so urgent to make you drive to Garrison?’ Ellie wasn’t smiling.

‘I’ll buy you a coffee. Barry, too, if you feel the need for a chaperone still?’

‘Ooh, I couldn’t possibly leave the lab, but thank you so much for asking.’ Barry was beaming from pierced ear to pierced ear.

Nick didn’t miss a beat. ‘Right, you choose, Ellie.’ He waited while she fought her inner demons. ‘I can drive or as the song says, I can follow where you lead.’ The words brought a snigger from Barry. Every wit needs an appreciative audience and Ellie was still ignoring him. ‘Anywhere close by you’d recommend, Barry?’ Nick asked.

‘A lovely place three blocks back towards the main street – has the dandiest little courtyard. It’s covered so the rain won’t bother you,’ Barry gushed.

‘So, Ellie. Stop thinking about it and jump in your car. I’m following you, okay?’

She scowled. Her turned shoulder dismissed him. ‘Barry, can you do me seven by tens of numbers six, nineteen, twenty, twenty-two and twenty-four? I’ll be back this arvo.’

Nick followed Ellie’s four-wheel drive back up the road, half wondering if she’d simply keep driving. She didn’t. She stopped outside a renovated cottage. He could read her irritation in her stomp across to the café, shaking the rain from her hair once she reached the porch.

‘So, I was being polite in front of Barry, who incidentally thinks you’ve got the cutest butt, so if you need another dinner date, I’m sure he’s free.’

‘I’m not in the market so you don’t need to set me up.’

‘I can’t believe you had the nerve to track me down here.’

He shrugged. ‘It seemed like the sensible thing to do. If you’d said this morning you were coming to Garrison, I could have met you here. When I rang back to tell you I was on my way, the obliging Amy told me you’d already left for Garrison. She even gave me directions to the photo lab.’

He waved at the waitress as they stood inside the doorway. ‘Just coffees, if that’s all right? A couple of cappuccinos. Table out the back? Cheers.’ He touched the middle of Ellie’s back as he steered her through to the courtyard. Sitting across from him, she avoided his gaze. Last night’s intimacy was still so real in his mind, he felt sure it would show. Ellie looked around at the photos on the wall, her expression remote.

‘None as good as yours,’ he said.

‘And you’re a critic now too, are you? Barry should never have shown you any of my work. He was out of line.’ She glared at him.

‘He’s very proud of you. You have a legion of fans. I’m your latest convert.’ His eyes locked with hers. She looked unmoved.

‘Whatever. What did you want to see me about?’

‘I owe you an explanation, an apology, more than just a brush-off. You deserve that much at least for your commitment to your cause.’

The emotion that flashed across her face gave him hope that she was going to listen. Her gaze stopped on the vee at the top of his white business shirt. He could feel his pulse beating and he wondered if she could see it, if she realised how much he wanted to reach out and kiss her fidgeting fingers, one by one. Startled by the eroticism of his thoughts, he touched his throat with his hand. The blush went all the way to the tips of her ears. The relief he felt was disproportionate. She was no more immune to this misplaced attraction than he was.

He smiled at her as he sat back, trying to reassure her. ‘My work is varied. As part of that I’m given assignments with little knowledge of who’s involved until I’m immersed in it. I carry a gun because sometimes I end up in places I wouldn’t send my worst enemy. I am a consulting engineer, but I’m more of a troubleshooter. I deal with local governments who sometimes get nasty, subcontractors with real or imagined gripes and union thugs who can be aggressive and have an interesting line in standover tactics.’

He stopped to gauge her reaction. Ellie was doing a good job of keeping her face expressionless, arms crossed tightly across her chest.

He looked up, smiling at the waitress as she placed the two coffees on the table. ‘Thanks for that.’ He turned back to Ellie and pushed the bowl towards her. ‘Sugar?’

‘Yep.’

They stirred their coffee in silence until Ellie looked up again. ‘And?’

He shrugged. ‘What else can I tell you? My boss gets flighty when things get messy. He heard some news last night and thought I should have a heads-up on it. He wanted me back in Sydney and I wanted to stay here. With you.’ He met her eyes, willing her to believe him, but conscious that he was still only giving her a sanitised version of the truth.

She looked down, the coffee cup cradled in her hands. ‘I want to believe you – I do – but there are too many contradictions, too many loose threads . . .’

‘Ellie, please believe me. I can’t tell you everything to do with this development. You are the opposition and I still need to do my job. But once that job’s done,’ he reached across to touch her hand, ‘I will be back.’

Ellie jerked her hand away. She lowered her eyes, but he saw the struggle there. He was still the enemy.

‘Nick, I’m not going to deny I’m attracted to you.’ Her laugh was brittle. ‘Last night proved that, but I don’t need that complication right now. Let’s just do our jobs and get on with it.’

Nick sat back in his chair. ‘Ellie, if I have to walk away from you to prove I care, I will. When it’s all over, just promise me you’ll listen to me then. Please.’

‘When you decide you can be totally honest with me, come back and see me.’ She shrugged, sitting up straight. ‘Until then, I’ll carry on doing everything in my power to stop your developer. If I bump into you after we win the court case, I’ll buy you a drink. Oh, and tell those idiots in the white Commodore they shouldn’t have graduated from spy school.’

‘What white Commodore?’ His hand shot across the table to grab her wrist. ‘There’s no white Commodore on my team.’

She scoffed in disbelief. ‘Of course there isn’t. I just imagined it followed us all the way from Half Moon Bay and round and round the Westfield shopping centre an hour ago.’

‘Did you get the registration?’ he barked.

‘No, why would I? I thought it was you.’

‘It wasn’t me. If it happens again, get the rego and ring me straightaway.’ He pulled out his pen and scrawled a phone number on the serviette. ‘Any time, that number will reach me.’

‘Very melodramatic, Mr Lawson.’

‘Nick, just Nick, remember, and I’m not being melodramatic, just very bloody concerned. I wasn’t joking that first morning I found you hiding under a table in the council chambers. O’Sullivan is playing for keeps and I wish you weren’t involved. Take care, Ellie.’

‘You don’t want me involved because I might just stop whatever underhand dealings are going on.’ Her chin was up. ‘You stick with what you do best and so will I.’

His smile was crooked. ‘That’s my girl. Keep the perspective squared away. Take care, Ellie, and ring that number if you need me. I’ll see you again.’

The chair scraped in the silence and Ellie didn’t look up. His footsteps echoed on the old boards. He paid the bill and headed for his car, looking up and down the road for the white car. The rain had eased again, but the black clouds still hung low and ominous over the town. The tension in his spine was shooting a pain up his neck and into his skull. Had the hit team arrived already or was the Commodore part of the police presence? He doubted his boss would tell him the truth anyway. He had no intention of leaving Ellie unattended but she was going to get really ticked off if she found him following her around.

That meant he needed to find this white Commodore as soon as possible. Although what he was going to do then he didn’t know. The situation had moved into territory well beyond his expertise.

Ron was deep in conversation with another older man when Ellie pulled up at the council chambers. He waved distractedly at her. She sat in the warm car, watching him affectionately. She didn’t want to worry him, but she was feeling guilty for not being totally honest with him about Nick. He’d be furious if he realised the developer was carrying a gun and she’d known that before inviting him around for dinner. The white Commodore had annoyed her this morning, but now she was concerned. She wouldn’t endanger Mavis and Ron for anything. People’s lives were more important than community centres or even news stories. Nina’s death had taught her that much.

Ellie leant her head on the steering wheel. She felt empty, drained of energy, not capable of fighting him, and still with too many unanswered questions.

‘Hey, love. You okay?’ Ron heaved himself into the passenger seat, frowning at her.

‘Fine, Ron. Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t fix. Have a look at these and see if you approve.’

He rifled through the photos she’d collected from Barry. ‘Some little beauties here, Ellie. Which ones are going where?’

She talked as she drove, keeping her mind off her battered feelings. Some of the photos were for her story for the local paper and several were for Alex’s article. A couple were to add to her collection for another exhibition in Sydney at a gallery at The Rocks.

‘And what about these?’ Ron’s tone made her glance sideways. He had a sheaf of black-and-white photos in his hand.

‘Where were they?’

‘In an envelope at the back,’ he said.

‘Really?’ She hadn’t noticed Barry slip that into the bundle.

‘Yep,’ he replied. ‘They don’t look like your photos. Some of them are blurred. Soldiers. I’d say it’s overseas, Middle East somewhere.’

With a jolt, Ellie realised what they must be. In all the carry-on with Nick turning up she’d forgotten to ask about the film she’d found in Nina’s room.

‘Hey.’ Ron waved a photo under her nose. ‘I reckon that’s the O’Sullivan pup. I’m sure it is.’

‘Jason? He served in Afghanistan.’ She could only risk a quick glance as the rain came down again in earnest. The windscreen wipers were on high speed and clunking in time with her heart. Was this the missing link?

‘Yeah. Lost his hand not long after we lost Nina. Hell hole of a war.’

‘I saw him with Gazza from
The White Bird
.’ Ellie’s hands were tight on the steering wheel as the traffic sped up again. ‘He’s got to be tied up in whatever crap that trawler is involved in.’

She glanced in the rear-vision mirror. There was a truck fifty metres back and for an instant she thought she saw a flash of white vehicle tucked in behind. Ron was still talking and she concentrated on the traffic ahead as brake lights came on.

‘Yeah, that’s what my mates said today. They reckon the strings are being pulled way above O’Sullivan’s head. I doubt it’s Jason, but my theory is he was the one with contacts in Afghanistan and the poppy fields. Who knows who else is involved? When Nina started asking questions I always assumed she’d found a connection to someone in the Bay. When she died I just didn’t have the heart to try and work it out. I’m kind of sorry now I didn’t.’

‘Nina was asking you questions?’ Ellie was taken aback. Her sister hadn’t mentioned involving anyone back in Half Moon Bay, let alone Ron.

‘Yeah, me and Felicity. I think it’s partly what motivated Felicity to turn whistleblower and go to ICAC.’

‘
She’s
the whistleblower? She went to ICAC?’

‘You didn’t know that, love? I thought she would have told you herself.’

‘No.’ Ellie shook her head, disappointment weighing on her. ‘No, but I felt as though she was keeping something from me.’

‘Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have opened my big trap.’

‘No, no. I’m glad you did. I guess I’ll have to wait for her to tell me.’

She braked as they rattled over the corrugations on the road designed to slow vehicles approaching the notorious T-junction intersection onto the highway. The road was slick with standing water.

She checked her mirror again and realised the truck had turned off. Right behind them and closing in a white blur was the Commodore from this morning. Ellie instinctively swung the wheel hard to the left, taking her four-wheel drive off onto the shoulder of the road. The Commodore’s bull bar collected the corner of her rear bumper, the force making the steering wheel buck in her hands.

‘Hang on, Ron,’ she screamed as the wheels started to slip in the loose gravel.

The Commodore screeched to a halt ahead of them, narrowly missing a semi-trailer. The blast from the truck’s horn was piercing. Ellie stamped harder on the brakes, bringing her car to a shuddering halt with the front left wheel sliding down into the drainage culvert. The Commodore accelerated away.

‘Are you all right, Ron?’ None of the airbags had inflated but there was still dust in the air from the collision.

He nodded, looking shaky. ‘Yes, I think so. What was that idiot doing?’

‘He just tried to shunt us into the path of that truck. This doesn’t happen in our town.’ She could feel the fear turning to anger. Had Nicholas Lawson sent his thugs after her? It was possible.

‘It’s outrageous.’

‘Just stay where you are, Ron. Don’t take your belt off in case the car is going to move any more. I’ll just get out my side very carefully and take a look.’ The vehicle groaned as she eased the door open first, then released her own belt.

She put one hesitant foot on the ground, testing the stability of the car.
Good
, she thought, it didn’t feel like it was going to go any further just yet.

The sound of feet crunching on the gravel made her head jerk up in fright. A pair of polished boots stopped in front of her and she glared up at Nick. ‘Come to see they did the job properly?’

The relief was clearly stamped on his face. ‘Hoping you got a registration number for me, actually.’ He bent low to look in at Ron. ‘You’ll be right, Ron. The car’s not going to slip any further. Probably best if you get out this side, though. It’s a bit of a drop out your door.’

‘How do you know it’s not moving any more?’ Ellie challenged him.

‘From where I’m parked you can see the front axle is on the ground. You’ll need a tow out of there.’

More cars were pulling over to offer assistance and Ellie shook her head.

Two tow-trucks arrived within minutes of each other, hassling for Ellie’s business, but she ignored them, phoning her insurance company first.

As she held the phone to her ear, on hold in an endless queue, she surveyed the battered corner of her car. If Nick had organised it, was he now trying to win her confidence by playing the rescuer?

By the time she finally got to speak to an operator, another four-wheel drive had pulled up. It took five minutes to get the go-ahead to have the vehicle towed. She hung up to discover her car already hooked up to a winch on the second LandCruiser. Nicholas was directing traffic while the other driver gave Ron directions on what to do with her car.

‘Hang on. What are you doing?’

‘It’ll be out in a jiffy and you’ll be on your way, love,’ the man replied. ‘Ready, Ron?’

The older man gave him the thumbs up and very gently, the little convoy inched forwards until the car was back on an even keel.

‘You’ll still need to get it checked out before you drive it too far just in case there’s some damage to your suspension or brake lines.’

She glared up at Nicholas. ‘Don’t think I’m falling for any of this, because I’m not. Way too convenient for you to just happen to be on the scene so fast.’

His eyes bored into hers and she saw the anger flare. ‘Damn it, Ellie. I wasn’t following you, but maybe I should have been. When will you believe that these people are playing for stakes you can’t even begin to comprehend? And you also seem to have forgotten how to use the words “Thank you”.’ He jerked his head at her car. ‘Better start practising on your rescuer over there. He’s another fan of yours.’ The length of his stride and the spurt of water as each heel hit the puddles showed the level of his annoyance.

‘Thanks, mate.’ She held out her hand to the young surfer from the second LandCruiser.

‘No worries, Ellie. Where’d the car go that hit you?’

‘It just took off. It’s a white Commodore with a decent-sized bull bar on the front. Never seen it round town before.’

‘Make sure you report it.’

‘I will. Thanks again. Buy you a beer or six at the Bowls Club?’

‘You’re on. See ya.’

Ron got out of the driver’s side and patted her on the shoulder as he walked round the car. The old man’s face was more rumpled than usual. ‘Best we compare notes and work out what’s really going on here, love. This has got out of hand. We need to see Bob at the police station.’

‘You’re right. It’s unbelievable. Surely a development isn’t worth killing for?’

‘I don’t know, Ellie. This just might make the authorities take the rumours about the drugs more seriously.’ He sighed. ‘I guess we always knew it could get ugly. Mavis is not going to be happy.’

‘There could be millions of dollars at stake and that makes it a whole new ball game. Still think we can win this one?’

He nodded. ‘If they think scaring me will work, then O’Sullivan is a fool as well as a crook. I survived Vietnam. I’m not caving in to a couple of thugs. Maybe you should move in with us. Staying out there by yourself might not be a bright idea.’

She wrinkled her nose at him. ‘Shadow is a big boy and he’s not going to let any harm come to me. Hopefully they’ll already be heading out of town.’ She turned into the car park next to the police station and reached across and patted Ron on the hand. ‘It’ll be all right, Ron.’

Mavis wasn’t annoyed, she was furious. ‘They’d better not come anywhere near my club or I’ll lock ’em up in the cold room.’

Ron rolled his eyes at Ellie. ‘So you still think that the good-looking Mr Lawson is a bit of all right, then?’ he asked.

Mavis stopped pacing long enough to glare at her husband. ‘You tell me. What did that layabout mate of yours in Sydney have to say anyway, Ron?’

‘Still looking for info. Apparently there’s a block on requests on Nicholas Lawson’s file so he’s only managed to confirm he’s been in the Defence Force at some time in his life. Not much to go on yet, but he’s still working on it.’

‘Ex-military. Mmm, Alex came up with the same thing.
Possibly retired combat engineer
, he thought.’

Ron raised an eyebrow. ‘Really? Alex got contacts too, has he?’

Ellie nodded. ‘Apparently, but he’s not returned my calls for two days so I don’t know what else he’s found. Nick can’t be undercover, he really exists and he really is an engineer; graduated from Sydney Uni.’

‘Give us enough time and we’ll figure it out. Staying for lunch, Ellie?’ Ron asked.

‘Thanks, guys, but I really need to get these photos dispatched and do some other work this afternoon. Still have to pay the bills, even if the rent’s free.’

She left Mavis fussing over Ron, glad for their support but also conscious that she didn’t want any harm to come to them.

She parked in her little carport and peered at the damage again. She’d get a quote tomorrow and see how soon it could be fixed. Nothing seemed to be leaking yet.

She needed to clear her head, wash away the adrenalin. The lure of the ocean proved too strong, despite the cold wind blowing ahead of more rain showers. After her swim, she towelled herself dry, trying to warm up. ‘No one is going to scare me off. I’ve set out to do this and maybe, just maybe, Nicky-dear is a good guy after all.’ She laughed. The dog wagged his tail in reply with the same sardonic lolling of his tongue that seemed to mock her thoughts.

‘Come on, laddo. Work to do now.’

Ellie spread the black-and-white photos across the kitchen table, sorting them into order using the date stamp. Apprehension tightened her nerves. Almost half the images were taken the night Nina was shot. Under the magnifier she identified Jason O’Sullivan in the grainy photos. In several of them he was talking to a man in the distinctive clothing of an Afghani national. She knew the foreigner by sight, if not his name. He was the son of a dominant warlord, one of the Daulat clan, and the youngest, if she remembered correctly. His bodyguards’ weapons were raised, their attention focused on Jase. No one was looking at the camera.

Nina must have been hiding behind something, holding the camera away from her. That would explain the low light, as it wouldn’t have been possible to use a flash. So exactly what was Nina trying to achieve? Ellie turned her attention to the earlier photos. These were all shot in daylight. Three were of an imposing house with shuttered windows and a door that looked fortified – not unusual in a city so ruined by war. The next series was a sequence of Daulat stepping out of a limo, accepting a parcel from an Asian man, then returning to the limo. Its number plates were crystal clear. She looked more closely at each of the photos in order.

‘Oh my God.’

Under magnification she could identify Jase clearly again, although this time he was wearing local clothes, not his army uniform. With him were three other men, Westerners, probably, army from their haircuts and all carrying weapons. The meeting didn’t look amicable. The next shot took the scene wider, including all the players. The Afghani bodyguards were arrayed in opposition to Jase and his team, fanned out in front of the limo, facing the Asian guy.

She couldn’t tell if the Asian man was Chinese or Korean. She didn’t think he was Japanese. Would she be able to magnify the photos enough to identify the contents of the packet being handed over where one corner was ripped? It looked like money. Greenbacks?

Oh, Nina, Nina, what did you dig up? Was it really worth dying for?
Ellie stood and walked to the kitchen. She massaged the back of her neck as she leant on the bench in front of the kettle, listening to the burbles as it approached the boil. Her vision swam as tears filled her eyes. Was this the story that was going to hit the front page of every newspaper in Australia? Australian Army personnel setting up drug lines from Afghanistan to Australia – was that what her sister died for? Another senseless drug-related death?