The Undertow by Peter Corris Page B

the brandy glass hit the table, slopping out half of its contents.
    I put the cigarette in the ashtray and pushed the middy towards him as he fought for breath. After he managed to suck in a few wheezy gasps he drank some beer and reached for the cigarette. People were staring at us. I gripped his bony wrist, trying to look solicitous.
    â€˜Breathe some air and tell me about it.’
    His puny chest heaved as air flowed into his wrecked system. ‘You shouldn’t make me laugh. You’ll kill me.’
    â€˜Karl and Pixie, where?’
    He wrapped both hands around the middy glass like a drowning man clutching at driftwood. ‘Pixie Padrone, I remember when she was that. She could be had for ten dollars, five on a slow night. Now she’s Patricia.’
    â€˜Okay. Take it slowly, I don’t want you dropping dead quite yet. Tell me about them, especially where they are.’
    â€˜Brisbane.’
    â€˜I couldn’t find him in the medical registry. Has he been delisted, like you?’
    â€˜You’re trying to provoke me. No, he’s changed his name. He’s Karol Lubitsch now and, as I said, Pixie is Patricia.’
    â€˜Where in Brisbane?’
    â€˜They have a clinic in New Farm, Glendale Gardens or some such pretentious address.’
    I moved around the table and put the bottle of brandy on the seat next to him.
    â€˜The money?’ he said.
    â€˜In a minute. How would you suggest I get to see Lubeck . . . Lubitsch?’
    The cloudy eyes studied me again. ‘How many times has that nose been broken?’
    â€˜Several.’
    â€˜And the scarred eyebrows—boxing, I take it?’
    â€˜Right.’
    â€˜The nose could be remodelled and scars smoothed out.
    I’d suggest you get a referral from a doctor. A man in your trade should have a tame medico.’
    â€˜I wouldn’t call him tame, but it can be done. Good idea.’
    He snapped the long, blue-white fingers. ‘So?’
    â€˜I’ve got just one problem. What’s to stop you contacting Lubitsch and alerting him that I’m coming?’
    He lit a cigarette from the butt of the previous one and drew on it with a surprising amount of wind. ‘Why would I do that?’
    â€˜To bleed money from him, of course.’
    He held up his hand. ‘Don’t make me laugh again. There’s no love lost between Karol Lubitsch and me, I assure you. We had a serious falling out long ago. I passed a client to him who gave him a considerable amount of trouble. Legal trouble, which is what everyone in the profession fears most.’
    â€˜I can imagine.’
    â€˜At a guess, it’s the same for you. I wouldn’t want Lubitsch to know where I am or what I’m doing. He’d almost certainly take reprisals. And I’m sure you mean him harm, which is fine by me.’ He ran out of breath for speaking but not for smoking, as if the nicotine opened some air passages. ‘Malice, Mr Hardy,’ he wheezed, ‘is my middle name.’
    I believed him and handed over the money.

11
    â€˜H ow did it go?’ Lily asked.
    I’d dropped in at a post office on the way home and checked the Brisbane telephone directory. Dr Karl Lubitsch’s address was listed as suites 12–14, Glendale Gardens, New Farm.
    â€˜You were right on all counts,’ I said. ‘He’s an absolute creep, but he came through with the information I wanted. By the way, he said you traduced him.’
    â€˜Bullshit, I changed the name. So where are they?’
    â€˜Brisbane.’
    â€˜Uh oh, off again. Pretty soon we’ll be meeting in airports.’
    â€˜Or joining the mile high club.’
    â€˜You wish. Well, it’ll be warmer up there and I’ll have the place here to myself to work.’
    â€˜There’s a storm brewing. Phone the NRMA insurance if the roof blows off. Is it hard to get to see these guys?’
    â€˜Not for the initial consultation . . .