Smoking Gun (Adam Cartwright Trilogy Book 1)

by Dennis Debney

  “What the hell do you think that you are playing at? You can’t dictate conditions to me.” His level of irascibility was definitely re-escalating.

  “The two employees wish to surrender to the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission. They are repentant for giving into threats and are in fear for their lives. They wish to give evidence to the Commission about the Comancheros activities. They have come forward voluntarily and I am committed to negotiating their recognition as whistleblowers and getting them accepted into a witness protection program. I am not going to give them up just so you can hand them over to the police without properly considering their circumstances. If you won’t meet with me to discuss this rationally without shouting, then I will go straight to the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission.”

  Ryan commenced to say something but spluttered into silence. I think that he was having great difficulty in getting his temper under control. I was now resigned to this conversation ending badly for me career-wise. Eventually he managed to speak in a reasonable tone of voice. “So you are threatening to go to the Commission …”

  I didn’t let him finish the sentence. “No. I’m not threatening anything. I’m simply giving you a heads-up. I’m going to the Commission. I was offering to bring you up to date with events prior to me going there.”

  “Okay. Let me give you a heads-up as well.” He paused and then surprised me when he continued in a much calmer tone of voice. “I have been invited to appear at an in-camera session of the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission on Tuesday morning next week. I have spent all day with lawyers talking strategy. I have been listening to a couple of wet-behind-the-ears pricks of lawyers telling me what I should, and shouldn’t, say. I’m fed up with it all. You ringing me was the last straw.”

  ”Well. It might cheer you up if I told you that the information that I have about the Comancheros, and fraud on construction sites, could make you the star attraction. Provided that you handle it right.”

  “So now you are also telling me what I should do. You are even younger than those twerps of lawyers. I should sack them. Perhaps you as well…”

  “Well your first thought would be my recommendation. Sack the lawyers. Do not listen to them. Do not involve them.” Not for the first time I wondered why apparently confident people would rely on a lawyer to get unnecessary advice when the right course of action would be obvious with the application of honesty and a little commonsense. Here was the CEO of a major corporation that didn’t have the confidence to handle a few questions by the Commission without having a lawyer to hold his hand. In situations like this I seriously doubted that they were in the right line of work.

  He exploded with ironic pseudo mirth. “By God you must have a death wish talking to me like that. A death-of-career wish I mean.” He was silent for a moment before adding. “To tell you the truth, I was coming around to that conclusion myself. Okay, how soon can you get down here to see me? I’ll listen to what you have to tell me face-to-face.”

  “Well, since you are the boss…”

  He couldn’t restrain himself, giving a loud guffaw he said, “Hah! Since I’m the boss. So you finally realised it. Okay, how soon can you get here?”

  I did some quick reckoning. I needed a day here at least. “What about ten o’clock, either Wednesday or Thursday morning.”

  I could hear him flicking through his diary for a few moments before he replied, “Make it Thursday. Ten o’clock on Thursday.”

  “Sure. I’ll be there. Ten o’clock, Thursday.”

  This time I waited until he hung up before I did likewise. I did not want to again poke the bear.

  ***

  Thursday, October 22

  Brisbane, Queensland

  I was greeted by Ewan Ryan’s personal assistant as soon as I reported to the receptionist at Gibson Constructions head office in Brisbane. I judged her to be in her thirties. Conservatively dressed and clearly reserved by nature she had hardly spoken a word to me. Just enough to confirm my identity and tell me that she would take me to see Mister Ryan. I found her attitude to be condescending and her obsequious reference to ‘Mister Ryan’ a little over the top. So, as we were waiting for an elevator, I thought that I’d rock her boat with a little teasing. “Tell me, is Ewan in a better mood today?”

  She stopped at stared at me. “What… what did you say?”

  “Is Ewan still in a bad mood?”

  She continued to stare at me in silence, speechless with indignation. She was probably thinking; the stupidity of this country bumpkin. He doesn’t even know it’s disrespectful to refer to Mister Ryan by his Christian name.

  I chuckled in a friendly manner that was patently insincere and said, “Relax, Miss or Missus what ever your name is. I am just winding you up. By the way, you know my name but I don’t know yours. I find myself at a bit of a disadvantage.”

  Finally just as a lift arrived she smiled and said, “My name is Ruby Morgan. Miss Ruby Morgan. And Mister Ryan is in a much better mood than he was last Monday when he spoke to you on the telephone. I hope that you aren’t going to upset him again today.”

  I grinned. “I’ll try not to.”

  Ewan Ryan’s office was on the twenty second floor with generous views across the Brisbane River to Kangaroo Point. It was well appointed including a large conference table which he gestured towards indicating that I should sit there. His greeting was curt. No small talk. No meaningless, ‘how was your flight’. No polite, ‘would you like a coffee or tea’. Just a quick nod and a finger pointing at the conference table. I stood for a moment staring at him in silence. I had travelled more than 1,500 kilometres this morning to come here. My plan had been to acknowledge his seniority and overlook his surly manner, but my good intentions evaporated when confronted with his offhand non-greeting.

  I did not respond to his implied instruction that I should take a seat at the conference table. Instead I remained standing while pondering a few possible conversation starters. I could say something like, ‘Yes, I had a good flight. Thanks for asking.’ And possibly add, ‘and yes, I’d like a black coffee with no sugar.’ Instead I silently waited until he had seated himself and looked up at me expectantly. When I had his attention I said, “I won’t bother sitting. I won’t be here long. I’ve just called in to give you a heads-up before I meet with the Crime and Corruption Commission.”

  ***

  He probably thought that we were engaged in a contest of wills. But, in fact, it was not a contest at all. He had become accustomed to being rude and not being called to account for it. He relied on his subordinates’ fear for their jobs to make them toe the line however boorish his behaviour was. He was unable to handle any opposition to his wishes without losing his temper. Once he lost his temper then he had lost the contest of wills. All he had left was his power to fire people that didn’t cave in to him.

  I regarded him as a petty tyrant who had only one card to play. The unspoken threat of being fired. I intended to force him to either table his last card or back down. But he was understandingly reluctant to voice his threat because after that he had no good moves left. Once he had done that he could either lose face and retract, or terminate my employment and put me in control of what happened next. Angry as he was he would be aware that I would not go quietly. He was probably thinking through those possible consequences as he sat there glaring up at me.

  I hadn’t entirely trusted his apparent rapid change of heart during our conversation three days earlier. One moment he had been blustering and bullying then, when he seemed to realise that it wasn’t working, he had become almost conciliatory. The chances were that he intended to meet with me and take control of the situation. Possibly even preventing me from going to the Commission, which was something that I would not accept. Not only had I given my word to Lex Robertson and Heino Pops, but I had watched the video of the two of them discussing and writing their confessions. They had been unaware that they were being recorded so there was no question of there b
eing any deception involved. The video was possibly the best weapon that they had to prove that they had been coerced and forced to act against their will. I believed that the video could provide justification for their inclusion in a witness protection plan. Regardless of what Ewan Ryan thought, I was determined to place it in the hands of the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission.

  That being so I had called the Commission’s whistleblower telephone number on Tuesday morning. After a series of long protracted conversations with increasingly senior personnel in the Commission’s employ, I had finally made an appointment to attend their office in Brisbane two days later at two o’clock. I had given my name but no further information that would enable them to identify Gibson Construction or the Red Rock Project. What I had done was to outline what I would bring with me and alert them that I would be seeking places in a witness protection program for the two key witnesses. I intended to meet with Ewan Ryan in the morning and then, that afternoon, meet with the Commission’s officers whether or not Ewan Ryan approved.

  Before ringing the Commission I had used the internet to research the Witness Protection Act. There seemed to be sufficient grounds for the granting of witness protection to both Lex Robertson and Heino Pops.

  ***

  Ewan Ryan had not become CEO without some ability to handle situations. But this seemed to be one that was beyond his ken. His facial expression betrayed his state of mind, his thoughts were clearly in turmoil. His instincts were telling him to sack me and deal with the consequences later but he knew that it would only assuage his anger at my intransigence. He would still have to deal with the Crime and Corruption Commission, the construction fraud problems and replacing me as construction manager. By now he would have checked and confirmed that the project was ahead of schedule and below budget, even after allowing for the losses due to fraud. So he couldn’t rely on an accusation that I was incompetent or hadn’t been diligent. That led to the probability of my legal retaliation if I was summarily dismissed. He would have good reason to believe that I would not only seek to be paid for the full term of my contract but that he would also have to defend a claim for damages to cover diminution of my career prospects.

  After a full minute of silence I realised that it was up to me to say something. “You said that you would listen to what I had to say face-to-face but I’m a little parched after four hours travelling to get here this morning. I had expected to be offered a coffee or some other refreshment when I arrived but that has not been forthcoming. But not to worry, I’ll just go downstairs and get a coffee. I should be back in five to ten minutes.”

  As I turned to leave the room he sighed and said, “There’s no need to go downstairs.” He then told an outright lie. “I thought that Miss Morgan would have offered you some refreshments already.” We both knew that it was untrue but it did allow both of us to step back from the brink. Then nodding at a chair opposite him at the table he added. “Please sit down. I’ll have some coffee and biscuits sent in.”

  After sitting down I silently withdrew my laptop from my briefcase, and connected it to a cable that led to the large flat screen mounted on a wall. I had decided that I would not provide him with paper copies of any of the documents unless I was compelled to do so. I had scanned images of everything and I was able to give him a better briefing using the large wall-mounted screen. While I had been engaged setting up my laptop Ewan Ryan had left the room for a few minutes. He was soon back and seated at the table followed by Miss Morgan bearing a tray of coffee and biscuits.

  While we were drinking our coffees I explained the nature of what I was about to show him. “I have copies of confessions from two Gibson Construction employees who were threatened by the Comancheros bikie gang and forced to assist in a series of fraudulent transactions. I will then show you a list of fifteen of those transactions. These all relate to the Red Rock project. The total amount is just under $500,000. I will then show a list of transactions related to other Gibson contracts going back three years. Those transactions total just over $2 million. I also have a list of Comancheros members that have been involved together with some notes describing the use of dummy companies and ghosts on the payroll.”

  Ryan was attentive and seemed to be absorbing and processing what I was saying. When I paused in my preamble he asked, “So, you are going to show me all this on the screen but not give me a paper copy?”

  This was the key to my strategy and I did not know how he would react. “Yes. That’s right.” Then as he started to respond, I held up my hand for him to wait for moment and said, “But that is not all. The information that you will see on the screen has been redacted. You will not be given the names of the two employees involved. However, …”

  Ryan slapped both hands on the table and bellowed. “No! You will tell me immediately. I’ll report you to the police. Obstruction of justice, covering up a crime, or something.”

  “Your reaction is exactly why I believe it is necessary to give you the information in this manner. When you hear the rest of what I have to say you might even agree with me that they deserve witness protection.” I paused before continuing from the point that he had interrupted me. “However, I will give you the full information later. I also have a video of the two employees confessing. They had no idea that they were being recorded so you can disregard any thoughts that they were dissembling.”

  “What about the Crime and Corruption Commission? Do you have an appointment?” He had simmered down remarkably quickly. In fact so quickly that I wondered how genuine his anger and bluster had been.

  “Yes. I have an appointment at two o’clock this afternoon.”

  “And you are going to keep that appointment regardless of what I say?”

  “Yes.”

  He was silent for a moment looking at me intently. “So, if I said that I wanted to attend also?”

  “Then, I would say that I think it’s a good idea.”

  “What about me bringing a lawyer.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Okay, what about a lawyer to come in and hear what you have to say now?”

  “No.”

  This brought an angry response. “It’s my bloody office. I’ll decide who does, and who doesn’t, come in here.”

  “Sure. But I’ll decide what I will say and to whom I will say it. Look, neither of us have the time to waste briefing lawyers. The issues are obvious and the correct course of action is clear. I will not waste time with lawyers when the sole reason of doing so is for you to cover your backside. All you want to do is to rely on someone else to make recommendations which you can adopt without having to actually make decisions.”

  Ryan now had an angry glint in his eyes. “So, you think that I want to involve a lawyer so that I can avoid taking responsibility?”

  “Since you ask, yes, I do. I can see no other reason why you would want to do so.”

  Ryan sat looking at me for a prolonged interval. He was clearly weighing up the pros and cons of various optional courses of action. Finally he spoke in a neutral tone of voice. “Okay. Show me what you’ve got.”

  ***

  The presentation of the various redacted documents took more than an hour. Once he got an understanding of the scale of the fraud he had a number of questions about how I discovered the problem at Red Rock and identified the culprits. By the time that I had completed the presentation Ryan seemed to be quite relaxed. In fact much more relaxed than I had ever seen him.

  “Bloody amazing! Absolutely bloody amazing! You mentioned a video. How long is it?”

  “Actually there are two videos. One is about thirty minutes long and the other about two hours. But I don’t suggest that you view them in their entirety. I can skip through bits of them. I think that an hour, maybe an hour and a half at the most, to view the key bits of both of them.”

  “Good.” He looked at his watch. “It’s eleven thirty now. Are you happy to have a sandwich lunch here with me while we go through the rest of yo
ur stuff. We can walk to the Commission’s offices in St Paul’s Terrace in less than ten minutes. That gives us just over a couple of hours to hear the rest of what you have to say. Okay?”

  “Sure. Sounds fine to me.”

  Ryan then walked across to his desk and called Miss Morgan. With a few quick words, he ordered lunch for us both and cleared his appointments for the rest of the day.

  I had just finished running through the first video, the one showing the interrogation and confessions in my office, when the platters of sandwiches and drinks arrived and were placed on the conference table between us.

  Ewan Ryan had been increasingly cordial during the playing of the video. He hadn’t known any of the three others by name but said that he recognised them all as being Gibson Construction employees. I was aware that having seen them that he would have little trouble finding out who they were. It would only take a phone call, but I was not concerned as I had no intention of keeping their identities secret permanently. It would have been an impossible thing to achieve anyway. The main objective had been to maintain confidentiality until I could talk to the Commission’s officers.

  To achieve that objective I needed to convince Ewan Ryan to refrain from taking any action before the meeting at the Commission’s offices.

  I had hoped that the videos would make him more understanding of their plight and it seemed to be working so far. I had found the second video, where Lex and Heino discussed the threats and their fears when they were alone in my office, extremely convincing. I hoped that it would be the clincher to get Ryan on their side.

  As I played the second video I skipped through some sections where the two of them were writing in silence, but played most of their discussions. Ewan Ryan was enthralled. I must admit to feeling a little uneasy and voyeuristic watching Lex and Heino, unaware that they were being spied upon. I had refrained from telling them that they had been videoed as I felt that it would carry more weight if they were still in the dark when I showed the video to the Commission’s officers.