The Tattooed Man

by Alex Palmer

  Harrigan went back to the farmhouse. He wanted to talk to Ambro about what to do with her and her children. When he arrived, the kids were playing through the house while she was in the kitchen, peeling potatoes.

  ‘What are you doing?’ he asked.

  ‘Fucking cooking tea. What does it look like?’

  ‘I didn’t know you did that sort of thing.’

  ‘Everyone’s got to eat, mate. Talking of which, help yourself to what’s on the table. That was brought in for your mob.’

  She was referring to a spread of food set out on the kitchen table. Famished, Harrigan sat down and took a sandwich.

  ‘We’ve got to talk about your safety,’ he said.

  ‘What? You’re going to put me and my kids back on the witness program. Forget it.’

  ‘You can’t stay here.’

  ‘Why not? You think that guy is coming back again? What the fuck for? He must have worked out by now that everything I know, you know. Didn’t you send my drawing out? He’s got to know he can’t hide any more. No, we’re staying here. Harry’s said we can, and I’m going to give him something out of my pension for our keep. We’ve got nothing now, so if we do go somewhere else, what’s going to be there for us? Like he said, there’s plenty of room. Laurie and Jen can have their own rooms. They’ve never had that before. The kids like Harry. He said he’s going to teach Laurie to ride.’

  ‘Do you want to stay here?’ Harrigan asked.

  ‘Oh, you know. I get fucking lonely out here sometimes, even with Harry. But the kids like it. They like the school. They fit there a bit better. They’ve made friends, you know. I don’t want to shift them again. Maybe now we can stay in one place for a while. There’s something else as well. Harry’s not showing it but he’s on the edge. He fucking needs someone to talk to, mate. We’re going to stay and keep him company. Because I don’t know what he might do if he’s left alone. I don’t want to hear he’s blown his head off.’

  ‘And what about if someone comes looking for you here? It’s going to get out now that this is where you are. It has to, with all these people crawling over the place. What if Little Joe turns up here with a shotgun? Is he going to take Harry out as well as you?’

  Ambrosine was frowning, staring at the pile of potato peelings. ‘I’m going to find out if that’s going to happen,’ she said. ‘You never know. Things might have changed because of what’s gone on this last week.’

  ‘How are you going to do that?’

  ‘I’ve got my own contacts. I know who I can ring safely. If we have to go, we’ll go. I’m not putting Harry in danger. But until I know that, we’re staying.’

  ‘Okay, you make your contact. You find out what’s going on and you tell me what happens. All right?’

  ‘Yeah, yeah.’ She shrugged him off. ‘Are you going to stay for tea? Harry’s got this leg of lamb.’

  ‘No, I’ve got to get back to the city. Where is he?’

  ‘Out the front.’

  He found Harold sitting on the edge of the veranda, drinking tea and smoking.

  ‘Come and sit down,’ he said. ‘Want a cuppa?’

  ‘Thanks,’ Harrigan replied, although he rarely drank tea. He accepted a cup of the powerfully tannic liquid. Tattoos of Naradhan Creek were curled around Harold’s muscular arms, much the same way as the dry creek twisted its way through the landscape.

  ‘You’re the tattooed man, mate,’ Harrigan said.

  Harold glanced at his forearm. ‘She’s a good tattooist. She and the kids are staying on here. They’ll be company.’

  Harrigan looked out at the blasted landscape. The only line of green was Naradhan Creek.

  ‘Sorry we’re marching all over your property like this, mate,’ he said.

  Harry shrugged. ‘That started with old Stewie. It hasn’t stopped.’

  ‘Harry, there’s something you’ve got a right to know. The same man who tried to kill us last night killed another man in Ambro’s cottage back in September. He buried him down in the creek but the body’s not there any more. It was dug up and transported back to Sydney about a week ago. It was one of the bodies found at Pittwater. You’ll know the name. He was an ex-policeman called the Ice Cream Man. I’ve got a forensic team down there now checking out the gravesite.’

  Harold looked at the line of trees and scrub bordering the creek.

  ‘I had my first fuck down there,’ he said. ‘I was fifteen. She came out here one year with her father, he was working on the property as a fencer. He was a bastard to her. He used to say he was stuck with her because no one else wanted her. She asked me to meet her down there one night, then she turned up with a blanket. After that, I saw her every night until they went away. I guess she wanted a bit of comfort. I liked her, she was nice. I still think about her sometimes. Hope she’s okay.’

  Harrigan sipped the bitter drink Harold had given him and said nothing.

  ‘You see the way the creek winds?’ Harold continued. ‘It’s like a snake. A dry snake. When it rains, that creek will fill up and it’ll flood the roads. That water will get channelled through this country for miles. It’s a stupid place to bury someone because one day they’ll get washed away. If it ever rains again.’

  ‘It will,’ Harrigan said.

  ‘I don’t believe that. Not any more. You see the red gums down there? They’re big trees, they’ve been here for a long time. They’re dying now, there’s so little water.’ He put down his mug. ‘I guess you’re not staying for dinner. Ambro’s cooking.’

  ‘I’ve got to be back in the city tonight.’

  There was silence.

  ‘Are you going to be okay out here?’ Harrigan said.

  Harold sat for a few moments, smoking.

  ‘Yeah, I think I will now. Ambro’s here with her kids. That’ll make a difference. This is where I live. I don’t want to be anywhere else, even when it’s like this.’

  ‘I owe you for last night, Harry. If it hadn’t been for you, everyone here would be dead and I could have ended up using the same grave as the man in the creek. If you ever need any help, you call me.’

  ‘Call it even, mate. How are you travelling?’

  ‘I’m getting the afternoon plane from Wagga. My lift should be here soon.’

  Harold looked at his watch. ‘You’d better hurry, mate. It’s an hour’s drive.’

  ‘Boss.’ One of Trevor’s people sent down from the city appeared in the doorway, his mobile in his hand. ‘I’ve got an urgent call here from Trevor. Can you take it now?’

  ‘Why didn’t he ring me on my phone?’

  ‘I was already talking to him.’

  Harrigan took the phone and walked to the end of the veranda.

  ‘Trev. What is it?’ he asked.

  ‘Boss, I’ve got some bad news for you.’

  ‘Has something happened to Grace?’

  ‘No, she’s fine as far as I know. In fact, she rang me a while ago. Wanted to know how you were. I told her you’d had a brush with death but you were okay.’

  Fuck, Harrigan thought, remembering that he hadn’t returned her call.

  ‘It’s something else. Your son. I’ve got a report here of a kidnapping from Cotswold House, forty-five minutes ago.’

  ‘I told you to put a guard on that place!’

  ‘I did, mate,’ Trevor said. ‘Hear me out. I’ve got details of Susie Pavic and Tim Masson suffering from concussion and bruising. They were both knocked out, locked in an office, and your son was snatched. They’re on their way to RPA, if they’re not already there. Masson is serious but none of the injuries are life-threatening. I’m putting a task force into action now. We’re pulling out all the stops.’

  ‘Why wasn’t there a guard on Cotswold?’

  ‘There was until eleven o’clock today, boss. Marvin found out I’d organised it behind his back. He rescinded the order and didn’t tell me. When I found out, I rang him and asked what he was up to. He ripped into me like you wouldn’t believe and hauled me in
front of the commissioner who told me off for insubordination.’

  ‘Why the fuck didn’t they ring me? Why didn’t you?’

  ‘Marvin told God that you were hypersensitive about your son and the best thing to do was not to run it past you because you’d just be unreasonable. Meanwhile, there was no need to waste resources. I just got out of that meeting, boss. My ears are still ringing. I was about to call you when Colin rang me instead.’

  Harrigan’s mind was so filled with white fury he couldn’t speak.

  ‘I’m on my way back,’ he said at last. ‘I’m leaving now.’

  He cut the connection and handed the phone back.

  ‘Are you okay, boss?’

  ‘Is my lift ready? I’ve got to go now.’

  ‘I’ll check.’

  ‘What’s up?’ Harold asked.

  ‘It’s my son. He’s the latest collateral damage. He’s not dead, someone’s got him. I’ve got to leave.’

  ‘Mate, come with me. Whatever’s happened, you have to take these with you.’

  In the living room, Harold handed Harrigan a soft package, carefully wrapped. ‘It’s the crop specimens. Someone has to test them out.’

  ‘Okay, Harry, I’ll take them. I’ve got to leave now. I’ll see you.’

  His car was waiting for him at the back gate. He told the driver to get him to the airport in time for the afternoon flight, no matter what. They sped down the track, leaving a trail of red dust. The terrain out here was as wide as the sea. You either connected to its huge, open distances or the loneliness crushed you.

  I have my own tattoos, Harrigan thought. Unlike Harry, his were on the inside. Experience had cut scars into his mind, into the underside of his skin. Marks as permanent as the colours Ambro had fixed onto his old friend’s body. Harrigan’s invisible markings made up who he was; Harold’s showed him to be a part of this stretch of red ground forever. Implicitly, they understood this about each other. It was why they could trust each other. The way Harrigan trusted Grace. The way he hoped she trusted him.

  Whatever trust there was between them, they would need it all. He wouldn’t have the time to see her when he got back. He wouldn’t even be able to tell her when he might have the time. The only question on his mind was where was Toby? The world had changed these last twenty-four hours. He had a murderer and an abductor to go after, even if she’d never pulled a trigger in her life, even if she hired other people to do her dirty work for her. I have been threatened with abduction and murder all my life, Elena Calvo had told him, fishing for his sympathy and loyalty. She’d had no qualms about inflicting these fates on other people. There was no way she would walk away from this. The thought gave him no relief. They drove on through the dry landscape.

  20

  A car was waiting for Harrigan at Sydney airport and he drove straight to police headquarters. Arriving at the incident room, he found it closed up and apparently empty. He tried the door but it was locked.

  ‘Boss.’ Frankie appeared in the corridor behind him. ‘I heard you were in the building. We were told not to call you.’

  ‘What’s happening?’

  ‘Marvin told us to stop what we were doing and get out of there. Then he locked the door. We might be being replaced, every one of us.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘The contract’s been stolen from the evidence room. We had a forensic scientist coming in tomorrow to have a look at it. When I went to check it, it was gone. Someone’s stolen it, they must have done. When Trev reported it to Marvin, he came down and stuck the knife into him and then locked us out.’

  ‘Where’s Trev now?’

  ‘He’s in the commissioner’s office with Marvin, probably being sacked.’

  ‘Where’s the rest of the team?’

  ‘We’re all in the tea room. We were thinking about going to the pub,’ Frankie said. ‘We’ve got nothing else to do.’

  ‘Like fuck you don’t. You can get back inside this room and get back to work right now.’

  ‘We don’t have the key. It’s in Marvin’s pocket.’

  ‘Then use your initiative. Don’t you have some manpower? Break the door down if you have to.’

  Frankie laughed. ‘Okay, boss. Whatever you say.’

  Without another word, Harrigan headed for the commissioner’s office.

  He startled Chloe at her desk. It was a fitting name for a woman who was always as chillingly stylish as a spun-steel mannequin.

  ‘I understand the commissioner is interviewing Inspector Gabriel at this moment. Given that he’s my officer, I’d like to be present.’

  ‘Both Inspector Gabriel and the special assistant commissioner are in there with the commissioner now. I don’t know if they want to be disturbed.’ She hesitated. ‘I’ll buzz them.’

  Immediately she had, Marvin came outside, blocking the door to the commissioner’s office. Harrigan looked past him. The commissioner stood behind his desk, Trevor in front of it, both confronting each other, both clearly angry. Marvin shut the door quickly. Harrigan saw him take in the marks on his face.

  ‘There’s no need for you to be here,’ he said. ‘This is under control.’

  Harrigan looked at Chloe. She got to her feet and walked out of the room. Harrigan was still carrying the small photograph Freeman had given Grace on Bondi beach. The second Chloe was gone, he took it out of his wallet and pushed it under Marvin’s nose. Marvin looked but didn’t touch it. His face went blank. Harrigan spoke softly.

  ‘How’s your boy? Is he still this photogenic? Want me to show this to the commissioner now and to hell with the consequences?’ There was silence. ‘You’re inviting me in. When I’m in there, mate, you will back off.’

  ‘Put that picture away first,’ Marvin replied in an oddly detached tone.

  Harrigan did. Marvin opened the door. Harrigan brushed past him and walked in first.

  ‘Commander Harrigan wants to join us. I agreed it was the best course of action,’ Marvin called after him.

  ‘Why? What does he have to say that I need to hear?’ The commissioner’s voice was sharp and loud with anger. ‘I want to know why within days of Senator Edwards telling me we have corrupt police on my watch, there’s a security breach of this order. Is your inspector trustworthy? Is any member of his team trustworthy? The answer appears to be no.’

  ‘Commissioner, would you listen to me?’ Trevor was barely controlling himself. ‘I’m not responsible for the loss of that contract. I will vouch that no member of my team is responsible. We have no knowledge of how it was stolen. You shouldn’t be accusing us like this. We should be starting an inquiry.’

  ‘Quiet!’ the commissioner roared.

  There was silence. Harrigan could feel Marvin breathing down his neck. The commissioner sat down.

  ‘As Marvin has said to me on more than one occasion, even if your word is reliable, it’s unlikely to carry any weight in the media. The nature of your private life would ensure that.’

  ‘What did you say?’

  ‘Marvin?’

  ‘I’m only speaking realistically.’ Marvin’s voice was smooth, the way it usually was. ‘I’ve heard it said repeatedly that Inspector Gabriel’s personal lifestyle has the potential to embarrass the image of the service. Not because anyone here necessarily disapproves of who he lives with, but because of how it will be perceived by the general public. If there are compromised officers in this service who were linked to Cassatt, and if that fact comes out in the media, then the press will focus on the weakest link we have, and in this case that means Inspector Gabriel. We may think we don’t have an issue to be concerned with, but the media won’t agree with us. Talkback radio certainly won’t. As regrettable as it is, the general prejudice is still against him. We’ll be slaughtered in the court of public opinion.’

  ‘I don’t believe this,’ Trevor said, almost softly. ‘I just don’t believe it. It’s crap.’

  ‘Unfortunately it’s not,’ the commissioner said angrily. ‘Whatever you
choose to say, there are still many people in the general public who view your lifestyle with aversion and may question why we put you in charge of an investigation of this significance, particularly if it proves to be compromised. There will be the suggestion that you were susceptible to blackmail.’

  ‘Commissioner, that’s garbage.’

  ‘It’s a matter of perception. We cannot afford the perception,’ the commissioner as good as yelled. ‘I don’t intend to be hounded out of this job by shock jocks.’

  Harrigan could almost admire Marvin’s strategy. There was no better way to sool the commissioner onto someone than by appealing to that all too easily aroused paranoia. He moved forward.

  ‘There are two things I want to say, Commissioner. While we’re standing here gasbagging, the investigation is at a standstill and my son could be dead or dying somewhere.’

  ‘Putting that search in place was Inspector Gabriel’s responsibility,’ Marvin countered.

  ‘He can’t do it while he’s here, can he?’ Harrigan snapped, not bothering to hide his anger. ‘Commissioner, you’re just about to put your head in the noose. Do you really want to do that?’

  ‘I am in control here!’

  ‘The public won’t think so once you go through with this. Neither will our political masters. You’re about to remove a team of people the minister has expressed confidence in. When he finds out you’ve sacked the whole team, he’ll want to know why. Whatever we tell him, he’ll raise all hell and he won’t be shy about going to the media. He’ll talk about his dead son and there’ll be a huge response. Then you’ll have to face explaining why you did this. What are you going to tell our own minister in the state government? You sacked the whole team because the New South Wales Police Service doesn’t have a secure evidence room? How do you think that will play in the media? What if we have another security breach? Who do we blame then? Do we replace the next group of people? People will say we’re running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They’ll laugh at you.’

  The commissioner was rocked by this. His face was a mixture of fury and fear. They waited for him to speak. He rubbed his mouth.