a six-figure advance for writing a book about him.
Cassie turned up the volume as, onscreen, an unmarked police cruiser slowed to turn into the car park at the police complex. A man was huddled between two detectives in the back seat. I stepped up to the screen as the news anchor explained that a suspect had been taken into custody by the Homicide Squad. But when the news cameras pressed a light against the side window of the car, I was staring at a man I’d never seen before.
‘That’s not him,’ I said to Cassie. ‘It’s not Kirzek.’
‘Huh?’
‘Look!’ I said, pointing to the figure in the back seat. ‘It’s not him.’
‘Then who the hell have they got?’
I was dialling Eckles’ number when there was a sound of running footsteps and Mark Finetti entered the room, a startled look across his face.
‘You guys need to haul arse,’ he spluttered. ‘That kid from today, your informant, we just found him outside the squat off Acland Street. Looks like he had a fight with Freddy Krueger.’
‘Sparks?’ I said, my mouth dry.
‘Yeah, stabbed to death.’
The narrow street was blocked at the entrance, blue and red police lights pulsing against the darkening night sky. Hundreds of festival goers were packed against the crime scene tape, like fans queuing for a grand final. Finetti wound down his window and began yelling at the crowd to move, but it made no difference, so Cassie flicked the siren on. When that didn’t work I got out of the car and physically ushered the rubber-neckers to the sides, giving us just enough space to get the car through. We signed the attendance log and stepped under the plastic tape. Already the forensic process was in full swing. A team of crime scene officers had their cameras and toolboxes ready, while another team had assembled floodlights to illuminate the driveway where Sparks had been killed.
Kim Pendlebury came over to us. ‘Look at this place,’ she said, nodding to the surging crowd and the lone constable who stood guarding the crime scene. ‘We need as many bodies as we can get down here. Cassie, you help out Powers over there, keep these people in line. Mark, I want you on media watch. We don’t want any shifty journos breaking through, got it?’
They both nodded and walked off towards the crowd.
‘So you knew this kid?’ Kim asked me.
‘An informant,’ I said, looking over her shoulder to the crumpled and bloodied body. The sight sickened me and I had to look away.
‘Well, you know how it goes. You can’t go in. I gotta keep it clear.’
‘What can you tell me?’
‘We think the killer staked out the house from over there,’ she said, pointing to a palm tree. A crime scene examiner crawled around on the ground beneath it, examining the road and nature strip. I could see an old syringe and a used condom that the CSO had highlighted with numbered evidence tags, even though they probably weren’t related to the murder. For a second I wondered what sort of photo the image would make. A used condom, a dirty needle and a crime scene cop crawling around a palm tree. Very St Kilda. Maybe they could make a postcard out of it and sell it to the tourists.
‘Why over there?’
‘Well, we got witnesses.’
‘No way!’
‘A couple walked by here just before the kid got sliced. They saw an overweight transvestite on the other side of the street, leaning against the tree, looking like he was waiting for something.’
An image of the trannie I’d seen earlier flashed in my mind and I suddenly felt weak at the knees.
‘That prick, I saw him,’ I said. ‘I was here about five this arvo, looking for Sparks. There was a fat trannie in a red dress right here. I didn’t recognise him, thought he was just another newcomer.’
I closed my eyes and tried to remember the face, a telling detail, maybe a tattoo, anything, but all I could see was the dress. There’d been a blonde wig too, but the dress had been all-consuming. Bright red and bursting at the seams. That had probably been his intention. Make yourself look disgusting, that way no one looks at your face. Perfect disguise.
‘The hommies might want to speak to you,’ Kim said.
‘Yeah. How much did the witnesses see?’
‘Not a lot. They live around here, a married couple. They see trannies all the time, so this was no biggie, except when they got back from their evening stroll us cops