Peter Corris - Appeal Denied: A Cliff Hardy Novel (Cliff Hardy series)

For Lesley McFadzean

F ollowing my last major case, I was given a suspended sentence for various offences. This, together with an earlier serious infringement and a brief prison spell, caused the police board that handles the licensing of private enquiry agents to scrub me for life. To raise a bit of money, I handled a few minor matters before the hearing was held but that was it. I lost the appeal against their decision. The next step was an appeal to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal and I lost that one, too. Appeal denied.

Thats it, Cliff, my solicitor, Viv Garner, said when he gave me the news. Unless you fancy the Supreme Court and the High Court of Australia.

No thanks, I said. You gotta know when to fold em.

So whatll you do now? Youve got no super. Your houses worth a bundle but youll never sell it, will you?

I shook my head. The house in Glebe was worth a lot of money, even in its rundown condition, but there were a lot of reasons why I wouldnt sell it. First, call me parochial, but I wouldnt want to live anywhere on the planet except there. Second, it held too many memoriesof my first wife, Cyn, when we were young and in love, and then when we werent; of Hilde Stoner, my ex-tenant and still a friend, now married to Frank Parker, another friend; of the women and clients and cops and enemies whod trooped through bringing love and money and death and destruction. Too much to give up. Plus, I couldnt bear the thought of packing up all the stuff. Inertia is a powerful force.

Ill think of something, I told Viv. I had a thorough check-up from Ian Sangster the other day and he reckons Im good for quite a few years yet.

Yeah, you look all right given the life youve led. Full head of hair, not much grey, not much flab. How dyou do it?

A pure heart. You might have to wait a bit for your cheque.

Viv mimed shock. I shook his hand and left the house in Lilyfield from where he runs his slimmed-down business. He had heart trouble a while back and his wife monitors him closely. After the trouble Ive given him over the years, I think shed like to see me out of the picture, but Viv and I go back a long stretch. She knows that I do him good in a way, keep him in touch with the gritty stuff, and I make sure to give her my charm on full wattage.

I went for a wander around the streets with no destination in mind, just to do some thinking. The appeal process had taken eight months. No income and the usual bills flowing in. Funds were low and winter was coming on heating costs, a close-to-leaking roof to have fixed and the Falcon needed attention. At least the mortgage was cleared and my daughter Megan was in paid employment as a doctor in a hospital series on TV. Not that shed ever been a drain because I hadnt even known about her until she was almost twenty, but there had been the odd sling and in its own way acting is as precarious a profession as private enquiry.

I think best when walking or drinking and best of all when walking towards somewhere to have a drink. I headed for a pub I knew in Victoria Road. The wind had an edge to it and I buttoned my blazer. The loss of my licence had closed doors. For years some of the big private enquiry firms had tried to recruit me and Id knocked them back. Same story with security companies. Those lines of work were out now except, perhaps, as some sort of consultant. I didnt fancy that. It meant briefing people twenty years younger than me and writing reportsoffice work. In the past Id done some casual teaching in the PEA course at a TAFE college. It wasnt a bad sideline gigtalking about old cases, bringing along the odd cop and crim to talk to the classes, scouting locations where things had gone downbut I couldnt see the TAFE people employing me again.

I got to Victoria Road where the traffic seems to get heavier from one day to the next. The walk hadnt helped, maybe a drink would. The pub was boarded up, out of business. It was happening all over the citypubs closing down, waiting to become something else. Even Glebe had lost one, the Harold Park. Were new pubs being opened? I didnt think so. Wine bars maybe, with the beer at five bucks a middy.

Lily Truscott, my live-out lover, was waiting for me when I got back to Glebe. She knew Id been to see Viv and pointed to the bottle I was carrying.

Are we celebrating?

Not exactly, unless ridding the profession of an undesirable for good and all makes for one. Some people seem to think so.

Im sorry, Cliff. Thats tough.

Ill open this and soften the blow. Usually works.

Lily is a freelance journalist. She rose to the top of the tree but found being an editor not as much fun as reporting. A bit like me really. So she took a pay-out and now does very well doing what she does best. She has a knack, not given to many, of making financial stories interesting. She has a house in Greenwich; I go there occasionally and she comes to my place, also occasionally. The occasions are pretty frequent.

We sat out in the pale sunshine in my tiny, badly paved courtyard where the weeds poke through and attempt to lift the bricks with a certain amount of success. We drank some wine and ate olives and cheese. It had rained the night before and water was dripping from a section of clogged guttering and rusted downpipe. Over the years, leaves and dust had built up in the guttering to provide fertile soil for a variety of botanical species.

I watched the drops for a while and poured some more wine. Vivs solution to the income problem is to sell the house.

Whats his solution to the what-do-I-do-with-my-life problem?

Hes a lawyerhe left that up to me.

How far have you got?

I raised my glass. To here.

Yeah, alcoholisms a sort of career. I guess we all flirt with it.

I gave it a try when Cyn left me, and a few other times since. Didnt quite take.

Lily nodded. Shes been through the milla divorce, broken relationships, an abortion or two. She once spent a couple of weeks in Silverwater on a contempt charge for refusing to reveal a source. In a funny way our careers have run parallel. She even likes boxing and it was at the fights where her brother was on the card that I met her.

She plucked at a weed and a brick came loose. She has strong wrists. ASIOs recruiting, she said. Intelligence, for want of a more accurate word, is a growth industry. They take on all types. Youre ex-army, arent you? What rank?

Second lieutenant.

Youd have to learn to pronounce it lootenant, but they might like you.

As Marlon Brando said to his agent when he was asked whether hed be willing to be interviewed by Kenneth Tynan, Id rather be boiled in urine.

Lily laughed. You could write your memoirs.

Boiled in urine. Tell you what, lets see if theres a film within driving distance we could stand to watch.

There wasnt. We saw films pretty regularly and had similar tastespolitical thrillers, biopics, historical stuff. Wed already seen what was on offer that appealed and the rest were animations and dumb dross. We kept promising ourselves wed see some foreign flicks as recommended by David and Margaret, but somehow never got around to it. We had a meal in Newtown where I have an office I no longer need. Luckily, the lease is running out. We went back to my house and made love. She was gone in the morning the way she almost always is and the way I tell myself I like italmost all the time.

Our deal is that we talk about whatever it is were engaged on. I hadnt had much to say recently. Pursuing clients who still owed me money, keeping fit in the gym and trying not to think about the future beyond the last appeal submission dont make for interesting chat. Lily, on the other hand, always has three or four stories on the go and gives me the juicy bits. I enjoy what she says at the time but forget it pretty quickly. I usually read the published stories, or skim them.