Appeal Denied: A Cliff Hardy Novel Read Online Free Page B

believe that, Hardy?’
    ‘No. So what do you think happened?’
    ‘I told you I have a police source. It’s all a bit vague at the moment, but my suspicion, based on the little I’ve been told, is that the police cleaned the decks.’

4
    ‘Y ou’ve got me confused,’ I said. ‘The police’re covering up a murder. Why?’
    ‘I told you before the why was important.’
    ‘I’m trying to follow you. Lily was killed because of something she was writing that involved police?’
    ‘Perhaps, perhaps not. It wasn’t her area, was it? More likely some dirty business deal.’
    ‘Comes back to the same question—what’s the police motive for a cover-up?’
    ‘Raises interesting possibilities, doesn’t it? Say the detective looks through Lily’s stuff and sees he can go in for some blackmail for the big bucks on the basis of what she’s written. Say he’s got gambling debts, say he’s being blackmailed himself for something else.’
    I hadn’t finished the drink and was sucking in some of the rapidly cooling fresh air. Scepticism was setting in. ‘You’re a conspiracy theorist.’
    ‘Have to be. The blank drives need explaining. The killer wants to eliminate Lily. Not worried about what she’s writing. The cop sees possibilities in what she’s writing. He doesn’t care about who killed her. What’s one unsolved murder more or less? He gets the police IT guy onside. They copy the incriminating material and cook up the story about everything being wiped. Who’s going to contradict them? Look, it’s speculation, I admit, but I really think police are involved—criminally. Of course, I could be quite wrong. I’ll have to work harder on my police informant.’
    He’d finished his drink and was standing there, all 160 centimetres of him, in his neat suit. I decided I didn’t like him much.
    ‘Tell me this,’ I said. ‘Is your main interest in who killed Lily, or in your theoretical blackmailing cop?’
    ‘And in what he had to sell, you should add.’
    Still the smartarse . ‘Consider it added.’
    ‘I’m interested in all of it, Mr Hardy, but it’s complicated and dangerous and difficult. That’s why I need your help.’
    I thought about the proposition as I stood there with the party going on noisily behind me and the boats below starting to head for home as dark clouds gathered overhead and the wind sprang up. Lily had advised Tony against building a McMansion somewhere and recommended buying this place instead. We were here because of her in two ways and I was missing her in every way. Finding who had killed her wouldn’t bring her back of course, but looking would keep me in touch with her in a way, while doing what I did best.
    ‘You’ve got my interest,’ I said.
    ‘Good. When you think about it, apart from the stuff I’ve told you, is there anything that strikes you as odd about the police behaviour to date?’
    ‘Yeah. I can account for my movements in the early part of the night but not after that. I thought they might have been a bit tougher on me.’
    ‘You had someone to alibi you? Did they question him?’
    ‘Her. A woman I play pool with at my local. I don’t know. I just assumed it.’
    ‘That’s one starting point, then. You should ask her if they got onto her and how hard they pushed.’
    ‘Okay. What other starting points are there?’
    ‘The senior investigator, Inspector Vincent Gregory.
    Your mate Parker should be able to tell you something about him.’
    ‘What about your informant of undisclosed gender?’
    ‘I’m sorry about that. Must’ve sounded like a prick. I didn’t know how much to tell you until I got your reaction. It’s a woman, Constable Jane Farrow—very junior, very concerned.’
    ‘Why’s she talking to you?’
    ‘D’you want another drink?’
    ‘No. C’mon, let’s get this straight.’
    ‘I met her at a party three weeks ago. Turns out she likes small men. Gregory is also a small man and she liked him, too. Not as much as