by Alex Hammond
‘Bit fucking extreme, isn’t it?’ Evans asked.
‘Is it?’
‘Ah, fuck it, Harris. I’m not here to debate societal underpinnings. I’m just happy to have a job that I like. I’ll ask Paraskos to kick things along with Aaron. See if she can get him in front of the judge nice and quick. Me, I don’t care who you associate with. One way or another, it’ll get sorted. They pay me regardless.’
‘I’m glad we’re clear, then.’
‘Yeah, mate. Fucking crystal.’
Will slipped the phone back into his suit pocket as Miller patted him on the shoulder.
‘Cops,’ Miller said. ‘Don’t they ever get sick of it?’
‘You understand it, though?’
‘Of course I understand. They work long hours, get put through the wringer by the OPP to ensure evidentiary requirements are met, that everything is signed off and above board and then we roll in and make them look like idiots.’
‘That’s one way of putting it. Let’s get back to the office.’
‘I’d like to grab something to eat first. I was cooped up in there too long.’
Will motioned for the driver to keep driving deeper into the heart of the city. Miller was unshaved and looked as though he’d slept in his suit.
‘Breakfast?’ he asked.
‘Sure,’ Will replied.
Miller gave the driver new directions before turning back to Will.
‘Did they find anything in my place?’
‘Yes. Drugs.’
Miller chuckled. ‘I knew it.’
He stopped when he saw Will’s face.
‘Are we going to talk?’ Will asked.
‘About what, exactly?’
‘You can start by telling me why those fuckers attacked Eva and me.’
TWENTY-THREE
Miller swayed slightly as he stood on the other side of the restaurant table. The black gloss of its surface might as well have been a yawning gulf, given all that stood between them. Will held his ground, also standing and pushing the absence of pain medication from his mind.
During the stand-off, details started to intrude – the smell of frying bacon, the buzz of the light above them, the chill of the breeze coming under the restaurant’s front door.
‘I didn’t know that would happen,’ Miller said. ‘I feel sick about it, Will.’
Will tightened his right fist, stretching the skin across the back of scarred knuckles.
‘Is this the point where you punch me?’ Miller asked.
‘Don’t deflect. This is not about me.’
‘Because I could understand —’
‘I don’t hit my friends.’
‘So we’re still that?’
‘You’re deflecting again. We were talking about the guys in the balaclavas.’
Miller stepped backwards and leant against the tinted plate glass at ground level with the street. City workers rushed past, gripping phones against their ears.
‘I never thought you – or Eva – would get hurt. Swear to God. I didn’t even know what I was looking into until it happened.’
‘Were you warned?’
‘God, no. Will, you have to believe me about that. I had no idea.’
‘We could have been killed, Chris. Does that even register with you?’
‘Of course it does.’
‘Eva’s permanently scarred.’
‘I know.’
‘She’s gone.’
‘I know. I know. I know what she meant to you. I know you were deeply invested in her.’
‘Invested?’
‘She’s a great woman. I get it.’ Miller raised an open hand and exhaled. ‘I get it.’
Will continued to glower. ‘What exactly are you investigating?’
‘I believe there’s a secret group within the legal system who use their positions of power to pervert the course of justice.’
‘A secret society?’ The words sounded absurd.
‘Sounds stupid if you put it like that. More a secret, criminal conspiracy.’
‘That doesn’t sound much better.’
‘Yeah. I know.’
‘And it’s made up of law enforcement?’
‘Mostly. Politicians also, a lot of lawyers and maybe a few judges.’
‘That’s some serious shit you’re saying.’
‘I know.’
‘So, what, these guys found out that our firm was looking into them, trying to connect them to illegal activities? And they were so paranoid about what might be revealed that they hired two professional shitkickers to run Eva and me off the road with a message to back off? Is that the gist of it?’
‘That’s how it would seem. Yes. How did you figure it out? I mean, I expected you would —’
‘But not so quickly?’
‘Sooner, actually.’
‘The footage of your arrest. Two of the plainclothes didn’t look like cops. They were about the same build as the guys who attacked us in the Domain Tunnel. The way they moved – it was enough for a hunch.’
‘They were at my arrest?’
‘Yes. They were probably the ones who tracked you down and called it in.’
‘Bounty hunters?’
‘Something like that.’
Miller slumped forwards, placing his hands on the back of his chair.
‘Why, Chris? Why are they coming after us?’
‘That bit is hard to explain. It goes back a ways.’
‘So I can see from the maps on the floor of your office.’
‘I’m not sure about that part.’
The restaurant staff was starting to look at them as they were still locked in place, yet to sit at their table.
Miller continued. ‘I’ve never told you about my father, have I?’
‘No.’
‘He died about a year and a half ago.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Will pulled out his chair and sat down. The détente now beginning, Miller followed suit. Slouching into a seat, he stared out across the empty restaurant.
‘It was a stroke. There’s no way of proving these things definitively, but it was stress-related. I’m sure of it. And that’s where it starts. I’ve been piecing it together since his death.
‘Dad was the headmaster of a private school, quite an exclusive one close to the city. Same one I went to. A lot of wealthy, powerful people send their children there. Two years ago, my father came across a video being distributed by some of the boys. It was the aftermath of a party involving a number of girls from the sister school. One girl had passed out. Some of the boys, well . . .’
‘Your father was going to report it?’
‘He knew it was criminal, but he went to the families first. To see if they could find a way forwards. Holding the boys accountable, but doing it carefully, for the sake of the girl, for the sake of all the families.’
‘But they had a different idea of how to handle it?’
‘As my mother tells it, the father of one of the boys wanted to cover it up. Keep it quiet. Offered money to the girl for counselling and more money to the school for an extension to the gym. My father, well, he had his principles. That, and he was proud, pig-headed and ignorant to the consequences of his actions. A lot like you in many ways.’
‘Thanks.’
‘No problem. So he refused the hush money. Insisted that they really discuss holding the boys to account. Getting them to make a full statement to the police, to acknowledge that they had done something wrong. Next thing we knew the police were investigating my father for misappropriating school funds. My father, being treated like a criminal. It was enough to make the board of administrators anxious.’
‘So your father was fired?’
‘He was. On the surface it looked like a normal retirement, but beneath it was nasty, vicious. I’m sure it’s what led to his stroke. He tried to insulate my mother from it, but she learnt a few things in those last months when the stress was literally killing him.’
‘Yo
u think one of the parents, this guy throwing around all the money, was part of this secret society?’
‘Group of corrupt officials. Yes.’
‘What makes you so sure?’
‘I wasn’t at first. My father had told my mother that “The Covenant” were out to get him.’
‘The Covenant? Sounds far-fetched.’
‘But is it? What about the Masons, the Skull and Bones? And it’s not like Melbourne doesn’t have its share of secretive, members-only clubs.’
‘Okay. So, The Covenant.’
‘Well, right now you know as much as I did before I began digging. It’s taken the better part of a year to get to where I am today. When I started trying to piece it together, I kept hitting dead ends. Shit, I even thought you might be my way in.’
‘Me?’
‘You’re a perfect candidate. You’re connected, your mother’s a judge, and unofficial favours do tend to gravitate towards you. Why do you think I came to you with the Kier case? I thought if I got close to you, I might find out who they were. I was wrong, obviously.’
It was a brutal, simplistic way of looking at things, but from Miller’s perspective it might have made sense at the time. The casualness of Miller’s revelation was as alarming as his willingness to believe that Will might have been corrupt.
‘So?’
‘So then I came across Mark. We meet three weeks ago, at the casino of all places. The girls were there too, performing in a burlesque night. We hit it off and the more he drank the more he talked about his father. How his old man’s practically untouchable because he has access to cops, judges and politicians. People who can quietly pull the strings and make sure any trouble that comes along goes away. Michael Eldon does the same for them, from time to time, which is how they all keep one another happy. I swear to you, Will, it was like some higher power had dropped him in my lap. It’s as though I’m meant to bring these fuckers down.’
‘You’re meant to bring them down? Chris, you’ve been charged with negligent manslaughter. If they really are manipulating the evidence against you, how can you possibly think you’ll bring them down? We’ll be lucky if we keep you out of prison. That should be our goal here.’
The waitress arrived, Miller barely registering her pretty face, and they ordered their food. Miller added a Bloody Mary to his order and a Virgin to Will’s.
‘What’s with the maps on the floor of your office? And the packages from the National Archives?’ Will asked.
‘It’s connected to Eldon.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m trying to learn who these guys are. Something Mark said that night at the casino about his family tracing its way to a marine on the First Fleet.’
‘Is it true?’
‘Not that I could find. Not yet. At the time, for all I knew it could have been a coincidence. Mark trying to big-note himself. But then you were attacked.’
‘The Covenant had discovered that someone from our firm was looking into them.’
‘It would seem that way. I have no idea how.’
Will leant back into his chair and allowed his thoughts to run alongside Miller’s speculation.
‘Maybe Mark said something to his father? It might explain the message to back off. But what’s at stake here, Chris? What are they afraid we’ll learn?’
‘How about a major manipulation of the justice system? Think about it. No longer impartial. Corruption between cops and lawyers, judges maybe – not only perversion but also financial advantage by deception, concealing crimes – I mean, these are just examples from my father’s dismissal. Who knows what else they’ve gotten up to?’
‘Still feels a bit abstract. Semantics to be argued over in court. It’s hardly a big-ticket item – like murder, drugs, treason . . .’
‘It’s enough to get them locked away, the guy who put the pressure on my father, and the cops who helped him. It’s a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. If they’re sending in thugs to attack you and trying to frame me – what other lengths could they go to?’
‘No offence, Chris, but that seems like an awful lot of effort to keep what happened to your father a secret. I understand that this affects you personally; I have personal experience of what it’s like when they come for the people you care about. But the resources required to pull this off – it’s got to be something more, something bigger.’
‘Maybe. But there’s only one way to find out.’
‘What do you know about them?’
Miller was leaning across the table towards him now, his eyes sparkling with conspiratorial anticipation.
‘All that I’ve told you. Eldon is the closest I’ve gotten and I have no way of proving anything. He might’ve been a member of the so-called Covenant – Mark’s even an old boy from Dad’s school, so there’s a connection there. But I need to prove that the group actually exists, and then who belongs to it.’
‘Prove? You’re forgetting the hole you’re in. The criminal charges? We’re trying to keep you out of jail and save your career,’ Will said.
‘Fuck my career. They killed my father,’ Miller said, jabbing his finger onto the table. He struggled to restrain his voice and it travelled throughout the room. ‘Because he was doing the right thing. I’d burn it all in a second if it gave me half a chance to put those fuckers in jail.’
Will held up his hands for calm.
‘I get that. I truly do.’
Miller sat back in the chair, the anger steaming off him.
‘This is family, Will.’
The waitress arrived with their drinks, no doubt after waiting in the wings for a break in the heated conversation. Miller sat in a trance, the fingers of his left hand playing along the edge of the table like a toneless scale, his thoughts given twitching motion.
When the waitress left, Miller took a sip of the Bloody Mary.
‘What about Eloise? You found her yet?’ he asked, returning the glass to the table.
‘No,’ said Will. ‘O’Dwyer’s done the groundwork, cleared out all the obvious stuff. There are a few long shots I could still follow up, but to be honest with you, I think she’s gone to ground.’
Miller hopped the chair closer to the table. ‘Will, it’s really important that we track her down. She’s the only person who can corroborate my statement. If we can find enough good evidence, we can pressure the cops and shut this whole thing down before we even front up to the judge.’
‘Even if I found her, what if she doesn’t agree to testify?’
‘Then we need to demonstrate there’s a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Again, we’d need evidence to prove it —’
‘They have entire task forces for these things. There are just two of us. Also, we’re not prosecutors and from what you’ve told me, these guys are likely to step in the way.’
‘Three. Three of us. Don’t forget Haideh.’
‘Be realistic, Chris. We can’t drag her in. She’s just starting out.’
‘So find Eloise.’
TWENTY-FOUR
More deliveries lay in the centre of Will’s desk by the time he and Chris got back into the office. They’d had to push through a few journalists on their way up the stairs, Miller doing a good job of charming them while saying nothing.
Will flicked through the letters. Most of them could wait. The OPP had faxed through formal confirmation that Aaron’s committal hearing would be tomorrow while Miller’s filing hearing was still a fortnight away.
He then turned his attention to his inbox and a seemingly insurmountable list of requests he’d rather put off: checking the Jag for any personal effects before it went to the wreckers; PDF forms from Victims of Crime Assistance that needed filing; reminders of missed physio appointments; a few emails from Harry reassuring him that he’d credit the boxing classes he’d missed; clients and former colleagues who had written to him soon after the attack.
He scanned down the inbox until he reached an email from Teresa Brennan.
Have some thoughts about your situation. Can’t go into details now but perhaps we could meet after work on Friday? I’m free from 7 p.m. Meet at Oscura? – T.B.
Will typed back a confirmation.
Can’t go into details now? he thought.
Miller’s revelation about Eldon had planted a slow-spreading seed of paranoia that was tainting even his most mundane interactions.
Just because you’re paranoid . . .
Of course, people had been out to get him. The Zamberlans.
And the Ivanics.
Different case but still a fair point. Forces were moving against him. But Brennan may just have been busy, the complexities beyond the time she had to email him.
Then again, you did ask her to look into why the investigation into the Zamberlans had been pulled.
And here he was. Full circle and back to Miller’s tenuous story. As much as he couldn’t quite accept that Michael Eldon was behind it all, it was appearing all the more likely the same men who had attacked him had been at Miller’s arrest and that was becoming a hard, bone-crunching fact.
He tried to set it aside as he made the final notes for Aaron’s committal hearing the next day. It was a half-hearted effort, Will looking forward to never having to see that pale, furtive face again. He imagined the feeling was mutual. Even so, he couldn’t overcome his attention to detail, and re-read Paraskos’s hand-up brief, checking the evidence and police statements.
It was almost eight by the time he filled up Toby’s bowl and closed the office. The smell of fried food and the chart hits playing on the jukebox in the nearby backpackers’ bar wafted over the street.
His phone rang, the screen flashing: Justice Walsh.
‘Will.’
‘You’re calling about Saxon’s interview.’
‘I am. How did it go? Sandi said it wasn’t great.’
‘She’s right, I’m afraid. The police have a pretty compelling narrative. It involves your son bullying Connor online, Connor naming Saxon in a suicide note and Saxon at the bridge when Connor jumped.’
‘Saxon said he tried to stop him from jumping. What’s their game?’