Page 33 of Masquerade

“We’ve got a town desperately needing a new hospital,” Kate said. “There’s no dispute there. The existing hospital doesn’t have the space to make a refurbishment worthwhile, plus the land’s flood prone. Floods have become more frequent in recent years. Parking is a nightmare. There’s also been a big increase in population in outlying areas making a shift from the town centre viable.”

Liam picked up the thread. “The dispute is about the location.

“All the protests have been to try and prevent state-significant, agricultural land being used. The locals suspected the government would push, but not too hard. Perhaps take a piece of the land and combine it with other non-state-significant acres. Today, they shifted the goal posts. The hospital will be built entirely on state-significant, agricultural land.”

“What’s that mean for the proposal you put to me?” George played devil’s advocate.

“There’s a clause in the protection legislation to allow critical public infrastructure to be built on the land with appropriate recompense.” Liam paused. “If there’s no alternative location.”

“Are you saying there is an alternative?” George narrowed his gaze.

“That’s one of the questions to be answered.” Kate took up the tale. “The tender process hasn’t been transparent, so we don’t know what sites were considered. The local council was dismissed a few years ago because of corrupt deals with developers. While low-level corruption has been dealt with, some of those councillors have been seen hanging around the offices of state government officials recently. Plus, we have the suspect series of recent land purchases adjacent to the state-significant land package, which implies insider trading. The whole deal smells dodgy.”

“Rumours were circulating that those land parcels would be offered for the hospital.” Liam explained. “At significantly higher prices than the buyer paid for them.”

“Instead, those buyers have been suckered?” George leapt to his feet and started to pace, the movement seemingly an aid to his thinking. “Is that your argument? Corruption?”

“My sources and Kate’s research produced the same result. A particular politician purchased the land abutting the state-significant land holding. Maybe the deal’s working differently. To be state significant, the land has to be a certain size—worst case scenario—”

“Which we have.” George swung to face them.

“With this decision, there’s barely enough land for state-significant status to be maintained.” Liam outlined his thinking. “If the land size falls below the acreage required for state-significant status, it’ll be delisted and open for development or mining rights to be sold. The adjacent land would skyrocket in value.”

“And it would be very easy for a related piece of public infrastructure—say a medical research centre—to be co-located for efficiency reasons.” George’s eyes twinkled. “Hey presto, the site’s delisted.”

“You have a devious mind, boss.”

“Just a knowledge of how the world works. The land is critical for more than sustainable agriculture. We’ve got endangered native animal habitat and vegetation biodiversity at risk as well. That’s why we went with this project.” George stopped with his back towards the glass doors, his hands folded behind him.

“We can sound out the locals, follow the leads and see where they take us. It’s not going to be a big, dramatic win.” But Liam had some ideas about how to uncover what was going on.

“I’m looking for worthwhile, not dramatic.” George’s chin dropped as he pondered the situation.

“You’ve got both by choosing a popular billboard as your cover story and sending us in as faux models.” Liam mentally reviewed his list of all the things that could go wrong, any one of which would expose George to criticism. “It’s not too late to change your mind. Choose one of the other lawyers or projects.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” George pulled Liam to his feet. “Our goal is to save as much of the state-significant land as we can. If it goes, it’s gone forever. I haven’t had so much fun in years. I love the double-trouble idea.” George included Kate in his smile. “Agreed?”

“Agreed,” she answered.

Liam grinned at them. Environmental cases made a difference, for the present and the future. He’d missed being part of the fight. Returning to the North Coast gave him a chance to atone for his earlier failure.

George crossed to the door. “Fran,” he bellowed.

* * *

“I’ll need to excusemyself for a few minutes. Some final details for your trip.” George passed Kate her liqueur before exiting the living room. Fran was making coffees, having brushed aside offers of help, leaving Kate and Liam alone.

Kate savoured the first sip of her thimble-sized Benedictine, a small indulgence leaving her well below the legal limit for driving.

“Do you think we can pull this masquerade off?” She resisted chewing her bottom lip, a childish leftover from when Anna had promised some plan was failsafe, and Kate’s instincts had screamed caution. They’d screamed caution about Andrew—just not soon enough.

“If I change my wardrobe, run my hands through my hair a few times to make it look like I never comb it and make my Irish accent stronger, I should be fine.” Liam settled into the armchair opposite her sofa.

“I’ve seen Niall comb it,” she disagreed.

“What that boy will do for publicity.”

“You’ve spoken to him.” The insight hit Kate, and she clapped her hands.

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