Blood Sunset Part 21

I told him to jump in and waited for a tram to ease forward, then made a U-turn. Before we reached the Barkly Street intersection I explained that despite some initial dead ends the investigation was moving quickly and that there were a number of important leads, Tammy being one of them.

'Hold up a second,' Novak said. 'Last I heard you were still trying to confirm that Dall was actually murdered. I take it you've done that and this is now officially a homicide investigation. Is that the case?'

'Yes.'

'What about Dall's stepfather? Did you speak to him?'

'Yes, and he's clean.'

'What! That sicko beat the living s.h.i.t out of Dall for almost ten years. He even threatened to '

'I know,' I cut in. 'I didn't say he wasn't a sc.u.mbag. I just said he didn't kill Dallas.'

Novak appeared to consider this while we waited to turn off Carlisle Street.

'So where am I going?' I asked. 'What's the address?'

'Three-sixty Barkly. Three blocks up. We could've walked.'

'Not in this heat. Besides, I don't think you wanna walk past this,' I said, turning the car and driving slowly by the crime scene.

'My G.o.d, is that what I think it is?' Novak asked.

'Yeah, somebody was killed last night.'

'A lot of my clients frequent that park. Do you know what happened?'

I nodded. 'Stabbing.'

'Who?'

'Can't tell you that, Will. You'll have to wait until an official identification's been made.'

'What kind of s.h.i.t is that? Here I am, on a Sunday Sunday, helping you get close to a witness. Don't tell me to wait. You know how I feel about my clients. Losing Dall was bad enough. If there's another one I have to bury, I wanna know about it,' he said.

I pulled up outside the apartment block Tammy lived in and looked at Novak. There was only one right way to do this. 'Will, if I tell you the victim's name, it didn't come from me, okay?'

He nodded.

'It was a boy named Justin Quinn,' I said, watching for any sign of recognition.

His eyes narrowed in thought. Then he shook his head. 'I don't know him. Not one of mine, thank G.o.d.'

I stared over at the apartment building. It was of the same era as Dallas Boyd's, made of grey besser block with a faded mission brown trim and an internal staircase. Unlike Boyd's building, the name of this one had fallen off. I hoped I hadn't made a mistake in telling Novak the name of the victim. I thanked him for his help and asked him to wait in the car. But he shook his head.

'You know what this means?' he said.

'What?'

'There's no way Tammy's going to talk to you now. She's new, so she'll be too scared. She'll just clam up.'

'So what are you saying?'

'I need to come with you, help you explain things to her.'

'You can't be serious.'

'I am. She'll trust me. She definitely won't trust you.'

'Will, this is a police investigation. You're not a cop. You can't be involved.'

'Ah, h.e.l.lo.' Novak waved the Post-it note. 'I already am am involved.' involved.'

'Not like this you're not. I can't have you questioning a potential witness.'

'Fair enough, but she won't talk to you unless I'm there to ease her anxiety.'

I swiped at sweat on my forehead and stared at Novak, realising he was probably right.

'Hey, be my guest,' he said calmly. 'You go up there and see how far you get. My guess is she won't even answer the door.'

I hesitated. This wasn't my usual approach. I was old school and I respected the old-school code of mutual understanding between police and crooks. Most of the hookers upheld the code, but if Tammy was young and new to the game she wouldn't know the rules. And she definitely wouldn't trust me.

'All right, but you leave it to me me to do the questioning. Got it?' to do the questioning. Got it?'

'Fine.'

'I'm serious.'

We crossed the street to the apartment building. As we climbed the internal staircase to the second floor I heard a baby crying and wondered how many other hookers lived in the complex and how many had children living with them.

'This is it,' said Novak, reading from the note in his hand.

I knocked, waited. Nothing. Knocking again, I remembered the security guard at the commission housing estate telling me I was too early, that these people were nocturnal.

Novak went to speak but I cut him off. 'I know,' I said. 'I don't care if she's asleep. I'll keep knocking until somebody answers.'

'I was going to say I've got her mobile number,' said Novak. 'The kid I bulls.h.i.tted, he gave it to me as well as the address.'

He handed me the note. I dialled the number and heard it ring inside. The first time it rang out. On the second try, footsteps followed. Novak smiled as I hung up and knocked again.

'Jesus Christ!' shouted a male voice. 'Who the f.u.c.k is it?'

I looked at Novak. 'Who's that?'

He shrugged, leaving me to speak through the door.

'Police! I need to speak to Tammy.'

'She's asleep. Come back later.'

I almost laughed. The nerve of these people. 'No, mate, that's not how it works. Wake her up.'

'What's it about?'

'Don't worry about that, and don't worry about trying to clean up the mess inside either. We're not going to come in. I just want to talk to her.'

'f.u.c.kin' bulls.h.i.t. How do I know you're not here to arrest her or somethin'?'

Novak stepped forward. 'We have some information about Dallas Boyd, but we need to confirm this with Tammy. We're not interested in seeing what you've got inside. We just need to talk to her.'

A moment of silence went by, then a shadow moved beneath the door.

'How do I know youse are even cops?' asked a different voice. A female voice.

I held my badge up to the eyepiece and eventually the door opened. Tammy was shorter than I recalled and seemed thinner than in the picture in Dallas's flat, the remnants of last night's make-up smudged across a face that had probably endured more years than birthdays.

As she hugged a satin dressing gown close to her chest, I noticed sores on her wrist and a large bruise around her neck, as though somebody had strangled her. Her hair looked like a bird's nest, dark roots replacing bleached blonde. Still, she was an attractive girl and could remain so if she took care of herself. But I knew she wouldn't.

'So ya got some news on Dall?' she said, her voice coa.r.s.e and shaky.

'I'd like to ask you some questions first,' I said. 'Is that okay?'

She shrugged. 'Ask away. Maybe then you can answer some for me.'

'Like what?'

'Like how he overdosed even though he wasn't usin'.'

Novak turned away. 'Right.'

'What?' Tammy said, her lower lip beginning to tremble. 'Think I'm making it up? Think all of us are junkies, don't ya?'

'I didn't say that,' said Novak.

'Then what, ya think he knocked himself?'

Tammy glared at him, angry. I shot him a look also, annoyed he'd jumped into the conversation.

'Perhaps I need to introduce Will Novak,' I said. 'He's not actually a detective. He's a social worker.'

Tammy's eyes grew wide with recognition. 'You're from the hostel down on Carlisle Street,' she said. 'Dall told me about you. Said you were helping him.'

Novak nodded. 'He was one of my clients. Lived at the centre for about two years. I helped him overcome many of his problems, including heroin. Even helped him get his apartment.'

'Then you'd know know he wasn't a junkie.' he wasn't a junkie.'

'Just because he'd been clean for some time doesn't mean he didn't relapse and start using again.'

Tammy made to snap at him again, then turned away. She brushed a hand over her eyes.

'We're investigating all possibilities,' I said. 'When was the last time you saw Dallas?'

'The day he died,' she said, still facing away. 'He spotted for me, then we went down to Lambs for a souvlaki.'

I opened my daybook, wrote Tammy Tammy and and Fitzroy Street Fitzroy Street at the top of a fresh page. I wanted to ask for her surname and other details but that would have to wait. at the top of a fresh page. I wanted to ask for her surname and other details but that would have to wait.

'Okay, where else?'

She turned to face me, revealing a line of mascara streaked down her cheek like a scar. 'Like I said, we got chips and a souvlaki, then we went to the 7-Eleven. He needed a recharge card for his phone.'

I wrote this down and asked what happened next.

'Ah, we hung out a while,' she said, her eyes dropping. 'Then we went down the beach for a walk.'

I looked over at Novak, who nodded. He'd seen it too. A lie.

'You went to score, didn't you?' Novak said, putting a hand on her arm. 'It's all right. We're not interested in that. We just want to know what happened, who you saw. Who you spoke to.'

Tammy sniffed, stared at the ground. Her legs appeared to be shaking under the dressing gown and I wondered whether it was grief or if she was hanging out.

'Okay,' she said. 'We scored some gear and went down to McDonald's to meet Fletch.'

'Who's Fletch?' I asked.

Tammy nodded to the door. The guy inside.

'Your boyfriend?'

'No way! Like I said, me and Dallas had been together since last year. Fletch just lives here, spots for me sometimes when I'm on the block.'

The man in the green Valiant I'd seen the other day. I wrote the name in my daybook.

'Tell me about that bruise around your neck,' I said.

Her hand shot up to her neck and covered the bruise protectively. 'What do you care?'

'I care because I'm a policeman.'

'Are you trying to be a smart a.r.s.e?' she scoffed.

'Sort of. I care because I like to know what goes on around here,' I said, pulling my cigarettes out of my pocket and offering one to Tammy. The last thing I felt like was a smoke but they were often the best way to break the ice. Novak took one too and we all lit up.

'You didn't grow up around here, did you, Tammy?'