Follow the Money by Peter Corris Read Free Book Online Page B

complex, with all sorts of legal and accounting tangles.’
    I said I knew Nordlung had been involved in a dodgy insurance deal. ‘But he isn’t Asian or Lebanese.’
    ‘His wife’s Chinese.’
    ‘Her name’s Gretchen.’
    ‘She changed it. We think Nordlung was up to his balls and beyond in this stuff. Something must’ve gone wrong and he paid a price. He wasn’t the only one. These people don’t hesitate to clean a slate. How did you know about Nordlung?’
    I produced DS Caulfield’s card. ‘He told me. I assume you’re working together on this?’
    Chang smiled. ‘How much do you know about police politics?’
    I knew a fair bit from personal experience and talking with Frank Parker over the years. The old antagonism between the ‘kneelers’ and the ‘shakers’—the Catholics and the Masons—had given way to divisions over the roles of specialised units and the personalities of senior officers. With a bit of intra-state and federal/state rivalry thrown in. I watched Chang push the card away.
    ‘Not a team?’ I said.
    ‘Not exactly. Caulfield’s Serious Crimes. They’re not enamoured with a unit headed up by a slope with a Muslim 2IC. These are murky waters you’ve got into, Cliff.’
    So I was Cliff again . ‘Caulfield warned me off. Are you doing the same?’
    ‘No, I’m thinking you could be very useful.’
    * * *
    After all the years I’d spent in the investigation business I thought I’d seen and experienced just about everything, but Chang’s proposition was something new.
    ‘You want me to act as an undercover cop?’
    ‘Something like that, yes.’
    ‘Why would I do that?’
    ‘Why not? Are you telling me you’ve never pretended to be something you weren’t before?’
    ‘Of course not, but . . .’
    ‘But what?’
    I hadn’t identified my client (if that was the word), but it wouldn’t have taken Chang long to work it out. A quick call to Caulfield would do the trick whether they were simpatico or not. Although everything was getting tricky I still felt some provisional loyalty towards Standish until I could be convinced he didn’t deserve it. I thought about how desperate he’d looked in the restaurant and how little effect May Ling’s solicitude was having. Given her allure that was true desperation.
    ‘I’ve got an obligation.’
    ‘Of course you have, but you’ve already told me that the man you have an obligation to didn’t look comfortable with the Wongs and the Middle Easterner—let’s call him a Lebanese. I’m telling you that if your man is involved with the Asian/Lebo connection the best way you could help him would be to help get some of those bastards into court.’
    ‘And get myself targeted by the others?’
    ‘Come on, what else are you going to do—just drop it?’
    It was a good question. I hate loose ends and, as things stood, there were more loose ends than anything else. Quite apart from any duty to Standish there was the question of Richard Malouf. Was he alive or was he dead? I couldn’t just let it go.
    ‘I can give you phone numbers so that you can get me or Karim Ali, my number two, at any time twenty-four seven. And a number that can get you backup very, very quickly. As far as humanly possible, we’ll see your guy right for as long as you want. What d’you say?’
    I nodded agreement. Chang took out his mobile.
    ‘What’re you doing?’ I said.
    ‘Just hang on.’ He made a call and spoke briefly before closing the phone. ‘I’ve got a couple of people watching us just in case there’s someone watching you.’
    ‘I checked that for myself before you got here.’
    ‘Glad to hear it. Just making sure. All clear, then. Thanks for the coffee. We’ll keep in touch.’
    He unwound his long frame and strolled away. Good exit line—I liked that ‘we’.
    Strange though the circumstances were, I decided to proceed as I would have in a normal investigation and that meant little more than following my instincts. I now knew