Free The Mark of Halam by Thomas Ryan

physique, not fat but underneath the dark suit she doubted she would find a toned body. His healthy crop of brown hair had a suspicion of grey sneaking into the sideburns. Overall Brian Cunningham was a commanding presence.
    At drinks after media briefings he had paid her scant attention and when he did speak it seemed to Barbara it was more out of professional courtesy than attraction. However more than once she had caught him watching her and she was certain that on those occasions it was her ass that held his attention and not her ability with a pen. She guessed he was very much like herself. Married to the job. No time for romance. She did know he had married, now divorced.
    They exchanged friendly smiles as Cunningham sat.
    “I guess a lot is happening,” Barbara said.
    He smiled. “Am I being interrogated already?”
    “Friendly banter,” Barbara said. “I promise there will be no traps and everything we discuss will be off the record until you say otherwise.”
    “Fair enough,” Cunningham said. “I’m all yours.”
    “Do we have a potential killer running about the streets of Auckland?”
    “Yes, we do.”
    Barbara nodded thoughtfully. She ticked off the first question on her notepad and scribbled ‘I smell a rat’ next to it.
    “Was one of the intended victims the Olympic medallist Mary Sumner?”
    “Yes, she was.”
    “And was a note left in the apartment by the assailant confirming he was after Mary?”
    “Yes a note was left behind.”
    Barbara’s mouth fell open.
    The waitress arrived with Cunningham’s coffee. Barbara rested her notepad on her lap until she left.
    “Okay, Brian, what’s going on here? I ask three straightforward questions and get honest answers. This is unnerving.”
    “You’re complaining?”
    “No, of course not, but why are you telling me these things? What’s the catch?”
    “No catch, Barbara. There have been major developments and the police investigating team aren’t certain whether to involve the media or not. Lives are at stake so it’s not a decision to be taken lightly. Having said that, you have obtained sensitive information, which is upsetting. It means a leak in the department. Well, okay, what’s done is done but I need to stop it going any further for now.”
    Barbara nodded. It had happened before. She had been in the business long enough to know the police used the media to their advantage. This annoyed crime reporters. They made their livings off the scraps of information.
    “I already have enough for a story, Brian, even without police confirmation,” Barbara said. “The network does pay my wages.”
    “I understand that, Barbara, but a much bigger story is developing. Work with me and you can have it all, exclusive. For the moment I’m asking you to sit on it. Your choice.”
    Barbara tapped her pad with her pen, not happy. What choice did she have? Do as she was told or stay out of the loop. Her nose told her Brian was offering her something special. His presence as head of the Special Tactics Group in an investigation of an assault on two women puzzled her. Why on earth would he be interested? If she didn’t play ball she would be locked out and never get to the truth. It was also unlikely the station would air her findings without police verification.
    “It seems I have little choice. I could be sacked when the station learns I made this deal. If that happens you owe me dinner,” Barbara said, switching to a playful tone.
    Cunningham raised an eyebrow. A hint of a smile. The type that a man and a woman throw at each other the first time they switch to intimate. Barbara sensed Brian was assessing if she was flirting. The dinner proposal remark had simply fallen out of her mouth. The result of having a big mouth and never keeping it shut. Her mother told her it would get her into trouble one day. How right she had been. But, now it was out there, if he did ask her to dinner, she might say yes.

16.
    W iki Herewini sat in the cab of his