Scorpio's Lot (123 page)

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orbes
sat alone in his office staring at the wall. The fanfare and hype of early
afternoon had concluded. The media had got their story and had since departed
to collate their reports for the morning editions. The city hierarchy was
satisfied, for their man had rounded up the ringleaders and the case was all
but considered closed. He had already cross-examined the two drug syndicates,
in addition to James Slattery and Hassan providing a positive ID in Luke being
the notorious Charlie. The accolades were sweet and his men had rejoiced in
finally putting these criminals behind bars, but amidst all the praise and
gratification, something was amiss.

Forbes didn’t feel comfortable
with the outcome. For the purpose of convincing the reporters and certain other
individuals, he had deliberately given the impression the case had been
resolved but he believed it couldn’t be further from the truth. He would now
call on his four detectives to assist with the challenge of finding the one
true answer.

He requested a meeting in his
office at six behind closed doors. It was to be conducted in the strictest of
confidence and under no circumstances were they to be interrupted. The four
detectives were both puzzled and intrigued with this unexpected directive.

At precisely six o’clock
Detectives Marsh, Parnell, Gallagher and Doyle entered their superior’s office.
The door was immediately closed behind them and the four men took their seats
directly in front of his immense desk. With pensive expressions they waited for
Alan Forbes’ explanation.

‘Thank you for your punctual
attendance. My reason for calling this unexpected meeting is because, contrary
to what you might believe, this case is far from over.’

‘But... but we have these
culprits behind bars,’ responded a startled Parnell.

‘That I won’t deny, but the case
is incomplete.’

‘What do you mean?’ questioned
Doyle.

‘I smell a rat, in fact a big
one. The arrest of Lou Hanna, alias the Piedpiper, was simply too easy. I spoke
to the man at some length this afternoon and he just doesn’t come across as
someone who could successfully execute the role of regional head.’

‘In what way?’ Paul Marsh
questioned.

‘To be blunt, he lacks the
leadership skills and intelligence to fulfill such a position. Like any
organisation, regardless of its intent, their best people run the show. Lou
Hanna, to my way of thinking, is a follower not a leader.’

‘What are you trying to say?’

‘That Lou Hanna is not the
Piedpiper but one of the leader’s lackeys.’

Forbes’ remark understandably
raised some eyebrows. It was common knowledge his trademark was attention to
detail that rarely drew a challenge, but in this instance the four detectives
were in need of further convincing.

Alan Forbes continued.

‘Before I declared my presence
and entered the Scorpio cell, the name Sol was being directed at what I loosely
term the Piedpiper, alias Sam, alias Sol and alias Lou Hanna. It seems
ridiculous that one person could be designated with such a multitude of names.’

‘But that shouldn’t make any
difference,’ challenged Gallagher. ‘It’s irrelevant whether the man goes by one
or four names. At the end of the day we just want their regional head, which
can’t be determined by the amount of names he carries.’

‘You miss my point. If Lou Hanna
is indeed the Piedpiper, then why wouldn’t he be addressed as Boss, Leader or
Piedpiper? To be called Sol conjures up a very unlikely name.’

The penny had dropped. The four
detectives were beginning to understand their boss’s logic. He pressed on with
some further enlightening news.

‘Now here’s the crunch which
leads me to believe the Piedpiper is still at large. My discussion with James
Slattery and Hassan this afternoon raised a very interesting point. They said
it’s fairly common knowledge within the drug scene that Charlie has never laid
eyes on the Piedpiper and probably the same could be said for their third
person Gino Palmero.’

‘So how could they positively
identity Lou Hanna as their leader?’ Marsh stated.

‘Precisely.’

‘Why not by voice alone? I’m sure
they had many a phone call,’ suggested Gallagher.

Ignoring the comment, Forbes
continued. ‘Remember that Slattery and Hassan were quite adamant when they said
Charlie and the Piedpiper had never crossed paths. Apparently Charlie was
totally pissed off at never been given the privilege. Having said that, now
take into consideration Lou Hanna’s arrival to the underground gallery
following his seizure by the two Traffik thugs. Don’t you think Charlie would
have been at least slightly aroused in facing his regional head for the first
time? But I detected little interest coming from Charlie, in fact no reaction
at all.’

‘Good point.’

‘So, it begs the question, who is
the real Piedpiper? In my opinion the Traffik leader got it right the first
time. Mick, the Scorpio traitor, was relentless in pointing the finger at the
committee members when he stood up on the gallery rooftop and shouted, “Their
regional head stands before you, Indigo. The Piedpiper can only be one of...”
One of what? At this stage it could mean anything. Lou Hanna killed the
renegade to protect the identity of the Piedpiper and was prepared to suffer
the consequences to retain the secret. Another interesting point, and not one
to be overlooked or discarded, is the comment made by Gallagher regarding voice
recognition ...’

‘And what’s that, boss?’ asked
Parnell.

‘That Charlie and Gino Palmero
may have had an idea who the Piedpiper was at the time Hanna shot the traitor.’

‘What makes you believe that?’
queried Marsh with a dumbfounded look.

‘Simple, it gets back to voice
recognition. If you cast your minds back prior to the traitor arriving, Indigo
ordered everyone to introduce themselves, including the committee members. In
the belief the Piedpiper only ever liaised by phone, then consider the
possibility that either or both may’ve picked up on the voice amongst these
eight people.’

‘It’s also possible the voice may’ve
gone undetected,’ claimed Marsh. He then added. ‘I wouldn’t be relying on voice
recognition to pinpoint the culprit -’

Forbes cut in. ‘For the moment we’re
simply collating assumptions and factual information. On this very point, did
anyone observe a reaction from either Charlie or Palmero when introductions
were carried out?’

He drew a negative response and
then continued with his analysis.

‘Make no mistake, I’d bet my last
dollar our elusive Piedpiper is one of the seven remaining committee members. I
have doubts that Richard Smyth was ever the blighter, otherwise we would have
seen an obvious reaction from the Scorpio pair following his murder.’

‘Yes, but only on the assumption
they recognised the voice of the Piedpiper,’ persisted Parnell.

Ignoring the detective’s remark,
Forbes maintained his focus on the renegade.

‘The traitor’s insinuation has
always played on my mind, believing there was a half-truth in it all along. I
mean, why point the finger if there was no substance behind his allegation?
Considering what I’ve mentioned, I’m convinced our suspect is amongst this lot.
As to whom it might be is anybody’s guess and that now becomes our task to work
out.’

‘That’s a pretty daunting task,’
complained Gallagher.

‘Then let’s approach the subject
sensibly. We have seven individuals with different walks of life, objectives,
backgrounds and personalities. Most of these people, if not all, live a busy
lifestyle, so it does raise the question as to how could the role of Piedpiper
fit into their already tight schedule? Let’s face it, someone in charge of a
southern operation would need time to recruit, distribute, arrange meetings and
liaise with headquarters and so on. Of our seven candidates I would nominate
Helen O’Neill, Martha Kellett and maybe Ashley Collins as the ones who are
likely to have more free time,’ claimed Forbes.

‘That seems a fair assessment,’
Marsh obliged.

‘A further consideration is to
address the personalities of these people. Without stating their obvious
traits, an accurate measure of their character and arguably in a distasteful
way, was the manner in which each person handled the Russian roulette
spectacle. From my observation four people held their nerve considerably
better, these being Stephen Buchanan, Burke, Tom Harrison and Richard Smyth.
The point I’m raising is that someone in charge of a drug syndicate would need
to be of strong temperament to have the law and general underworld lifestyle to
contend with. It would seem totally out of character for some drug lord to be
reduced to a whimpering child like the way Johnson behaved.’

‘Perhaps he was putting on an
act,’ suggested Parnell.

‘That I can’t deny but if true it
was one hell of a performance. The same could be said for the two women and
Ashley Collins,’ Forbes replied.

‘Hard to fake when you have a gun
aimed at you,’ said Gallagher.

‘Let’s touch on their occupations
for a moment. Buchanan has access to finance, which would be considered useful.
Ben Johnson runs an establishment with some dubious undertakings. He employs
the services of some thugs who’ve been caught in possession of drugs. Martha
Kellett is retired, but her voluntary school and charity work involves the
youth of the community. Ashley Collins has made it his business to become
involved, so abnormal behaviour coming from a reporter would not raise
eyebrows. Helen O’Neill’s profile is indeed higher than most, given her
representation of ratepayers enables access to just about every conceivable
business and private outlet in town. Tom Harrison has the means to provide
accommodation and is strategically located beside Sapphire Bay for unscrupulous
operations. And finally our own Darren Burke, who has the distinct advantage of
knowing the movements of the law and therefore is in a position to keep one
step ahead.’

‘You can’t be serious about the
sergeant,’ said Paul Marsh.

‘Given the circumstances, we have
no alternative but to include Burke. If we choose to overlook our colleague,
then we’re not being thorough enough in our approach.’

‘Yes, but surely he can’t be
taken seriously.’ Doyle was of the opinion the list of suspects should be
reduced to six.

‘He must be equally considered.
You can see from my brief assessment all seven have had some degree of
opportunity to dabble in organised crime. Our next step is to reveal those
known to have had direct contact with the Scorpio organisation. So let’s see
... Tom Harrison’s protection over Brigit O’Neill resulted in a car chase
around the countryside. He was also subjected to further confrontations on the
Molly
Bloom
, within his car and living room. Helen O’Neill didn’t escape the
trauma of having her home broken in to, in addition to the episode in Harrison’s
car and a close shave at the caravan park. Martha Kellett was bashed in
Harrison’s living room and Burke crossed paths at Peterswood and on the
Molly
Bloom.
Three of these people sustained injuries while Harrison remained
unharmed. I’m not aware of Collins, Buchanan or Johnson having direct contact,’
stated Alan Forbes with his usual air for theatrics.