Deal Me Out by Peter Corris Read Free Book Online Page A

work as it was accustomed to. ‘He was looking to make some money, so he told me. I’d done a few of these jobs, went all right, and they told me I could do a bit of recruiting, extra money, if I was careful. Careful! I must have been over-confident. Anyway, over a drink, he mentioned that he liked to drive up to Blackheath sometimes. That’s all. I don’t know why I remember it, even.’
    ‘Any ideas on why he didn’t deliver the car?’
    ‘No. He came through all right the first time.’
    ‘He did it before?’
    ‘Sure. Good job. That’s probably why they gave him the Audi. Shit, doesn’t he know what those things are worth?’
    Just talking about it seemed to be increasing the strain on Mal. For one thing, he hadn’t apologised to Erica for saying ‘shit’. She was hopeless at being inscrutable. Her eyes and the rapid movement of her smoking hand told me that Blackheath meant something to her, and that she was already calculating about me. I decided to show keenness by keeping up the pressure on Mal.
    ‘You told the man who called you about Blackheath?’
    He nodded. ‘You bet I did. I was happy to havesomething to give him. What do I owe Mountain?’
    I looked at him and didn’t say anything.
    ‘It’s all right for you,’ he said quickly. ‘I saw your bloody gun. I’m not a tough guy. I was bloody glad to have something to say to him apart from “Please don’t kill me.”’ He finished off his coffee. ‘I’ve had Geoff around ever since.’
    ‘How long’s that?’
    ‘A week. What’s your name by the way?’
    ‘You don’t need to know.’ I stood up and rubbed the edge of my hand where hitting Geoff’s biceps had hurt it. Erica stood up too.
    ‘Where are you going?’ There was a note of something like panic in Mal’s voice.
    ‘What’s it to you? Come on.’ I jerked my head at the door and Erica moved slowly. I started to like her more at that moment; she seemed to want to give some comfort to the little man.
    ‘Don’t you want to know what Mountain told me about himself …
?’
    ‘You already told us,’ I said. ‘Nothing. Don’t worry, Mal. You’ve got Geoff.’
    Mal groaned but I had a feeling he could groan on cue. I opened the door and let Erica go past me.
    ‘Say goodbye to Geoff from me and tell him to work on his balance. It’s all in the balance.’ I shut the door and we went down the stairs. I held Erica back for as long as it took for a quick glance along the street. Woolloomooloo is never still, never silent, but there was nothing suspicious going on within sight. Erica tottered ahead of me on her high heels and I took her arm to steer her around a pile of rubbish spilling out from a blocked culvert.
    ‘Careful,’ she said. ‘That’s where he grabbed me.’
    ‘Sorry.’ Her arm was thin but had some nice yielding flesh on it. It was a fine arm to hold. I opened the car and let go the arm reluctantly. I put the key in the ignition and sat back.
    ‘Well, what do we know about Blackheath?’
    She looked across at me. Her face was an interesting colour under the amber street lights. Her eyes seemed very dark and her teeth very white. ‘Are you working on your car case or looking for Bill, with me?’
    ‘It’s a nice point. Does it really matter? You’ve got the picture now. The other people looking for him are a hell of a lot rougher than me.’
    ‘That’s true. Let me think for a minute.’
    ‘How can you think? You haven’t got a cigarette.’
    That earned me a smile; she proceeded to pollute my personal space. After a few puffs, she threw the cigarette out the window. Her sunglasses had slid down across her eyes from their perch on top of her head, and she pushed them back again. They took some of the fringe up and I saw the worry line again.
    ‘I’ll do a deal with you?’
    ‘I feel like one of your brothers again—the dumbest and littlest one.’
    ‘I’ll tell you about Blackheath if you’ll come up there with me.’
    ‘Your deals are all