by Annie Seaton
Rocky butted in. ‘At the time of signing there was pressure to accept because they’d seen what happened in other places. People were afraid that if we took too long to agree, the land could simply have been taken without our agreement.’
Tom took over. ‘And at the time of the signing of the original agreement, there was an attitude of getting some of the “whitefella money”. You have to understand that even in recent years, many of our people were still paid in food and clothes. The prospect of getting paid for the land led to the making of some unwise decisions. We are not opposed to either the mining of diamonds on this site or further development. What we are opposed to is the continued destruction of our heritage, our sacred sites, and our culture in an atmosphere of bullying that seems to go hand in hand with mineral exploration and mining.’
John Robinson looked down and fiddled with the papers on the table in front of him.
Tom’s voice hardened. ‘We will remain immovable on any negotiations that attempt to ignore our single condition.’
‘And the condition is?’ John Robinson’s lips were set in a straight line and perspiration dotted his brow.
‘The sacred site on the southern boundary will be compromised no longer and the south-eastern corner of the mine, where the site is located, must be returned immediately to the traditional owners.’
Much discussion ensued after Tom dropped the bombshell ultimatum, and Dru was surprised that John Robinson was prepared to listen. ‘Of course it will have to go to much wider consultation and negotiation, but I am willing to initiate discussion.’
Rocky had a wide grin on his face by the time the meeting drew to a close and Dru made her way outside. It was what he had been telling her that night at the termite mounds. She’d doubted him at the time, but he had trusted her enough to tell her the truth.
As she crossed the foyer, surprise brought her to a stop.
Connor was standing by the water cooler where she’d waited before the meeting.
Okay, no time like the present. She drew a deep breath and straightened her shoulders, ignoring the nervous churning in her stomach.
‘Hello, Connor.’ She injected as much brightness into her voice as she could. Reaching out, she touched his arm lightly.
He turned and regarded her silently. She moved her hand back, dismay flooding through her. His face was closed but his eyes were intense. After a moment, his lips tilted in a brief smile of acknowledgement but if she’d blinked she would have missed it.
‘Dru.’ He nodded curtly. ‘What can I do for you?’
Embarrassment played havoc with her resolve but she swallowed. ‘Oh, I just thought I’d say hello. I haven’t seen you around since I came back from my rostered time off. I thought you must have finished here on site.’
‘No,’ he drawled. ‘I’m here for as long as it takes.’ He reached for a plastic cup and filled it. He stepped back and drank the water before crushing the empty cup and dropping it into the bin.
‘So how’s the safety audit going?’ Dru was determined to make conversation.
‘Good.’ One word and he stood there, his arms folded across his chest.
This time she’d wait him out until he engaged in a conversation. If that didn’t work she’d done her best. He looked across the room as a couple of men came out of the meeting room. She stood beside him quietly. She swallowed and ignored the shaky feeling in her hands as her discomfort grew. This long drawn out silence was embarrassing. Dru was about to speak when he broke it.
‘So, did you have a good break?’ he said finally.
‘Oh yes. I went on a tour to the Bungle Bungles.’ Dru’s confidence grew and relief flooded through her. ‘It was the most amazing experience.’
‘Sounds relaxing.’
‘Have you ever been there?’
Again his gaze was intense and the penny finally dropped for Dru. It was nothing to do with her; he was as uncomfortable as she was making social chitchat. And she could sympathise with that. How stupid had she been, seeing Connor as a threat? She must have been in a state to link him with Zayed.
‘No.’ His gaze narrowed. ‘Or maybe I have. When I was a small child.’
Dru smiled widely although it was getting hard to keep this one-sided conversation going. ‘Are you around tonight?’
‘I am.’
‘Come down to the mess. I’ll get a card game going and tell you all about my trip.’
His expression was closed but he agreed. ‘I’d be interested to hear all about it.’
‘Great.’ Dru put her hands together and nodded. ‘Seven o’clock in the mess. It’s a place you must visit. Gorgeous scenery. Good for the soul.’
And God help her, she winked at him.
She was conscious of his gaze on her back as she headed to the door. When she reached it, she couldn’t help looking back, but he was deep in conversation with John Robinson.
Chapter 18
‘Come to my office. It’s too public out here.’
Connor followed John Robinson across the foyer to the stairs leading to the top floor of the administration building. John nodded to his secretary as he opened the door to the office. ‘No interruptions, please.’
‘Yes, sir.’ She put her head back down to her computer.
Robinson sat behind the desk and gestured to the other chair. ‘Thanks for coming to see me, Connor.’
Connor sat and nodded. ‘Thank you for coming on site. I was going to fly down to Perth to meet with you.’
John pulled out a handkerchief and mopped at his brow. ‘Sounds like you have some information for me. After the past couple of weeks here, I’d appreciate some positive news.’
Connor waited until he had John’s full attention. ‘I’ve had a look at your three suspects and while there is no evidence that we can use at this stage, I think you were spot-on with your suspicions of Dru Porter.’
‘Excellent. Time to call the police yet?’
‘No, not yet.’ Connor put his hand up. ‘As I said, I have no evidence that could be used in a court of law, but all of the indicators are pointing to Porter as the guilty party.’
‘Okay, tell me what you have.’
‘A direct connection to Zayed Al Tayer, and a substantial deposit into her bank account a few weeks before you said the diamonds surfaced in Antwerp.’
‘That’s surely enough.’ John’s voice was brisk.
‘Give me a couple more weeks. I want to find out how she’s getting the diamonds out. With any luck, we’ll catch her red handed.’
‘Okay.’ John nodded. ‘I want to ensure that it can’t ever happen again. Our security obviously has a weak spot and we need to seal it.’
‘Trust me. I’ll have it for you. She’s booked a flight to Dubai for her next break.’
‘Jesus.’ John slammed his hands on top the desk. ‘You think she’s taken more?’
‘Either she’s got them already or she’s about to. Don’t worry, I’m watching her closely and I’m hoping I’ll get the evidence for you soon. If not, I’ll follow her to Dubai. I intended going there to interview Al Tayer and then to Antwerp to meet the jeweller.’
‘Do whatever it takes. Charge the flights to the mine.’
‘Will do. I’ve put myself onto the same flight as a precaution just in case I do have to follow her.’ Connor pulled out his phone and scrolled through his notes. ‘While you’re here, I have a couple of questions I noted down to ask you.’
‘Go ahead.’
‘I’m sure she’s not working alone here. Despite the weak points I’ve identified, the security is too good for that.’
John nodded slowly as he listened. ‘That’s one positive, I suppose.’
‘I’ve identified two suspects who may be helping her, and I want your thoughts on both of them.’ Connor looked up from his phone. ‘Some of the information I have retrieved is quite . . . ah . . . sensitive.’
‘Yes?’
‘First off, she has a relationship—a friendship—with Roc
ky Cardella, and they seem to spend a bit of off-work time together. I had no luck whatsoever tracking down his finances, so I have nothing there but the fact that they spend time together.’
John rubbed his hand over his forehead. ‘Cardella is causing some problems for us at the moment. Rabbiting on about sacred sites and handing part of the mine back to the traditional owners.’
‘Do you think it might be connected to the thefts?’ Connor said. ‘Something else to take the focus off the investigation? I want to raise something else with you. The sudden increase in accidents and breakdowns. It’s too much of a coincidence in the time frame we’re looking at.’
John shook his head and his smile held no mirth. ‘You think it’s to take attention away from the diamonds getting off site? I suspected that the recent workplace incidents are more than that. It’s a ploy to discredit the company. The share price has dropped a bit and we’re—confidentially—looking at expansion with a second mine. We can’t afford any setbacks at the moment. Accidents or thefts.’
‘And the land issue?’ Connor asked.
‘It all came together for me in that meeting. They want the tailings dam back because they think it’s full of diamonds.’
‘Is it possible that he got the diamonds there and gave them to Dru to take off site? I have seen him wandering around down there.’
‘It’s quite possible. The processing equipment we use at Matsu was originally designed only to recover diamonds down to about one millimetre in size. Any diamonds smaller than this have ended up in the tailings dam. No process is perfect and in the early days when the ore grade was higher some larger diamonds probably did get through our filters. But six in such a short time frame? I doubt it.’
Connor made a note to research more about the tailings process as John continued.
‘Anyway, whatever they expect they’ve got no chance of changing the original agreement. We’ll dredge the dam to get the residue out as part of the finalisation process a few years down the track.’ John leaned back in his chair and frowned. ‘So the other person you want to ask me about? Is it Carruthers?’
Connor shook his head. ‘No, we’ve checked him out and he came by his money honestly. An inheritance. We’ve discounted him as a suspect.’ As well as having an honest source of his money, as a truck driver Liam Carruthers had no opportunity; he worked well away from the processing plant and the recovery room.
Greg had let out a low whistle when they’d gone through his bank statements together. There was more there than he’d first noticed. ‘How come the bastard still works?’ he’d said.
‘A million’s not a lot these days, Greg. And at the rate he’s going through it, he’ll need a job sooner than later.’
Connor leaned back in his chair. ‘Tell me what you know about Don Finlayson.’
‘Know?’ John’s tone was wary.
‘I’ve come across some information that may put him in a position to be blackmailed. As head of security, he could possibly turn a blind eye to the comings and goings of anyone who needed to get off site if they were privy to this information.’ The only thing that Connor hadn’t established was a connection between Dru and Finlayson, and that bothered him.
John pushed his chair back and walked across to the window. He stared outside for a few moments before turning back towards the desk.
‘You’re good. There’s no doubt about that. I knew it when we approached you.’ He dropped back into his chair. ‘I presume you’re talking about Don’s sexuality.’
Connor was surprised. He stared across the desk at the CEO.
‘I can guarantee that Don is not open to blackmail. It may not be known publicly, but his wife and family know, as do his closest friends. Myself included.’ He let out a long sigh. ‘Don’s partner is a high school principal and until he retires, he prefers to keep his private life just that. Private.’ He held Connor’s eyes with his. ‘I told you before that I would trust him with my life, and I do. He still lives with Gloria, but they have an arrangement. It may be unusual but unless you’ve found direct evidence of his involvement with the theft, you can discount Don from anything to do with it. He’s not travelling very well at the moment and that’s why he’s taken leave despite the investigation. I fully expect him to retire.’
‘Very well.’ Connor was surprised, but he was prepared to accept what John said.
‘I’m pleased with what you’ve told me today, and you’ve raised some issues that I need to look at more closely. I think you are on track with Dru Porter. Not so much with Cardella. I think he’s got another agenda. Is there anything further that I can offer to help you wrap this up?’
‘The only way I can see the diamonds being moved off site is by someone who has direct access to the recovery room. If someone on the security staff is letting them out.’ Connor gave a dry laugh. ‘From what you’ve said, it doesn’t sound like someone is just fishing them out of the tailings dam.’
‘It has been known to happen at other mines, Connor. But six is beyond the realms of possibility—and that doesn’t take into account the earlier diamonds either. By their size, they all have to be coming from the processing plant.’
‘Well, that leaves me with Dru Porter then. I’ll check out the Dubai and Antwerp connections and see where they lead.’ Connor stood to leave. ‘I hope to have this wrapped up for you in a couple of weeks.’
Chapter 19
Dru lay on her back with her feet up on the sofa, her phone pressed to her ear as she chatted to Megan that evening; the floor tiles were cool against her skin. The air conditioner hadn’t been on for long since she’d come back from her day shift and the heat that had been trapped in the donga during the day hadn’t dispersed.
The temperature had peaked at forty-two degrees this afternoon; summer was coming quickly. They were rushing to finish the southern corner around the tailings dam before the wet arrived. Although if things went the way Rocky and his people wanted, maybe they wouldn’t finish up down there at all.
She glanced up at the clock and was surprised to see she’d been talking to Meg for almost half an hour. ‘I’ll have to go soon. I’ve got a poker game tonight.’
Meg’s laugh trilled down the phone and Dru smiled. She’d been feeling so much better over the past few days.
‘I swear you’re just one of the boys at that mine of yours,’ Megan said.
‘It’s a good place to work. I’ll call you one more time before I fly out next week. I’m driving to Darwin when I finish my shift.’
‘Email me your flight details. And don’t worry; we’ll have a welcoming party for you at the airport. Oh, that reminds me. I wanted your opinion on a couple more things for the wedding.’
‘Fire away.’ Dru pushed the button on the air conditioning remote with her free hand and ramped up the fan speed a couple of settings. It was getting even hotter as the last rays of the setting sun hit the wall through the high western-facing windows.
‘The table centrepieces. I can either have glass bowls with sand and shells, and make it a beachy theme or just—’
‘Whoa, girlfriend. It’s your wedding, you have whatever you want.’
‘You really think so?’
‘Of course. You’re the bride. You get to pick what you want.’
Megan’s laugh tinkled down the line. ‘Really?’
‘Why do I get the feeling this is leading to something?’ Dru dropped her feet from the sofa and sat up. She only had a few minutes to get down to the mess before the poker game.
‘Well . . . they just have a tiny, teensy heel, but they are perfect for your outfit, and seeing as I’m the bride . . .’
Dru put on a dramatic sigh. ‘So you get to pick everything, including the bridesmaid’s shoes? You are one master manipulator, Megan Smith, but I fell for it, didn’t I?’ She pushed herself to her feet and threw the air conditioner remote onto the coffee table. ‘I guess it saves me going shopping for shoes. Over to you, size ten.’
‘I know. I’ve already
bought them. They’re gorgeous.’
‘I’ll take your word for it. As long as they don’t make me ridiculously tall. Or I should say, ridiculously taller.’ Dru walked across to the door and slipped her sandals on. Her flat sandals. ‘Have to go, Meg. I’m running late.’
‘I can’t wait to see you.’
‘Not long now. Say hello to Sam for me.’ Dru opened the door and put her hand to her eyes as a blast of hot wind swirled up the road.
‘Love ya, babe. It’s so good to hear you sounding so upbeat.’
‘Bye.’ As Dru turned to shut the door, she looked up at the air conditioner. The light had gone out on the unit and the fan had stopped whirring. For a minute she thought the power had gone out but she flicked the light switch and the light came on. Must be something wrong with the unit. She pushed the door open wide. It would be too hot to sleep tonight if she left the place closed up while they were playing cards. With a bit of luck, the movement of the air would cool it down a fraction.
She grabbed her laptop and locked it in her car. It was the only thing of any value in her room. Shoving her phone in her pocket, she ran lightly down the steps and down the hill to the staff building. She was late. The outside door was closed and Dru pushed it open and hurried into the cooler air, barrelling straight into the man standing just inside.
She grabbed for the handle as she overbalanced but a strong arm went around her waist as his mobile phone clattered to the floor.
‘You are eager to play poker.’ Connor’s deep voice was full of humour for a change and Dru stepped away from his supporting arm. Heat rushed through her as she untangled herself.
Connor leaned down and picked up his phone. He put it to his ear. ‘You still there? Sorry about that. I’ll call you later.’ He hung up and slipped it into his shirt pocket.
‘I’m sorry. I was running late.’ Dru fanned her face with her hand. ‘And you know what Rocky’s like if you’re late for a game.’ She shook her head. ‘No, of course you don’t. Anyway, it’s unacceptable to be late for a Matsu poker game. Rocky’s rules.’