'Ah s.h.i.t, there's a name I haven't heard in a while. Last I heard he p.i.s.sed off to Queensland, not long after we all got out. Dall and him were real tight. I was just a ring-in.'

That probably explained the map of Surfers Paradise I'd found in Dallas Boyd's apartment. Still, Sparks wasn't making total sense.

'So if you all went your separate ways after Malmsbury, why the phone message?' I asked. 'Didn't sound like the sort of message you'd leave for a bloke you weren't mates with any more. What happened?'

'We weren't weren't mates,' he said quickly. 'I was just doin' a job for him. Like I said, I was just a ring-in. Was back then, still am now.' mates,' he said quickly. 'I was just doin' a job for him. Like I said, I was just a ring-in. Was back then, still am now.'

'What sort of job?' Ca.s.sie prodded.

'Dunno if I should tell ya that now. Think I've made a mistake.'

I heard the shift in tone. Fear. It turned his voice sharp and high-pitched, like a child's. He grabbed the handle, tried to yank open the door, but the child lock kept it shut. 'What the f.u.c.k, man? Let me out!'

'It's all right, Sparks,' I said. 'You're safe here. Just tell us what Dallas asked you to do for him.'

'I can't,' he spluttered. 'I'm f.u.c.kin' scared, man.'

'Why?'

'Because I'm gonna be next. First they got Dall, then Jussie.'

Two tears slid down the boy's acne-scarred face. He looked pleadingly at Ca.s.sie, then at me.

'Justin Quinn,' Ca.s.sie muttered. 'The kid in Talbot Reserve last night.'

'You think the same person did both?' I asked Sparks. 'Makes sense,' he said, wiping snot on his wrist. 'Both into the same s.h.i.t.'

'Sparks, I promise you, no one knows you're talking to us,' I said in a calm voice. 'Ask around about me, everyone'll vouch that I'm a straight player. I don't break promises and I don't bulls.h.i.t anyone. So if you don't want to tell me what you and Dall were into, then fine. But I think you know something that'll help us nail whoever did it. And I think you want want to help us, otherwise why would you ask for me?' to help us, otherwise why would you ask for me?'

'We already know he was selling kiddie p.o.r.n and you were holding on to something for him,' Ca.s.sie added. 'We think whatever that was got him killed. Am I close?'

Again Sparks kept quiet. There was nothing else we could say. If he didn't want to open up, we couldn't force him, so we just waited. After a long moment, he finally spoke.

'If I tell ya's, ya gotta promise to do somethin' about it,' he said. 'Too many times the jacks just sit on their a.r.s.es and do nothin'.'

'You have my word we'll go after this one,' I said, turning to face him. 'Whoever knocked Dallas knew what they were doing; same too with what happened last night to Justin. So believe me, we want this bloke to pay.'

'All right, f.u.c.k it. Do ya have a DVD player?'

'Ah, yes. Why?'

'Because the kiddie p.o.r.n's just the start of it. So take me back to St Kilda. I have to show ya somethin'.'

24.

SPARKS DIRECTED US BACK to the squat on Clyde Street, the Falcon jolting over the bluestone roadway as we came alongside the house. I looked for the fat trannie in the red dress but couldn't see him anywhere. He'd probably found a client. to the squat on Clyde Street, the Falcon jolting over the bluestone roadway as we came alongside the house. I looked for the fat trannie in the red dress but couldn't see him anywhere. He'd probably found a client.

'Keep drivin',' Sparks said. 'Park at the end of the street.'

I did as instructed and he ran back to the house, disappeared into the drive. From this angle any view of the squat was blocked by a brand new double-storey townhouse with a 'For Sale' sign out the front. I was wondering idly if living next door to drug addicts was part of the real estate agent's sale pitch when Sparks reappeared with what looked like a black carry case for a laptop. But he wasn't alone. A brindle-coated dog leapt after him.

'No way, Sparks. No dogs in the car.'

'Huh? He's just a puppy, mate. Six months old.'

'I don't care. I'm not having a pit bull in my car. Take it back inside.'

'He's not a pit bull. He's a bull mastiff.'

'Whatever. Take him back.'

Sparks backed out of the car, put down the laptop case and dug out a DVD in a plastic sleeve.

'Look, man, you wanna see what I got here or not? This is some bad s.h.i.t, but I'm not leavin' my little mate in there with those guys any longer than I have to. Either Hooch comes or I go back inside with him.'

I looked at the dog. He was dirty and underfed, his ribs clearly visible, the back half of his body wobbling, his tail whipping back and forth.

'All right. Get in, but make sure you hold on to him. I don't want any dog puke on my seats.'

Sparks hoisted the dog inside, but failed to keep him still and he leapt into the front. Ca.s.sie laughed, enticing the dog off me and onto her. Eventually Sparks took control of the animal, settling him on his knee.

'Where to now?' I said, frustrated. It was just after six and I was supposed to be meeting Ella in two hours. 'Why did you ask me if I had a DVD player when you've got that laptop? Can't we just watch it on that?'

Sparks explained that the laptop didn't belong to him and that he'd tried to use it but there were pa.s.swords blocking his access. When Ca.s.sie asked how he'd watched the DVD, he said he'd broken into his mum's house while she was at work and watched it there. It was a plausible enough story.

'So we need a DVD player,' said Ca.s.sie. 'Obviously the one in the watch-house mess room is out of the question.'

She was looking at me as she spoke and I wondered whether she meant the station was off limits for me or for Sparks. For a moment I contemplated suggesting we go to my apartment and watch it on my own telly, but there were lines even I didn't cross. Having crooks in my house was one of them.

'I've got a laptop,' Ca.s.sie said instead. 'On my desk. Fully charged too. Drop me off out the front, I'll run in and get it.'

I took the backstreets and double-parked across the road from the station. Just ahead of us, a group of local junkies gathered around a phone box, probably waiting on a dealer. Sparks slouched in the back seat, muttering about not wanting to be seen.

'Right, where do you wanna go?' I asked him when Ca.s.sie was back in the car.

'Go to a.n.a.l Park,' he said. 'I'll tell you why when we get there.'

'a.n.a.l Park?' Ca.s.sie repeated.

'Alma Park,' I said. 'It's a gay beat at night.'

When we crossed into East St Kilda, Sparks instructed me to park just shy of the railway line, opposite a bicycle track that wound through the western section of the park. We followed him to a picnic table adjacent to the bike track, where he let his dog off the lead and set his laptop on the table next to Ca.s.sie's.

'Got another condition,' he said. 'If I give ya what I've got, ya gotta go blind for somethin'.'

Ca.s.sie rolled her eyes. 'Depends what you're talking about. If you mugged somebody, we can't turn a blind eye to that.'

'I didn't roll n.o.body!' he said, throwing a stick. The dog ran after it but didn't see it land and became confused, running in circles. 'Few days ago I hit a joint just down the road from here. One of them big old joints, like all the Jews live in. It was about two in the arvo during the week, so I figure I've got a good chance n.o.body's home.'

'Because you've done it before?' Ca.s.sie asked.

Sparks just looked at her.

'Well?' she said. 'Don't pretend it's your first time.'

'I'm not. Who cares anyway? I mean, all those rich mother-f.u.c.kers have insurance.'

Ca.s.sie went to reply but I cut her off.

'Come on, Sparks. Give us some credit. We're not going to arrest you for a p.i.s.sy little burg. We'll just add it to the jemmy bar we found you with in the car park today. That's two points for us.'

'Yeah, righto. You want this or not?'

'Go on.'

He threw another stick for his dog. This time the dog found it and began to chew it.

'Dall asked me to do the burg,' he said when he came back to the table. 'I hadn't spoken to him since we got out. Like I said, we went our separate ways. Anyway, one night last week he finds me on the street, says he's got a job for me. I told him to get rooted since the last time I accepted a job from him I ended up in the can. But then he showed me the cash. Two large for a s.h.i.tty burg, mate. Gave me a grand up-front and an address, said all I gotta do was slip in during the day when the rich-p.r.i.c.k owner was at work. Said he'd give me the other grand on delivery.'

He shook his head in frustration and sat on the edge of the table.

'Delivery of the laptop?' I said, looking at the case in front of me. 'This is what your voicemail message was about?'

'Yeah. Sounds simple, right do a burg and hoist a laptop?'

Ca.s.sie and I both nodded.

'No one pays two large to rip off a laptop unless they're plannin' somethin' with it,' he said. 'I knew I wasn't just doin' a burg, but an earn like that doesn't come along every day for a s.h.i.tman like me, so I took the cash and said I'd do it.'

He paused and we waited for him to go on.

'Anyway, few days ago I door-knocked the joint and made sure no one was home. When no one answered I went around the back, climbed the veranda and went in through the bathroom window. No alarms upstairs in those joints.'

I nodded at the familiar method of entry. The kid was definitely no rookie.

'Went in the first room and found the laptop, exactly where Dall said it would be,' Sparks continued. 'Then all of a sudden I hear a car pull up out the front. I look out the window and see this Beamer in the b.l.o.o.d.y driveway. I'm high-tailing it when I see a set of keys on a table. So I swiped the f.u.c.kers and hauled a.r.s.e out the window like a monkey.'

'Do you think he saw you?' Ca.s.sie asked.

'Nah, I was gone before he was even in the house.'

'You get a look at him?' I said.

'Mate, all I saw was this set of wheels in the f.u.c.kin' driveway and I was outta there.'

I considered all this as the dog came bounding back over, the stick covered in s...o...b..r. He dropped it at our feet and barked. Sparks picked it up, hurled it away and wiped his hands on his shorts.

'The laptop wasn't enough for you though, was it?' I said. 'You took the car as well.'

'I got the keys, all right. It was like the lottery, man. All I had to do was go back there and take it. Mate, I just pressed the b.u.t.ton and she opened up. Just like that, a f.u.c.kin' gift.'

Ca.s.sie and I exchanged glances. The story was a familiar one. Whenever a burglary or break-in occurred, home owners always checked the obvious items like televisions, cash and jewellery. They rarely noticed the spare set of car keys missing. Not until it was too late. A home burglary with the lot.

'Drove it all the way down to Frankston and back, even went to the beach and pretended I was rich,' Sparks said. He shot a nervous glance at Ca.s.sie. 'Wouldn't believe how many chicks actually looked at me when I was in that car.'

'So where is it now?'

'Left it on the Esplanade.'

Ca.s.sie scoffed.

'I did! s.h.i.t, what am I gonna do with a Beamer, man?' he cried. 'I'm just a f.u.c.kin' junkie. Give me a video camera and I'll turn it into cash the same day, but a hundred-thousand-dollar set of wheels I wouldn't know where to begin. s.h.i.t, check your records. Rich p.r.i.c.k probably found it the next day and took it home without even reportin' it.'

Neither of us were convinced but I decided to push things along. 'Look, forget the car. Tell me about Thursday night. You were supposed to meet Dallas but he never showed, right?'

'Too right he never showed. He told me to meet him at midnight outside Luna Park. He was gonna give me the other grand for this b.l.o.o.d.y thing.' He nodded at the laptop. 'I got there on time, waited a whole hour. Even rang his phone about five times but got no answer. First I thought he might've just forgotten about it, but Dall wasn't like that. He was reliable and he wanted the laptop, so I knew something was up. The next morning I left a message on his voicemail, then went to CARS and found out he was dead. After that, I wanted to see what I was holdin' on to for him, so I tried to turn the b.a.s.t.a.r.d on but it's got a pa.s.sword. I was about to chuck it when I found this disk in the carry case. When I watched it, that's when I realised I was in trouble.'

He let out a deep breath and seemed to deflate.

'Hang on,' I said. 'If Dallas wanted this laptop so bad, why would he get you to do the burg? Why wouldn't he do it himself?'

'All day I've been askin' myself the same question,' Sparks said. 'First I figured he was too cool for it, like he wouldn't wanna get his own hands dirty for a s.h.i.tty little burg. Ya know, just get old Sparks to do it, the f.u.c.kin' junkie ring-in, like he did with the armed rob. But now when I think about it, I reckon he knew the p.r.i.c.k and didn't wanna risk gettin' seen. So he asked me to do it.'

It sounded plausible, though I suspected there was more to it. But we were getting to a critical point and I didn't want to lose him.

'Who are we talking about? This rich p.r.i.c.k you robbed, what's his name?'

'Peter Parker.'

I went to write it down, then realised he was bulls.h.i.tting me. 'As in Spider-Man Spider-Man?'

'Or in this case, rock rock spider man.' spider man.'

'Come on, Sparks. We can't take him down if we don't know who he is. Give us a name.'

'Look, I don't know who he is, all right? Even if I did, I said I wasn't no dog. No names, remember?'