"Trust me, though, Kiwi – Liz Webling, whom we are going to see, won’t recognize you anyway." Joe assured him.

"I can’t see a bloomin’ thing out of these!" Kiwi complained bitterly, lifting the glasses up and down as he was talking so that he could peek at his friend from underneath.

"Frank had them customized for use in the snow, so the tint’s extra dark." Joe laughed. "Don’t worry – I’ll warn you if you’re about to trip over anything."

"Cheers, dude. So tell me more about Liz Webling – is she a mate?"

Joe went silent for a couple of seconds, and seemed to be getting his thoughts in order before answering Kiwi’s question. "Liz was someone I was friends with at school…well, probably more than just friends, actually…"

Kiwi pushed the glasses up onto his forehead. "Oh, yes?" he prompted, intrigued.

"We dated for a while after Iola—" he caught himself. "—before I met Vanessa, but because she worked for the newspaper on the weekends, it started causing problems."

"Problems?" Kiwi pressed.

Joe grimaced. "She couldn’t leave her weekend job at the office, and started to interfere in Frank’s and my business. Whenever we would be on a case, she’d trail around after us, asking awkward questions and trying to find out about it for her dad’s paper – ‘investigative reporting’ she called it. I stopped trusting her, in the end. I got the feeling she was only dating me to get her ‘scoops’."

"Ouch!"

"Yeah. But she’s a great source of information, and she owes me a favor or two. If she pushes the ‘scoop’ angle this time, I’ll promise her an exclusive interview with ‘The Hardys’ upon completion of the case – never fails!" Joe began pulling the car up outside a small concrete office building with BAYPORT GAZETTE emblazoned across the top of the entrance way. "Liz really bought into the ‘lovey’ world of media – she’s been a changed woman since we left school."

"Suddenly I’m very glad of having these shades." Kiwi remarked, and flicked them back down onto the bridge of his nose. "You do the talking, Joe – my accent will give the game away. It’s not Australian, but it may as well be, to the uneducated ear."

Joe pushed his way through the glass revolving doors, and emerged within. Kiwi embarrassingly mistimed his turn, and had to wait for the next partition to swing around before he successfully negotiated his way into the building. By the time he was through, Joe was already standing in front of the rosewood-colored reception desk. Behind it sat a girl who looked far too young to be working at the paper. Her eyes lit up as she beheld the handsome, young, blonde stud-muffin in front of her.

"Can I help you?" she asked breathlessly, leaning forward and completely ignoring Kiwi, which suited him just fine. To Joe’s credit, he looked a little uncomfortable to be receiving that kind of attention from such a young lass.

"Umm, yes. Can I speak to Liz Webling?"

The girl’s face fell when he asked for Liz. She was obviously disappointed at the possibility of Liz and Joe being an ‘item.’ "I’ll see if she’s available for you, Mr.…"

"Hardy – Joe Hardy."

"Thank you, Mr. Hardy – please make yourself comfortable." She was now the picture of professional briskness. Picking up the telephone, she buzzed forward and muttered into the receiver for a few seconds, then replaced it onto its casing and addressed Joe once more: "She’ll be right down."

"Thank you."

Kiwi chose to remain standing, and started drifting about the foyer, looking at the straight run of framed Gazette front pages that ran around the circumference of the room. Making his way to the last one, he found himself standing in front of a notice board. Absent-mindedly scanning the various ‘hot’ stories pinned up, he was bemused and horrified to find a large photograph of himself looking back, along with the tagline "New Zealander Sought on Suspicion of Brutal Murder!" Spinning on his heels, he shot an anguished look in Joe’s direction.

Joe caught Kiwi’s strange behavior and raised his eyebrows questioningly. His friend’s shoulders had tensed, Joe saw, but he wasn’t doing anything other than just looking back – because of the sunglasses, Joe wasn’t able to see that Kiwi was, in fact, indicating with his eyes towards the picture on the wall. Eventually, he brought his hand up as though pushing the glasses further up his nose, and pointed at the board with his finger at the same time. Joe finally saw the photograph, and went to join his friend.

Kiwi turned his back to the reception desk and hissed out of the side of his mouth: "Dude, maybe I should wait in the car?"

Joe was about to agree with him when there came a loud, high-pitched squeal that made them both jump. "Joeeeeeee!" They turned as one and stood shoulder to shoulder, obscuring the poster. A fair-haired, hazel-eyed girl was standing directly behind them, and they hadn’t heard her arrive. She stepped forward and planted a kiss on each of Joe’s cheeks, accompanied by a loud, smacking Mwaaaaaah! sound.

Kiwi pursed his lips together, trying not to laugh. Joe wasn’t kidding when he said she’d bought into the whole ‘lovey’ world of media. Is this girl for real?

"Joe, how are you? I haven’t seen you for an aaaaaage!" she sang enthusiastically, and then looked up at Kiwi. "And who’s your handsome friend?" she asked appreciatively, not taking her eyes from his face.

"KKKKKii…evin!" Joe blurted, and then wanted to kick himself.

She grasped Kiwi’s hand and held onto it tightly. "Hello, Kevin." she cooed.

Kiwi colored up, and before he could stop himself, said "G’day!" Oh, no! He groaned internally at his slip-up, which was even worse than Joe’s.

Luckily, as Joe had predicted, Liz didn’t notice. She hooked arms with each young man and towed them toward the elevator. Entering, they rode it to the second floor, and Liz ushered them into her office, which was small but very neat. She sat down behind her desk, and indicated for Joe and Kiwi to take the two available seats opposite.

Liz picked up what looked like an expensive pen. "Are you on a case?" she asked bluntly, looking from Joe’s face back to Kiwi’s, and smiling.

Joe ignored the question. "Actually, we came to ask you if you had any archived obituaries or articles about a guy who was a member of the Military Police some years ago. He died soon after leaving the force."

"So…you are on a case, then."

"Are we ever not on a case?" Joe shot back, evasively.

This could take all day! Kiwi thought, rolling his eyes behind the tinted lenses.

"Anything – juicy…?"

"Could be…" Joe sparred.

"Tell me about it." Liz wheedled.

"No comment…"

"Come on, Joe, I thought we were friends…?"

"We are friends. This is business. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours."

"Hmmm, you’re a hard man, Joe Hardy." Liz formed a mock pout, and gazed at him from under her eyelashes.

"Hard’s my middle name, just ask Frank!"

Kiwi watched as Liz sat back in her chair. She viewed Joe through narrowing eyes, and started tapping her pen against the edge of the table top. Joe also sat back, and crossed his arms tightly across his chest. They continued to eyeball each other for some seconds, each trying to psych the other out. Their exchange had been a verbal game of table tennis, and Liz had dropped the ball!

Of course, Liz Webling knew that Joe held all the cards, so eventually lowered her eyes and got a notepad out of her desk drawer. Brandishing her pen, she said: "Okay, give me all the details, and I’ll go have a look-see."

*****

Ten minutes later Liz was back, file in hand and a bemused expresssion on her face. She held the folder out to Joe, but when he tried to take it, she snatched it back out of reach, and asked: "Why are you so interested in a guy who died decades ago?"

"Morbid curiosity – did you find anything?" Joe asked, frustrated with her game.

"Yes I did, but I don’t understand why you won’t tell me all about it. After all, I just did you a favor….Maybe I won’t give you this information; maybe you ought to tell me more before I do…."

Joe sighed audibly, realizing he wasn’t going to completely win this time. "Look, Liz, this is difficult…I can’t tell you anything."

"You must be able to tell me something, " she coaxed.

"No, I really can’t," Joe reiterated; and then he laid his cards out on the table. "Please, Liz – please accept it when I tell you it’s a matter of life and death, and a matter of great personal concern to my family and my friend Kevin here."

"Ah…Kevin – the silent partner!" she joked.

Kiwi’s heart skipped a beat. Is she going to start giving me a hard time now? he wondered dismally, squirming in his chair.

But Liz was too busy intensely studying Joe, apparently noting the sincerity in his eyes and open demeanor. She allowed her shoulders to relax, and Kiwi was amazed to see her whole bearing change – no longer the predatory creature pursuing a possible story lead, but rather, just another one of Joe’s friends. She held the folder out again, and as he reached for it, took his hand warmly. "I’ve made you copies of everything I could find – and don’t worry, I won’t mention this to anyone." She let him and the folder go. "Just do me a favor, huh?"

Joe grinned. "An exclusive interview afterwards?"