me, boss. I don’t go up there. Just stay here and patrol the grounds. I don’t visit the tenants.’
‘You do today. Come on, up you get.’
Pappa crossed his meaty arms and leant back in his chair. ‘Tell you what, I can call him up and tell him to come down or you can go up there on your own. Either way, I’m not going up.’
‘Not good enough, George. I need your help.’
‘Hey, you get to go home after this. I have to work with these people.’
‘Is that marijuana I smell on you, George?’
‘Huh? Not me, boss.’
I pressed my face close to the glass.
‘Sure? What about those bloodshot eyes? Maybe you want some chips with your munchies.’
‘Eyes aren’t bloodshot. Just hayfever.’
‘What about that car out there, the old Mazda I saw in the security bay? Looks like a blind man tried to park it.’ I held up my mobile phone. ‘Might get the boys from the station to come down, run a drug test on you. Sure your supervisor would be happy to know you’re stoned on the job?’
‘All I have to do is come up, right?’ he said.
‘And stay with me while I talk to this guy,’ I replied, holding his stare.
A heavy sheen of sweat lacquered the fat man’s forehead and he gulped. ‘Okay.’
We rode a lift scarred with cigarette burns and graffiti to the tenth floor. Somebody had altered a ‘No Smoking’ sign to read ‘No Smacking’. I wondered if it referred to heroin or the discipline of children. The elevator crawled up slowly and groaned to a stop. When we stepped out, the acrid smell of curry and spices stung my sinuses but Pappa didn’t seem to notice. Maybe it was one of those things you got used to. Overhead a fluorescent light flickered as Pappa led me towards the end of the hall. Along the way he picked up a syringe with his bare hands and dropped it in a yellow canister he carried in his pocket. Another thing you probably got used to in the commission flats.
‘Filthy things are everywhere,’ he said. ‘Reckon I collect two hundred of them every week.’
I said nothing, thinking of Dallas Boyd’s apartment in St Kilda and how luxurious it must have seemed in comparison to this shithole. At the end of the hall we stopped at an orange door covered by a mesh security grille.
‘This is it,’ Pappa said. ‘Do your thing, boss.’
I knocked on the grille and the twang of metal echoed down the hall. No answer. I leant closer to the door, heard a TV inside, knocked again. This time there were footsteps and a little girl’s voice called, ‘Who is it?’
I nudged Pappa. ‘You work here. She’ll know you. Tell her to open the door.’
‘Ah, hi Rachel,’ he said. ‘It’s George from downstairs. Is your daddy home?’
‘He’s asleep.’
I nudged him again.
‘Can I talk to you for a second, please?’
There was silence and I thought she might’ve been scared off. I was about to ask Pappa to try again when the door opened and the girl stood on the threshold, security mesh shading her in darkness. The sound of cartoons and the blue glow of a television came from behind her.
‘Hi, George,’ she said. ‘Are you here to watch The Lion King?’
‘No, sweetie. We’re here to see your daddy.’
‘Okay. Who’s that with you?’
The kid was smart, I quickly realised. And cautious. A natural survival instinct in the flats. I squatted and talked to her at eye level.
‘Hello, Rachel, my name’s Rubens. Can I speak to you for a second?’
‘Mummy says I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.’
‘That’s right, you’re not.’
The capsicum spray dug into my thigh as I crouched. I contemplated telling her I was a cop but figured that would only backfire. To these kids, cops were the enemy. They arrested your parents and older siblings. They crashed through your front door and took you away from your family.
‘Tell you what, Rachel,’ I said, hiding my daybook behind my back and putting on a smile in case she could see through the grille. ‘Why don’t you wake Daddy up, tell him a friend wants to talk to him. Do you think you could do that?’
Rachel’s face changed to a mask of fear as an adult shadow appeared behind her. ‘I’m awake,’ said a nasal voice. ‘What do ya’s want?’
Standing up, I realised I was significantly taller than the man on the other side of the door, but I wasn’t sure whether this would play in my