Chapter 6: A redhead gets a compliment

She received a nod and a self-conscious 'Okay.' Shiny-faced, Judy asked, 'Do you have his number?' and took side steps to the door as Elisabeth said yes. He answered before the second ring. 'Gaudry.'

'It's Elisabeth Sharman. You have something?'

'No, I just wanted to let you know where I'm at.' His tone was polite but flat. 'As you know, there are three Stavros kids. Sons. Christopher's the oldest, 28. He's in the family business and helped his father run the place. Married with two children, a boy, 6, and a girl, 3. The second son, Antonio, is 25 and a constable on the local force, single. The youngest, Remo, is 20 and studying law and economics at the ANU. Mrs Stavros was pretty well always at the store and Remo helped out during breaks and weekends.'

'Who told you?'

'The chemist next door. The newsagent confirmed. I've also checked for records. They're all clean. Something that could be interesting is that the newsagent thinks they could be having cash flow problems. Says stock on the shelves is a bit thin. Anyway,' he dismissed it, 'I'm waiting on information about Waite and Moody.'

'Thank you.' Elisabeth hesitated. 'I'm seeing Dr Liu at eight tomorrow morning. I had Russell's records sent to him. I'm going to ask him to examine Russell and see if he'll agree to be called as an expert witness.'

'And if he doesn't?'

'I think he will.'

'You sound confident.'

Elisabeth said, 'I expect him to confirm what we know. The value comes in having him say it. And I'm hoping he'll agree to say it to a jury.'

'Best of luck.'

There was a clunk and the dial tone sounded in Elisabeth's ear. She replaced the receiver and looked at her watch. It was twelve thirty and it felt like she had been there all day. From her bottom drawer she took a tube of hand cream, squeezed a roll on to the back of her hand, replaced the lid and then the tube into the drawer. With her foot she closed the drawer while massaging the cream into her hands and wrists. Collecting her jacket, hat and bag, she walked out to see Judy was herself on the way out. 'Is there somewhere I can get a sandwich?'

They walked out together and as they stepped into the heat Elisabeth put on her hat and sunglasses.

'I should do the same,' Judy said, looking at the hat. 'But I feel silly.'

'With skin like mine,' Elisabeth said, 'it's wear a hat or suffer the consequences. My mother made me cover up and I used to hate it. I'm grateful now.'

'You can tell,' Judy said. 'Most redheads are covered in freckles. But your skin is ...' They stopped to wait for the pedestrian crossing signal to flash Walk. 'Yours is like ...' she lacked the confidence to compliment successfully. 'Sorry,' she said, 'I didn't mean to get personal.'

Elisabeth motioned that the lights had changed. 'If it was going to be a compliment, go ahead. Are you doing anything in particular? Would you like to join me?'

Judy was flattered. 'Are you sure? I was just going to look around the shops.'

They were walking through the paved open-air central shopping district. People were everywhere, walking, stationary in front of store windows, at ease on tree-shaded benches and voluble at outside cafŽ tables sheltered by a combination of striped and patterned umbrellas and the spreading branches of leafy trees. Many of the tables were occupied but there were some vacancies and they took possession of one under a tree. Birds flitted from branch to ground to branch again. Elisabeth glanced up. 'An umbrella might be safer.' They moved and sat down. Elisabeth relaxed back in the plastic chair, tucking her hat and bag on a spare seat and rumpling up her flattened hair until it looked like ruffled duck down. Judy studied the menu and, with peripheral vision, Elisabeth. A waiter appeared and took their orders. When he left Elisabeth looked at her watch, sighed and closed her eyes. 'Judy, Lister and Petrie, what are they like?' The question was inoffensively asked. She wanted no more than the girl was willing to give.

Judy shrugged. 'Colin Petrie can get up your nose. The Director's pretty nice; he's good at getting what he wants out of people. He isn't a snob like some who think that just because they have law degrees they're better than the rest.'

Elisabeth opened her eyes. 'Oh. Who are they?'

Judy looked at her hands. 'It's only my opinion.'

Elisabeth didn't press. 'What's Lister's background? Do you know?'

Judy hitched herself more comfortably into her seat. 'Not a lot. I'm fairly new myself. I know he's a widower. His wife died of breast cancer a few years ago. He has a daughter at college.'

'And Petrie?' Elisabeth encouraged after a short silence. 'Apart from getting up people's noses.'

Their sandwiches and drinks arrived. Elisabeth paid the bill and when Judy protested said, 'I invited you.' Judy thanked her and drew a long drink through her straw while Elisabeth started on her sandwich.

'Liz Fraser,' Judy began, peering under the top layer to examine exactly what was there, 'Stephen's secretary, says he wants to return to private practice once his appointment's up next March.'

'Lister?'

Judy nodded.

'And Petrie?' Elisabeth sipped her lime mineral water.

'He's all right really, I suppose.' She took a bite and chewed. After swallowing she said, 'We've all got faults.'

'Yes.' Elisabeth said and fell into her own thoughts, gazing away without focus behind dark lenses. Judy was loathe to speak, even though she thought that the reason for the invitation. This new solicitor had a power of concentration that fell like a shield to cut inward communication. And even though she had in effect told Judy to wade in regardless, it was something the still maturing girl could not do. With an extra ten years' insight she might have speculated whether Elisabeth herself knew how effective a deterrent the concentration was.

An experienced sparrow closed in with short hops to forage around their feet and Elisabeth spoke again. 'What about Robert? Why didn't he take the case? How old is he? What's his story?'

A smile lit Judy's face. 'Murph? He's 32. He's only been practising for a few years. He's been with the office for two. Before that he was with a private firm but they weren't letting him get into the things he wanted to do. It shows how much Stephen thought of him to take him on because we usually like people who don't need further training.'

'And has he proved himself?'