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‘I’ll just be a sec, babe.’

Simon Aston wore little more than low-rise board shorts and his smooth signature smile. He had been working on his tan and, thanks to the warm weather of late, it was looking good.
He
was looking good and he knew it—and his latest guest at the summery beachfront abode seemed to agree. He left her curled up seductively at one end of the cream sofa in the living room, her denim miniskirt riding up to show a glimpse of the toned curve of her bottom. She was a small dark girl with a full mouth and big brown eyes, and Simon hoped to examine that pert derrière much more closely by night’s end. She worked in ‘promotions’, she’d said.

He was having a good night. Not a bad pull for a Thursday.

Now Simon was in the small kitchen, searching through the cupboards. There was one more bottle in there, he was sure.

Ah, yes. Excellent.

He sauntered back into the living room,
grinning and holding the slightly warm, unopened bottle of Moët et Chandon champagne by the neck. A soft breeze stirred the chimes on the patio; the doors were opened wide to accept the dark, balmy evening.

Simon noticed that his guest had slipped off her cowboy boots and was twirling her dark hair around a manicured finger. Her tan legs glistened invitingly in the humid evening air. They would enjoy a few more drinks, and then he would walk her down to Tamarama Beach across the road and let the sand and the warm summer night do their magic. It worked every time.

Yes, life was good.

‘I found us another bottle, babe,’ he said.
Jessica? Or just Jess?
He had forgotten. ‘It’s a bit warm, but I’ll take care of that.’ He pulled the empty bottle out of the silver champagne bucket on the coffee table, and plunked the fresh one in, the wet ice making a
shloosh
sound, the cubes melting fast in the heat. Simon and his guest had already polished off their first bottle of champagne as if it were tap-water.

‘S-i-i-imon…’ the promotions girl purred, leaning towards him and throwing an arm around a cushion, her brown eyes large. ‘You haven’t answered my question yet. Do you already have a date for the big party, or what?’

‘Not yet, babe.’ He gave her a sly smile to encourage the idea that he would take her. Every young thing in Sydney wanted to score an invite
to Damien Cavanagh’s lavish thirtieth birthday party next weekend, and as Damien’s best friend, Simon was gatekeeper to the coveted invitation. It would be the social event of the year. Simon wasn’t about to bring a little promotions girl to it, but she didn’t need to know that now. There were plenty more opportunities to get laid in the lead-up to the party.

‘Oh,’ she said and moved another inch towards him, beaming. She flicked her hair.

His mobile phone rang and his guest seemed instantly bored, the sound of the ring switching off her attentive charm like a lamp. Simon impatiently pulled the phone from the pocket of his shorts and looked at its display. It was a private number.

‘Hello,’ he answered.

The girl downed the last drops of her champagne, and then gestured to her empty glass with an impatient pout.

‘It’s me.’

Me?

‘Who is
me
?’ Simon said, rolling his eyes for Jess’s benefit. She perked up and giggled at his display. He threw her another look, cocking an eyebrow suggestively.

She seemed to think him hilarious, and tossed her head back in a tipsy laugh, putting a finger up to her lips. ‘Shhhh!’ she said, the sound trailing off in a giggle. He definitely needed to keep her going on that champagne.

‘It’s Warwick,’ said the voice on the other end of the line.

Warwick O’Connor.

‘Ah…yes,’ Simon replied curtly, now wishing he hadn’t answered the call. His throat tightened a little. He was not in a work mood, and this was a particularly unpleasant matter. He’d hoped he wouldn’t need to hear about it until morning.

‘Hey, man, how’s it all coming along?’ he said, not waiting for a reply. ‘Look, I’m a little busy at the moment. This isn’t a good time.’ Simon played it cool for the benefit of his guest. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll chat…Okay, talk to you then—’

‘It’s about the money,’ came Warwick’s voice, cutting him off.

The money.

Simon might have guessed it would be about the money.

Warwick was little more than a thug, but he wouldn’t go away easily, Simon knew. He covered the receiver.

‘I’ll be back in one sec,’ he told Jess. He didn’t want the promotions girl overhearing anything too interesting. She pouted and lifted her empty champagne glass as he left her again to stalk out onto the open patio. The breeze was getting stronger, the chimes making their chaotic music with more vigour.

‘The money’s all good, man. The other half is right here for you,’ Simon assured Warwick. He didn’t want any trouble brewing. ‘We can meet at the Ravesi bar downstairs tomorrow afternoon. It’ll all be there.’

‘I left you a message an hour ago. We need to renegotiate. I can make this hard or I can make this easy.’

‘You’ve been watching too many movies, man,’ Simon replied irritably. ‘You did your job, and now you’ll get paid what we agreed. Nuff said.’ It was ridiculous for Warwick to think he could renegotiate now. This guy was seriously burning his bridges—Simon had connections with a lot of important people; important people who might one day want the type of services that Warwick could provide.

‘There is no renegotiating,’ Simon told him firmly. ‘You’ll be lucky now to get the second half of the payment with all this grief you’re causing me.’

A salty breeze whipped around Simon, setting off the chimes again and lifting the sun-bleached hair off his tanned nape. He felt his face getting warm with irritation.

‘Don’t push me, man,’ he added.

‘I’ve been busy doing my homework,’ Warwick said. ‘Your mate’s old man would be more than interested in my offer, I think.’

Simon’s heart skipped. ‘
Don’t you…don’t—’

‘The new price is one mill. Cash.’

Simon reeled. ‘What? What the fuck?
A million dollars?
What are you, on crack? This is
bullshit
!’ he yelled at the top of his voice, his words carrying across the rooftops on the wind. ‘Forget it. Forget it, man.’ He’d agreed to $15 000 to take care of a little problem. Now what was this about one million? Ludicrous. Simon was losing his temper, and his patience.

I should hang up to show him who’s boss
, he thought. But before he did, Warwick spoke again.

‘Your mate is not going to want this made public, and neither is his old man.’

‘Come on, man,’ Simon said quietly, panicking inside. His stomach had tightened, the champagne taste turning sour in his mouth. What if Warwick really
did
know the connection, and had proof? What if he sold the story to some reporter?

‘You tell your mate I want an answer by one o’clock tomorrow,’ Warwick continued, ‘and if I don’t get the answer I want, the price will go up. Take him out for lunch, why don’t you? Have a nice chat about it. I am sure he’ll agree it’s worth it not to make this thing public.’

This was going all wrong now. How could it be going wrong like this? He was supposed to have the upper hand. He’d
hired
this guy, for God’s sake. It should have all been fine—taken care of—
nothing.

‘You’re bluffing,’ Simon said.

‘You
know
I’m not,’ Warwick said ominously. ‘One mill in cash. That’s the price.’

‘Come on, man,’ Simon repeated and laughed, trying another tactic. His laughter sounded too nervous in his own ears, and his body was on edge, pumping with adrenaline. But he tried to sound relaxed. ‘Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow at Ravesi. I’ve got your seven-and-a-half grand waiting for you, all right? And another few grand for your trouble. No worries, mate. We’ll make it twenty-five now all up. Okay? No worries. See you then…’

‘One million dollars. I want an answer by tomorrow at one, or I’ll contact the big man myself,’ Warwick threatened again.

Simon was about to get in another word when his mobile went quiet, the call ended.

‘Fuck!’ he shouted to the sky. Warwick had actually hung up on him. This fucking guy had hung up on
Simon Aston?

Simon stood in shock on the patio in the humid air, looking towards the darkening sky, one hand nervously rubbing his tight, muscled stomach, his fingers circling his bellybutton.

I can’t believe he hung up on me. I can’t believe it.

He cooled off for a few minutes, having felt so furious that he was unable to speak. When he felt in control again he walked back into the living room where his guest was waiting. She had opened the champagne bottle without him. She looked bored, picking at her French manicure, her glass half empty and her bare feet up on the arm of the couch. His face must have still been
red with anger from the phone call, because she could tell that something was wrong.

‘What’s up?’ she asked when she saw him.

‘Nothing. Here…’ He pulled the champagne bottle out of the ice bucket, which was filled with water and the remaining shapes of a few melted ice cubes. The bottle itself was not chilled enough, but he didn’t care. Silently Simon topped up his guest’s glass sloppily and then filled his own. He sat heavily in an easy chair, frowning and holding his drink. Warwick’s call had ruined his evening.

Should I say anything to Damien about it?
he wondered.
Absolutely not.

The guy was bluffing, and his friend was better off not being hassled with the details. It would be fine. He’s greedy, that’s all. He’s just trying it on.

But what if he isn’t bluffing?

On Friday morning Makedde Vanderwall opened her eyes to the sound of the front door closing.

She shifted in bed and frowned, not needing to check the clock. She knew it would be too early. Outside, she heard a car drive off. Mak vaguely remembered Andy coming to bed. He had crept onto his side and slid under the covers, careful not to disturb her. The thing was, she had
wanted
him to disturb her. Despite her resistance, Mak was becoming familiar with the pent-up sexual frustration of the work-widowed spouse, and she wasn’t even married. They’d only been living together for a year. Would it only get worse? Would his three months at Quantico bring them closer together or further apart?

Is there such a thing as a one-year itch?

If Mak thought this state of frequent absences and near-platonic boredom was less than ideal, she wondered how their relationship would be once he had returned and had to be on site at the new Canberra unit a full five days a week. They had not yet discussed it, but the obvious
unspoken result of his move was that she would have to consider moving there with him, even though her few friends in Australia were all in Sydney, and so was her work. Would she have to give up her investigation work with Marian, the work she currently thrived on? Trying to find an appropriate space in Sydney for her practice hardly seemed worth it now, with their lives in flux. The thought of moving to a new city with Andy, leaving behind the few tenuous ties she had built in the past year—her friendship with Karen, her time with her dear friend Loulou, her work with Marian—made her sad.

Don’t worry about that just yet…

It would be months before the unit was running. She would deal with those decisions when the time came.

‘So how was it last night?’

Detective Andy Flynn looked up quizzically from the table and found his partner Jimmy Cassimatis strolling over to him, having walked into their favourite café twenty minutes late.

‘How was
what
last night?’ Andy asked. They had been working together on Jimmy’s homicide mess until late, so he was not sure what his former partner could have thought he had missed.

‘Come on—you slipped her some sausage, didn’t you?’ Jimmy quipped, slapping Andy’s
shoulder and making a phallic-looking fist in the air that he proceeded to shake. ‘Make-up sex is the best. Did she handcuff you again? I bet she did.’

‘Shut up and sit down,’ Andy said darkly, ignoring the comments. He glanced around, but the other diners seemed unperturbed by Jimmy’s rude gestures. Sophomoric references to sex spewed forth from Jimmy’s lips on a regular basis. Perhaps it was part of his ‘charm’. And this particular topic of conversation was not an unusual one for Jimmy, who, even after all the years had passed, still liked to let it be known that he thought his mate was legendary for ‘bagging an
SI
model’, as he so elegantly put it—a onetime
Sports Illustrated
pin-up with a thing for cops and handcuffs, no less. ‘
Skata!
You are the stuff of legend, mate!’ he’d said on far too many occasions. There was more depth to Jimmy, Andy knew, but he just didn’t seem to like showing it.

‘
Skata!
She snuck up on me like a vampire while I was waiting in the car, and freaked me out something shocking,’ Jimmy persisted, nodding his head as he pulled out the metal chair with a squeak on the linoleum. ‘Yup, she was sure pissed off with you. Pissed!’ He was never one to know when to stop.

‘I picked up on that, thank you,’ Andy replied, wishing Jimmy would just shut up about Mak. She
had
been angry, though she rarely said as much in words. She was so different from his late
ex-wife, Cassandra, who had been the type to scream, cry and throw things.

Andy sometimes felt out of his depth with Mak. She was quiet when she was angry, as she had been last night. Quiet—but intensely so. He didn’t have a reference point for women like that. But surely by now she understood that frequent late nights and absences were part of his job. She
should
understand—she was the daughter of a cop, after all.

Mak’s father was the formidable ex-Detective Inspector Les Vanderwall, and though his career had been in Canada, his influence seemed to reach much further. Andy knew that Les didn’t approve of his daughter’s choice of boyfriend, and that he kept tabs on their life together. By falling for Mak and taking on their living arrangements, Andy had also taken on her strong will, quiet moods and sharp intelligence. He’d also taken on the role that every man involved with a very beautiful woman was used to—every time they went out, other men stared at his girlfriend, and sometimes other women did too. All that, combined with the private prying eyes of her detective father, and Andy had taken on quite a handful with Makedde Vanderwall. And that was
before
she started dabbling in investigation.

‘I have to try to get us a table at somewhere tonight. Something fancy. Maybe Icebergs?’ Andy knew it was booked out weeks in advance.

‘Deller knows the chef. He owes him a favour,’ Jimmy said.

‘And Deller owes
me
a favour.’ That would help Andy to book a table at short notice. Hopefully. ‘How are the little ones?’ he asked, wanting to change the subject from Mak.

‘Yeah, good,’ Jimmy replied. He was a good Greek father of four now, with more on the way soon, Andy felt sure. The waitress arrived. ‘I’ll have a cup of coffee and your full breakfast—two fried eggs, beans, bacon and sausage.’

‘Coffee, and beans on toast,’ Andy ordered.

‘
Skata.
You look like crap.’

‘I know,’ Andy agreed.

‘They working you hard, huh?’

Andy shrugged.

‘So how is all that crap going with Canberra, anyway?’

‘Uh, okay.’ Andy played with a paper napkin. ‘We’re doing all this groundwork, and talks, and talks and more talks. I don’t think I’m cut out for all this political bullshit. It’s like everyone talks and nobody does anything.’

‘You’re a fuck of a lot more political than me,’ Jimmy commented.

That was true. Jimmy would long ago have been promoted to a higher rank if not for his complete and utter lack of social grace and political drive. He was a good cop, and he would give his right arm for Andy, but those on high
did not smile upon him. He didn’t have what it took for leadership, and he knew it too.

‘I think Kelley wants to see you off…your last day and all.’
Detective Inspector Roderick Kelley.
‘You’re his golden boy.’

‘I wouldn’t say that.’

It was partially true, though. Kelley had protected Andy as best he could when things had got bad. When Andy solved the major Stiletto Murder case, it had vindicated Kelley’s position; but Andy had let him down on occasion too. If he was a golden boy, it was tarnished gold.

The coffees arrived and Jimmy dumped three packets of sugar into his cup. ‘Sometimes I wish I was going with you. Things are starting to suck around here,’ he complained. ‘It won’t be the same. I can already tell.’

‘Good morning,’ Detective Inspector Roderick Kelley said, interrupting their banter before Jimmy could continue. They were both caught by surprise, and Andy wondered if Inspector Kelley had overheard Jimmy’s comments.

Jimmy stopped his babbling and wiped coffee from the corner of his mouth. ‘Hey, sir,’ he said clumsily.

‘Good morning, Inspector.’ Andy stood and shook Kelley’s hand.

‘Getting my morning coffee,’ Kelley said. ‘Say, can you drop in to my office this morning?’ he asked Andy. ‘There’re a few things I would like to discuss.’

Andy nodded.

The Detective Inspector was someone Andy admired enormously. He wasn’t one of the political paper-pushers who were so often in jobs like his these days. He was old school, the kind of cop who had actually spent his time learning on the street and not in a classroom. There was not one whiff of bullshit or political aspiration about him. And what about Andy? With all Andy’s talk about the unit, he was beginning to feel like the men he had always abhorred. He wished he could get back to doing his job instead of talking about it. But he wouldn’t have to wait much longer, which was good, because he doubted he had much more patience.

Kelley took his coffee and a muesli bar to go, and returned to headquarters across the street.

‘Golden boy,’ Jimmy griped.

Andy rolled his eyes.

Jimmy persisted. ‘You have been the golden boy since the Stiletto Murder case and you know it.’

The case had been the most high-profile of Andy’s career, and a major turning point for him both professionally and personally. The killer had cut a swathe of violence through Sydney, and had become obsessed with Andy, the profiler leading the investigation. Andy’s ex-wife had been murdered, and he’d met Makedde, a witness. Everything in his world had changed. And when he had cracked the case and found the killer, a successful career had been assured. Jimmy was
right: in some ways he was Kelley’s protégé. But Andy had paid a heavy price for his success in that case.

Fifteen minutes later, Andy and Jimmy entered HQ together. Kelley approached Andy, and several of the other detectives looked up to watch the interaction, probably wishing their careers were also on Kelley’s radar.

‘My office,’ Kelley said. His invitation did not extend to Jimmy.

‘Yes, sir.’

Jimmy took a seat at his measly desk, and pretended to look through some paperwork. He was used to being excluded. Kelley and Andy walked across the floor, passing constables at their desks, many of whom looked up as they went by. Andy could feel their eyes on him.

They reached Kelley’s office.

‘Shut the door. Take a seat.’

Andy did.

Inspector Kelley remained standing, looking out through his well-earned window to a view of Hyde Park, where fairy lights decorated the trees. After dark, bats would fly out of those trees by the thousands, just some of the creatures that ventured out into the city at night.

‘I’m putting Deller on leave for a couple of weeks.’

Andy flexed his jaw. Deller would be disappointed, but he understood Kelley’s logic. ‘Will there be an investigation?’

‘Yes. Routine.’

Andy nodded. Deller would have to take trauma counselling after the incident. Andy had been there himself from time to time; he knew the concept was a good one. Police officers dealt with death and violence all the time and they needed help to relieve the stress of their jobs. But Andy was not always convinced that a psychologist was the best person to assist. Not that he would ever admit this to Mak, of course.

Inspector Kelley kept his back to Andy, his hands folded neatly in the small of his back; Andy waited until he was addressed. The inspector was always economical in both word and action. When he spoke his words had great weight, especially to Andy. Kelley wasn’t the type who wanted the air filled with nonsense talk. He wasn’t the type for any kind of nonsense at all.

Finally he turned. ‘Pleased with your new post?’ he asked, those sharp slate-grey eyes unreadable. Was
he
happy about Andy’s post? Unhappy? Surely his recommendation had helped Andy get it. Was there something he knew about the project that Andy didn’t? The set-up for the unit was experimental in some ways, but Kelley was one of those who had strongly supported the idea.

I’ll be more excited about it when I finally get to do something, instead of talk about it.

‘Yes,’ Andy admitted. ‘It’s been a long time coming.’ He’d spent frustrating years pushing it along with politicians who seemed to change position for or against on the whims of popular opinion.

Kelley took the comment in with a slight smile, as if he knew from experience just how slowly the wheels of progress moved with such projects. He then took a seat in his leather chair, and it creaked under his weight. He was a tall man, and fit for his age—or, indeed, any age. He was less than five years from retirement, but he was still in more formidable shape than half of the department.

‘I’ll miss it here, though, I think.’

‘Well, don’t you go missing us just yet. You don’t leave till tomorrow. You can still make yourself useful.’ Andy opened his mouth to say that he would be delighted to be made useful, but Kelley was already busy explaining what needed doing. ‘A girl was found behind a dumpster this morning in Surry Hills. She’d been there a few days. It looks like a sexual homicide. Maybe a serial. I’ll have you take a look. Talk the boys through it if you can. They could learn from you while we still have you.’

Consulting on cases was what Andy’s future held. He would no longer be part of the same team.

‘Thank you, sir. Who found her?’

If the body was a few days old—the smell would be very bad, especially in the high February summer temperatures.

‘Go with Cassimatis to check it out. Peterson’s there—he’ll have the details.’

Kelley slid a piece of paper across to him with an address on it.

‘Oh, and try to get some sleep on that plane tomorrow. You look tired.’

Andy nodded. He’d been burning the candle at both ends, and that was hardly about to stop. ‘Um, sir, will Deller be all right?’ he asked before he left. Deller was not a friend, but he was a colleague, and Andy wanted to see that Deller would not be demoted for a situation that had been beyond his control.

‘Don’t worry about him,’ Kelley said. ‘You have your own problems.’

Andy and Jimmy pulled up on a side road near the mouth of a lane blocked off with crime-scene tape. Andy killed the engine, and opened the glove box.
Damn bloody headaches.
He popped two tablets of aspirin into his hand and swallowed them dry.

‘Okay, let’s check this out,’ he said and stepped out of their unmarked car.

The filthy back lane where all the activity was smelled terribly, not only of foul garbage, but also
of death. Andy was glad he wasn’t planning on eating a big lunch. He ducked under blue-and-white chequered crime-scene tape, Jimmy at his heels. Though they’d just eaten breakfast, Jimmy was already chewing on a Mars Bar. He grumbled something about the stench.

Jimmy had worked with Andy for many years, and the two had become nearly inseparable, despite some of Jimmy’s less popular qualities. It wasn’t Jimmy’s colourful way with words—his speech peppered with Greek and the expletives he sometimes called ‘French’—that Andy disliked, and it wasn’t his sometimes destructive lack of ambition. It was his way with food. Surrounded by filth and the stench of decay, Jimmy continued to eat his Mars Bar unfazed, the chocolate all over his fingers. Andy gave him a look and Jimmy pocketed the bar. He licked his fingers clean.