Roberta Landy-Drake had a hangover when I phoned her on the Sunday morning.

‘Cliff, you’re not dunning me for your fee are you? That’s not classy. Especially not with the head I have.’

‘I wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t classy, Roberta. No, I wanted to know how to get in touch with Helen Broadway.’

‘Aha. I wonder if I should tell you. Why should you and she feel good when I feel so bad. Tell me that?’

‘Come on.’

She gave me the phone number and the address in Elizabeth Bay. I rang the number, but there was no answer. Well, she said she was doing what she liked and you never know where that will lead you. I wrote the address down, killed some of the day at the Dawn Fraser pool in Balmain, which they’ve cleaned up except for the water, and went home to make my preparations for the evening’s visit to the Noble Briton. Hilde was away for the weekend so I didn’t have to explain why I was having steak and Vitamin B pills for dinner on a Sunday night instead of a bacon sandwich. The reason was to erect a defence against the beer I’d have to consume to maintain my standing at the pub.

It was a mild night; I put on jeans and tee-shirt, and a denim shirt with a longish tail over that. Hanging outside my pants the shirt-tail concealed the gun I wore in a holster inside the waistband at the back. I’d splurged recently on some light Italian shoes which were the only leather shoes I’d ever had which let me forget about my feet. In the breast pocket of the shirt I put a miniature camera which is small enough to hide in your hand and still let you pick your teeth.

I drove up William Street at about 10 p.m. The council has put up a network of barriers in Darlinghurst which block the streets off and turn them into one-way mazes. The intention and effect is to eliminate cars cruising in the area for street pick-ups. As a result, the rougher trade has moved out to William Street. The girls and girl-boys were almost jostling each other in front of the car showrooms, car accessory joints and other businesses: three steps across the pavement takes them to the open car window where the negotiation goes on. Then it’s either in and off or back across the footpath to wait for the next one. The whole transaction takes place on the front seat of the car.