The Brotherhood by Y A Erskine

Author:Y A Erskine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2011-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Andy Woods straightened his Brioni jacket, ran one slender hand nervously down his red silk tie and cleared his throat. He detested the Hobart police station almost as much as its inhabitants hated him. He twitched at the very idea of strolling through the front sliding doors of the newly refurbished building and approaching the constable perched behind the spit-proof glass at the front desk. The new constables, for they were the ones who usually got lumbered with front desk duty, always smiled at first and were perfectly polite as they ran an eye over his expensive suit, his gold watch, his painstakingly styled hair, straight from the cover of Men’s Health, and his polite, clipped tones. But when he announced his reason for being there, the smile would curl into a scowl and any pretence of civility disappeared quicker than you could say ‘Aboriginal Legal Service’. Announcing that you were not only a criminal lawyer, but a criminal lawyer subcontracted to the ALS was tantamount to announcing that you were a paedophile with a rampant case of swine flu who’d recently returned from a baby-seal-bashing expedition around the Arctic Circle.

And today was no different.

The young constable, who looked about twelve, slammed the phone down on the desk, turned back to Andy and looked him up and down again.

‘Detective Moore will be right with you,’ he said. At least, that’s what his mouth said. His eyes conveyed a different story altogether.

Piss off, you enabling piece of shit. You’re no better than the scum you represent.

Andy was well acquainted with the look and occasionally wondered if there was a subject at the police academy entitled ‘Why Lawyers Are Arseholes 101’.

But whatever.

It no longer bothered him. Suffice to say he preferred doing business in his own office and thoroughly resented being on their turf. Not that he’d ever let them know – not in a million years.

He smiled graciously, ignoring the hostility in the young constable’s eyes.

‘Thank you, Officer. I’ll have a seat then.’

There was another cold, barely perceptible nod as the constable went back to his paperwork.

Andy made for the tatty blue seats in the waiting bay. Despite the fact that they’d only been installed six months earlier, they were disgusting. Most were covered in graffiti, either carved, scratched or penned. One had become the final resting place for a large pale gob of chewing gum; another boasted a rather disturbing brown stain; another, a sticky white smear; the one beside it, some sort of unidentifiable crumbs.

On second thoughts, he’d stand. He placed the briefcase on the floor beside him, casually scanned the otherwise empty front foyer and waited.

One day they’d kept him waiting here for nearly an hour before calling him through to the inner sanctum. Just to annoy him, no doubt. If it hadn’t been for the client who was in dire need of his services, he would have left. And that client had only been up on some small-time robbery at the time. God knows how pissed off the cops were with his clients today and thus, just how long they would keep him waiting.

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