Read Online Crucifixion Creek by Barry Maitland - Free Book Online

somehow.’
    She’s not convinced. She waits for him to say more, but he keeps silent.
    ‘You’re a bit of an enigma, Harry,’ she says finally. ‘All right, if you’re sure
you don’t need more time, I’ll clear you for duty.’
    ‘Thanks.’
    He takes a deep breath as he walks out, feeling relieved until he switches his phone
back on. A missed call from Sam Peck.
    ‘Sam.’
    ‘Harry!’ The accountant sounds rattled. ‘We need to talk.’
    ‘Okay, I’ll come over.’
    But first he runs a check on the motorbike at the Creek. Registered to one Benjamin
‘Benji’ Lavulo. Convictions for assault and drugs.
    Harry parks in a lot behind the shopping strip, and steps out into the smell of frying.
The heater is on full blast in Sam’s office. He’s got his sleeves rolled up and his
forehead is glowing pink, sweat stains under his arms.
    ‘What’s up, Sam?’
    ‘We’ve had a bankruptcy notice served on us, mate.’ He shows Harry the document.
    ‘Who’s this come from, building suppliers?’
    Sam shakes his head. ‘We know Greg owed money to a few of them, but this is a single
creditor, Bluereef Financial Services. Served by their lawyer, Nathaniel Horn.’
    The lawyer’s name seems familiar. Then he remembers—the list of tenants on the twenty-third
floor of the Gipps Tower. Harry studies the papers, and his eye snags on a figure.
‘This…’ he shows Sam. ‘That’s not possible, is it? It’s huge.’
    ‘First time I’ve seen it. But there are copies of supporting documents, contracts
signed by Bluereef and both Greg and Nicole, putting up their joint assets as guarantees
against loans.’
    ‘What assets? The business, you mean?’
    ‘I mean everything , Harry—the business, the premises at the Creek, their house, its
contents, the shares in Nicole’s name, her jewellery, the cars, everything. If this
is kosher, she’ll be lucky to walk away with the clothes on her back.’
    Harry is stunned. ‘Would Nicole have agreed to that?’
    Sam dips his head. ‘Maybe Greg didn’t really explain it to her. I’ve seen him hand
her papers to sign that she didn’t read. She trusted him. The only bright spot is
his life insurance. They shouldn’t be able to touch that.’
    And the dark little thought that has been lurking in the back of Harry’s mind for
the past week finally emerges into the light. It was suicide. What Greg was looking
for, circling the western suburbs in the small hours, was someone to kill him, in
exchange for his car and the cash that was all over the inside of the wreck. He wana
me do it , that’s what the dying boy said. In the end it was all that Greg could do
for Nicole and the girls.
    ‘She’d better get a lawyer, Harry,’ Sam says. ‘The trouble is, we have nothing to
argue with. All Greg’s records have gone. Apart from odds and ends about his current
contracts that Peter Rizzo’s been able to give me, we’ve got nothing. Tax’ll be a
nightmare.’
    They talk about the best way to handle this, who to get advice from.
    ‘You’ll have to prepare Nicole for the worst, Harry,’ Sam says. ‘This is going to
get ugly, I can feel it. The terms of those loans were extortionate. Greg must have
been out of his mind.’
    When he gets home he tells Jenny, and she turns away from him, shocked, her face
tilted up as if straining for some light she cannot see. ‘No,’ she says, ‘it can’t
be that bad. Even her jewellery? How could Greg let that happen?’
    ‘I think it may be worse than that, love,’ and he grips her hand and tells her about
the killer’s last words.
    He watches tears forming in her eyes. Then her mouth sets and she turns back to face
him. ‘What can we do?’
    ‘Not much by the sound of it. All Greg’s records have gone in the fire. We should
get a lawyer for Nicole, and—’
    ‘No,’ she interrupts. ‘I mean, what can we do …to protect Nicole and the girls from
these people?’
    ‘I don’t know, maybe find out what Bluereef have been up