Live and Let Bondi

by Clare Kauter

  Once I was done with that, I shut myself in my office and finished paperwork all day, and didn’t run into Bruno until I was leaving. We saw each other in the hallway and made awkward eye contact, then he mumbled a quiet apology and ran off. I hoped his embarrassment would last a long time. Him running away was a vast improvement over his previous behaviour. Not that I’d have to put up with his behaviour much longer either way. He was going down.

  Billy had spent the entire trip home last night apologising repeatedly for being such an idiot, thanking me for saving him and telling me how much he wanted to help me ‘take the dickheads down’.

  Adam had raised his eyebrows at me. “That have something to do with the thing you keep putting off talking to me about?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Tomorrow, I swear.”

  “I don’t think I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Adam. “But the day after.”

  I nodded. “I promise. For real this time.”

  So I went home after a day without Billy around and found that even though I’d only been working with him a few days, I kind of missed his company. My goodness. That was the first time in my life that had happened with a coworker. Well, except for Adam. I’d found someone I actually liked working with. And according to Adam, he was one of the best. Even if he was a little rusty.

  When I arrived home, I got dressed in my workout clothes and clipped the leash on a slightly droopy-eared Theo. I crouched down and gave him a cuddle.

  “I get it, buddy. I want to see them again too.”

  I’d spent the whole day, in between doing paperwork, trying to work up the courage to message Maggie, but I just couldn’t figure out what the hell I was meant to say. Hey, it’s me, Nat, from the worst date in history. Do you ever want to see my face again or did you just feel awkward leaving so you pretended you still liked me?

  “Let’s go, buddy,” I said to Theo. “We’ll feel better after a run.”

  Little did I know how right I was. Because when we reached the corner – that magical corner, the corner of my dreams, the corner where we’d first met our true loves – history repeated itself. A small dog and a small woman bounded towards us. Eyes locked. Tongues fell out of mouths. Panting sounded. Drool dribbled. And the dogs were excited to see each other too.

  “Hey,” I said, once Corgnelius was locked and loaded on top of Theo.

  “Hey,” Maggie replied. “I was hoping I’d see you.”

  I smiled goofily. “I was hoping to see you too.”

  She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “You didn’t text me.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I was flat out all day. Dying from embarrassment.”

  She smiled. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. It was that drunk dude who should feel ashamed of himself.”

  “Oh, I think he does. He literally ran away from me today when we bumped into each other in the corridor.”

  She smirked. “Maybe he was worried you’d break his nose. Again.”

  “He really deserved it.”

  “Oh, absolutely,” she agreed. We fell quiet for a moment before she sighed. “This is the part where you ask me out on another date to make up for last night.”

  I laughed. “Right. Of course. Um, would you like –”

  “Yes!” she said emphatically. “But for god’s sake, let’s never go back to Pirate Kev’s.”

  The next morning, I was still on a high from having spoken to Maggie and organised first date number two: delivery food and Netflix at my place so there was no chance of us running into anyone who might ruin the night, and also so the dogs could play together. I figured Theo and Corgnelius would be excited about the opportunity for Netflix and chill.

  Billy was back at work the next day. He’d even arrived there before me and taken my dinosaur mug to the cafe down the street to get me a drink, despite the fact that it was apparently physically painful for him to ask for my order. I accepted the coffee and said, “It’s OK, Billy. I’ve forgiven you.”

  “I’m sorry anyway,” he said. “And grateful. I’d definitely be dead if it weren’t for you.”

  “I’ve heard you’ve saved some lives in your time,” I said.

  He frowned. “Who told you that?”

  “Adam,” I replied.

  He raised his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t have picked that.”

  “Billy, Adam wants to talk to us,” I said. He frowned. “Nothing to be worried about. I just accidentally let slip that I thought there might be something dodgy going on at the office, and now I have to explain what I mean.”

  “Right.”

  I took a deep breath, finding that I was still nervous to talk to Adam about this. These were big accusations. I just needed Billy to tell me I wasn’t being crazy before I could actually bring myself to say them.

  “Before you transferred, Billy, did you notice anything weird going on around the office?”

  He frowned, shaking his head slowly. “Not really. A lot of people transferred out around the same time as me and new people transferred in. I don’t know a lot of people here anymore.”

  I nodded slowly. So maybe they were stacking the place with people they knew wouldn’t dob them in. Hardly conclusive, but it was something.

  “Billy, do you think I’m imagining things?” I asked. “About what’s going on in this office, I mean. Do I just think there’s something dodgy going on because I don’t like the people who work here?”

  He paused for a second, thinking. “No,” he said finally. “If you think there’s something going on, I believe you.”

  Good enough for me.

  “OK,” I said. “Let’s go talk to Adam.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Billy

  On the way to speak to Adam, I stopped off at the receptionist’s desk to have a private word with Ella. Nat rolled her eyes – extensively – but went ahead to Adam’s office and left us in peace.

  “I hear you’re partly to thank for me still being alive.”

  “Uh, you heard wrong.”

  I frowned. “Really? Because what I heard was that you were an integral member of my search and rescue party.”

  “Yes, and in the process I had to call in my own search and rescue party,” she said. “I don’t think I can really take credit. It was almost entirely Natalia.”

  “Really?” I said. “I thought maybe you hacked into security cameras to try and track me down or something. In my head you were surrounded by green numbers scrolling upwards like a hacker in a nineties movie.”

  She laughed. “Mostly it just involved me chatting to random people at a bar to see if they knew where you’d gone, but if that mental image seems cooler to you, feel free to roll with it.”

  “I think I will,” I said, grinning. “But sincerely, thank you. I’m sorry I was so weird last night.”

  Ella smiled. “You don’t have to thank me,” she said. “It’s not like I could refuse to help and just let you die.”

  I laughed. “So basically you just succumbed to peer pressure to keep me alive.”

  “Partly that. Partly I didn’t want someone to kill you before you’d even bought me that dinner you promised.”

  I frowned. “I don’t think I promised you dinner.”

  Ella gasped and pressed her hand to her chest. “So you’re turning me down again?” she said as if outraged. “After I just saved your life with my awesome hacking skills?”

  “I didn’t think of it like that,” I said. “That would be very rude of me, wouldn’t it?”

  “It would.”

  I sighed dramatically. “Well, I guess I’m obliged to take you on a date, then.”

  “You absolutely are.”

  “And I guess I’m going to have to flirt outrageously with you to prove just how grateful I am that you saved my life.”

  “I wouldn’t accept anything less.”

  A grin tugged at the corners of my lips, as much as I tried to keep a straight face. “Tomorrow night, then, for this obligatory date I’m definit
ely not looking forward to at all?”

  “Tomorrow night it is,” said Ella, looking down at her desk to hide her smile.

  I joined Nat in Adam’s temporary office – Bruno’s office. I didn’t know if Adam had heard what had happened the night before, but I kind of suspected he might have because he had commandeered Bruno’s office and forced Bruno to spend the day working in the cafeteria. Not that Bruno ever did a whole heap of work anyway.

  I took a seat next to Nat, across the table from Adam.

  “Billy,” said Adam. “You and I need to clear something up.”

  I glanced at Nat. “I thought you said this was about –”

  “It is,” she said. “Just talk to him.”

  I gritted my teeth and swallowed before nodding. “Right. And what is it that you think we need to clear up?”

  “Why did you move to Brisbane?”

  I frowned. “I – what?”

  Adam raised his eyebrows at me. “I assumed you wanted to get out of here after what happened with Tim, but given what Nat told me last night… I need to hear what happened.”

  I just stared at him blankly. I could feel Nat’s gaze on me, urging me to say something, but I just couldn’t find the words. He was asking me why I moved? Surely he knew.

  “You’re useless,” Nat said with a sigh. “Just tell him what you told me.”

  I swallowed, steeling myself, and finally managed to blurt it out. “I was forced to move there,” I said. “They told me that either I was fired or I could take the demotion and transfer.”

  Adam’s brow furrowed deeply. “Who told you that?”

  “Drew,” I said, confused. Why was he asking me this? “He said he’d been sent an email and it had been made clear…”

  “By who?”

  I swallowed again. “Sir…”

  “Did you just call Adam ‘sir’?” said Nat, looking at me like I was crazy. “He’s the same age as you.”

  “It’s a mark of respect,” I hissed at her. “Not something you know anything about. I told you this in confidence.”

  “Nat’s right. Don’t call me sir. It’s weird. Adam’s fine.”

  Great. Now I looked like an idiot. He was still watching me expectantly, waiting for me to answer, but my voice was gone again. He studied my face, apparently finding the answer without my having to speak.

  “They told you it was me,” he said with a nod. “That’s why you’re being so awkward.”

  No wonder everyone had thought he and Nat were sleeping together. Their conversational skills were on par. I didn’t reply.

  “I didn’t send that email, Billy,” he said. “You didn’t make any mistakes on that case. You’re the only reason Tim’s still alive. Why would I fire you?”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but couldn’t think what to say, so I shut it.

  “You’ve spent the past year thinking I’m that much of a dick? That I punished you because my friend got hurt, even though it was no fault of yours? And I sent you to live in Queensland?”

  “Well, that’s what Drew told me,” I said weakly. “I’ve never known him to lie to me.”

  Adam nodded thoughtfully. “OK. So our options are that Drew lied, someone sent it from a fake email address and he didn’t realise, or someone hacked my email. I’m most comfortable with the second, but we should look into all of them.” Adam turned to his computer and logged in, typing something. “It says in the system that you requested the transfer.”

  “I definitely didn’t.”

  “I told you that the people here hate you,” said Nat. “That’s the only reason you’d get stuck with me.”

  Adam turned to her. “You’ve been stuck with babysitting duty before?”

  She shrugged. “A few times.”

  “They give her all the shitty cases,” I said. She glared at me, and I shrugged. Payback.

  “Meaning what?” Adam asked.

  “The crazies. Like this investigation. It started out with a woman who’d seen a ghost. I mean, the case turned out to be OK, but…”

  “This has been going on for a while?” he asked Nat. She nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

  She shrugged.

  “There’s a rumour going around the office that you two are sleeping together,” I said. “You stepping in might make it worse.”

  Adam raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, I heard about that last night. I don’t know where they got that idea,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m here for a few days a month. That would hardly make for a satisfying affair.”

  I shrugged. “I guess it depends how you spend the time.”

  Adam gave me a half smile then turned to Nat. “I’m surprised they think you’d be so unprofessional, Nat.”

  “I’m surprised they’d think it of you,” Nat replied. Adam looked back at his computer screen and didn’t reply. Nat and I slid our gazes sideways and exchanged a moment of shocked eye contact. Adam’s silence spoke volumes. What? Who was he being unprofessional with? Why did I want to know so badly? “I can’t believe neither of you mentioned this to me. I need to know stuff like this. There’s clearly a problem with this office.”

  “There are several problems. They all have names and penises,” said Nat. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “You wanted to talk to me about penises?” Adam asked. “No wonder we have a reputation.”

  She smiled at him. “Not penises.” Her smile disappeared and I noticed how nervous she’d suddenly grown. She really didn’t want to tell Adam about this. Why? I mean, it wasn’t good news, sure. Bent employees were bad for business. But he needed to know.

  Nat opened her mouth, but seemed uncertain what to say. It was the first time I’d ever seen her look so unsure of herself.

  “Nat’s been investigating some of the other employees,” I said. “At best, we think they’re involved in morally questionable actions which would be very bad for business if news got out.”

  “At worst?”

  “They might also be dabbling in crime.”

  Adam turned to Nat, giving her a look of disbelief. “Nat, next time you have something like this, tell me immediately. Even if it’s just a feeling.”

  “But I don’t have any proof,” she said quietly. “Other than the fact that they pushed Billy out and they’ve been trying to make me quit.”

  “You think that’s what they’re doing by giving you the shitty cases?”

  She nodded. “I’m sure of it. They don’t want anyone here who won’t get involved, or at least turn a blind eye. Billy said that a heap of people got transferred out of here at around the same time as him. Maybe we should check on them and see if they were forced out, too.”

  “Good idea,” said Adam. “But right now, I need you to tell me your suspicions.”

  Nat swallowed, still looking nervous. “Sometimes people we’ve investigated show up and harass us at random places. I’ve seen it happen to one or two other PIs who’ve left since I started working here. It’s happened to me a few times. Billy got the worst one, though.”

  “Spencer,” Adam said.

  I frowned. “You know about that?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. That’s the kind of thing that sticks in your mind.” He turned back to Nat. “You think someone in here is giving people investigators’ details for money?”

  Nat twirled a piece of her hair around her finger. “Yep. And they’re not particularly discerning if they gave Billy’s home address to a guy on bail for armed robbery.”

  “This is serious,” said Adam.

  “There’s more,” said Nat.

  Adam shut his eyes and took a breath. “OK,” he said, opening his eyes again. “Hit me.”

  “Have you seen how terrible Bruno’s case clearance rate is?” Nat asked.

  Adam nodded. “Yep. I considered vetoing his promotion because of it, but Harry said we should give him a chance in case he was better at management than he was at case work.” Harry was Adam’s father, the guy who ra
n the company.

  Nat nodded. “I think he takes money from the people he’s investigating to lie to his clients on their behalves.”

  Adam closed his eyes again. “Fuck.”

  “And I’m pretty sure he’s not the only one doing it.”

  “Of course he’s not.” He opened his eyes and exhaled. “Is there more?”

  Nat nodded. “I think this might be the worst one.”

  “Great,” said Adam. “Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse.”

  “There have been a couple of burglaries lately, and, well, they look a little fishy.” She didn’t need to continue. He already knew where this was going.

  Adam rested his elbows on his desk and buried his face in his hands. “Shit,” he said. “OK. I see why you didn’t want to tell me, Nat, but this is the kind of thing I really need to hear about.”

  “I know,” she said. “I just didn’t have any proof. And I still don’t.”

  He nodded. “Not yet,” he said. “But you two are going to get me some.”

  “You want us to look into this?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Yes. I trust you two. I don’t know about anyone else who works here.” He paused and took a deep breath. “OK. This is your priority. I need you to investigate this immediately. Anything you need, let me know.”

  Nat and I nodded. “Will do.”

  “You’ll have to keep working your crappy cases at the same time,” he said. “I don’t want you to arouse any suspicion. But this is your absolute number one priority. Figure out who’s responsible and find me proof.”

  “OK,” I said.

  “Got it,” said Nat.

  “You can’t tell anyone about this,” he said. “At all. I’ll make sure you’re paid for any overtime you do, but I’ll do that myself through a different branch of the company so no one knows anything is up.” He paused. “Shit. This isn’t good.”

  “I know,” said Nat.

  “This is the kind of thing that could bring the entire company down. Both departments bent. Clients and employees getting screwed over by it.” He shook his head.