The Stranger

Close your eyes…

…and place your attention on your breath.

Breathe in…

And out.

Just put your attention on the breath coming into your body as you inhale.

It's clear.

Nothing.

And as you breathe out…

…the air that comes out of you is black.

And that black is any anxiety, stress,

any worries that you carry.

And as you breathe out, feel it leave your body.

Breathe in clear air and breathe out the black.

Breathe in clear air.

Breathe out...

There I am standing

in front of this old nothing house, staring at it,

and this bloke comes over.

And I recognize him, you know?

Older, but I recognize him.

I said, "It's me, Paul Emery. I used to live in that house."

And he goes, "No. No, you didn't."

I said, "You're Chris."

"Chris. You had that German Shepherd." He says, "How did you know that?"

"We lived in this house for years."

- This old fellow... - You heading to WA for work?

No.

Never actually been there before.

Yourself?

Home. Headed home.

No, I just had to, uh, clear out…

Clear out of Queensland.

Sort myself a car.

Some place to stay and that.

I'm Paul.

Henry.

Turn her off again.

And again.

Yeah. Let's hear her, mate.

I need an address for the transfer of ownership.

Yeah.

- I can put down a motel? - I don't know about that.

- That's where I'm living. A motel. - Can't put down a motel.

I've got a PO box you can use, put that down while he sorts himself out.

- Okay. - Thanks.

Thanks, Henry.

All right.

$1,600.

- Here, mate. That's for you. - Nah.

Come on, mate. I mean, you really helped me out.

No.

What do you do for work, Henry?

Everything I know is in my hands.

Can't hardly work now though.

I'll be fucked in a few years' time.

And why's that?

Can't fuckin' breathe, mate.

I know what it's like to be on the other side of things.

You got your last few fuckin' dollars in an envelope there.

I see it all over you.

Paul Emery?

I can't, uh, take your call at the moment.

If you leave me a message, I'll endeavor to call you back later.

Henry, it's Paul.

I need to talk to you about something.

I might need to shift out of the motel.

So give us a ring back when you get this.

Okay. Talk soon.

So it's just a bit further up here. There's a house. You can drop me off.

All right, I have to tell you, Henry…

I came out here to do a job for some people.

And there's a mate of mine.

Mark. He asked me if I knew anyone who could handle a bit of work.

I talked to him about you.

Yeah, just here is good.

Yeah, this is good. Just here.

What kind of work?

I have to let him tell ya.

I don't do violence.

No, Henry, come on. It's not like that.

We'll meet him tomorrow. He'll tell you all about it.

Have you dyed your hair?

What?

Have you dyed your hair?

Yeah, I just went a bit darker.

It looks good.

Thanks.

Tell him we're on.

Yep.

Great. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for the lift.

- Where's Paul? - He couldn't make it.

Get in.

Get in.

Put your seat belt on.

I don't do violence.

No. I've heard.

Fat cunt.

What are we doing here?

Wait here.

How you doin', Mark? Good?

Why'd you call me?

Look, I've got your passports ready.

They're all clean and unmarked. And I'm so sorry I couldn't get the money.

- I'm sorry. - Don't be sorry. Why?

I tried everything I could.

- But... - I'll get it for you Tuesday.

By the way, there's a girl shifting gear around

out of Central Massage.

Who?

You remember Letessia?

- Who? - Letessia.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

She's dealing out of the rooms.

- Next week, Ken. - 12:00 sharp?

- What will you do? Thank you. - Get your money.

No car parks from now on. Fuck.

Shift around gear. Is that it?

No, we don't fuckin' touch it.

You don't use when you work with us, okay?

I've heard that you don't have many acquaintances, which is good for us.

Works well.

'Cause you don't discuss this work with anyone.

Open that.

It's blank.

It's just here.

You know, he's in, uh, trouble. Old mate. Paul.

That's why they had to bring him out here.

What's wrong?

If he contacts you and it's not through me, just let me know.

Don't you go tell Paul what I said about him.

Where's your place?

Little piece of fluff.

Thanks.

One, two, three, four, five.

I'm a sworn member of the Western Australian Police,

conducting duties at the Undercover Crimes Unit

in the investigation into the abduction and murder

of James Liston on the 12th of May, 2002.

Today's date is May 6, 2010.

My CO number is 452

and I'm using the assumed name of Mark Frame.

Old mate, he called me last night.

I let it go to voicemail like… like you said.

Uh, he wanted me to, uh, to collect this, though.

Yeah, I'll take that.

He's at a property out of town for a while.

What?

I thought I saw a car.

What'd it look like?

Ah, it's a van. It's turned off now.

Hey, just hold on a sec.

All right, Henry?

Have you seen the sea?

Hey.

Hey, Gary.

This, um, came for Paul yesterday.

Henry.

Come here.

This is Henry Teague.

That's Gary.

You can't come in here dressed like that.

Get yourself some proper clothes.

You look like a fuckin' criminal.

Seriously, sort it out. Sit down.

About Paul.

He has issues in the past and we have to resettle him.

That creates an opening.

We're a closed group.

We don't often let people in,

and when we do, we take care of our own.

How's that sound to you, Henry?

Yeah, why… Yeah, why not?

Look, Mark. I don't have enough money to buy new clothes, mate.

- I can't fuckin' afford that, you know... - Ah, mate. Mate, shh, listen. Here. Look.

Yeah, don't worry about it.

I'll look after you.

See?

Wait. I've gotta ask you something.

That fella up there, Gary, all right, he's the head here, okay?

But there are people who he answers to and they answer to people above them.

But he told me to ask you if you'd done time before.

Yeah, I have, yeah.

Mm-hmm. What for?

Been in and out a few times, nothing serious.

So no longer stints then?

I did time for an assault up in the NT, okay?

That's why no fucking violence, you know, because of the time for repeat offenders.

If you've done longer stints, just fuckin' tell me, okay?

Don't wait for me to ask you. How long for?

Two years.

It was at a family crisis center and there was this fella

who kept chattin' about my fuckin' missus all the time.

I went for him.

He ran off into the trees, I went after him.

Yeah, I don't fuck... I don't care what you done, okay?

What I care about is you being honest with me.

Yeah. Be honest with me.

That's all I ask, mate, serious. Here.

Cheers.

What?