Free Heroin Annie by Peter Corris Page B

the shoulder, identified Clem as one of the heavies. He also said that the six day meeting had been Clem's idea. The cops found a dust coat, mask and a sawn-off shotgun with one barrel recently discharged in Clem's car. Clem's only witness was his wife, Joannie, and she didn't impress anyone. They searched the house and found letters from Riley giving Clem hefty advances on his salary. Clem said he'd never seen the gun or the mask or the coat before, nor the letters. Riley spent some time in hospital and he closed the speedway. The town lost jobs and entertainment. No one wanted to start a Clem Carter fan club—and he got fifteen years for armed robbery and wounding.
    The way he told it impressed me. Clem was never known for his imagination and the story hung together pretty well. A few things bothered me though.
    â€˜This Riley'd be stealing his own money, wouldn't he?’
    â€˜No. He had big overheads, loans, salaries, taxes; this was a gift.’
    â€˜Wouldn't he have moved on by now?’
    Clem was staring ahead up the road. ‘You'd reckon he would, wouldn't you? But he hasn't. I expect I'll find out why when I get there.’
    â€˜He'll move when he hears you're out.’
    â€˜I've got a mate up there, he'll keep me informed.’
    â€˜I still don't see what you reckon to get out of it.’
    â€˜Revenge.’
    â€˜Bullshit. You're going to kill a man for revenge, bullshit!’
    â€˜All right, Cliff, I'll tell you. I'm not going to kill him, I just said that to sound hard. You're a smart man, you must be able to guess why I'm going after him.’
    â€˜The money’, I said.
    â€˜Right. He hasn't touched it, it's still around somewhere and I'm going to ask him nicely where it is.’
    â€˜And then …’
    â€˜You meet some interesting people in gaol. If I can get my hands on the money I can get out of the country, no worries.’
    â€˜If you can get the money it'll prove you didn't do the job.’
    He sneered at me. ‘How?’
    I could see his point—after some thought-chances were if he walked into a police station with a bag full of money they'd say thanks very much, and send him back to the slammer. Still, I was liking it less and less; it sounded like unpleasantness followed by deserted beaches or airfields. I like to do my travelling in the daylight with a lot of people taking the same risks. As I was thinking, I raised the speed a bit.
    â€˜Take it easy, Cliff, I don't want to draw any attention. I want Riley to sweat, but I don't want him to know whether I went north, south, east or west.’
    We got to Newcastle around midnight, and I watched the motel signs flashing by and thought about sleep. I put the question to Clem and he uncorked the thermos for an answer. That worked for a while, but after an hour on the open road I was sagging and letting the car drift a little.
    â€˜Okay, let's not be statistics’, Clem said. ‘Pull over when I tell you and we'll rig something up.’
    We turned off the highway down a dirt road which had trees, widely spaced, growing alongside. We went in through the trees and pulled up about thirty feet back from the road, pretty well sheltered. Clem rummaged around in the back of the car and came up with a long piece of flex. He wound the middle part of it around my ankle and took the two ends to tie around his foot. I stretched out in the front seat and he took the back. There was a coat and a blanket in the car and he slung the blanket over to me. It was cold and uncomfortable, and I soon needed a piss. Clem's breathing was steady but whether he was asleep or not I couldn't tell. Eventually I slept in snatches; but I was cramped, stiff and bursting at first light when Clem stirred in the back.
    â€˜Have a good night, Cliff?’
    I grunted something uncomplimentary and he laughed. ‘You should try a stay at the Bay, Cliff, this is a picnic’ He untied us and pushed his door open.