by Peter Butler
She felt better when she had it in her hands. The slightly awkward three-legged metal device was about as long as her arm and effectively doubled the distance from which she would be able to attack. Or defend.
She continued on towards the bathroom and silently turned the door-knob. She held the tripod beside her head ready to crash it down on any intruder who rushed at her.
She pushed the door open and tensed herself for action. The door gently bumped against the doorstop on the wall, revealing an empty room. The shower curtain was open making it impossible for anyone to hide there. That just left the bedroom.
Sunny tip-toed towards it. She had heard no noise from inside her apartment and she was confident she hadn't made any so far, so the element of surprise was on her side. Although, she reasoned anybody who broke into an apartment would almost certainly be in a constant state of heightened awareness.
She stood at the bedroom door and listened for the sound of someone rummaging through her things, but no helpful clues penetrated the closed door. As she had at the bathroom she stood again and slowly turned the handle and pushed the door. It swung open.
She gasped when she saw him. It was Simon. Sunny stood in the doorway, the tripod raised ready to strike and assessed the situation. He was lying on his back on the bed with his head resting against the bed-head.
He was naked.
***
Tim had been alternately checking online news sites and social media sites for most of the afternoon and nothing relevant had come to his attention. He began doing Google searches for "environmental disasters" and "chemical spills + Australia" and any other combination of words he imagined might produce a result.
At 4:16 he struck a vein. Twitter had a tweet from @earthpartisan#1: "Be disgusted by this - death and destruction from CSG vandals. Get very mad, this is your earth they are killing." Underneath one of Tim's pictures showed numerous decomposing animals scattered around an outback waterhole. He expanded the tweet and saw it had already been retweeted 35 times.
He twisted his laptop around so Truf and I could see what he'd found and we all grinned.
I checked the Facebook page of a well-known Australian TV reporter, Robert Doran, who was a passionate advocate of environmental protection, and sure enough he had posted yet another of Tim's pictures, and had added an equally acidic comment. A long list of friends had already commented on the vile nature of the picture. The ball was rolling...
I could see the way Frank was handling this - it was masterful. No mention of Plutarch Resources had been made and judging from the comments on Facebook people were getting ready for a good 'ol hanging of whoever was responsible for all of this. I suspected the next tranche of postings would mention Plutarch. By not mentioning the company, Frank had intentionally forced people to do their own research, causing the Google search-engine to become very aware of a growing story of interest.
Half an hour later the internet was alive with the story. All of Tim's pictures were freely available for people to examine and sure enough Plutarch Resources' name was tightly linked to each and every picture. I jumped on to the news sites and went straight to the "Latest Headlines" and Plutarch Resources seemed to be everywhere as was the name of its Managing Director.
I had been waiting for the call. Expecting the call - but I still jumped when the phone actually rang. My built-up tension from an expectant day of largely waiting seemed to evaporate with that one little shudder from my body. I knew the final piece of my puzzle had just slipped into place.
'Good day, Sky.' I said, to a woman who was ten thousand miles away, but who could still see my smile.
'Good afternoon, Mr. All Seeing Mighty Prophet,' Sky said, and her smile was visible, because she actually laughed. 'Well played, boss. I gather you already guessed that Ling Mien has just called confirming he had just couriered to us his acceptance in writing of our offer of 9.5 cents a share for his 9.5% holding of Plutarch Resources?'
'I did kinda guess, Sky. Congratulations for the way you handled your part in all of this,' I said, keen to include her in the list of honors. 'I don't want you to be too alarmed when you hear there has been some very recent news over here about Plutarch. Seems they have caused a lot of environmental damage at their drill-sites. It has been disastrous timing from my part in offering to buy those shares,' I laughed loudly down the phone.
'I'm not even going to try and pretend I understand whats going on,' Sky said. I could imagine her head shaking from side to side as she said it. 'You've been completely on top of it, so far, so I'll go along with your interpretation that, that terrible information is hilarious, even though it will make your purchase at 9.5 cents look embarrassingly stupid. The market is closed over there at the moment, I gather, what are you expecting your shares to open at in the morning?'
'I think, less than half that price,' I chuckled, and then added, 'Sky... Be a love and email our friend Ling and formally ask if we can rescind our offer. Mention that we are willing to compensate him for the inconvenience we might have caused. Offer a payment of 10% of the purchase price if he is prepared to cancel the deal.'
'You're the boss,' she said, sounding like she would love to ask me what the hell I was up to. 'Unless he's overdosed himself on stupid-pills, that offer has a snowflakes' chance in hell of being accepted.'
'That's my grave fear as well,' I said with a laugh, 'but from a commercial perspective I think it is correct that we try and get out of the deal.'
'Gary, this is impossible for me. I want to know what you have done, I can't wait for you to get back so we can talk face to face. When is that likely?'
'Things are pretty much wrapped-up over here, now. I think by tomorrow I'll be heading back.'
'Can't wait... bye bye.'
I sat back and mused. To the world at large the company I nominally controlled was, at this point in time, being compared to Chernobyl and the A-bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.
Oh dear!
At least I wasn't the one who pushed the button.
***
Sunny didn't move from the bedroom doorway, fearing that if she did he would pounce on her. She began to study Simon more closely. He didn't look normal by any interpretation of that word. His body hadn't moved in all the time she had been there, he hadn't spoken and to the best of her recollection he hadn't even blinked.
'Simon! What are you doing? Simon! Answer me.'
He didn't react. His eyes were open but he didn't look like he was awake. Sunny took a step forward, her tripod still held threateningly for him to see. She never took her eyes off him as she advanced slowly towards him.
Then she noticed it. His right arm had a flesh-colored rubber tourniquet tied around the bicep, a hypodermic needle lay beside him. She moved to the end of the bed and looked over his body, a small medical bottle with a rubber section in the top - the type designed for syringes to dip into without needing to be unscrewed, lay next him. It had rolled into the depression his body had made in the mattress and rested against his upper thigh.
She moved alongside of him, still not trusting that he was incapable of hurting her. She prodded him with the tripod. His body moved from the pressure, but his eyes remained fixed as if he was staring at a fly on the back wall. Sunny leaned over and tentatively felt for a pulse in his left arm. It took a few tries before she found a pulse, it was very weak and irregular. His right arm was slightly swollen and had turned a reddish-blue. She undid the tourniquet, but the arm remained swollen and colored.
Simon was clearly close to death and time was important, whatever drug he had injected must be a serious one. But Sunny had some important thinking to do first. Why had he come here to do this? Why had he searched and trashed her apartment if he had intentions of raping her again? She made that assumption because he had undressed. Clearly in preparation for something. If he was just interested in getting his Rohypnol back he wouldn't have taken his clothes off. But, wouldn't it make more sense to ambush her and knock her out, and then undress? Maybe he h
ad shot-up to get high to give himself the courage to do all of that, but had misjudged the dosage and passed out.
Every way she looked at it, added up to the conclusion that Simon had intended to hurt her very seriously, possibly even murder her. Why? Up till last night she had never done anything bad to him, she'd never indicated they were more than workmates and friends. And he never flirted or tried to touch her. It made no sense. Something bizarre had been going on in Simon's head. Something very sick, and he had hidden it well.
Given that Simon was intent on hurting her, Sunny decided on her course of action. She would give priority to her requirements before she worried about his. Her first action was to go to her computer, which he had tried to access but failed without her password. She knew this because it was powered up which was not how she had left it in the morning. Thankfully he hadn't smashed it. She quickly permanently deleted all the photos she had taken of him in the office. Then she went to her camera to remove the memory card, but he had beaten her to it. She moved to his pile of clothes and searched, eventually finding the small device in his trousers' coin pocket.
Sunny checked Simon's pulse again before she eventually called for an ambulance and the police. With revenge on her mind she had some other crucial things to do before they arrived. All of them required any fingerprints she left on the things she touched, be wiped away, and replaced with imprints from Simon's fingers.
Two minutes later Sunny was outside, she dropped the packet of pictures into a neighbors rubbish bin, making sure they went between the bags of rubbish as deeply as possible. As she waited, listening for the faint sound of sirens in the distance, she carefully hid the tiny black, coin size SD memory card from her camera in the thick bushy base of one of her next door neighbor's pot plants.
***
Truf, Tim and I were booked on a flight back to London that left in the middle of the afternoon. Our business here was almost done. Tim had confided to me that he'd had his blood tests and would have the results emailed to him in a couple of days. I wasn't too worried about Tim's results, as my results would be the same as his, so I had him where I wanted him.
The very last thing I needed to do was phone Gerald in London and have him instigate a few things while I was incommunicado on airplanes. Surprisingly, Terri his receptionist, put me straight through. Get the cash-register out and start the stopwatch, girl.
'Hello Gary, lovely to hear from you. Are you still in Australia?'
'Hi, Gerald. I'm just about to board a plane for home,' I said in clipped language, hoping that would be enough small-talk at fifty quid a pop. 'I need you to organize a few things for me while I'm in the air, if you'd be so kind. Firstly, I no longer have any problems with you going forward with Ed's bequest to Megan and myself. Including those shares, I have managed to get nominal control of around 45% of Plutarch Resources and I intend to mount a full take-over of the company. With that intention, Gerald, I would like you contact the Chairman and initiate an extraordinary General Meeting of the company as quickly as possible, using Gran and Ed's holding as your authority. If you need more leverage to do that, the Nixon Fund owns 9.5% and a Power of Attorney document gives me another 10% voting stock. Due to the total incompetence of the current Board I want to nominate three new Directors with myself as Chairman of Directors, Robert Stonewall is nominating as Managing Director and my brother-in-law Timothy Cullen will nominate as a non-executive Director.'
Gerald laughed down the phone. It wasn't a mocking laugh, thank God; there was a hint of admiration in there somewhere. 'You certainly don't mess around, do you, Gary? I guess you have heard that Plutarch Resources is in the news at the moment?'
'Yes, Gerald, I'm well aware of what is going on. Incredible that I should be visiting at the same time that all came to light.'
I think Gerald picked up my subtle inference, but he still asked the question: 'You are not worried about it?'
'Well, of course I am. It's going to cost a lot of money to repair the ecological damage, not to mention any fines that come with it. But we have some resources and some options up our sleeve that will help.'
'I'll be honest with you Gary, if it was anyone else telling me this I'd be more than skeptical, I'd be worried. But I can remember having a conversation with your grandfather a few years back and he told me that you had the best brain he'd come across in a long, long time and he trusted your decision making skills even over his own. And I trusted and admired Ed's decision making skills. So you can see where I'm going with this.'
I was stunned into an expensive silence on the end of the phone. Ed had never, in his entire life, so much as complimented me on something. This was a full-blown recommendation. 'Wow,' I said, 'I appreciate you sharing that with me, Gerald. It means a lot.'
'Yes, I know it does. You have Ed up on a pedestal; it's only fair that you should know he had you on one, also.' Gerald chuckled down the phone line. 'This call is costing you money, Gary, and from what you've just told me you're going to need as much as you get in the near future,' he laughed at his joke, and in doing so reminding me that I had just paid for it. 'I'll act on your instructions and advise you when the current Board of Directors of Plutarch agrees on a date. Is there any other business we need to discuss?'
'Nope. That's the lot. Thanks again for everything, Gerald.'
'I'll see you when you get back. Bye, Gary.'
I was so pleased with what Gerald had told me I completely forgot to listen for the "Cha Ching!" as he closed his cash register.
***
'You are quite adamant, Miss McGuire, that you and Mr. Sexton were not involved in a sexual relationship?'
'Of course we weren't. I told you, he is my boss and nothing more. He has never even flirted with me.'
Inspector Brice had been questioning Sunny for ten minutes and she suspected he was just about done, because he was going back over the key points in his notes, presumably to clarify them. Simon had been taken away, still unconscious, by the paramedics a few minutes earlier.
'Do you have any suspicions what he might have been looking for in your apartment?'
'I can only guess, drugs, judging from the needle lying beside him.'
'Are you telling me you are a drug user?'
'Hell no!' Sunny shouted at him. 'I didn't even know he was a drug addict. I hate bloody drugs. You can check my apartment, you won't find any illegal drugs, I doubt you'll even find any Aspirin. I'm a health food nut, I live on vitamins, mineral supplements and organic food. The thought of using hard drugs, like Simon obviously puts into his body, is beyond repugnant to me.'
'Are you giving me permission to search your apartment, Miss McGuire?'
Damn, I shouldn't have said all that. Sunny looked the Inspector squarely in the face, her expression was benign. He was a man in his forties and in reasonable trim, he had a pleasant face which was half-smiling at her. The smug bastard is congratulating himself for tricking me into this. 'I have no problems with that at all, Inspector. Perhaps you can help me tidy up as you go?'
As far as paybacks go it was pathetic, but as it turned out, unnecessary. 'That won't be required. But I will note that you offered us the right to search.'
'Thank you, Inspector Brice. Does that mean I'm on my own with the cleanup?'
'Afraid so, Miss McGuire. My wife expects me to help out at home and I find the joy involved in helping her is more than enough to satisfy any urges I have in that department.' He grinned at her.
'What will happen to Simon?'
'He is being taken to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington,' He fixed his look on her and shook his head. 'The paramedic said he may not survive the overdose, but if he does we will be charging him with breaking and entry, and possession of illicit drugs. I suspect it will be Heroin residue in the needle and the empty vial. And,' he paused and fixed his gaze back on Sunny, 'aside from the tire iron we found under his clothes, we also found some Rohypnol in his pocket.'
Sunny frowned and gave him her best look of concern
mixed with surprise, not that it was news as she was the one who had taken the Rohypnol from her filing cabinet and put the tablets into his pocket. 'The date-rape drug! Are you telling me he was planning on drugging me and raping me?' She gasped. 'And if that didn't work, bashing me over the head with a tire iron?'
'He was naked and on your bed,' he shook his head slowly, as if he was still pondering the question. 'I've seen a lot of burglaries in my years in the police force, Miss McGuire, but I can't recall any where the perpetrator has done something like that. We will have to get a complete psychiatric work-up done on him before we contemplate any extra charges. Even if he intended to rape you he never actually tried, so we can't even charge him with Attempted Rape.'
'But that leaves me in a terrible position,' Sunny pleaded. 'The charges you've suggested won't keep him in jail. I assume he has no police record, so he'll undoubtedly get a suspended sentence, leaving him free to come for me again.' Sunny shook her head in horror.
'I'm sorry, Miss McGuire. If he had so much as grabbed your hand we could probably successfully charge him, but, as you said, he was comatose when you arrived home,' he nodded his head and grimaced. 'He most probably was planning on having sex with you, but I can't charge him for that. If it was illegal for men to contemplate, or plan to have sex with a woman, then there wouldn't be many men left walking around our streets. I apologize for what must seem to you as making light of the situation, but it's the best way I can describe my predicament.'
Chapter 10
The three of us had been traveling for a total of twenty-five hours. Our first stopover was in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, for three and a half hours and then an even longer one in Dubai.