Harrigan and Grace - 01 - Blood Redemption (46 page)

She will know how to hurt you. Do you want to be tortured the way you were in your own family? Because this time you will be in gaol for ever and there will be no way out. No streets to escape to.’

His voice had become a sound in her own mind. She felt surprised when it became silent. The gun hung loosely in her hands. She did not speak.

‘Now there is someone who deserves to die, don’t you think?’

Lucy swallowed. ‘I couldn’t get near her.’

‘Finding her wouldn’t be hard. We have her address. But you wouldn’t have to go to her. In her arrogance, she would come to you.

And you would be waiting for her. Then the police would know what they really are. That this war does not work just one way. They can be defeated, they can suffer humiliation as much as anyone else.’

‘Maybe I don’t want to kill anyone. Maybe I’ve done enough of that.’

‘You have a building that’s about to burn. People could die as a result of that if that’s what worries you.’

‘No, they won’t. I’m not hurting anyone. There’s no one in there.’

‘Fires spread. The rain has stopped, there’s nothing to prevent it now. That building is a Hellhole, it will burn fiercely. Others around it may also burn. I don’t say it will happen. I won’t be concerned if it does. That building has to be expunged from the face of the earth and if that’s the price to be paid, so be it. But I do say to you, you have the courage others lack. I can help you. I can get you out of here.’

‘How can you get me out of here?’

‘I can get a car sent here to pick you up. You stay and lock yourself in. I’ll have them come for you tomorrow evening. No one will notice anything. Then there will be a nice house for you to rest in until we can send you away to safety.’

‘Yeah. And along the way I end up dead.’

‘No, Lucy. You will have nothing to be afraid of because I will know that I can rely on you. You will prove it to me. That woman is a murderer. But you will expunge her evil. And you know that it’ll take only a few seconds because you’ve done it before. We’ll help you.

Believe me, we will. You are someone very special.’

Lucy sat with the gun lying loosely in her lap. She thought: my throat is full of broken bones.

‘What will you do?’ he asked.

‘I have to think.’

‘There’s no time.’

She sat for a few moments in silence. ‘You trust me, do you, Graeme? If you think I’m someone special?’

‘Would I ask you to do this if I didn’t trust you absolutely?’

‘Then I want some things from you. I need a phone. My phone’s dead. Have you got one?’

‘I can let you have the one I’ve got with me. Why do you need it?’

‘I just need it, okay? Don’t ask questions. Don’t worry, it hasn’t got anything to do with you.’

After a moment’s silence, he took his mobile phone out of his pocket and passed it over to her. She looked at it, then dropped it on the bed.

‘You have to be careful who you call. You don’t know who is listening these days,’ he said.

‘There’s something else I want.’

‘What is it?’

‘I want a key to the Temple.’

‘You can’t come anywhere near the Temple, Lucy. The police are watching it twenty-four hours a day. They’re across the road in that offensive woman’s house and they think I can’t see them.’

‘I want my key to the Temple back, Graeme. I want that more than anything.’

‘There’s no need. You can’t use it.’

‘You’ve just said I’m special. Prove it. I used to have a key and we both know why I don’t have one any more. I know you, I’ve watched you. You ask people in and then you lock them out again whenever you feel like it. And you never tell them why. You’re not doing that to me. People have been lying to me all my life. I have to know that you can’t lock me out after this. Not with what you’re asking me to do.’

After a moment’s silence, he took his set of keys out of his pocket.

‘The keys to the kingdom,’ he said. ‘You can have this one.’

‘How do I know you’re not lying to me?’

‘You can see it’s new. I’ll show you.’ He matched the two new keys to each other, the shiny brass finish gleamed faintly in the weak light.

He slipped one of them off the key ring and handed it to her.

‘It’s nice to have you back, Lucy. Don’t lose this. It’s the only spare key I have and I won’t be having another one cut.’

‘I never lose anything I want to keep,’ she said, slipping it into her jeans pocket.

‘This brings you back to the heart of things. You won’t leave it again now. You’ll always be there.’

She did not answer this. She looked at her watch. He stood up. He was smiling and relaxed.

‘Aren’t you going to wait with me for that building to go up?’

‘No, I think I should go now. Some sleep for us both would be in order. And a new day tomorrow, a new life.’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ she said.

She stood up also, leaving her gun and the phone on the bed. He opened the door, then stopped. She was quite close to him. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.

‘You are very brave,’ he said.

She watched him leave, he did not look back.

In the room, she sat on the bed. I’m hungry, Graeme, you could have brought me something to eat. Her throat ached, she would not have been able to swallow anything. She had been hungry before; it was not unusual for her to go without food. She had gone hungry for longer than this when she was out on the streets. There was no sound in the room. Her own breathing, the movement of her blood, was reduced to a regular, silent beat in her ears. Her gun lay beside her on the bed. She looked at her watch. There wasn’t much time.

34

Harrigan was taking a catnap when a sleepy-eyed Trevor shook him by the shoulder.

‘The Firewall’s online,’ he said.

‘Is she talking to Grace?’ He said her name as just another of his officers.

‘No. She’s updating her website. Come and see.’

He followed Trevor into the computer room. The graveyard shift had already gathered there. Grace sat a little to the side, watching from where she was seated in front her own monitor. She did not seem to notice him.

‘Lookee here,’ Louise said, as he appeared, ‘this is the promised land.

It’s so pretty. This girl has so much talent, it’s a waste.’

The screen displayed a green slope of flowering trees leading down to a honey-coloured rock looking out over a wild forest. Small streams flowed down to become clear waterfalls over the rock, blue and white flowers grew in carpets underneath the trees. At the summit of the hill there was a small, glittering, turreted castle with wide doors and windows. Birds flew across the blue sky behind it.

‘I know that place,’ Grace said, ‘but it doesn’t look like that now.’

‘Where is it?’ Louise asked.

‘It’s her home,’ Trevor replied for Grace. ‘She’s tarted it up.’

‘It’s endgame, Lou,’ Grace added quietly.

Harrigan had pulled up a chair beside Louise. ‘Where’s she coming from?’ he asked.

Louise shook her head. ‘I’ve got a trace out but nothing so far. She’s just downloaded this. I don’t know what she’s doing now.’

‘She got a phone from somewhere,’ Ian said.

‘She’s met with the preacher,’ Harrigan replied. ‘He’s supplied her with one and who knows what else. At least she’s still alive to tell the tale.’

‘You put money on that, did you, Boss?’ Trevor asked with a grin.

‘No, mate, I didn’t think it was a very good bet at the time.’

‘She’s online,’ Grace said suddenly. She acknowledged Harrigan for the first time since he had come into the room: ‘But she’s not looking for me, she’s looking for your son. Will he be online now?’

‘I’m sure he is.’

He came and looked over her shoulder with everyone else.

Turtle, are you out there? Do you still want to talk to me? I’d like to talk to you.

Hi Lucy I’m here U are talking 2 me after all I’ve been waiting 2

hear from u I was hoping u would talk 2 me
You know who I am now. You don’t have to call me the Firewall any more.

Want me 2???

No, I like you calling me Lucy. I’m still going to call you Turtle though. Do you mind? Will you forgive me for getting so angry with you? I’m sorry, Turtle, I felt so lost.

That’s ok I just wanna talk 2 u Where are u? Don’t tell me if u don’t
want 2 Are u ok???

I’m all right. I’m really, really hungry. I haven’t eaten since yesterday.

That’s no good U have 2 eat soon

I’ve gone hungry before, I know what it feels like. My father died yesterday morning, Turtle. I was there when it happened. I saw him die and I didn’t feel a thing.

U don’t have 2 feel for him

But that’s it. I wish I could. I know what you’d feel if your father died.

That’s different That’s way different

I know that. That’s what I want to ask you about. Didn’t you tell me once he taught you how to talk?

‘Mate,’ Trevor spoke quietly to Harrigan, ‘is this okay with you?

We can do this more privately.’

‘This is work, Trev,’ Harrigan replied. ‘Just keep watching.’

He didn’t teach me 2 talk because I can’t really talk. I learned what
words were from him. He always kept talking 2 me when I was a
baby and he kept the radio on. He took me to see Auntie Ronnie and
Lyn all the time and they never do anything but talk. He just kept
talking words at me so I’d know what they were
Why did he do that?

Coz they said I couldn’t have a mind. Because of the way I was.

He said, fuck u, I’ll show u he does. He got people to teach me to
read, there’s special ways u can do that. Why?

Grace looked towards Harrigan, wondering how he could bear seeing this on the screen. He was watching her but it was impossible to know what was in his head. Her sense of loss was too strong for disguise. She turned away.

I just have to know, that’s all. Do you ever meet anyone he works with?

Sometimes Why????

What are they like? Are they like everybody else?

Just people Why????

I missed you, Turtle.

Me 2

Nothing was typed. The computer room was silent as everyone waited.

Do you think your father is watching us talk?

Probably. He wants to find u, Lucy. He’s going to do that. Why???

Wotzup?

I’ve done something else, Turtle. I have to tell people about it.

‘Here we go,’ Trevor said.

Lucy u haven’t killed someone?? Please tell m u didn’t
No. Not yet anyway. This is something else. In about twenty minutes, this building is going up in smoke. I was doing it because someone who mattered to me killed himself and I couldn’t cry for him either. I wanted people to know what happened to him. But I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. But someone said to me, what if the other buildings around it go up as well and people do get hurt? I don’t want that to happen. All I want is for everything to be cleaned away so we can start again. Why can’t I just make that happen, Turtle? What do I do now?

Where is it?? U tell me

‘Yeah,’ Harrigan said to the silent room, ‘where is it? Tell me.’

Randwick.

Call the police Call them now

Harrigan pointed to Trev. ‘Fire Brigade. Now. I’ll call the top brass.

Lou, email my son. Tell him we know. You stay here and keep me informed. The rest of you, go now.’

In the release of activity the office was cleared and, in a shorter time than Harrigan had hoped for, every available officer was heading in the same direction, speeding through the streets of Surry Hills on dangerously slippery roads. They came down Anzac Parade in convoy behind the fire engines and the emergency services, sirens sounding in a stretched linear movement. Close to one of Harrigan’s most loved places on earth, Royal Randwick, Trevor was about to say, ‘We’re there,’ when, near the corner of the block on the other side of the road, a white brick building began to produce in a manner almost surreal flickers of fire out of its roof and, smashing outwards through the windows, sheets of red and yellow flame.

‘Fuck,’ Harrigan said. Far away so close. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, she had been one step ahead of him.

What do I do now, Turtle?

U call them

They know already. They were watching, I know they were. No, I meant about everything else. You have choices, don’t you? Don’t you think, Turtle?

Everyone can choose Lucy, wot do u mean???

It’s just the choice I’ve got to make. What do I do now?

Whatever u do don’t hurt anyone Including yourself
I’ve gone too far for that. I haven’t got that sort of choice now. It’s one way or the other, that’s what I’ve got to pick.

Wot are u going 2 do??

I think I’m going to go away. Far, far away. I’ve got to say goodbye to everyone I care about first. That’s almost just you now.

U don’t have 2 say goodbye 2 me We can talk
If I went away, I would have to say goodbye to you.

I don’t understand Wherever u go everything is the same U are
still u I’m still me that doesn’t change Wot u did won’t change Wot
about those people u shot Have u forgotten them??

No, I haven’t forgotten them. I’m never going to forget them. You know what I think is one of the worse things?

Wot???

That woman couldn’t see me when I shot her because I had my face covered. She didn’t know who I was. She had a right to know. I should have had the courage to look her in the face. You shouldn’t do what I did to her if you don’t have the courage to look someone in the face.

Lucy No no no no no u don’t do it simple I said 2 u its wrong
It’s wrong if you don’t face up to what you’ve done.

Wrong anyway It doesn’t matter wot

Yeah. Love you, Turtle. See you sometime, I hope.