Sharp Turn (26 page)

‘I’m going to use his mobile to make the call from here.’

He nodded his approval. ‘Smart. Give us ten minutes to wipe the boot and don’t forget my bag.’

‘Where are we?’

‘Townhouse estate in Scarborough called Indian Sands. Number thirty-seven.’

It took all my remaining courage not to run downstairs after Wal. Even though Josh was hog-tied and still unconscious, I felt sick just being near him.

I pulled a pair of gloves from Wal’s bag, then went to the larger bedroom next door and found the ensuite. My bladder took a while to accept I was going to let it empty. When it did, the relief was indescribable.

Feeling less like my abdomen might explode, I went back to the other room and put Josh’s tool kit back in the fold-over case in the cupboard, so he couldn’t possibly reach it. Then I searched through the case’s pockets. The main zippered compartment contained rolled-up tee-shirts, underwear, socks and a small wetpack with toothpaste and toothbrush. I guess when you’re a paid killer you don’t leave stuff lying around in bathrooms.

I moved on to the outer pockets, where I found an airline e-ticket printout for a flight to Sydney under the name Josh Hamilton.

Now for him.

I went back to Josh and, with trembling hands, patted down his body until I located his mobile. He had nothing else in his pockets except for some cash.

I ran quickly through the directory of what looked like a cheap throwaway phone. No contacts listed.

His notes section had only a single entry with three names in it:

Sam Barbaro

Lena Vine

Tara Sharp

My shaking got worse as I moved on to calls received. Two numbers only. One unnamed, the other listed under Dwayne. That was the dealer’s name Viaspa had mentioned at the club. I rang the first number.

‘I told you not to call me.’ Johnny Viaspa’s voice was as recognisable as his pus-yellow aura.

I hung up and dialled the Dwayne number.

‘Roc here.’

Lena Vine’s security guard. It hit me then that the name Dwayne was a play on his surname Roc. After the actor Dwayne Johnson – the Rock. If I’d had anything in my stomach I would have vomited it up.

I rang triple 0 and asked for the Euccy Grove cop shop. Putting on my deepest, most mannish voice, I left an urgent message for Constable Bligh, consisting of the address of the townhouse, the sedan’s licence plate number and the word ‘Hurry’.

Josh began to groan.

I took one last look around to make sure I’d left nothing behind, and placed his phone on the cupboard shelf next to his fold-over bag.

On my way to the door, I stepped close to him and did something any self-respecting, escaping abduction victim would do to her kidnapper. I kicked him as hard as I could where it most hurt.

Then I picked up Wal’s kitbag and shut the door on my way out.

Chapter 25

I
LEFT THROUGH THE
side door and crept down the street looking for the Calais. My nerves were shot to pieces and my legs trembled with fatigue. For the first time since Josh had hit me I registered how sore my jaw was and that my bottom lip had swollen to twice its normal size.

Every bush I passed seemed to hide another madman; every shadow made me fear that he had an accomplice.

I was in tears by the time I reached the car and locked the doors. When Wal popped up at my window shortly after, my heart stopped altogether.

I couldn’t speak as he unlocked the car with the key and got in.

He squeezed my shoulder. ‘Done.’

And we were out of there at last.

Wal made two calls on the way home. The first was brief, and consisted of him mainly listening. The second was to Bok, whose panicked voice I could hear from the passenger seat.

‘I’ve got her,’ Wal said, cutting him off. ‘Be home soon.’

I wet my lips and forced sound from my dry throat.

‘How did you find me? Whose car is this?’

‘Like to say that findin’ you was off me own bat, boss. But if it had just been down to me, you’d still be sittin’ in that chair wonderin’ what to do when the Finisher woke up.’

‘The Finisher?’

‘That’s what he’s known as.’

‘T-tell m-me,’ I stuttered.

He sucked in a long noisy breath and slowed down to under the speed limit. ‘Well . . . Cass got worried when you didn’t come back after the gym. She called your mate Martin from your phone.’

‘That was smart.’

‘Martin rang me and we met at your place. Then your rich guy turns up.’

I had to think for a minute. ‘You mean Nick Tozzi?’

‘Yeah. Turns out he’s had someone watchin’ you for a few days. Some ex-Forces guy who hires out. The Forces guy saw you go into the car park at the gym. When you didn’t come out he went to have a look, caught sight of the Finisher leavin’. Apparently he recognised him. Knows him from . . . you know . . . around.’

‘He called Nick?’

Wal nodded. ‘Tozzi and me jumped in his car and caught up with the Forces guy outside the townhouse. I talked him into lettin’ me go in with him.’

‘There was someone else with you?’

‘He took downstairs, I went up.’

‘I didn’t see him.’

‘Yeah. He prefers it that. When I told him you were okay, he vamoosed.’

‘Wh-where was Nick?’

‘Outside. We told him to watch the back in case someone came out that way.’

No wonder I hadn’t seen him. ‘So where is he now?’

‘Right behind us. He picked up his guy and they’re following us.’

I twisted in my seat but could only see headlights. ‘Can you pull over? I want to talk to him.’ I suddenly wanted to cry again.

Wal shook his head firmly. ‘He told me to take you straight home and that’s what I’m doing.’

I sank back into the seat, really beginning to shake now. I was safe but I didn’t feel it.

‘Leonard Roc’s number was in Josh’s phone.’

‘Shit.’

‘Yeah.’

‘The only other number was Viaspa’s.’

‘Shit.’

‘I think that Viaspa hired Josh to get rid of Barbaro and me and Lena Vine. Our names were on a list in his phone notes.’

‘Lena?’

‘She’s active in a lobby group called Stop Drugs in Prostitution. I think he hit Audrey by mistake. I think Leonard’s one of Viaspa’s main dealers and he faked the camera malfunction so he was out the back when Josh did his drive-by. That’s why his number is in Josh’s phone. I think that Kate rang the bell, went back into the lounge.’

‘Why would she do that?’

‘Leonard is supplying her. He’s getting his stuff from a nightclub owner in Northbridge.’

‘Shit,’ said Wal for a third time. ‘Murderin’ bastard.

And I thought . . .’

I stopped there because my teeth had begun to chatter.

They didn’t stop until I’d got home, had a shower and let Cass force-feed me a litre of water, a sweet Milo and a bacon sandwich.

She was pale and quiet and didn’t ask any questions.

When I’d finished eating, I let her give me some ice for my lip. After that, she stopped hovering over me and cooked breakfast for the others.

Bok and Wal ate together on the couch as I filled them all in on what had happened from the moment I was pushed into the boot of the car. I didn’t try to hide anything.

Bok looked a bit sick, and Cass turned pale.

‘Get some sleep now,’ said Bok, kissing me on the head. ‘We should all get some sleep. I’ll come back this afternoon and we’ll talk more.’

Wal lay down on the couch once he’d locked the sliding door, and Cass got up to wash the plates.

I climbed into my own bed and hugged my pillow. I didn’t dare look in the mirror. My skin was still shredded from the cactus garden and the hedge, and now my lip was fat and my chin bruised.

I wanted to cry again.

Tozzi hadn’t stopped as Wal and I pulled up outside Lilac Street; he just gave me a wave and kept on going. I badly wanted to thank him but it would have to wait. There was something I had to do that was much more urgent.

I got my phone and sat on my bed.

‘Madame Vine . . . Lena?’

‘Yes, Tara.’ She sounded remarkably awake for 6 am. ‘Have you made some progress?’

‘Yes, progress has been . . . made.’ I told her about Roc’s connection with Kate and Viaspa. ‘Call the police. Get Roc out of your place. He’s dangerous. I’ll be in touch again soon.’

‘What about Louise?’ asked Lena.

‘I think she knew about Kate ringing the doorbell and didn’t want to say anything. What I sensed in her was . . . guilt.’

Lena was quiet for a moment. ‘And you think they meant to kill me, not Audrey?’

‘Yes. Your lobbying against drugs in prostitution is a threat to Viaspa.’

‘I knew I would tread on toes but this . . . Oh, Audy,’ her voice trembled. ‘I owe you a great deal, Tara. I’ll call Detective Whitehead immediately about Leonard.’

‘Don’t be surprised if they can’t make anything stick to Viaspa. He’s slippery. I know from experience.’

‘The worst ones always are.’

‘Be careful, Lena.’

‘You too, Tara.’

I hung up and shivered myself to a kind of sleep.

Only a few hours had passed when I woke up gasping for breath as someone tried to choke me in my dreams. I sat upright and waited for my brain to orient itself.

Home. In my bed. Safe. Daytime
.

Cass was asleep on her fold-out bed and Wal was out cold on the couch.

I massaged some blood into my facial muscles and blinked a few times. Then I picked up my laptop from my bedside table and booted it up. Maybe a bit of Facebooking might help my fear hangover.

Instead I found myself looking over the list of Bolo’s and Robert Riley’s companies again. Tex-E. I remembered Riley had mentioned them. I quickly Googled it and found out it was a small company supplying motorbike chains and electrical parts such as speedometers, switches and headlights. The thing I hadn’t expected to see was that Bolo was a part owner.

A lightning bolt of suspicion struck me. I got up and shook Cass awake.

‘What?’ She sprang out of bed and almost knocked me over.

‘Cass, it’s me. Shhh. Listen. What time does the race start today?’

She crinkled her forehead. ‘Umm . . . 10 am, I think. Why? You’re not –’

‘What about the superbikes?’

‘Around one. That’s what T-Dog said.’

I checked the clock on my computer. It was 11.15 am. An hour’s drive should get me there before the main race.

I raised my voice. ‘Wal, wake up! Wal!’

He opened his eyes without moving a muscle. ‘What?’

‘I know why Bolo wouldn’t go to the police about his death threats. We’ve got to get out to Wanneroo. Now!’

‘You’re the boss. Let’s go.’

I was beginning to think maybe, instead of a bunch of craziness, I’d stumbled on a pot of gold when I met Wal.

He never quibbled over important things.

Chapter 26

W
AL DROVE ME DOWN
to the gym in the Calais, where I picked up Mona and followed him back to Lilac Street. Then he and Cass joined me in my car.

‘How did Bolo act when you were watching him?’ I asked Wal as we hit the highway north.

He shrugged. ‘Nervy.’

‘Did you check his computer?’

‘Yeah. Just a lot of porn. Some of it pretty hardcore, though.’

I nodded. Even if my hunch was right, there was still a missing piece of the jigsaw to put in place. A name was bugging me. But it wasn’t until we passed through the main gates at Wanneroo that I remembered where I’d seen it. I pulled into the visitors parking area.

‘Cass, go find Jase and take him to Riley’s bay. Make him wait until I get there.’

‘What should I say?’

‘Anything, just get him there. Wal, I want you to hang outside Riley’s too. Don’t let Gig Riley leave until I get there. Do whatever you have to to stop him.’

I checked the time on my phone: 12.50. Ten minutes ’til race time. The bikes would start rolling down to the start line in five minutes.

I sprinted past the pits down to Sharee’s booth and began to scan the notices pasted to the wall.

Where was it? Where was it?

‘Tara! Hi!’ Sharee hung out over her counter and waved at me.

‘Hi,’ I replied, totally distracted.

‘Watcha looking for, girlfriend? Wow, you look terrible.’

‘My cat scratched me,’ I said. ‘Sharee, this is really important. What’s Lu Red’s girlfriend’s name?’

‘Sally,’ she said.

‘I mean her surname.’ I riffled through the notices until I found what I was after. The phone numbers at the bottom of the ad were all torn off, but the name of the seller and details of things for sale were still there. ‘Is it Sally Rowe?’