Sharp Edge

by Marianne Delacourt

  I felt a rush of pure fury that ripped away my fear and I wound my arm back to punch him as hard as I could. But before I could unleash, Wal grabbed my fist from behind and held it in his own.

  ‘Fuck off,’ he said to Viaspa. ‘Or I’ll mess you up.’

  Viaspa’s aura erupted, splashing pus everywhere, and his face whitened. For a moment, I was terrified he might pull a gun. Even here, in the crowd.

  But Wal stared him down, cold eyed and steady. His own aura was cobalt and rock hard. Impenetrable.

  Mine wasn’t faring so well. I could feel swells of heat and cold rolling off me.

  ‘You’ll get yours, roadie,’ said Viaspa. He turned and strutted away.

  The people closest, who saw the interchange, whispered to each other. Aside from that, the crowd remained undisturbed.

  Wal took my arm and shepherded me to the very back of the room near the water cooler. The crowd had their backs to us and Johnny Viaspa was nowhere in sight.

  ‘Thanks, Wal,’ I said. ‘Truly. I would have…’

  ‘He’s a bad bit of work,’ said Wal calmly. ‘You need to carry protection.’

  He slipped something cold into my hand.

  My fingers close around it. A knife.

  ‘I can’t.’

  ‘You will, or I’m going to find you face down in an alley somewhere,’ he said bluntly.

  ‘I-I—’

  He stared me right in the face. I could smell the Sobranie’s on his breath. ‘You crossed a line, boss. It’s not too late for you to cross back, but you need to move interstate and quit your business. Otherwise…’

  ‘Face reality. Start carrying protection. Live like someone who’s got enemies,’ I finished for him.

  He nodded. ‘Look I’ve got your back. You’re … well, you’re family now. But I’m not going to be with you every minute of every day. And I gotta take care of Liv as well. Your enemies are her enemies.’ He ran his fingers through his hair. For the first time ever, I saw the shadow of anxiety creep across his face.

  ‘Well, I promise I’ll take precautions. But let’s just get through tonight. We have to get Phoebe home safely.’

  He nodded. ‘Let me get back to her.’

  ‘I’ll wait ’til this is over, and follow you home.’

  He nodded. ‘We’ll leave through the back door. I parked close to it. See you in a bit.’

  He walked back through the crowd and left me alone.

  I sidled over towards the makeshift bar, helped myself to a red wine, and went back to Ed. He was still leaning in the same position that I left him. I settled next to him and tried to listen to the last of the speeches, but the truth was my mind was in nervous overdrive.

  Bernard Romeo had been a real estate agent. His wife owned a chain of gyms and he had a mistress who happened to be the Premier’s daughter. Freddy the Frog—a Viaspa—was harassing her to find some list of Bernard’s ‘clients’. His real estate clients?

  Freddy the Frog was also in cahoots with Bernard’s son, Armanno. At the same time, Garth had discovered a crate load of synthetic coke over in his girlfriend’s clothes warehouse. The same girlfriend who was in business with Johnny Viaspa’s sister. The two had to be connected? But how?

  Should I call the cops and give them a tip off about the warehouse? Or would Viaspa come after me? He already knew I was helping Garth.

  Maybe if I could link him to the drugs, bring him down, then he’d be too busy fending off crown prosecutors with lawyers to worry about who got him busted.

  The crowd burst into applause to signal the end of the speeches and the noise level went up. The gym had been officially opened, and some people were already heading for the door.

  ‘You want to go and grab some food in Freo?’ said Ed. He slipped his arm around my waist, but I was too tense to relax into it. ‘Tara?’ he prompted me.

  ‘I told Wal, I’d follow him and our client home. Can we grab a bite after that?’

  ‘Sure. I guess.’

  We stood together and talked inconsequential stuff until the last of the guests had left and only the Romeos, the staff, Phoebe, Wal, Ed and I remained.

  Ed glanced at the time on the wall clock and then around. ‘Can we go? Who’s your client?’

  Phoebe waved to me right then.

  Ed made a strangled noise. ‘The Premier’s daughter?’

  I shrugged. ‘We went to school together.’

  Phoebe approached looking tired beneath her flawless makeup. Her eyes were a little bloodshot.

  ‘Nice speech,’ I said to her. ‘This is Eduardo Pote.’

  Phoebe extended a hand and her face became more animated.

  Ed had that effect on people.

  ‘Lovely to meet you, Eduardo. Tara, I need to get out of here. As you can imagine, it’s a little awkward.’

  She glanced around as if expecting the Romeos to descend on her.

  ‘Sure. Wal will take you home and Ed and I will follow.’

  ‘This way,’ said Wal pointing beyond the dais.

  The four of us left the gym through the back door, past a skip bin and some discarded plastic chairs waiting to be tossed out, and walked over to Phoebe’s Mercedes Sports. Normally I’d have admired the car, but it was too dark now to see it properly, and I had an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach that I couldn’t explain.

  We weren’t the only ones using the tradesmen’s entrance. The Romeo family appeared behind us in the car park.

  Phoebe gave an awkward little farewell wave and beeped her ignition key to unlock the car.

  Armanno shouted something in another language and Stacey Jane grabbed his arm. But he flung her off and ran over to the skip bin from which he seized a lump of iron.

  ‘Wal!’ I said in warning

  As Wal grabbed Phoebe around the waist and swung her off her feet, Armanno charged. At the last moment, Wal stepped lightly sideways and shoved him off balance. I launched forward and knocked Armanno over.

  We fell together, me landing heavily on his legs, and he kicked me in the face. He recovered quickly as I recoiled and before Wal could disengage from Phoebe, Armanno was on his feet and smashing the windscreen with the iron bar, screaming, ‘bitch-whore!’

  ‘Ed,’ I bellowed. ‘Stop him!’

  Galvanised by my command, Ed grabbed Armanno’s arms and wrestled him backwards.

  Wal put Phoebe down away from danger and set upon Armanno from the front. First, he prised the iron from his fingers and tossed it away across the car park. Then he wrenched the young man from Ed’s grasp and with two fast, efficient punches, one to the groin and one under the jaw, he laid Armanno out on the ground.

  The angry young man cried out then rolled over and crawled away towards his mother and sister. The women who were clinging to each other, ran to him.

  ‘Tara, take Phoebe home in your car,’ said Wal in a flat voice. ‘I’ll bring hers once this is sorted.’

  ‘Yes,’ I said.

  Phoebe hadn’t uttered a word through the entire event, and in the dark, I couldn’t see her aura. I went over and put my arm around her. She was trembling, and her skin felt hot. Ed joined us and together we steered her to my car.

  ‘Are you alright,’ I asked as I sped out of the car park.

  ‘How long have they known?’ she answered in a hoarse voice.

  ‘I don’t expect that matters right now,’ I said. ‘What does matter is that the man who’s been harassing you is connected with someone dangerous.’

  ‘Dangerous?’

  ‘Let’s just say that being the Premier’s daughter won’t necessarily be enough to protect you.’

  She fell silent again for a few moments. The streetlights skidded past and I could see Ed’s profile, his chest rising and falling in the flickering of light and shadow. His expression was hard to read.

  ‘There’s something I should have told you, Tara,’ she said as we turned onto the Freo bridge. ‘But I…’ she faded off.

  ‘You can trust Ed,’ I said. />
  ‘Does he work for you?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Ed, before I could answer.

  I shot him a sideways look as we pulled up at traffic lights. What?

  ‘I’m bound by her confidentiality agreement,’ he added.

  It was a whopping lie, but I wasn’t about to call him on it right now.

  ‘What is it, Phoebe?’

  ‘I know what the man wants from me. It’s a list. Perhaps you can negotiate an exchange? If they leave me alone, you can give it to them.’

  I thought about it for a moment. ‘His nickname is Freddy the Frog. What’s on the list? And where is it?’

  ‘Names. They didn’t mean anything to me. It’s in my beach apartment in Swanbourne.’

  I wanted to say you have a beach apartment, but settled for, ‘Why the change of heart? I thought you hired me to avoid having to deal with him?’

  A motorbike changed lanes right in front of me and I hit the brakes hard to avoid a collision. To my annoyance, it then accelerated away leaving us behind.

  ‘What the fuck…’ I muttered under my breath.

  ‘I don’t like being intimidated,’ Phoebe said. ‘I thought maybe you could find out something about them that could make it all go away. But whatever Bernie gave me, he’s gone, and it’s not worth risking my life over.’

  ‘That’s smart. I’m just going to drop Ed home then we might take a look at the list.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Phoebe.

  ‘I’ll come too,’ said Ed.

  ‘No. It’s fine. You have to work early. I’ll call you tomorrow so we can talk.’

  ‘Promise,’ he said quietly.

  I nodded.

  None of us spoke again until I pulled to the kerb outside Ed’s apartment. He and I got out of the car to speak.

  ‘You want to come back after you’ve dropped her home?’ he asked softly.

  I shook my head. ‘Tonight’s been a bit rough,’ I said. ‘Let’s do something soon though.’

  ‘I meant what I said about working for you,’ he said. ‘I meet a lot of people. I could be kind of … you know … undercover or something. A source.’

  ‘You’re serious?’ I asked, surprised.

  ‘As a church in Lent.’

  ‘Well that’s a conversation for another day.’ I leaned forward and kissed him. ‘Call me when you’re free.’

  He pulled me closer and hugged me tight. ‘Please be careful.’

  ‘Always,’ I said.

  20

  Phoebe’s ‘beach apartment’ turned out to be down the south end of Cottesloe. As we drove up the steep street from the sea, I recognised the huge old vacant house in front of her block. My grandmother had lived for a while in a flat on the next cross street, and as a kid I’d always wanted to play in the empty yard.

  Granna had insisted the building was dangerous and that the property was private. Even so, I’d snuck in there once or twice and peeked in the windows. If I’d believed in ghosts, I would have been sold on them living in the ‘big’ house; as it was, it always gave me a prickling sensation all over skin. Even now…

  ‘There,’ said Phoebe.

  She pointed to a gate securing the underground car park entrance to her building, and produced a remote from her bag to let us in.

  I negotiated the tight space and squeezed Mona in between a Jaguar and a Porsche. We got out and took a ride up three floors in a key-accessed, wood-panelled lift, which opened onto a small foyer with two doors. Phoebe’s place—on the right—occupied the entire northern corner of the floor.

  Inside, the blinds were open and I could see the outline of the ‘big’ house in front and the lights of cargo ships out towards Rottnest. From the other window the rest of the suburb blinked comfortingly.

  She turned the lights on and I squinted to accommodate the change, taking in a spotless and expensively furnished room. Oversized grey leather armchairs and a black marble bench. The shelves of the well-oiled bookcase sat against one wall, filled with chrome and gilt photo frames of Phoebe on various adventures. There were only a few books. ‘You come here much?’

  ‘Weekends. About once a month. Not many people know about it.’ She walked over to the bench and ran her fingers along it. ‘Bernie used to come here sometimes. The car park and lift made it easy to be discrete. You want a drink?’

  ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘What have you got?’

  She opened the fridge and retrieved a bottle of champagne. ‘I’d been saving it, but you know … there’s no point now…’

  I waited while she popped the cork, found some glasses and settled into one of the armchairs. She drank quickly and I was patient enough to take a couple of sips of the slightly bitter fizz before I said, ‘So this list of names…?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ she said as if she’d forgotten. She put down her glass and went over to a light fitting on the wall. The watermarked white shade was shaped like a half moon and with a gap at the top to insert the bulb.

  Phoebe fished around inside it and produced a memory stick. ‘Here.’

  ‘Can we have a look?’

  I could see now that the champagne had already unwound her a bit and she seemed exhausted. She dragged herself to the desk bureau set in front of the north window and plugged the stick into a thin, lightweight hybrid tablet.

  ‘All yours,’ she said when the document opened. She returned to the chair and poured herself another glass.

  I was only halfway through mine but I could feel it loosening the tightness in my muscles as well.

  My phone rang and I answered it as I perused the list.

  ‘Where are you?’ said Wal in a terse voice.

  ‘Jeez, sorry. In Phoebe’s beach apartment in South Cott. I have the—’

  ‘Sit tight.’ He cut me off deliberately.

  I paused. ‘Wal?’

  ‘Don’t leave. Got it? Make sure everything’s locked. I’m on my way, but I have to make a detour.’

  ‘Wal? Should I be—?’

  But he’d hung up.

  I glanced over at Phoebe. She had her head resting on the arm of the chair, eyes closed.

  I took the wine glass out of her hand and put it on the table. Then I went and checked the doors and windows, and drew the blinds. Once my eyes accustomed to the near-dark, I went back and peeped out. There was nothing to see other than the outline of the ‘big’ house in front.

  Closing my eyes, I drew a mind picture of the contours of the garden: how it was terraced at the back, and how the weeds and grass had overtaken everything making it hard to see one step from another. I remembered the old water tank, rusted through in places and a gardening shed that was still standing, but barely. I’d hidden in that shed once, away from a boy who’d followed me back from the beach. An INXS song had been blaring on the radio on the building site of what was now Phoebe’s apartment block. Every time I heard that song afterwards, I still remembered the faint scent of dry potting mix, and the mixture of fear and excitement in my stomach as the boy passed by without a clue that I was hiding there.

  I went back to reading the screen. Only one, on the list of nine names, seemed familiar. Jeff Tyler. If it was the same guy I knew, I’d dated his older brother Craig for a month when I was seventeen. Jeff had been a scrawny, annoying, smart-mouthed younger sibling, who’d perved on us in the back seat of their parents’ car.

  I opened the browser and googled his name. It gave me thousands of hits. I added Perth into the search string and went to Google Images, which gave me a better result.

  He popped up in a few places. I fancied I could see the same sulky mouth and sly eyes in the muscled and tanned photos of a Jeff Tyler at the state body building championships.

  Who’d have thought it?

  I got up and paced a little. Phoebe was breathing lightly, her mouth open and one arm flung over her head. She looked more sixteen than twenty-six.

  I wandered over to the bookcase and ran my fingers along the tops of the photo frames. Phoebe was a beautiful woman, especially when
she laughed. I liked one in particular, taken on a beach. She was toasting the camera with a glass of champagne, dressed in a flowing see-through shirt over bikinis. The sun was low in the sky and she looked so carefree. She’d stuck a little caption in the corner of the photo with the date. New Year’s Eve last. Was Bernard the one taking the picture? Had he made her that happy?

  I sighed. Where was Wal? He should be here by now.

  I sent Cass a text; telling her not to wait up because I might be home late; to make sure all the perishable food she’d bought got unpacked into the fridge; and to lock the doors. Then I sent one to Garth, checking in and saying I’d call him in the morning and he wasn’t to worry.

  Somehow the texts settled me a bit. Structure. Panning. Normality. My thoughts turned to the puzzle in front of me. Both Johnny Viaspa and the Western Cheaters wanted this list of names. Why? Who were these people?

  I went back into the kitchen, picked up my bag and pulled out the knife Wal had given me. How badly did they want it?

  My phone buzzed. ‘Garth?’

  ‘Tara, I know you said we’d sort it out tomorrow, but that … thing we saw earlier … I think there might some movement.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Tonight. We can see lights inside and a four-wheel drive parked near the back door. We think it’s being moved.’

  ‘You mean you’re outside?’

  ‘We were worried. We thought we should—’

  ‘I told you to go home. Don’t go near it. Alright?’

  ‘But…’

  ‘I’ve never been more serious about anything, Garth,’ I said. ‘I’ll deal with it.’

  I hung up. If they were shifting the coke tonight, now, I had to call the cops. Which meant that I needed a burner phone.

  There was an all-night deli on the next block. They would have one.

  I called Wal, to ask him to stop and pick one up, but he didn’t answer. How long would he be? It wouldn’t take them long to move the coke, depending on whether they were dividing it there, or taking it somewhere else. I had to act now.

  A quick check on Phoebe told me she’d moved into a more comfortable position, her face pressing into the back of the chair. Her slumber seemed deeper, more restful.