Jack Irish: Bad Debts Page #3

So he arranged to meet her and...

And he didn't meet her?

Well, we're here.

MAN:
I could have been running

a nice little earning motel

in Lismore now.

Turned it down, didn't I?

All so I could stay number eight

on the Commissioner's

top-ten sh*t list.

Too many known associates,

they reckon.

I mean, f*** that.

Used to be called part of the job.

The new Police Minister's

an ex-cop, isn't he?

He'll take care of you.

Mate, Garth Bruce

is a turd with selective amnesia.

He gets voted in

and then immediately wants

to get rid of the old culture.

Mate... I'm very proud

of the old culture.

Wouldn't have a Quick-Eze on you,

would ya?

Not on me, no.

Remind me again of the old culture.

The old culture.

You know, dinosaurs like me.

A time when it didn't count

if you took an extra

ten bucks for the drinks,

or, you know,

you loaded up some cockroach

just to keep em off the streets.

Wonderful days.

Nowadays, it's just

all these f***in' mad dogs out there

with chemical warfare

going off in their heads,

stuff up their noses fighting

against the stuff in their arms.

(Belches) Ooh, sh*t.

And we can't do a bloody thing.

Have you read much

about the Pritikin diet?

Hmm?

Go f*** yourself.

This mate of yours that got himself

dead in the Trafalgar car park.

He was a client.

Hope you got paid in advance.

Baker, the cop who put four in him,

reckons your bloke

just appears from behind a car,

high as a kite,

points a.38 at him and his partner.

McKillop's wife reckons

he's been clean for years.

Mrs Goebbels reckons

her husband was in advertising.

Sh*t's sh*t, mate.

He left me a message

the night he got shot.

He said someone was

flashing their lights at him.

He thought it was probably me.

There's no chance

that this Baker planted that gun

and the smack on him, is there?

Baker's an officer

of 26 years' service.

If he was going to knock your boy,

he would have done it somewhere

just a little less public,

now, wouldn't he?

Don't mess with it, mate.

It's done.

Alright?

He was scum.

Righto, well, I'll be in touch.

I'll buy you a drink.

Drink?

You mean drinks, don't you, Jack?

You're still dealing with

the old culture here, mate.

You can have that.

Did it surprise you

when Danny ran over that

Jeppeson woman ten years ago?

Yeah, it surprised me.

Danny hadn't driven

for about six months.

He was on a suspended sentence

for drink driving.

He was sh*t scared

of going to prison.

And you reckon there's a chance he'd

had a few and forgotten all of that?

Oh, yeah, could be right.

If you can work out how a bloke

can go from being passed out

in Fed Square,

go home, grabbed his car

then run over the Jeppeson tart

five minutes later.

How do you know

he was in Fed Square?

Mate saw him. Legless.

Drinking a vat of bourbon.

Talking to that arsehole, Scullin.

Did he tell the police?

Scullin is the police.

Danny was a dog.

For the Drug Squad.

There's plenty of people

who'd want to see him

get put away for fifty years.

You didn't get that from me, right?

Right.

Hey listen, the witness in the case,

um... Ronald Bishop.

Do you know anything about him?

Never met him.

I know he's a bloody liar.

Jack?

Prepared to divulge your thoughts

on the gallops at Geelong?

People in the know, Norm,

usually treat my tips as scratchings.

If that's you, Gavin, I have

a lifetime case of herpes. Go away.

Linda Hillier? Jack Irish. I...

Oh, yeah, right.

You rang about

the Anne Jeppeson hit-and-run.

Yeah.

God, that was a lifetime ago.

Yeah, I appeared for the accused.

But I don't

practise law much anymore.

What do you do?

Oh, I live off my wits.

Gamble. Drink.

Then you'll be keeping

pretty much the same company.

Oh, no, it's definitely

a notch up since then.

I see that you interviewed

Anne Jeppeson a number of times

about the sale

of the Hoagland Commission flats.

Yes, even spoke to her

the morning she was killed.

Our Joan of Arc

in tight jeans and boots.

So you weren't one of her admirers?

Oh, there were things about her

I admired, but, no.

I wasn't one of her admirers.

I wasn't even sure of her motives.

Yarra Cove back then,

it was just a bunch

of crappy warehouses

and filthy docklands, wasn't it?

Yeah. The cops used to

call it the Leper Colony.

Right.

They wanted to develop

the whole site,

and suddenly Jeppeson

comes on the scene like Batwoman

with 'Save our Hoagland'.

And what happened with the protest?

Not much

after your client ran over her.

Do you think anyone considered at

the time that maybe she was murdered?

What, you're suggesting

he did it deliberately?

Or someone else.

It's a bit of an extreme step

for the Housing Commission to take,

don't you think?

Danny got out of jail a few years ago

a new man, apparently.

Good job and a wife and a kid.

And then a cop

shot him and killed him

in the Brunswick Hotel

car park last Saturday night.

Oh, God, that was him?

I hadn't made the connection.

Listen, I've got a file a story

for Hong Kong in eight minutes.

I'll do some digging

and get back to you.

Yeah, righto. Thanks.

I don't, by the way.

Don't what?

Have herpes.

I'm looking for a Ronald Bishop.

Ahh.

Well, I don't think he's home, mate.

That arsehole

pissed off to Perth years ago.

Just a shifty little poof.

The Sandgropers

are bloody welcome to him.

I take it you weren't close, then.

(Chuckles) Sh*t.

Yeah, g'day. This is Jack Irish.

I'm looking for a Ronald Bishop

who lives in Perth, or Fremantle.

I've got a feeling

that we're looking at

a rerun of the Kyneton Cup

from 21 months back.

OK. Alright, no worries.

Know it in me bones.

Relied on your bones, we'd be

round the Salvos eating rabbit stew.

Not such a bad idea.

MAN, ON PHONE:

Hi, you've called Ronnie,

and if you're handsome,

leave a message.

(Machine beeps)

Yeah, g'day. This is Jack Irish.

I'm a lawyer.

I'm looking for a Ronald Bishop.

I was involved in the

Anne Jeppeson case some years ago,

and if you are the Ronald Bishop

who was a witness in that case,

I'm just wondering if you

could give me a call on 041809018.

Thanks very much.

What do you mean,

it's commercial in confidence?

Hoagland was public land.

Yeah, well we...

Yeah, when does it become public?

Great, well I'll get my

grandchildren to follow it up.

Check the share registry.

Anything we've got on Hoagland,

Yarra Cove.

And maybe anything

we have on a Jack Irish.

Barry.

(Sniffs)

Sweet and sour prawns?

Go f*** yourself.

You gettin' in?

I've only got a couple of minutes

so I'll make this quick.

Leave this McKillop business alone.

Sensitive issue these days,

cops killing people.

Did you find the cop Scullin?

In a manner of speaking.

He runs a big security company now.

Heard of AdvanceGuard?

They make big bucks.

(Dog barks)

What'd he say about McKillop?

Said he doesn't

talk police business.

Is that it?

That's it.

You drove around here

to tell me that?

No. I drove around here

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