‘If it was, this character Moss, or Gudgast, must be pretty unlucky.’ Mark raised his eyebrows. ‘He resigns, goes away for a few days and happens to pick the only boat with an electrical defect.’
‘Are you thinking he rigged it to blow and somehow stuffed up?’
‘No, but I am suggesting you may not be the only one looking for him. Someone else got to him first.’
‘Until you told us, Eliza had never heard of anyone called Hans Gudgast. Neither had I.’ I didn’t want to let on what Eliza had said about Eric’s height. ‘All we knew was that Eric Moss had no official documentation and wasn’t big on having his photo taken without sunglasses. He kept a very low profile for all his public works.’
‘I did some checking too, on the fire at Moss’s friend’s cabin. The local boys tell me magnesium was used to ignite it. Water only made it worse. So whoever lit it knew more than a bit about chemistry.’
‘Or specifically fires,’ I suggested.
Mark nodded, studying my face. ‘And I suppose it was a coincidence that his daughter was assaulted in an attempted robbery and hid out at your place.’
I didn’t want Mark setting off alarms with government agencies until I knew more.
‘Is there anything else I need to know to get to the bottom of this?’ he pressured.
‘The less you know for now, the safer a lot of people will be.’
He clenched his jaw. ‘I can’t help if you keep me in the dark.’
‘I guarantee I’ll fill you in as soon as I work out what Moss was up to.’
‘You’re on extremely thin ice right now and can’t afford to piss anyone else off. Me included.’ He lowered his voice. ‘I hear some pretty heavy hitters will be relieved Moss is dead. You expose what Moss was up to, you’ll need to watch your back.’
Chapter 92
MARCEL PEYRONI CALLED my name. ‘Hey, Gisto. Remember me?’
I felt the anger rise in me as I saw him behind the police lines. This time I didn’t hold back and stormed over. ‘You crooked scumbag!’
‘Unusual metaphor, coming from an ex-lawyer who takes obscene amounts of money to make scandals …’ he made a pfff sound, ‘disappear.’
It took all my self-restraint not to hit him square in the face.
Peyroni made a rolling hand gesture at the cameraman who’d been slow to start recording. ‘This is the second time in a week you’ve been involved in a death. The police have suggested you are implicated in Louise Simpson’s death. I’m informed you were working on finding Eric Moss as well. Will you still be paid now he’s dead?’
I clenched both fists and tensed my shoulders. The camera ensured there was irrefutable evidence if I thumped the pompous little git. The bastard had caused a lot of trouble and compromised at least one police operation. And he’d violated the privacy of my firm and clients. He deserved to be publicly exposed. I held back because footage of his eventual arrest would do far more damage than any punch I could deliver.
‘What? No quips, no retorts?’ He shoved the microphone close to my chin. I noticed an investigative reporter from an independent newspaper approaching.
I spoke loudly enough for the more respected journalist to hear. ‘Who did you illegally bug this time, to get here faster than your rivals?’
It did more than pique her interest. I smiled as Peyroni refused to comment on the accusation I’d made.
Mark tapped my shoulder. ‘You may want to intervene,’ he said, pointing to a commotion near the body bag.
Darlene’s arms were raised as two men in dark suits blocked her from the corpse.
‘Who are they?’ I leapt across a pine log and hurried over.
‘No idea.’ Mark followed me. ‘But they look like Feds or spooks.’
Federal police or ADIA agents. They certainly had the arrogance to go with the jobs.
Darlene was assuring them she was here to help with the forensics investigation but they were physically pushing her from the scene.
‘IDs,’ Mark demanded, showing his own.