Sharp Turn - Marianne Delacourt [39]
‘Maybe,’ I said carefully. ‘Sometimes.’
I waited for his reaction.
‘Cool.’ He nodded his approval.
He left it at that and so did I.
Chapter 12
I DROPPED WAL AT LIV’s and sped on to Eireen Tozzi’s mansion in Euccy Grove. Scrambling out of the car, I discarded my wrap on the back seat and smoothed my hair before pressing the doorbell.
Eireen answered dressed in a pink satin dressing gown and black pumps. Her hair was dyed a violent red; quite a change from the lacquered black beehive she’d had last time.
‘Oh, it’s Joanna’s girl,’ she said, as if speaking to someone else.
‘Tara,’ I reminded her.
‘Yes.’ She gave my outfit the once-over with pursed, disapproving lips.
Suddenly, I felt horribly self-conscious. What was wrong with my dress? As soon as Eireen had trotted down the hall to get Nick, I fished through my bag for my phone and speed dialled Smitty.
‘I’m at Eireen Tozzi’s picking Nick up for dinner,’ I whispered. ‘Bok told me to wear red.’
‘Red? But you hardly have any red in your . . .’
Suddenly her intimate knowledge of my wardrobe clicked in. ‘Tara. Please tell me you’re not wearing the dress you bought for my Pimps and Hos party?’
‘Um . . . well . . . yes. Bok told me to wear red. It’s all I have. It’s okay, isn’t it?’
‘No, it is not! OMG. Do you have a coat? Or a wrap?’
‘A wrap,’ I wailed.
‘Put it on.’
‘It’s in the car.’
‘Darling. This is bad. Flee now. Run out the door –’ ‘Tara?’
Too late. Tozzi had appeared.
‘Darling. Brazen it out,’ were Smitty’s last words before I hung up on her.
I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. ‘Sorry, just got a call.’
Nick’s eyes bugged a little and he bit his lip. His caramel aura seemed to get thicker, like he was coated by chocolate. ‘Where did you want to eat?’ he asked.
When I shrugged, he said, ‘What about Freo?’
Fremantle was a little out of our way but a good option if we didn’t want to be seen. Right then, I’d have settled for takeaway fish and chips in front of the TV. But Smitty had said to brazen it out, so I did.
‘So what was it that you wanted to ask me?’ I said, as we walked out to the car.
‘I . . . err . . . needed some advice. Wanted to get Antonia a gift for, you know, getting through rehab. Thought you might be able to suggest something.’
‘Oh.’ I tried really hard not to sound disappointed. ‘Um . . . I’m not good on presents. Sorry.’
He shrugged. ‘Okay.’
‘So how’s the job going?’ he asked as I swirled Mona past the Reventon and out of the white-stoned driveway.
‘That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Bolo asked me to go out to the track undercover and observe the other teams. Well, I’ve done that. Now I’m doing some background work.’
‘You think I can help?’
‘The owners of the teams are all prominent local businessmen. I figured you might have heard things about them.’
I accelerated onto the highway and headed south to Freo. The moon looked way romantic against the cloudy, dark sky.
‘There are four of them,’ I went on. ‘Tony Bennett, from the hardware chain; George Shakes and Frosty Hardwick, who own Team Chesley; Robert Riley from Riley’s Tyres; and then Bolo.’
Tozzi nodded. ‘I hear Bennett’s pretty straight, but there’ve been whispers that the chain’s going broke. Hardware’s a pretty tough game when you’re an independent. Chesley . . . well, I’m surprised Shakes and Hardwick could agree even to buy a team, let alone operate one. Never go into business with family, Tara.’
‘No danger of that,’ I said, shuddering at the very thought of JoBob and me working together. ‘How are they related?’
‘Shakes and Hardwick married each other’s sisters.’
‘Oh?’ When you lived in a small, isolated city you tended to accumulate general knowledge and scuttlebutt about people you’d never met. George Shakes and Frosty Hardwick had been on my social radar for years as prominent local businessmen – I’d even been to one of Shakes’ jewellery soir