The Son (15 page)

During the night the storm intensified, became a gale, tearing at the windows and the balcony. I lay awake, thinking over what Hao had told me, unable to put those images out of my mind, occasionally getting up to check the windows. I put my ear to Hao's door, but couldn't hear anything.

I must have slept. A sound woke me, I looked towards the door and saw Hao there, a darker silhouette just visible in the darkness. I sat up, felt more than saw her come round to my bedside.

‘I just woke up. Paul, can I come in with you?'

I pushed the covers back and made room for her beside me. She wore a long T shirt and not much else. She was shivering.

‘Just let me lie with you. Please. Don't do anything. I don't want to be alone.'

‘You're not alone, Hao. Not with me here.'

We shifted awkwardly until we found the best position, on our right sides, her back towards me. I put my arm around her, felt the shivering gradually stop. I stroked her head. I wore my usual sleeping gear of old T shirt and gym shorts, and occasionally felt her legs brush against me. I pulled mine back as far as I could, not trusting my reactions. She stirred a little, gradually her breathing became more regular, she went to sleep. I stayed awake a long time. Towards dawn I fell asleep.

The phone ringing in the sitting room woke me. Hao had turned and lay heavy on my arm, her breath soft against my cheek. I freed myself cautiously and she stirred but didn't wake up. I felt an immense tenderness for her. I kissed her gently on the temple and hurried out to see who needed me at that hour of the morning.

It was Jack Lipton, and his voice was rough with anguish.

‘Paul? Something dreadful's happened. It's Quang. He's been murdered.'

* united nations high commission for refugees

PART III

THE AGENCY

The drive to Canberra didn't take very long any more. Once upon a time it was a real expedition, crawling along the old single-lane highway at the speed of the slowest vehicle, you felt at times that a horse would get you there faster. But the road had been much improved in recent years and you could do it now in just on three hours, if you were quick getting out of Sydney: two hours down the Hume Highway to Goulburn, two hundred kilometres to the southwest, then a swing to the left on the Federal Highway for the last stretch, past the small village of Collector and around the north-western corner of Lake George before snaking off into the hills that lead to the Australian Capital Territory. A pretty boring trip overall, Lake George itself the only interesting feature, a wide shallow depression between two ranges of low hills which some years looked like an inland sea, at others dried up completely to become a flat expanse of pasture.

There was water in it that year and somewhere along its western shore I stopped to rest and collect my thoughts. The weather was fine, there was little traffic, I had made good time on the highway, taking liberties with the speed limit until I got close to Goulburn: it's the site of the Police College and the cops are pretty vigilant there. Nearby a kestrel hovered in search of its prey, further back a flock of white sulphur-crested cockatoos and pink-and-grey galahs had risen and wheeled against the sun, the first time I'd seen those two birds fly together.

Any other time I would have enjoyed it greatly. I've always loved the dry inland country. But this time there was too much on my mind. It was twenty-four hours since Jack's phone call, and nothing since had brought any joy.

Our quarrel had started almost the moment I hung up.

Jack's call had come as a terrible shock, though not a total surprise. Ever since my beating I'd known it couldn't end there. But I had never expected anything so brutal. Even Jack, tough old soldier that he was, had taken it hard. The police had called him in to interpret and go through Quang's papers and he'd formally identified the body.

‘It must have happened in the early evening.' His voice quivered as he gave me what details he could. ‘A neighbour found him last night. His door had been forced, and he'd been stabbed. It looks as if he put up a fight – there was blood everywhere, everything was upside down–'

‘Do they have any idea who did this?' I asked.

‘Not yet. But they'll be talking to anybody who knew him.' He paused, as if to weigh his words. ‘Listen,' he said heavily. ‘I shouldn't be telling you this. They found your name and address among his papers. They'll probably want to talk to you too. I didn't tell them I'd introduced you.'

‘Thanks. I'll tell them what I can, of course, but I doubt that'll help very much. I hardly knew him.'

‘Tell me this has nothing to do with what we talked about.'

‘I don't see how it could,' I said, telling the first of several lies that day. ‘I only asked him some questions. Don't worry about the connection. He knew Hao's family in Saigon, I can say that's how we met.'

Hao had come in on the tail end of our conversation, straight from bed, and she rushed into my arms when I told her the news. ‘Oh no!' she cried. ‘He was such a good man! Who could have done such a thing?'

‘I don't know.' I'd known Quang for less than two weeks but I'd grown to like him a lot in that short time and I felt a great sense of loss. ‘Listen. I need to speak to Eric.'

She looked at me in alarm.

‘What? You don't think–'

‘Of course not! But he may have heard something, through that group of his. And there are things I want to ask him.' Despite the shock my brain had started to function. ‘Can you ring him, please? I don't want to call him myself, in case someone else answers the phone.'

‘Paul, what is it? Is there something you haven't told me?'

‘I'll explain. But first we need to get hold of him. There may not be much time. And for God's sake go and put some clothes on. What would Eric say if he saw us like this.'

I meant it half in jest, but my tone must have stung her. Her face coloured, a hurt look came into her eyes, before I could say anything she went into her room. When she reappeared she had changed into jeans and a dark sweater, with her hair pulled back from her face and a severe expression. By then I'd also thrown on a few clothes.

‘Hao, I'm sorry–' I began, but she cut me off.

‘You're hiding something, aren't you, Paul. About Eric and his group.'

I sighed and nodded.

‘Yes. It's more serious than I said. But I promised Eric I wouldn't say anything without his permission, and I don't want to break that promise now. Wait until he gets here. Then you can ask him.'

‘Why did you promise him? You knew I was worried about him!'

‘Because that was the only way, Hao! Otherwise he wouldn't have told me a thing! In the meantime we need to get our story straight about Quang.' I told her what Jack had said, and explained what I wanted her to tell the police when they came. She listened, her face set and angry.

‘And don't tell them about the break-in in my office either. I don't want Quang or Eric linked to this.'

‘Why all these complications? Isn't that the police's job, to know about all this?'

‘I think there's more to this than a simple murder. But we'll talk about that later. Will you please ring him? And don't mention my name on the phone.'

We were about to argue again when Eric rang. He was calling from a phone box – sensible lad. He had just heard the news, and wanted to be sure he'd got it right. He fell silent when I confirmed who it was.

‘I want to come and see you,' he said. ‘You know, the things you asked me.'

‘You'd better come straightaway. But don't tell your friends you're coming to see me. Do you want to talk to your aunt?'

‘No. I'll wait until I get there,' he said gloomily.

I passed this on to Hao.

‘Don't be too hard on him,' I said. ‘The only reason he didn't tell you was because he knew you'd only worry more.'

‘And that's why you both kept that from me? Aren't you forgetting he's also my nephew?'

‘I'm not forgetting anything, Hao! For God's sake, the whole thing's happened because I've been trying to help him! As you asked, remember? Please have some trust in me!'

‘And what about Quang? Did you promise him too?'

‘Yes! He found out some things which were disturbing but he was very secretive about them and he made me promise not to tell anyone. He didn't even tell me everything! Look, you had your chance, Hao, I asked you to come, remember? And you didn't want to because you were angry with me! So don't blame me for all this secretiveness!'

We were still arguing when Eric arrived. He seemed genuinely shaken by Quang's death. They'd only met briefly in the flat but he'd been impressed by Quang and now he was disturbed by some of the things he'd heard. But before he could say anything Hao took him away into her room, where I soon heard her giving him the rough edge of her tongue. When they re-emerged Eric gave me an accusing glare.

‘Why did you have to say anything? You promised–'

‘I know. I'm sorry. But a man's been killed, a very decent man who should still be alive. So let's stop playing games. Eric, I want you to tell us everything you know, everything that's happened. Will you do that?'

He nodded, and we sat in the lounge, with me facing them like a headmaster confronting a couple of wayward students.

‘We're going off on another camp,' he said. ‘That's what I wanted to tell you yesterday. Only – I wasn't quite ready yet.'

‘It's OK. I understand.' It had taken Quang's murder to bring him to that point. ‘Tell us about this camp. Where is it? Up at the farm again?'

‘Yes. We're going up on Wednesday, coming back Friday I think.'

‘Do you know what it's about?'

He nodded again, uncomfortably.

‘Come on Eric! This is serious. We're not going to tell the police, this is just between us. But we need to know what's going on.' Hao started to say something but I waved her quiet. ‘So don't hold out on us, please.'

‘OK. We – there's only a few of us going. We're not supposed to tell the others. Binh said we'd been specially selected.'

‘Who's Binh?'

‘He works in Mr Bach's office. He's the one who told me you'd been there.'

I remembered the hard-looking young man who'd escorted me to Bach's office. Quang had mentioned him too.

‘There was a meeting on Saturday. They talked about someone coming from Vietnam. One of the leaders, someone called Loc. The group's organising some big demonstrations against him, here and in Canberra. Mr Khanh was there too. Afterwards Binh kept a few of us there. That's when he told us about the camp. He said it was for special training, not to tell the others because they'd get jealous, we'd been picked because we're the best. That's what he said.'

‘OK. Thanks, Eric.'

Hao made to speak again but I held up my hand. She stayed quiet, her lips pressed together.

‘First things first. Did you hear anyone mention Quang? Before or after the murder?'

‘Not before, no. Someone said all traitors should be eliminated, on Saturday, but that was just talk, you know, the kind of thing they say at these meetings. Only this morning – when we were watching the news, one of them said good riddance. He said that's one communist gone, at least. He wasn't a communist, was he Paul?'

‘No, he wasn't. But he knew them, he understood them, which is more than that group will ever do. Was that when you first heard about the murder?'

‘Yes. We were watching some programme on TV, and someone said to turn on the news, and there they were talking about it. At first I didn't know who it was, but then they showed his picture and I recognised him – ‘

‘Who said good riddance? Was it Binh?'

‘No. He was there too but he didn't say anything. I think it was Lam. You don't know him. He was one of those who beat you up.'