vent or a makeshift manhole that the residents had created. And you never knew what fruitcakes would be inside. Being on my own only made it worse.
I knocked hard on the side of the house and a dog barked on the other side of the wall.
‘Sparks, you in there, mate?’ I called out. The dog barked again and I heard it trot across the floorboards. ‘Anyone home?’
‘What ya want?’ came a reply.
‘Lookin’ for Sparks,’ I said, putting on my best junkie voice. ‘Is that you, mate? I gotta fix ya up with some cash.’
I wasn’t sure whether Sparks was the person yelling back at me, or if he was even inside, but whoever it was, I knew the offer of money would bring them out. I took out the capsicum spray and shook it, ready to dose the dog or any other feral that came for me. I heard the sliding of timber and a lean figure slid out of a lower window. It wasn’t Sparks, but I recognised the stringy hair and rat-like face from the wall of pictures in the watch-house mess room. I hid behind a rotten fence and steadied myself with the pepper can as he shuffled down the drive.
‘Boo,’ I said, stepping out with my badge case open. ‘Where’s Sparks?’
His hooded eyes were heavily glazed but he quickly took in the badge and the spray in my other hand.
‘Ah, ya prick. Tricked me.’
‘Fell for the oldest one in the book, old son. No money today, I’m afraid, but there’s a few smokes in it for you.’ I put the badge away and opened my cigarette pack. ‘Real smokes too. None of this roll-your-own shit.’
He made a grab for the pack but I pulled back. ‘Where is he first? Inside?’
‘Nup.’
‘Then where?’ I said, shaking the pack in front of him. ‘No one else has to know.’
‘At the beach,’ he said curtly. ‘Foreshore.’
I quickly computed this. Half a million people in St Kilda. Thirty-five degrees. Half of them at the beach. A needle in a haystack.
‘Where at the beach? Does he have a mobile?’
The man shrugged, eyes still on the smokes. I gave him a handful and walked off. There was no way I could do this alone. I rang Cassie and arranged to meet her at the foreshore playground.
‘I’ll be with Mark,’ she said. ‘That okay with you?’
‘Finetti? What’s he still hanging around for?’
‘He’s on foot patrol, looking for someone. Apparently you guys cut a deal.’
I cursed under my breath. I’d asked Finetti to find Sparks for me and keep him under wraps so I could question him without anyone knowing. Naturally, part of the deal was that he didn’t talk about it.
‘You want to fill me in now?’ she said.
‘Not really.’
‘Then I’m not meeting you. Whoever it is you want to find, you can do it yourself.’
‘Wait,’ I said, catching her before she ended the call. ‘We did have a deal. I just wanted Finetti to find this kid for me but he obviously hasn’t kept his end of the bargain.’
‘Ruby, you know how many people are down here today?’
‘Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry for what – keeping secrets or being unreasonable?’
‘Look, just meet me and I’ll explain. Ten minutes.’
‘Fine.’
I ended the call, knowing I’d messed up. Once again I’d broken the cardinal rule between partners. I was rehearsing my explanation to Cassie when I noticed an overweight transvestite in a red dress watching me. Another newcomer. Sometimes it seemed there was one every week. I walked past him and headed back into the crowd, where it took over five minutes just to pass Luna Park. At the entrance, high-pitched laughter from a thousand children screamed out at me, as if the park itself were alive. It reminded me of the first time I’d ever been there as a child, when my family came to Melbourne and stayed with relatives. I remembered the ghost train and dodgem cars, how a girl threw up inside the spinning gravitron. I remembered my mother buying us fairy floss and ice cream. The only other time I’d visited Luna Park was with Dad, years later, when we travelled to Melbourne to look for Jacko.
As I waited at the traffic lights, I looked back at the O’Donnell Gardens and the rear of Café Vit where Dallas Boyd had been dumped. For the first time I considered the paedophile angle as a possibility. Tammy York had said Dallas was involved with a paedophile crew, helping them find kids for porn movies