Lugarno by Peter Corris

Author:Peter Corris
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781743438060
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 1998-01-08T16:00:00+00:00

12

I creaked and groaned through my routine at the gym next morning and then met Peter Lo in the same place as before. He was his usual cheerful, well-exercised self, while I was still feeling the effects of my encounters with Stivens, one whisky too many and a late night. I was also feeling guilty about not returning Tess’s call of the day before. Truth was, I wasn’t sure what to say to her.

‘So, Cliff,’ Peter said after taking in some coffee and a chunk of blueberry muffin, ‘I hear you’re mixed up in a murder down Lugarno way.’

I drank some coffee. ‘I wouldn’t say “mixed up in”. As you boys would say, I interviewed the deceased before he was the deceased.’

‘You wouldn’t catch me using language like that. Not long before, I gather.’

‘That’s right. Is this on the record? I didn’t kill him.’

Lo grinned and munched on some more muffin. ‘No one thinks you did, but some people think you could’ve been more helpful.’

‘What is this, Peter? It sounds as though you’ve spent more time chatting about me than asking about the drug scene down there.’

‘The two matters are kind of connected, wouldn’t you say?’

‘What’re you telling me?’

‘They did the autopsy yesterday. Jorgensen had a considerable amount of coke and heroin in his system.’

‘Is that right?’

‘Weird bit of overkill, what with the other signs. The thing is, I just had to make a little noise or two about drugs down there and this all came up, including your name. So what’m I going to do? Play dumb and when someone later finds out I do know you and I was showing an interest, what’re they going to think? You follow me?’

‘I don’t want to get you into trouble.’

‘Don’t worry. I’m not. The thing is, the way the job is these days, you just can’t afford to leave question marks in people’s minds.’

‘So.’

‘So I went to Stankowski and told him that I knew you from the gym.’

‘That’s all?’

‘That’s all. He said he’d seen you and wanted to see you again. I’m surprised he hasn’t already. No, I’m not surprised. You must’ve left home at around six.’

‘That’s right. So you didn’t pick up anything useful, or if you did you won’t tell me.’

‘How good’re you at lateral thinking, Cliff?’

‘About as good as I am at transcendental meditation.’

‘You ought to try that. I can tell that you’ve got a lot of unresolved internal conflicts.’

‘I wouldn’t know what to do without them. What’s the point?’

‘Just this, Inspector Beth Hammond has been assigned to liaise on the Jorgensen case with Stankowski.’

‘I don’t know her.’

‘You don’t want to know her. She’s a bluestocking with a rat-trap mind. That’s not the point.’

I swilled my cool coffee around and drank it down. It tasted bitter, unusual in Paolo’s place, but the taste might just have come from the knowledge that a cop was seeking me out and I was being asked to play guessing games. It was one of those moments when in the old days I’d roll a cigarette, fiddle with it, and hope for enlightenment.

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