‘You read the papers don’t you, Cliff?’ my lawyer, Viv Garner, said.

‘All depends,’ I said.

‘On what?’

‘Whether they’re going to make me angry or not, and a lot of things make me angry-politics, economics, religion, television. .’

‘That just about covers it. Bit sour though.’

‘Oh, a lot of things make me happy. Make me laugh. Sometimes the same things that make me angry. I’m not sour. You might say bittersweet.’

‘Okay, I gather you haven’t followed the High Court decision in the case of Wade versus the Commissioner of Police.’

We were drinking coffee in a place in Glebe Point Road that had been recommended to me by a coffee snob. ‘The best, mate,’ he’d said. It was okay, better than some, and they’d served it very hot, the way I like it. Viv had rung wanting to meet and offering to buy. He knew I was broke or very close to it. I’d ordered a croissant to go with the coffee. I’d been skipping meals a bit to save money. I thought I could probably tap Viv for a second cup. I shook my head in answer to his question.

‘Jack Wade was, and will be again possibly, a licensed commercial and private inquiry agent. Like you, the Commissioner banned him for life.’

That got my interest. ‘What did he do?’

‘He impersonated a police officer for financial gain. The thing is, a law firm took up the case and fought it all the way to the High Court. The court decided that life bans are unconstitutional. Violation of human rights.’

‘What’s the upshot?’

‘Jack wins the right to apply for a review of his case to the Security Industry Registry. If he gets the nod there it’s likely the Commission’ll have to settle for a suspension, say, three years.’

I forgot about coffee good or bad, hot or cold. ‘I’ve done more than that already.’