Live and Let Bondi

by Clare Kauter

  “Richard,” I said, “we just want to hear what you know. Forgive my partner. We were attacked earlier today so we’re both a little on edge. If you have anything you’re able to tell us about the man who was formerly suing you, we’d be very appreciative. We just want to see that the murderer is brought to justice. Anything you can tell us would be helpful.”

  Richard sighed and nodded. “Of course. But I can tell you right now, David’s not your guy.”

  “Why don’t you start by telling us what actually happened with him? We know some of it, but we’d prefer to hear it from you.”

  Reid nodded. “OK. Well, David came in for a class with his family. He was arguing with his wife and his daughter shot him.”

  “So in your opinion you weren’t responsible in any way.”

  “Not at all!”

  “But David blamed you.”

  “Well, at first, yes.”

  “Did he threaten you like he did your lawyer?” I asked again. “Ever try to attack you?”

  Reid swallowed. “Well, what you have to understand is that it was a very traumatic time for David, and –”

  “Answer the fucking question,” said Nat, whose patience had apparently already reached its limits.

  The man looked shocked by her words, but they did the trick. “He sent me threatening notes in the mail a couple of times. Once he left a stuffed toy on my doorstep with an arrow in it. But –”

  “That seems pretty sinister,” I commented.

  “Yes. I mean no. I mean –”

  “Spit it out,” growled Nat.

  “He calmed down a lot once he decided to divorce his wife,” said Richard. “He didn’t go ahead with the lawsuit, and he’s been coming back here a lot lately to take lessons by himself.”

  “Any good?”

  “Terrible.”

  Nat glanced at me. “Could be our guy.”

  “What?” asked Reid, alarmed.

  “He’s been coming back?” I asked, finding it hard to believe.

  Richard nodded. “Yes, ever since he stopped needing the crutches. Once he and his wife decided to split up, he came here and apologised to me immediately. He said the marriage was causing him a lot of anguish and he was lashing out because of it.”

  “Have you told your new lawyer any of this?” I asked.

  “Oh, not yet. I’ve been meaning to call him.”

  I nodded. So Eric hadn’t intentionally lied to me. He still thought the case was going ahead.

  “This guy came and said sorry just like that?” Nat asked.

  Richard nodded. “Yes. He realised it wasn’t my fault.”

  “Let’s hope he doesn’t start leaving stuffed toys with arrows in them for his daughter to find.”

  “Oh, he wouldn’t do that,” said Richard. “He’s convinced it was his wife that put his daughter up to it, and he’s thrilled about that because it’ll look better for him when the divorce goes to court.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, but I honestly didn’t know what to say to that.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Natalia

  “What now?” Billy asked once we were back in Bazza.

  I opened my mouth, but I had nothing. “You have any ideas?”

  He shrugged. “We could visit the guy whose daughter shot him, but somehow I don’t see that panning out.”

  I shook my head. “Reid didn’t seem to think we should be worried about him. At least not in this case. If his wife ends up mysteriously murdered with an arrow, he might be a good lead to look into.”

  Billy nodded. “Yeah, that was pretty much my thought too.”

  We fell silent for a moment.

  “Oh, Nat,” Billy said. “I just remembered –”

  “Yes?” Tell me he had a clue for us!

  “Ella wanted me to ask you to come out for drinks tonight.”

  “Oh,” I said. That was a bit of a letdown.

  “Well?” he said after a moment.

  “I can’t tonight,” I said. “I’ve got a date.” Not that I would have gone anyway.

  “Oh, OK,” he said, slightly awkwardly. “Cool. Right. Better not miss it.”

  “Better not.”

  I managed to keep relatively calm on the outside, but the truth was inside I was squealing. A date! With Maggie! Already! Remembering that made me feel a little better about the utter disaster that was this case. God, I hoped I didn’t get shot at over dinner. I mean, that would make for a memorable first date, but not really in the way you wanted. Ideally we’d close the case before tonight, but right now the chances of that were looking pretty slim.

  “We could go and visit Spencer again,” I said. “I booked us an appointment for today as well, just in case.”

  “I admire your forward thinking, but I don’t know if I could face speaking to him again so soon. Not unless we actually had something on him. I mean, we could go in and ask why he killed that McDonald kid, but I don’t know if we’ll get anything. It could just be that he looked at him funny, or said something mean to his nephew at school one day.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Oh yeah,” he replied. “That guy’s crazy when it comes to his family.” He paused. “Well, when it comes to most things.”

  His family… My mind wandered back to Jake Rogers. Family. He and Roy looked similar. Why did that thought pop into my head? Yes, they looked similar. Roy was the ghost. He’d passed himself off as Jake. He – oh my god.

  “The safe deposit box!”

  “What?” asked Billy, turning to look at me. We were still parked near the warehouse, since we hadn’t actually decided where we needed to go next.

  “We have the key! We can get in!”

  “Yes, we have the key, but we don’t have Jake Rogers.”

  “No, but we have his brother,” I said.

  Billy’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

  “We found his ID at his house. We have everything we need.”

  “Nat –”

  “Billy.”

  “We don’t have everything we need,” he said. “Even if Roy could pass for his brother, we don’t know where the safe deposit box is. The key’s not going to do us much good if we can’t find the box it opens.”

  I chewed my lip. “Your ex knows about the box,” I said. “Are you sure he won’t tell you where it is?”

  Billy laughed bitterly. “Pretty sure, yeah.”

  “You couldn’t convince him?”

  He frowned. “Are you telling me you want me to seduce Eric to get information out of him?”

  “I was thinking that we should tie him to a chair and beat it out of him, but you can sleep with him instead if you’d prefer.”

  He grimaced. “I’d rather not. And as much as he deserves a good beating, I think we should maybe exhaust our other options first.”

  “Haven’t we done that already?” I thought for a moment. “Wait, of course. I’m an idiot.”

  “Well, I didn’t want to say anything, but –”

  “Shut up and drive to Jake’s house.”

  While Billy drove I called Roy, asking if he knew anything about where his brother might have had a safe deposit box. He didn’t, but I asked him to meet us at his brother’s house anyway. We picked up Jake’s mail, taking it inside the apartment to search through it. I thought maybe there’d be some kind of evidence in there of the box he’d rented. Of course, if it was rented by the law firm this wasn’t going to help us, but it was worth a shot.

  “What exactly are we looking for?” Roy asked.

  “Probably a letter from a bank,” said Billy.

  “About ninety percent of these letters are from banks.”

  “Then we have our work cut out for us.”

  Half an hour later, we’d sifted through a month’s worth of mail, plus everything else we’d found in Jake’s desk and on his bench and anywhere in the house. Nothing.

  Roy collapsed onto the couch, sighing. “This is impossible.”

  Billy
and I made eye contact and I could tell he was thinking the same thing.

  “There’s something here,” I said. “There must be. We’re just not looking hard enough.”

  I spread the envelopes out on the desk, studying the logos printed on the outside of them. Maybe if I saw them all like this, something would stand out to me…

  “Nat,” said Billy, “maybe we should just –”

  “Shut up.”

  “Nat –”

  “No, really,” I said, picking up one of the envelopes. I turned it to face him. “Look at this. What do you see?”

  “Isn’t that just a pamphlet advertising different types of bank accounts?” he said. “There’s no bill or statement in there or anything.”

  “No,” I said, “but that doesn’t matter. You’re not looking at it, Billy.”

  He studied the outside of the envelope for a moment, then his eyes went wide. He looked down at the other envelopes on the desk and then turned back to me, grinning. “It’s a different bank.”

  I nodded, a small smile sneaking onto my own face.

  “So?” said Roy from the couch. “Does that matter?”

  “All of his accounts are with one bank,” said Billy. “So why would a different bank be sending him mail?”

  Roy frowned. “You think that other bank is where the safe deposit box is?”

  I nodded.

  “Yep,” said Billy. “And there’s a branch just down the road from Parker & Yates.”

  “Right, OK,” said Roy. “So what now?”

  Billy and I glanced at each other. I hadn’t actually explained my plan to Roy yet. This was more Billy’s area anyway. I figured this would probably take some sweet talking. I really wasn’t the kind of person who inspired people to break into a safe deposit box. Billy, on the other hand…

  “Roy, you got all your brother’s belongings after his death, right?” said Billy.

  Roy’s brow wrinkled. “Yes.”

  “So whatever is in this box is yours.”

  “I guess so.”

  “The trouble is, trying to get this box opened legally might take a little while,” Billy said. “And we don’t really have time to wait for that. Not if we want to put Jake’s murderer away now.”

  Roy frowned deeply. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re about to ask me to help you break into this bank?”

  “We need to put this guy away ASAP, Roy,” said Billy. “He came after me and Nat today.”

  Roy’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

  Billy nodded. “Shot at us.”

  “No way.” He glanced at me as if looking for confirmation.

  “It’s true,” I said. “Would have got us, too, if he’d been a better shot.”

  Neither Billy nor I felt compelled to point out that it had been a bow and arrow rather than a gun. Somehow that didn’t sound as threatening.

  Roy seemed sobered by that. “Guys, you know I want to help, but –”

  “It’s your box, Roy,” I said. “We’re just cutting through the red tape. Speeding up the process a little.”

  He frowned and stared down at the floor for a moment. Finally he looked back up, swallowed and said, “OK. I’ll do it. Let’s go break into a bank.”

  “And catch a murderer,” I said.

  “That too.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Billy

  It was a simple enough plan: Nat and I would wait outside while Roy went inside with his brother’s ID and the key. Everything was going to be fine. As long as they didn’t, like, realise he wasn’t who he said he was and call the cops on him.

  “You’ll be fine, buddy,” said Nat. “You tricked Billy here. You can trick some random people at the bank. Don’t stress.”

  “Should we run through the plan one more time?” he asked.

  “No,” she said, grabbing his shoulders and turning him in the direction of the building, giving him a push on the back. “Off you go.”

  As we watched him walk in the front door, I cracked my knuckles nervously. “God I hope he doesn’t get arrested,” I said.

  “Me too,” Nat replied. “I want to know what’s in that safe deposit box.”

  “I meant that I’d feel bad if he got in trouble because of our plan.”

  “Sure,” said Nat. “That as well.”

  I was going to comment further on her apparent lack of compassion but I was distracted when I noticed a figure a little further down the street standing outside the bank, rifling through her bag. It was Audrey, Eric’s boss.

  “Hello,” I muttered.

  Nat glanced in the direction I was facing and groaned. “Why does she have to be here now?”

  “No idea,” I replied, “but it’s probably best if we keep her distracted while Roy’s inside. We don’t want her blowing our plan.”

  “What’s she doing?”

  “Probably putting some incriminating evidence in another vault for one of her many dodgy clients,” I said, striding towards her. Nat clomped along beside me, her boots thudding angrily on the sidewalk.

  “Audrey,” I called out, just loud enough to cover what Nat had shouted at her. Thank goodness. I’m pretty sure she’d addressed Audrey as ‘Oi, bitch-tits!’ I wasn’t even entirely sure what that meant. Could tits be bitchy? Not that I was going to say that to Nat.

  Audrey’s eyes went wide when she saw us before she managed to school her face into a neutral expression. “Billy,” she said. “And… Billy’s friend.”

  “Audrey,” Nat replied. “Defended any serial killers lately?”

  “Of course not,” said Audrey. “Not that I’d tell you if I had.”

  “What have you got in the bag?”

  I frowned. That was kind of a weird question.

  “Nothing that concerns you,” Audrey said.

  Nat folded her arms. “That’s incorrect. I’m very concerned.”

  “Well, I don’t care,” Audrey replied. “I’m not telling you what’s in my bag. It’s none of your business, and if you try to search my person I will have you arrested.”

  “Your person?” Nat replied. “You got one locked up somewhere?”

  Audrey narrowed her eyes. “What are you two doing here?”

  “The last thing you want us to be doing,” Nat replied.

  “Hey, guys,” came Roy’s voice from behind us. “I got in, but –”

  Nat turned around. “Shut it,” she ordered. He obliged.

  I glanced at Audrey, who frowned as she saw Roy but said nothing. Maybe she hadn’t realised who he was or why we’d brought him here. It was only a matter of time before she figured it out, though.

  “Well, I guess we should get going,” I said, giving Nat a significant look.

  “Yes, we should. Have a nice day, Audrey,” said Nat. “While you still can.”

  Audrey placed her hands on her hips. “Are you threatening me?”

  “Not at all,” said Nat. “Simply pointing out that all happiness is temporary, and if you’re hiding anything from us, your happiness is going to be particularly brief.”

  Once we were safely back in the car, Roy showed us what he’d found in the box. According to him, he hadn’t had any problems getting in. (He did a very convincing impression of his brother – something I knew first hand.) He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive.

  “This is all that was in there,” he said.

  “Guess we’d better check out what’s on it, then.”

  We headed back to the office and took Roy into our little storage cupboard. He frowned when we led him inside.

  “Seriously? Two top PIs like you work sardined together in this tiny shoebox?”

  “That makes no sense,” said Nat, plonking on her chair and plugging the drive into her computer. “You don’t put sardines in a shoebox. What kind of psycho would do that?”

  Roy opened his mouth to respond, but thought better of it. Smart move.

  “There’s only one file,” Nat said. “A video.”

&nbs
p; Roy and I crowded behind her.

  “This should be fun,” I said. And oh boy, was I right.

  About three seconds in, Roy rushed out of the room to vomit.

  “Second door on the left!” Nat called, giving him directions to Bruno’s office.

  “That’s Dougie, isn’t it?” I said.

  “Yep.”

  “Stabbing that Jason kid.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “The one Spencer’s in jail for killing.”

  “That’s the one.”

  I let out a breath. “Shit.”

  “Pretty much my thoughts.”

  I frowned, trying to make sense of it all. “What – what does this mean?” I asked. “I guess Spencer confessed to protect his nephew.”

  “Looks that way,” said Nat. “Explains why he suddenly stopped protesting his innocence like you say he always used to.”

  “His lawyer knew he wasn’t guilty.”

  “Hard to believe he didn’t, given where we found this flash drive.”

  I nodded. “So where does that leave our investigation?”

  Nat thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “It looks like Jake helped Spencer cover for his nephew. Maybe someone found out and went after him.”

  I nodded. “Maybe…”

  She looked up at me. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “It’s OK. My nipples are prepped. Let’s do this.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Natalia

  “Nice to see you, Billy,” said Spencer when the guards brought him into the room to sit with us. Again, he acted like I wasn’t even there. Again, that was fine by me. I wanted my nipples to stay where they were.

  Billy didn’t bother messing around today.

  “We know Dougie killed Jason, Spencer,” he said. “We have the video.”

  Spencer’s eyes widened and his face went pale. All traces of his usual grin were gone. “No,” he breathed.

  “Yes,” said Billy. “So why don’t you tell us what’s going on?”

  Spencer stared down at the floor, shaking his head. “You already know what’s going on.”