But because of the pain in my stomach and my fear for Anna I indulged myself this time. I made sure the two of them were far apart from each other too by adding an extra piece of rope to each man's feet tying them to opposite ends of the stall. No collaboration allowed. I got the impression that's what they had in mind too. I grinned and pointed at the rope around their respective necks.

  `Ain't gonna happen, boys. And no one's coming for you, Luka, or you, Rodovan.' The jerk of their bodies showed their amazement that I knew who they were. `Very dumb of you the leave that rental agreement in the car, wasn't it, Luka. Did you forget you aren't in Serbia now? The police here are not on your side. Are they, Rodovan?'

  Luka turned quickly, almost strangling himself and a growl crawled up his throat as I walked away calling softly over my shoulder, `that little chat you wanted. Think about what you want to say. You've got plenty of time.'

  Back in the shed I settled down to listen to the revolting sound of Michael Bentford trying to seduce my lover. He spent most of the morning trying to persuade Anna to come and stay with him in the city. She strung him along as we needed to know where he was staying. We knew he'd had been at the Grand Hyatt but where was he now? If we were to take this to him, we had to know.

  Late in the morning he received a phone call. He was very terse in his response and minutes later apologised to Anna saying he had been called away on serious business and had to leave immediately. I felt sick. My first thought was that he'd found out that Luka was missing. My second was that something had happened to Tom Kelling. Kelling was the only connection any of us had to the billion-dollar Swiss bank account that was at the centre of this entire thing. Without Tom Kelling the whole affair was caput.

  I stuck my head out of the shed just in time to hear the gravel scatter as he swung his car around and sped out the gate. I cringed. The repairs would be expensive. I gave him time to get a respectable distance away then headed for the house. After a night in the shed I could do with a hot shower for starters.

  As I walked through the back door Anna stepped aside and pointed at the bathroom without saying a word. I laughed but I'd left my clothes in my car which was still up the road and around the corner. As I showered I tried to get a handle what to do with the two bastards in the barn. One or both had been responsible for running me off the road but that boat had probably sailed.

  Even if I could get my car inspected by the police with a brief to find forensic evidence to compare with the truck that had pushed me over the side, how would anyone find it now? And how would I explain why I didn't call the police sooner? So while I suspected Ilic and his dead mate, Radovanović had done it I couldn't prove a thing. So keeping Ilic was probably counterproductive, but somehow I had to keep him away from us.

  `Lunch when you're clean,' called Anna. I smiled. She would never have said that to Bentford.

  I found some antiseptic and bandages in the medicine cabinet, managed some rudimentary dressings on my wrists, and was putting my dirty clothes back on when I heard the crunch of wheels on gravel. I froze. The bastard was back. But it was just the horse float coming for the old racehorses. I sidled past the two women and Anna, saluting them with a smile and a nod and pulled Anna aside.

  `What happens if Bentford comes back,' I whispered. `How do you explain why you don't have any horses anymore?'

  `I don't. He wasn't the slightest bit interested in them. He won't even know they're gone. And you'll have to park your car behind the barn in case he does come back.'

  `Really? I bet he doesn't want to come anywhere near this place. He might be a country squire back in England but I bet he hasn't been outside a city in years.'

  `Maybe. Even so we can't jeopardise everything by you being caught here.'

  I set off up the road to pick up my car and clean clothes and by the time I got back the horse people had gone.

  Anna shut and locked the gate behind me and pointed to the back of the house. I drove to where she pointed and hoped it didn't rain much more or I'd get bogged back there. Once inside in the warmth and eating some toasted cheese sandwiches, I started throwing a few ideas around. Like trying to figure out why Sergeant North had contacted the Marysville police. I decided I didn't want to know.

  Then there was Ilic. We really didn't want to get offside with the Serbian, or any other mafia. Indeed, once he knew Luka had killed his offsider, they might be on our side. Perhaps they'd be our heavies instead of Rocco's lot?

  Because of Brentford's precipitate exit this morning I checked my other fear, that something might have happened to Tom Kelling. I rang the old man. The phone rang for a long time and with a sense of foreboding I was just about to ring off when a woman answered. I could hear raised voices, in the background, not far from the phone someone was crying.

  `What's happened there?' I asked dread making my scalp prickle.

  `Who is this?' snapped the woman.

  `I'm a client from Melbourne. Is Mr Kelling all right?'

  `Your name please.' It was a command not a request. I told her. She said she'd check. I put the phone onto speaker and waited as Anna's eyebrows rose into her hair. The woman spoke again. `It seems you are one of the clients he left orders to be contacted in the event that anything happened to him. Since you have called him, is there any reason for your being concerned for his safety? Did he say anything that might have made you worry?'

  `No. It's just that he's elderly and has…er…important clients. Can you tell me what's happened to him? Please.'

  `Mr Kelling's house was broken into and he was attacked. He is in a serious condition and has been taken to the hospital.'

  Anna and I stared at each other as the woman continued. `Hello, hello. Are you there?'

  `Yes,' I said through a huge lump in my throat.

  `Could you elaborate about his…important…clients?'

  `Not really, just that's what he said. That there were people who'd love to get their hands on some of his records. He boasted about it. How on earth could anyone break in? That's another thing he boasted about. That his house was like Fort Knox.'

  Anna took the phone. `Please, will he be all right? He used to be my mother's lawyer and now he handles my affairs. It would be awful if anything happened to him.'

  The woman was much gentler with Anna and told her that the old man was recovering and under heavy police guard in the hospital so she wasn't to worry too much.

  `Please catch whoever did this awful thing,' said Anna, successfully diverting the police, because I was sure that's who the woman was, from asking her for her name and business. `Thank you so much.' She rang off.

  She flopped back onto the sofa. `Who the fuck did this? It wasn't Michael or Luka, so who? Are there more of them?'

  `Don't know. Maybe. Remember Anna, only Tom Kelling knew where the number for the Swiss account was. Who knows now?'

  `But it's good if someone else knows. Then they can go and get it and do what they like. I don't care. I don't want anything to do with it and if they have it they'll leave us alone.'

  I was sure it wasn't that simple. Even if you had a bank account number you couldn't just walk into a Swiss bank and claim what might be as much as a billion dollars. We knew hardly anything about this account including what other safeguards were in place.

  Bentford wasn't stupid, he'd know that. He was also a sophisticated criminal. He'd know that any lawyer who was running such an account wouldn't be stupid enough to be vulnerable to a frontal attack like this. He'd know there'd be alarms, and time locks and all kinds of safety devices all geared to handle just such an attack as this. No. I didn't think Bentford even knew about this. But I wasn't so sure about Luka.

  It was time to find out. We headed for the barn. I held Luka's gun on Ilic as Anna untied the strangling rope around his neck and we hauled him to his feet. He reeked of urine, faeces and vomit, and after nearly two days lying in one position he was unable to stand.

  Luka managed to grunt a few times but the constraining ropes and duct tape kept him under control.

  `Yes, Luka, it is your gun. Funny that.' There was more furious grunting but I turned my back on him. He'd keep.

  33

  I manhandled Ilic into the wheelbarrow and wheeled him towards the house. At the back steps I tipped him out so that he sprawled onto the ground.

  Once there I untied his hands and retied them in front of him. I wasn't prepared to give him an inch. We sat him on the step and Anna brought out a sandwich. He wolfed it down and followed it with a huge mug of water.

  He was nearly in tears as he begged us not to tie him up again and leave him in the cold. I glanced at Anna. Her face was absolutely still. I thought I could hear her thoughts. Was she just like her cold, vicious mother? Was she cruel and vindictive?

  I leaned towards her and whispered, `No, you're not.' She started and looked into my face. I smiled. `He's a very bad man, and you're not.'

  `What, a bad man?' She grinned, mimed the words `thank you,' and left. Minutes later she reappeared with her rifle and leaned against the wall, toying with it. I squatted next to him.

  `Now Mr Ilic,' I said, ‘let’s get a few things straight.'

  We told him that our `friend' Rocco had his number and that his mate Zivko was dead.

  `Zivko?' he said, innocence furrowing his brow.

  `Zivko. Yeah. He was murdered.'

  That shook him. Apparently Zivko dead didn't matter but being murdered was different. Rage pumped up his skinny frame.

  `Want to know who killed him?'

  He stared at me, strung on the horns of a dilemma. If he said yes, he was admitting he knew Radovanović. That meant he might be held accountable for whatever Radovanović was on the hook for. If he said no, he wouldn't be able to avenge his death. And traditionally revenge was very much part of the mafia ethos. Even the Serbian one.

  I suggested that if he still said he didn't know Radovanović the word would get out that he'd turned his back on him. I said I was sure that rumour would find its way back and mentioned Rocco again. I had no idea how that might happen but it was worth a try.

  His voice was still croaky from his days with not enough food and water as he said, `Okay, who done it?'

  `Not so fast. There's nothing for nothing in this world.'

  `What do you want?'

  I explained that the Mladenovics were making our lives difficult because they thought we had far more money than we did and were prepared to do anything to get hold of this fantasy money. Did he know anything about that? He didn't. All he got was paid to do was install some bugs in the lady's house.

  `And push me off a mountainside in the rain.'

  `Yeah, well. It was just a job. Nothin' personal.'

  `It was to me, mate. But then tying you up for two days was just necessity too. Nothing personal. But what I want from you is that you go back to your boss and tell him that this lady, Anna Felby and me, Harry Nichols, are your best friends and we're to be left alone. I'm sure we can trust you to do that, or I'll be having a little word with my friend Rocco. You do know Rocco, don't you? He knows you. And he looks after his friends. If you know what I mean. Can you stand up?'

  I hauled him to his feet and after swaying for a minute or so he took a couple of tentative steps.

  `Oh, and one more thing, we'll understand your goodwill if you give us all the news you have about the Mladenovic family. Anything will do. Now, off you go before I change my mind and tie you up again.'

  `But who killed Zivko?'

  `Oh, yes. I nearly forgot.' I pointed back at the barn. `Luka Mladenovic.'

  A growl erupted from his throat and he tried to push past me. I held him back. `Yeah. He crept into Zivko’s hospital room and poisoned him. Like putting down an animal.' The growl rose into a bellow of rage. `Don't worry, you'll get your chance, just not now. And not at all if you don't keep away from us. Okay? Now relax and off you go.'

  The fellow looked from me to Anna and snarled, ‘Where’s me car?'

  `What car? Sorry, you'll have to walk. The main road's only about five Ks and then you can hitch. Probably. Bye now. Nice knowing you.'

  Anna waved the rifle gesturing at him to start walking. We watched him trudge down the road. When he turned back Anna raised the rifle to her shoulder aiming at him. He moved a bit faster and didn't look back again. One down and the real prize to come. We headed back to the house.

  As for Bentfords sudden departure? Something had got to him. I wondered if Bentford had any formal contact with Luka and he'd been notified that Luka's car had been found. I also wondered if Bentford had reported his brother missing.

  I turned on the TV news channel. There was nothing about either of them but there was a small story about a Serbian government mission, with a ceremony at their embassy in Canberra. Yeah, right, I thought. Was that how they sneaked their crime boss into the country? On an illegal passport to let him meet up with his cronies. Sure enough the leader of the delegation was called Mladenovic.

  I rang Rocco and left a message that the old man, Vlado, had arrived. That was probably the reason for Michael Bentford's panic. The old boy would be asking him why the deal hadn't been wrapped up yet. Bentford was about to bow to Daddy's commands. That meant we were in even worse trouble because everything would have to be moved up. Time to have a serious word with Luka.

  Luka wasn't as debilitated as Ilic had been and he wasn't a low ranked operative either. We told him we would remove the rope from his neck but one false move and I'd fire. While he still couldn't speak because of the duct tape his eyes showed he didn't believe I would. When I said I wouldn't shoot to kill, his disdain didn't need words.

  His attitude changed when I suggested that he would never father children if I did decide to use the gun. But I didn't trust him for an instant. He was the arrogant son of the big boss and his history showed that he would kill us in an instant if he got the chance. He was stupid enough to do it too. Hang the hard work his brother had put in to con Anna into getting hold of at least a billion dollars. Luka's only view to the future was to kill anything or anybody who stood in front of him and hang the consequences. A true psychopath.

  I ripped the duct tape off his mouth and sat back to listen to the stream of obscenities and threats that poured out of him as if a dam spillway had opened. Anna tied the rope back around his neck but this time as a sort of leash. Every time he made a threat she jerked it. We waited. Eventually he realised he wasn't getting anywhere and more or less shut up.

  `Right,' I said. `Let's have that chat.'

  `If you think I tell you anything, you are stupid.' He wasn't raised in England as his older brother was so he didn't have even a surface of manners, as Bentford had.

  `And if you think you're getting out of this if you don't, you are stupid. After all, you had me, but here you are.'

  `My people will come here and you will be killed. Soon,' he snarled.

  `I don't think so, Luka. It was silly of you to hire a very expensive car and leave the lease agreement in it. Anyone could have found it. It was also silly to seduce a friend of mine, then kill her without checking if she had a family who could identify you.' He blinked. He wasn't nearly as good as his brother at covering his tracks. `You didn't know that? My word, Luka, now that your father's here, he's not going to be happy with you, is he?'

  I didn't expect his reaction to that. He turned white and began to sweat profusely. It was a far more extreme reaction than you'd expect for just having to front up to a disapproving parent.

  `You didn't know Daddy was here? My, my. I would have thought you'd be pleased to see him, Luka. Michael, you know, your brother, Michael, who was here last night, Michael, whose little scheme you were to protect against me…' Again the shock reaction. `You didn't know we knew about Michael? Oh, there's a lot we know about you, Luka. Like Mr Radovanović, who you killed. All he did was get caught.'

  He blinked. He didn't know Radovanović, at least by that name.

  `Zivko.' That got him. `And it was also very stupid to use the same poison you used to kill Wendy. Here in Australia it could be traced to you. Especially now that Ilic and his…er…friends know you killed their man. They don't like that.'

  I thought he was going to throw up in fright. But I misjudged him. He came about, possibly believing he would rise above all my threats. Or he didn't believe me about his father being here. Why?

  `So let's answer some questions.'

  He spat at me. `Get fucked.'

  Anna jerked the rope and bent down to hiss into his face. `Listen you piece of pig shit, you answer every question this gentleman asks or the next piece of rope goes around your cods and you'll be singing soprano by sunset.' She waved a roll of twine, reached for his pants zip and pulled it down.

  I winced. I needed to know if he'd sent someone to Sydney to attack old Tom Kelling and who had given him the name and address. Anna gasped when he told us. I couldn't believe it either. It was Anna's trusted old money manager, George Mayhew. We had purposely steered clear of George because we didn't want to drag him into the melee. But of course he would have known about Anna's mother's connection to Kelling.

  George, who had managed to keep his nose clean throughout all the investigations and dirty business of the family firm, R.S. Holdings was now up to his balls in the most corrupt of all Eleanor's affairs.

  Of course it didn't mean he was complicit. He may have been completely innocent and had no idea what was going on. But he was the money manager of a large international company with a major element of corruption that was still being investigated. That had already led to murder here and wholesale slaughter internationally over the years. Call me cynical but I had very serious doubts as to George Mayhew's innocence in anything.

  34

  Anna said nothing. She tethered Luka's neck to one post and his feet to another and walked out of the barn. I followed her at a distance. Her face was set and cold. I doubted she even noticed me. This was another betrayal. I didn't know how many a person can endure before they crack. She trusted George after her family had totally failed her. Now, it seemed he too had stabbed her in the back.

 

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