‘Yeah, well, no names, no pack drill, but I’ve done a few jobs for this one mob and the subjects are as clean as a whistle. Not a suspicion of a fiddle and there was really no reason to think there would be. You don’t know much about this side of the game, do you, Cliff?’

‘Too pure,’ I said.

‘Yeah, three suspensions and a stretch for obstructing justice. Real pure. Well, insurance companies keep pretty good tabs on their clients and they only investigate claims when they smell something. Otherwise it’s just more overheads. But these squeaky clean ones.. ’ He shook his head. ‘I dunno. What was yours like?’

I sipped some scotch, making it last. ‘Squeaky clean.’

‘Would you like to give me the initials of the company?’

‘S-I,’ I said.

‘Fuck. Same here. I bet it’s the same crowd. Sentinel, right?’

‘I’m not saying you’re wrong.’

‘Look, I was talking with Colin Hart the other day, you know him. Been in the game a while. Does nearly as much of this kind of work as me. He was cagey about the client but I’m bloody sure it’s the same mob. Weird.’

I shrugged. ‘As long as they pay up.’

Charlie looked sour. ‘That’s the problem. I thought I was on a good thing when this stuff came my way but they’re dragging the chain about paying. I put in the hours and the miles and that. I’m not well pleased.’

I finished my drink less happy than when I’d started it. I’d been counting on the Sentinel payment to take care of some bills. Still, sometimes the richer the client the slower the payment. I told Charlie I’d let him know if the account remained unpaid for too long. He nodded, looked worried, and I got the feeling that Charlie might need the money even more than I did. If so, I knew the reason why-the four-legged animals that ran around in Randwick with little men on their backs.

‘How much are you owed?’

‘A lot. Proving the subject’s clean takes just as long and as much effort as the reverse, sometimes more because you have to be dead sure. Colin’s probably into them for more than me and he’s got big problems.’