the guy who found Dallas Boyd in the first place. And since he specifically said he didn’t know the kid, I’m thinking he’s got something major to hide. Like, whoever smelt it dealt it.’
‘What’s his sheet say?’
‘I’ve got it up on the screen right now and that’s the thing. Nada.’
‘Nothing at all?’
‘Well, according to his driver’s licence, Vitazul was born in 1915, which doesn’t gel with the guy we saw at the café. So I checked his licence photo through VicRoads and guess what, it’s not our guy. The guy on the licence is older than dirt.’
I tried to think it through. Either we were talking about two different people with the same name who just happened to be connected to the same murder, or the name Vitazul was bullshit.
‘What about the address?’ I asked. ‘Any crime reports, maybe a burg or stolen car?’
‘Sweet bugger all. This Vitazul character, or whoever the hell he is, didn’t report his car stolen or the break-in. Maybe your kid’s telling porkies about where he got the laptop.’
I looked at Sparks sitting hunched up in the back seat. ‘He’s telling the truth.’
‘All right, man. Want me to put a KALOF out on this guy?’
‘No, I know where to find him,’ I said. I hung up before Finetti said anything else, then filled Cassie in on the details.
‘Whoever Vitazul is, he’s hiding something,’ she said. ‘Maybe we should call Homicide, give them the news and get a posse going?’
I didn’t need to think about a response. ‘No, I want to talk to this guy myself. And anyway, all I’m going to do is bring this prick in on the kiddie porn and see what shakes out. No need to mention anything about Dallas Boyd or the Talbot Reserve job last night.’
‘And therefore no need to call Homicide?’ she finished.
I smiled at her across the roof of the Falcon. ‘Now you’re with me.’
‘You’re as shifty as a shithouse rat, you know that?’
‘One of Victoria’s finest.’
26
I DROPPED SPARKS BACK AT the squat, we swapped mobile phone numbers and I said I’d be in touch. Then I parked in a clearway and Cassie and I walked the two blocks to Acland Street. The crowd seemed to move at an agonisingly slow pace and I ended up pushing my way through. As we passed a black BMW roadster a thought occurred to me.
‘What colour did Sparks say Vitazul’s Beamer was?’
‘Dark blue,’ Cassie said. ‘And Finetti confirmed that, right?’
I nodded, a sudden realisation dawning on me. Tammy York had been strangled by an overweight man in a navy blue BMW. She’d even said he’d spoken with a European accent. He kept patting my head and telling me I’d been a good girl but now I was bad.
‘Son of a bitch,’ I said. ‘He was trying to kill her too.’
‘What?’ said Cassie.
I told her about Tammy York and how her attacker might very well have been Vitazul.
‘Maybe she was in on the scam too. Like Dallas and Justin,’ she said. ‘All three of them are on that disk. That would explain why she never mentioned anything about it when you questioned her.’
I was thinking the same thing and was about to suggest we question her again when my mobile rang. The caller ID read private number.
‘McCauley.’
‘Rubes, is that you?’
‘Andy?’ I said, unsure because of all the noise of the crowd.
Covering my other ear, I heard my brother mention something about a gym membership, so I turned down an alley to hear him better.
‘Say again?’
‘I said, you wanted me to check the names on our client list at the gym, see if those kids you were looking for had membership, right?’
Cassie came around the corner, her face curious, and I mouthed the word ‘Anthony’.
‘No Derek Jardine on our current client list,’ Anthony said. ‘His membership expired last June. No continuance. As I said, not surprising. Not many stick with it.’
‘Never mind him. I think he’s in Queensland anyhow.’
‘This other bloke, Dallas Boyd, his membership’s still current, though we haven’t seen him for a while either. Maybe he’s in Queensland too. Wish I was. Maybe if I start using heroin every day the government’ll pay for me to go on a holiday. That how it works?’
‘Something like that. Listen, I’m on to something here. Gotta fly. Thanks, Andy.’
‘No worries. Thanks for going to see Mum this morning, by the way. I’ve just got back myself.’
I winced and turned away from Cassie. ‘Ah, how is she?’
‘Still knocked out on painkillers. Dad’s going to stay