Blood Sunset

23



STUART PARKS WAS NO OIL PAINTING. He looked pale and unwell, his shoulders arched over a lean frame. The grubby singlet he was wearing did him no justice either, revealing bony arms, cheap tattoos and a series of abscesses on his wrists. Teenage stubble sprouted on a gaunt face dotted with acne.
‘So what gives?’ I said. ‘My partner says you wanted to talk.’
‘Not ’ere. Somewhere else.’
Looking back towards the crowded Esplanade, I didn’t think it was a good idea to walk Sparks back to where my car was, so I waved Cassie over, handed her my keys and asked her to fetch the Falcon from the hostel and meet us at the marina.
‘Take Barkly Street. You should get through the traffic.’
‘What about them?’ she said quietly, nodding towards Finetti and Pendlebury.
‘They’ve done all they need to do.’
She headed over to tell them they could go, leaving me with Sparks, who fidgeted with the handcuffs.
‘Bit tight?’ I asked.
‘What do you reckon?’
‘Well, don’t worry too much. It’s because they’re new. They’ll stretch out a bit after a while.’
He gave me a death stare. I couldn’t help but smile. ‘Relax,’ I said, checking the cuffs and ratcheting them down a notch. ‘It’s an old joke. Surprised you haven’t heard it before.’
‘I have and it’s still not funny. Never has been.’
‘Yeah, okay. What are you so edgy about?’
‘Got me smokes in me pocket,’ he said, ignoring my question. ‘Reckon ya could get one for me?’
‘How do I know you don’t have a syringe in there?’
‘How do I know you’re not gonna do me for the jemmy bar?’
‘Why shouldn’t I?’
‘Because you want what I’ve got. Bigger than any go-equipped bullshit.’
I nodded. The kid knew the rules. I carefully removed a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one for him.
‘Let’s take a walk.’
We headed back through the car park towards the marina. Sparks was moving too quickly. I put a hand on his shoulder to slow him down.
‘So, Sparks – that’s what they call you, isn’t it? Can I call you that?’
‘Call me whatever ya like when we get to the car.’ He held up his hands to take a drag on the smoke. ‘Not sayin’ nothin’ till ya take these off. Make me feel like a leper. Everyone’s starin’ at me.’
‘There’s no one around, mate.’
‘Yeah, what d’ya call that?’ he said, nodding to the left where a family had just arrived back at their car. He was right; they were staring. I stepped in beside him to block their view and guided him up the stairs. We didn’t speak again until we reached the marina where Cassie waited in the Falcon. She stayed in the driver seat while I sat Sparks in the back, removed the handcuffs and engaged the child lock. I got in the front and looked at him through the mirror on the sun visor. He seemed small and vulnerable now, arms wrapped around his bony frame, glancing back and forth like a cornered rat.
‘You hungry?’ I asked him.
‘What?’
‘Could murder a burger right now. Are you hungry, Cass?’
Cassie shrugged. ‘Sure, but not one of those Macca’s burgers. I want a real burger.’
‘Exactly. What about a big fat burger with the lot from Smithy’s?’
Smithy’s was a fish and chip shop on Beach Road in Brighton. There were hundreds like it across the city, but it was my favourite spot for a burger. I often went there after swimming at the baths when the exercise left me famished and craving fast food.
I used my mobile to call ahead and soon we were in the car park facing the water, munching our burgers and slurping Cokes.
‘So what did you want to tell me?’ I asked after a few bites.
‘First off, ya gotta know I ain’t no dog, so I’m not gonna lag on no one.’
‘No one’s asking you to,’ I said.
‘Right, well, I’m just sayin’ I’m no dog, that’s all.’
This was normal. Nobody wanted to admit they were an informant. I took another bite of my burger and waited.
‘Everyone’s sayin’ Dall knocked himself or that it was an accident,’ Sparks said after a moment. ‘But that’s bullshit, isn’t it?’
‘What makes you say that?’ Cassie asked.
‘Mate, soon as I saw ya at the hostel I knew it was bullshit,’ he said, looking at me in the rear-view mirror. ‘When I asked Will what ya were doin’ sniffin’ around about Dall, he said ya was looking into it.’
I figured that was how the kid knew my name. I asked if Will had told him anything else.
‘Didn’t have to,’ Sparks said. ‘Jacks don’t go sniffin’ around for no suicide. Dall didn’t knock himself, did he?’
‘No, and it wasn’t an accident either.’
Sparks rested the burger in his lap and let out a low sigh. ‘Shit,’ he said. ‘I knew it.’
‘You can trust us,’ Cassie said. ‘We need your help to catch whoever did it.’
He folded his arms and stared out the side window. ‘I never said I’d f*ckin’ trust ya. Don’t trust cops. F*ck that.’
‘Must be a reason you asked for me though,’ I said.
He didn’t reply.
‘Dallas was into something, wasn’t he?’ Cassie said. ‘Is that why you asked for Rubens as soon as we arrested you? Because you knew he was looking into it and you knew what Dallas was into?’
Still nothing.
‘What about the message you left on Dallas’s answering machine?’ I asked. ‘You said you had something for him, something he asked you to get. But he didn’t show up, did he?’
Again, silence.
‘This is important, Sparks. I know Dallas was supposed to meet somebody at Luna Park about eleven the night he died, to sell some kiddie porn. I need to know who that person was. Do you know who it was?’
I turned to face the windscreen, hoping to depersonalise the conversation, like going to confession with an unseen priest.
‘Look, if you don’t want to tell us something specific, that’s fine,’ Cassie said. ‘Just tell us about Dallas. Why don’t you start with that? You were mates, did time together, didn’t you?’
‘Were mates,’ Sparks said finally. ‘Least till we landed in Malmsbury after the armed rob. After that we went our separate ways. Dall chased the money, and I fell in love.’
‘You fell in love?’ Cassie said.
‘Yeah, with heroin.’
‘Right, and Dallas wanted money,’ she went on. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Exactly what I said. Dall wanted cash. Apart from saving his little sister, it was all he cared about, all he ever spoke about. That’s what happens when you go away: you think about things. Dall thought about money and his little sister. The only difference was, Dall sounded like he had a scam ready for when he got out. He wasn’t a dreamer like all the other shitheads in there.’
A panel van pulled up next to us and two guys with ponytails got out, unloaded kite-surf bags and trekked off towards the beach. It now seemed apparent to me that Dallas Boyd had formed a plan to sell child porn while he was still in jail, but how? Had somebody approached him there? I wanted to open my daybook and scribe but couldn’t risk spooking the kid. We had to keep it informal.
‘What about Derek Jardine?’ I asked. ‘The other guy you did the armed rob with.’
‘Ah shit, there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. Last I heard he pissed 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 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?’ Cassie 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*ck, 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*ckin’ 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 Cassie, then at me.
‘Justin Quinn,’ Cassie 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 shit.’
‘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 bullshit 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 to help us, otherwise why would you ask for me?’
‘We already know he was selling kiddie porn and you were holding on to something for him,’ Cassie 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 arses 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*ck it. Do ya have a DVD player?’
‘Ah, yes. Why?’
‘Because the kiddie porn’s just the start of it. So take me back to St Kilda. I have to show ya somethin’.’