The Heat

Praise for Garry Disher

WYATT

WINNER, NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST CRIME FICTION 2010

‘So compelling it simply has to be read in one sitting.'
Australian

‘Intensely exciting…one of the standout Australian crime novels of 2010.'
Canberra Times

‘Distinctly Australian noir writ large across Melbourne suburbia.'
GQ

‘I hope we don't have to wait another decade for the next instalment in the series.'
Age

‘A cleansing breath in contemporary crime fiction…It's fascinating how so few words can draw a man so completely.'
Courier-Mail

‘Everything about him is hard boiled and Disher's writing is short, dry and fast-paced to match.'
West Australian

‘Gritty…uncompromising.'
Otago Daily Times

‘The story starts flat-out and never lets up…Verdict: hard and fast.'
Herald Sun

BITTER WASH ROAD

‘
Bitter Wash Road
is superb.'
Australian

‘Easily one of the best Australian crime novels of the year.'
Canberra Times

‘Garry Disher hits the ground running with
Bitter Wash Road
…never letting up on pace.'
Guardian Australia

‘Disher has a well-earned reputation as one of Australia's top crime novelists, and in
Bitter Wash Road
he is at the top of his game.'
Illawarra Mercury

‘Not a word is wasted.'
Adelaide Advertiser

‘Disher's terse, spare prose never falters.'
Dominion Post / Weekend Press

‘This is Disher at his brilliant, hard-edged best.'
Weekend Herald

‘
Bitter Wash Road
continues the work of re-imagining the crime genre in a very Australian way, and does it beautifully.'
Age / Sydney Morning Herald

‘This is a first-class mystery, with writing of the highest calibre.'
Sunday Mail

‘An absolute corker of a crime novel that puts him up there with the likes of Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin and John Harvey.'
Shotsmag

‘Disher shows he's a top-class writer.'
The Times

‘The Australian Garry Disher deserves to be better-known in the UK, and
Bitter Wash Road
shows why.' Joan Smith picks her top thrillers in the
Sunday Times

THE PENINSULA MYSTERIES

WHISPERING DEATH

‘Like the best of the Swedes, his writing is compelling and atmospheric…As always this grand master propels us methodically yet elegiacally.'
Australian

‘This very fine novel submits to the thriller conventions but with an easy freedom…A compulsive and unsettling novel that should win Disher many new readers.'
Sunday Age

‘This is a world-class police novel and Disher continues to be one of our best and most consistent crime novelists. Highly recommended.'
Canberra Times

‘There is no shortage of blood, but Disher has a light touch that adds wry amusement…Expect some clever writing and a satisfying ending.'
Otago Daily Times

‘This is classic Disher, the taut writing bringing a complex plot into as sharp relief as the vivid settings and dread-laden atmosphere do the fully rounded characters.'
West Australian

‘The sixth book of a first-rate police procedural series…
Whispering Death
is the most complex and intriguing book of the lot and close to the best thing Disher's yet written.'
Hobart Mercury

‘Unmissable.'
Sunday Examiner

‘Engaging yet unsettling.'
Sunday Telegraph

‘One of my absolute favourite Australian authors…This series is getting better and better.' Sue Turnbull, ABC local radio

‘Keen, compelling plot and prose. Verdict: Exceptional crime fiction.'
Courier-Mail

‘[A] cracking good read.'
Adelaide Review

CHAIN OF EVIDENCE

WINNER, NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST CRIME FICTION 2007

‘Puts Disher up on the world stage among the best in the business.'
Age

‘
Chain of Evidence
deserves a fanfare.' Sue Turnbull,
Sydney Morning Herald

‘Disher is one of Australia's very best crime fiction writers and this is a compelling read.'
Sun Herald

‘Another powerful statement from one of Australia's top crime writers.'
Courier-Mail

‘The plot twists like a back-road shortcut and pulls like the rip.'
Sunday Age

‘Intelligent, atmospheric…Fans of such gritty yet cerebral crime novelists as Ian Rankin and Jack Harvey should be well pleased.'
Publishers Weekly
(US)

‘His best novel yet…Now on the same procedural shelf as international greats such as John Harvey, Tony Hillerman and Ian Rankin.'
Australian

‘Challis is a fine creation:…This is intelligent, well-crafted fare.'
West Australian

‘A slick, fast style that's delightfully free of filler and extraneous plotlines. Once the hook is set, he just lets the story pull you along…Not to be missed.'
Toronto Globe & Mail

‘Smooth, assured mastery.'
New York Times Book Review

GARRY DISHER TITLES AVAILABLE FROM TEXT PUBLISHING

The Wyatt Butterfly

comprising
Port Vila Blues
and
Fallout

Wyatt

THE PENINSULA MYSTERIES:

The Dragon Man

Kittyhawk Down

Snapshot

Chain of Evidence

Blood Moon

Whispering Death

Bitter Wash Road

Garry Disher has published almost fifty titles—fiction, children's books, anthologies, textbooks, the Wyatt thrillers and the Mornington Peninsula mysteries. He has won numerous awards, including the German Crime Prize (twice) and two Ned Kelly Best Crime Novel awards, for
Chain of Evidence
(2007) and
Wyatt
(2010). Garry lives on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

textpublishing.com.au

The Text Publishing Company

Swann House

22 William Street

Melbourne Victoria 3000

Australia

Copyright © 2015 by Garry Disher

The moral right of Garry Disher to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright above, no part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

First published in 2015 by The Text Publishing Company

Typeset in Baskerville by J & M Typesetting

Design by Susan Miller

Cover design by WH Chong

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Creator:
Disher, Garry, 1949- author.

Title:
The heat / by Garry Disher.

ISBN:
9781925240412 (paperback)

9781922253200 (ebook)

Series:
Disher, Garry, 1949-. Wyatt thriller.

Subjects:
Art thieves—Fiction.

Art thefts—Fiction.

Suspense fiction, Australian.

Dewey Number: A823.3

For the real Hannah, Kate and Monique

CONTENTS

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40

1

Already it was going wrong.

Wyatt watched Stefan Vidovic complete the call, slip the phone into his shirt pocket. Screw an apology onto his face.

‘That was Jack.'

Wyatt waited. People edged around bad news and setbacks. It wasted time, but what could you do? Vidovic would get to the point in the next few seconds. Or years.

‘Jack Pepper,' Vidovic elaborated. Seeing no alteration in Wyatt's granite features, he kept going. ‘He asked if we could meet at some motel instead.'

‘He say why?'

‘No.'

They were in a rented van in a dismal caravan park in the hills outside Melbourne. Wyatt's choice. People come and go at caravan parks. You stay for a while and move on; you choose a caravan park because it's cheaper than a motel. Everyone around you is thinking the same way so no one takes any notice of you. And this caravan park was far enough out of the city and nowhere near any armoured-car collection or delivery location.

Wyatt checked his watch: 8 p.m. ‘He give you an address?'

Vidovic named a Budget motel in Highett. Beachside; forty-five minutes away. Wyatt almost said no, but he'd returned from France with almost nothing. Only satisfaction—the satisfaction of killing a man. Not a paying job.

‘Okay, let's go.'

On the way down to the flat stretches of streets and tiled roofs that defined bayside Melbourne, Vidovic talked. Wyatt didn't stop him. He didn't really listen either, except to learn that his friend was dead broke and really needed this job.

So did Wyatt. The difference was Wyatt saw no need to say so. He didn't chat. He didn't reveal his needs. He didn't even necessarily recognise that he had them.

But he did think.

The Pepper brothers, Jack and Leon, had approached Vidovic with a job. Vidovic, liking what he'd heard, had approached Wyatt. Vidovic had worked with the Pepper brothers before, just as he'd worked with Wyatt. That's how it went. For the moment, Wyatt neither trusted nor distrusted the Pepper brothers. He didn't know them.

Who the fifth member was Wyatt didn't know yet either. But five men was about right for an armoured-car heist. Straight ambush, hold-up, traffic diversion or intercept outside a bank—whatever. You'd need a driver, a lookout to monitor the radio and eyeball the street, two gunmen and a specialist: some guy handy with cutting tools, electronics or Semtex. So far, Vidovic and Wyatt knew only that the Pepper brothers were claiming to be onto a sure thing.

Down to the Nepean Highway where, hanging gingerly above the toxins, there was the faint briny odour of the sea. The motel was one block back from the beach, faded-looking. Ground down by years of sunlight and salt. In bygone days, families had come for a desperate week in January, that's all you could say about it. Not that Wyatt had anything to say about it. He simply parked two blocks away and switched off.

Vidovic gave him a look. ‘You could just drive in, mate.'

Wyatt's return gaze was calm but loaded. Vidovic raised his palms in capitulation. ‘Okay, okay, ever vigilant.' A nervous chuckle. ‘One day I'll see the laid-back Wyatt.'

One day I'll be dead, Wyatt thought.

He settled a baseball cap over his eyes, shrugged into a zippered wool jacket and flipped up the collar. The cameras would show a hint of bony nose and cheekbone, not an identifiable face.

Vidovic followed suit, grumbling, and they started walking. Past a noodle shop, a launderette, a 7-Eleven. They went unnoticed; there were others about in jackets with collars turned up on this cool mid-September evening.

The motel units were in an L shape with the office at one end, near the street entrance. A solitary camera covered the office, a token effort. As if management believed nothing ever happened in the units. No overdoses, rapes, murders, assaults. Or heist planning.