Sharp Edge

by Marianne Delacourt

  ‘He died at around 6pm, probably not from drowning.’

  ‘What was the morgue like?’ Her eyes brightened.

  ‘Didn’t see it. Jimmy was smoking a joint outside.’

  ‘Nice,’ she said.

  ‘No.’ I pierced her with a parental-type stare. ‘No drugs, Cass. Ever. Not if you want to stay with me.’

  She gave a little shrug which I took as agreement. She had no money, an alcoholic mother, and a sister in jail for drugs. I didn’t anticipate a problem, but I wanted her to be clear on my position.

  ‘Cool. Let’s go then. We’ll drive by the bakery for breakfast.’

  She beamed. ‘Chocolate croissants?’

  ‘If you insist.’

  * * *

  I dropped Cass at the park down one end of Garth’s street complete with lunch roll, water, and a book. She said she’d text me regularly and use the loo at the café around the corner when she needed a break.

  I headed home and pulled on my gym gear to go for a run, suddenly regretful that I’d agreed to Cass’s choice of breakfast.

  As I was pulling on my joggers, my phone beeped a text message from Aunt Liv, saying she wanted to see me ASAP.

  Everything OK?

  Yes. Fine. But can you come?

  Around lunchtime?

  Perfect. C U then

  * * *

  I left the flat and stopped halfway down the driveway at the bird’s cage to say hello.

  Brains came across immediately, but Bono was having none of it. Galahs lived for fifty or sixty years in captivity and these two would live to double that I believed. They knew exactly what they wanted and how to get their humans to get it for them.

  As I stuck my finger between the bars, Brains grabbed it with her claw and rubbed it against her crest. At the same time, Bono started ringing his bell, demanding an almond.

  I obliged Brains with one hand, and with the other reached into the treats box and fished out the two nuts.

  As I held one out, Bono leapt off his perch and beaked it from my fingers. His quick movement got Brains all fluffed up and squawking at us both. I appeased her with the second nut.

  ‘You two really know how to get your way,’ I said wagging my finger at them both.

  ‘So I’ve been told,’ said a voice behind me.

  I swung around and found Nick Tozzi looming large behind me dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. I didn’t often see him dressed so casually. The t-shirt strained across his massive shoulders and clung to the beginnings of a rounded belly.

  We stared at each other for a moment or two then he said. ‘We didn’t finish out conversation because—’

  ‘Dead people,’ I finished.

  ‘Yes, that.’

  ‘I’m just out for a jog,’ I said.

  ‘I’ll join you then.’

  I hadn’t expected that. ‘You’re wearing thongs.’

  ‘My shoes are in the car. Give me a moment.’ He turned and disappeared up the driveway in long strides.

  I changed the birds’ water dish while I thought about how to handle this. If I took him the route up Jacob’s Ladder past his house, he’d unlikely have enough puff left in him to speak.

  I smiled. Good plan.

  I slotted the dish back in and jogged down the driveway and up the other side onto the street to meet him.

  He was just tying his shoelaces as I bounded up.

  ‘How long since you jogged anywhere?’

  He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes. ‘Don’t you worry about me.’

  ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Let’s roll.’

  We jogged side-by-side east down Lilac Street in the direction of the yacht club. It was easy going for a while and downhill to the water. Tozzi was breathing heavily but managed to get some conversation out.

  ‘How’s Liv?’ he said. ‘I heard she’d taken ill.’

  ‘Heard?’

  ‘Eireen,’ he said. ‘Mother knows all.’

  ‘It was some kind of heart thing. We’re waiting on more tests. But the doctor says she’ll be fine if she cuts out the cheese and caviar.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I know how much she means to you.’

  I shrugged. ‘At least she got a warning. She was lucky. I think Wal has taken it harder than she has.’

  ‘That’s what love does to you.’

  I didn’t like the turn the conversation was taking. As we were only a few metres from the Esplanade, I decided to make my move.

  ‘Here comes the tough bit. I like to go into it with a bit of a run up, like you do on a push bike.’ With that I turned north and put on some speed.

  I made the first half of the ascent in reasonable shape. It wasn’t the first time I’d been down this route, but it never got easier. The second half was a steep summit that curled up past Tozzi’s mansion and turned west again. As a kid, I’d dragged myself up and down this hill on many occasions collecting for charitable organisations. I’d hated every second of it.

  For the last twenty metres shooting pains speared through both my calf muscles, and the air rasped in and out of my chest. But I knew how to push through pain, and I’d done this before.

  I got to the top and resisted doing a Rocky dance. Instead, I turned and looked back for Nick. He was coming into the last gnarly bit, just past his house, and sweat sprayed off him. His breath was so loud that I had an awful moment. What if he keeled over? But he’d been a professional athlete once upon a time and breaking the pain barrier was something he’d done on a daily basis before breakfast.

  With ten metres to go though, he was reduced to walking and arrived next to me bent over, his breath thundering in and out, chest heaving.

  I stretched out a tentative hand and touched his shoulder. ‘You OK?’

  He turned and vomited over the railing into someone’s rose bushes.

  I took my hand away and stood awkwardly. Guiltily. I’d meant him to be out of breath, not sick. But then … this worked too.

  He wiped his mouth with the back of his hands and straightened up. ‘Think I’ll go home and shower. I’ll pick the car up after that.’

  I nodded. ‘OK. I‘ll probably be at the hospital with Liv. We’ll talk later.’

  He walked off without a backward glance.

  I jogged the rest of the way home, deciding to shortcut.

  Cass called just as I emerged from the shower.

  ‘Everything OK?’ I asked.

  ‘Quiet. Garth’s gone to work. You?’

  ‘Tozzi and I just jogged up Devil’s Elbow.’

  ‘Nick? Jogged?’

  ‘Kinda,’ I said. ‘He went home to have a shower and settle his stomach.’

  ‘He threw up?’

  The girl was so quick witted. ‘Don’t talk to strangers,’ I said and hung up.

  * * *

  About forty minutes later I was sitting on Liv’s bed watching her sip orange juice through a straw.

  ‘How was your night?’ I asked.

  ‘Wired for sound. I can’t wait to get home. No normal person can sleep in a hospital.’

  ‘When will that be?’

  ‘I’m not sure darling. I’ll let you know. But there’s something important I need to tell you first.’

  I took her hand in mine. Liv had always given me unconditional love and encouragement. I loved my mother, but she was a different person. I suppose she’d born the responsibility of child rearing and Liv hadn’t, but there was something very accepting of life in Liv’s nature.

  ‘I’ve found you an office,’ she said.

  I frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The house on the corner adjoining Wal’s flat. I bought it last week. It was going to be a birthday present to you. But in the light of things … well, I just thought I should get on with it.’

  ‘You bought it?’ I knew I was just repeating her like an idiot, but I was struggling to grasp what she was saying.

  ‘It’s an old house that’s been used as a Chinese restaurant for a few years. Back in the 60s I be
lieve one of the Boston brothers owned it.’

  ‘The musos?’

  ‘Yes. Goodness knows … if those walls could speak.’ She smiled. ‘I thought it would suit you well, seeing as you’re rather crammed in at home with Cass. I couldn’t bear to see that girl end up back on the street. So much potential.’

  ‘But I can’t take—’

  ‘Yes you can, and don’t argue with me. I’ll be leaving it to you in my will anyway, but it’ll do you more good now. If it makes you feel better, you can pay me rent for a year or so. And if you eventually decide you don’t want to live there, but just use it as an office, Wallace will be right next door as a caretaker. It has a good front room, and the kitchen is restaurant grade.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘But those tiny bathroom tiles. I did so hate that style. And the parking is not convenient. You have to approach from the alley behind.’

  ‘Liv,’ I gasped. ‘I don’t know what to say. But I will pay rent. I insist.’

  ‘Fine. Now just say thank you, and take the keys.’ She reached across to the draw in the table next to her bed and extracted them.

  I trembled as I took them from her. My own house. Mine. It was almost too much to absorb and tears blinded me.

  I hugged as hard as I could, considering she was sprouting tubes. ‘Liv, this is the most amazing thing anyone’s ever done for me. I just don’t know…’

  ‘Off you go now. The doctor will be here any moment to boot you out anyway. It’s number 628 Stirling Highway, in case you’re not sure. Go and have a look around.’

  628. I knew it: could see the large brass numbers on the front of the building. The Gar Lok restaurant had been an institution in the area for years. ‘Does Wal know?’

  She smiled. ‘Yes.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘He thinks I should do whatever I want with my own money. And so he should.’ She blew me a kiss and waved me out the door with all the graciousness of the person she was.

  I drove back down the highway in a state of shock. The urge to go and see my new place overwhelmed everything else. And it was a little early to be checking out the bars for information on Bernard yet anyway, I told myself. I had time to peek. On impulse, I detoured into Garth’s street to pick up Cass.

  She was propped on the slide in the park, reading her book, looking bored and uncomfortable. When she saw me, she slid down into the sand and sauntered over.

  ‘S’up?’

  ‘Jump in. Got a surprise for you.’

  She crooked her head to the side for a moment then slid into the passenger seat. Her aura was kind of lumpy, like she wasn’t quite right.

  ‘Any action?’ I asked as we glided back onto the highway.

  ‘A stray dog in the driveway and the postie on a scooter,’ she said.

  ‘Riveting stuff.’

  ‘I read almost fifty pages of my book.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘Office Management for Dummies.’

  ‘You’re not a dummy Cass.’

  She shrugged. ‘Whatever.’

  I could see a mood coming on her, so I turned up the radio and began to sing.

  A moment later she turned it down.

  I waited. I was learning a lot about that with teenagers. You couldn’t hurry their thought processes.

  ‘I want to go visit my sister,’ she said suddenly. Her body language was stiff, she was half turned away as if to protect herself.

  ‘In jail?’

  ‘Uhuh.’

  Her sister was in Bandyup Women’s Prison on drug related offences. I wasn’t sure how close they were; Cass had never really said. There’d been just the two of them and their mother who I was rapidly beginning to believe was suffering an alcohol related psychological disorder.

  ‘You want company for that?’ I asked.

  She swivelled in the seat to look at me. ‘You’d come with me?’

  ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Though you might have to convince Joanna that you should take me instead of her. She’s rather fallen for you. I’m sure she’d like to go with you too.’

  ‘Mrs S’s the bomb,’ she said.

  ‘Truly?’ I raised my eyebrows. More like a bomb blast.

  ‘You’re lucky, Tara. She doesn’t drink hardly or…’

  She left the rest unsaid, but I knew where she was going with it … at least my mother didn’t hit me. She was right. I had a lot to be grateful for.

  ‘You find out the details and give me a date. I’ll drive you there,’ I said.

  She reached across and squeezed my arm.

  ‘So that book you’re reading,’ I said as I turned off the highway into Glyde Street. ‘It might be useful.’

  ‘Whyso?’

  I veered into the first sandy laneway abutting Wal's flat and proceeded a little way down, pulling Mona into one side of a rusty roofed carport.

  ‘Hey, where are we going? You picking up Wal? Tara?’ said Cass.

  I could see her getting impatient and a little anxious, but I wasn’t going to spoil the surprise.

  ‘Now,’ I said. ‘Do you trust me?’

  She took a moment but then nodded.

  ‘Get out of the car then.’

  I covered her eyes with my sweater and led her slowly down the narrow walkway between the Gar Lok and the Health Foods shop next door.

  ‘I can smell soy sauce and Minties,’ she said.

  ‘Hang on, Sherlock,’ I said as I positioned her in front of the door and inserted the key in the lock. I’d seen a back door as well, but it felt more significant entering through the front.

  It opened with a satisfying click, and I pushed Cass in front of me over the threshold.

  ‘Oh dear,’ I said.

  The large front room harboured a decayed and food-stained carpet, an upturned broken table and an empty fish tank that smelled … fishy. Near the door was a long red counter with a large chipped statue of Buddha on it. Red paper shades with dangling gold tassels hung from the ceiling. I flicked the switch but only a few were working.

  ‘What?’ she said. ‘You’re killing me.’

  I slipped the sweater off her eyes so she could see.

  ‘Welcome to our new office,’ I said.

  She yelped and jumped on the spot, clapping her hands. Then she ran around touching and peering behind things. In the space of half a second, my sulky goth teen had transformed into the energiser bunny.

  ‘Woah,’ I said. ‘Settle!’

  ‘This is ours? How is this ours? We need furniture? And it has to be cleaned. But we should keep the lanterns. Where’s the loo…’

  I walked over to her and grabbed her in a bear hug. ‘I’m renting it off Liv. Now there is plenty of time and much to be talked about. You need to concentrate on doing well at your business course first.’

  She blinked at me with slightly moist, kohl ringed eyes and took a deep breath. ‘I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.’

  I grinned down at her. ‘Neither have I.’

  We explored the rest of the place together. Up some narrow stairs were two bedrooms, a bathroom and loo, and a lounge area big enough for a couch and a TV. Though small, it was double the size of my flat and had indoor amenities. One of the bedrooms looked like it had been used for storage. Dry noodles lay scattered on the floor and there was a red sauce stain on a patch of the lino. It faced west, and looked out on the highway. You could hear the dull grumble of the mid-morning traffic. The other room was larger and in better condition, aside from an ashtray filled with cigarette butts on the windowsill. I walked over and looked out. The view was east to the leafy street behind and the well-to-do houses that stood in it. It was pleasant and soothing.

  Perfect. But I shook myself. I’d already wasted precious time.

  ‘I have to be at Laramie’s as soon as it opens. Then get to the Cocked Dog. I’ll drop you back at Garth’s on the way.’

  ‘I suppose you’ll want the bigger bedroom,’ she said with a sigh.

  I glanced at her, startled. Cass was expecting to move in wi
th me. I hadn’t expected that. Nor had I thought about it. Had I given her that impression? ‘Let’s go,’ I said.

  She followed me out and chattered on about moving and decorating plans all the way back to Garth’s, where I dropped her, before driving on to Subiaco. I’d sort that out later, I told myself. It was time to canvas Bernard’s drinking holes.

  A bleary eyed bartender was just opening Laramie’s front door as I parked near the cellar door and walked around. The bar had a black stone façade dotted with small windows. Inside, heavy wood beams hung low over slabs of table with upturned stools on them.

  I sidled up to the bar and ordered a lemon, lime and bitters. The bartender mixed the drink and set it down in front of me on a paper coaster. Moisture trickled down the side, and I drew a squiggle in it with the tip of my finger. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Early start,’ he said, as he unpacked glasses from the dishwasher.

  ‘Actually, I was wondering if you knew this guy.’ I pulled my phone out and showed him a photo of Romeo from an online article.

  ‘You’re a bit late to the party, aren’t you? Cops were here most of yesterday asking questions.’

  ‘I’m working privately,’ I said. ‘Just doing some background for a client.’

  He looked up from the dishwasher and cast me a sharper appraisal.

  ‘I’m not the person you want to speak to. I’m usually gone by mid-afternoon. I handle the stock inventory and open. But a shift comes on at 4pm. They know the regulars.’

  ‘I might come back then.’

  ‘Sure.’ He shrugged and moved back to his jobs.

  I opened up the document Cass had sent me and consulted the list of bars. The Cocked Dog was nearby, so was Jasper Jones’. I expected they’d be the same as Laramie’s. Then there were a bunch of nightclubs that definitely wouldn’t be open. At the bottom of the list she’d left me a note.

  ** Try Fresh Sally’s on Broadway.

  I called Cass and she answered in one ring.

  ‘Where the hell is Fresh Sally’s?’

  ‘It’s the juice bar at the Fresh Flesh gym on Broadway.’

  ‘That’s not a bar.’

  ‘Yeah, but his wife runs a chain of gyms.’

  ‘Still don’t get it. Why the juice bar?’