'No,' she said, giving me a curious look.

'Where did you come from? Is Tammy even your real name?'

'What difference does it make?'

'A lot, actually. See, I'm not sure if Dallas or Fletch in there explained this to you, but this is how it works. If you want to play up around here, then I need to know who you are and where you're from so I know who to contact if I ever have to identify your body.'

I let that sink in, ignoring Novak shifting on his feet. Tammy drew on the cigarette and blew out smoke in cool defiance. I wasn't worried. I'd had this conversation before and I a.s.sumed Novak had too, albeit with a different intention.

'Tammy, if you work around here, then sooner rather than later you're going to need the police,' Novak said. 'It works best if you establish a rapport with them. It's a very simple understanding: you help them and they'll cut you some slack. Some bogan drives past and hurls a beer can at you, maybe they'll let it slide; but if you get robbed or raped, they'll show good form. I've worked here for twenty years and I've met some real a.r.s.ehole cops. Sometimes the only difference between them and the crims are the badges.'

She remained silent, thoughtful.

'But things are different now,' Novak went on. 'Very different. These days I vouch for the local cops, especially the detectives. They're hard but fair. They might rub you the wrong way, maybe even disrespect you, but they'll never go lazy on you.'

'Yeah, righto. What do ya want from me?'

I squashed my half-finished cigarette and made sure it was completely out, but still didn't risk flicking it into the garden bed below.

'Well, you can start by telling me your full name,' I said. 'Where you come from, where your parents live, how old you are, what sort of tricks you turn, who your regular clients are. All the usual stuff.'

'And whether I come here often?'

I didn't smile and eventually she got the hint and told me her story. Tamara York had grown up in Tasmania in a family of loggers. A high school dropout, she'd stolen cash and got a one-way ferry across the ditch to Melbourne in 2007. She tried to tell me she'd had no idea about St Kilda and had simply arrived here by chance, but I knew that was bulls.h.i.t. I'd heard the story so many times before I could write the script. Like most of her kind, she was running from her past. A deviant uncle perhaps, maybe a mother who took the uncle's side. Either way, it didn't matter. The drugs and the street gave her a family, a daily mission, a purpose. That was the commonality.

I knew there were gaps in her story but that was fine. I'd heard enough for now, and told her she could expect more chats with me in the future. If she lasted. Novak gave her a business card and said he'd also be available if ever she needed him.

'Thanks,' she said, nodding towards the cigarette pack in my pocket. I gave her another and studied the bruise on her neck as she lit it.

'You know, it's not right for him to do that to you,' I said.

'Who?'

'Fletch.'

Tammy screwed up her face. 'Fletch didn't do this. He saved me.'

'Saved you?'

'Yeah, some rich freak tried to strangle me the other night. Fletch got there just in time, belted the guy over the head and dragged me away.'

Yet again, I wondered why these girls persisted. A few hundred a night wasn't worth it. Surely there were other ways to fund a habit. Then something about her explanation caught my interest.

'Why do you say he was rich?'

'Easy, he was driving a Beamer.'

'Did you report it?' Novak asked.

Tammy shook her head, probably regretting not doing so now she knew we would follow it up.

'So what happened?'

'Doesn't matter. It's too late now, isn't it?'

'Tammy, I told you, I like to know what goes on around here. This is my patch, and whether you people like it or not, we're in charge. We control the street, not you or your feral clients or any other s.h.i.thead who decides to come down here. So tell me what happened. If there's some n.o.b rolling around touching up the girls, I want to stop him.'

She looked at Novak and I had the sense she was embarra.s.sed about something.

'It's fine, Tammy,' he said. 'We've heard it all before. Nothing you say will offend us.'

'Suit yourself. I was down in Elwood the other night, near the beach you get better crawlers down there and this fat slob in a Beamer rolls up and asks how much for a smoke. I doubled my usual price once I saw the car. He nodded and I climbed in.'

I took a few notes but mostly listened. When she used the word 'smoke', I knew she was talking about oral s.e.x.

'Anyway, we went around the block and parked outside the gardens on d.i.c.kens Street. I went to work on the guy but he couldn't get it up. He kept patting my head and telling me I'd been a good girl but now I was bad. He had this foreign accent, like Russian or something, I couldn't tell. That always creeps me out,' she said. 'When they talk. You can do whatever you like with your hands and face and your d.i.c.k, but just don't talk to me.'

'So he wasn't a regular of yours?'

'Not of mine, but he is a regular in St Kilda. I've seen the car before. Navy blue, dark windows, big alloys. Personalised number plates. I'll know it if I see it again.'

'You remember the plates?' Novak asked.

She shook her head and finished the cigarette. 'I would've told you that straight up, wouldn't I?'

'Okay,' I said, annoyed again that Novak had interfered with my questioning. 'What else?'

'I couldn't get him hard and was about to say something when he just started to strangle me, like really tight. I almost choked right there. Lucky he had sweaty hands and I managed to twist away and start screaming. I think I might've scratched him, which isn't bad considering I chew all my nails.'

I looked at her fingers and considered the possibility of having them checked for skin, but figured it was too late and an a.s.sault wouldn't get priority anyway.

'I guess the guy didn't notice Fletch following us. He sure copped a shock when the door opened and a baseball bat came flying through.'

I nodded approval as did Novak. Some rich p.r.i.c.k out there with a big old shiner on his face, making up a story to the wife about being done over in a road rage incident. I waited for more details but the story was finished and I decided to leave it for the moment. I might pa.s.s it on to Finetti or one of the others, but right now I wanted to focus on Dallas Boyd.

'So you say Fletch isn't your boyfriend, just a spotter?'

'Yeah. Like I keep telling you, Dall and I were together together.'

'Sure?'

'Why would I lie about that?'

I didn't want to believe this could all boil down to a simple love triangle, but couldn't discount it completely. Men did all kinds of crazy things in the pursuit of the opposite s.e.x. We were a pathetic species sometimes.

'Well, now that Dallas is gone, maybe you need someone to help you through the grief, someone to look out for you. Maybe you and Fletch can work something out.'

'Look, mate, Dall was my only boyfriend. Fletch might throw me some dice for a bit of play every now and then, but that's just business.' She let her dressing gown fall to the side, exposing her bruised shoulder. 'n.o.body rides for free.'

I had to smile. Her boyfriend was dead, some fruitcake had beaten the c.r.a.p out of her and she was living in a cesspit with a guy who probably fed her smack every night just to keep her dependent. All this and she still had a wh.o.r.e's pride.

'Does Fletch see it that way?' I asked. 'Maybe he got sick of paying, wanted Dall to move on.'

'Bulls.h.i.t!' she snapped. 'Fletch is just ... he just looks after me.'

Novak pointed to an abscess at the crook of her elbow. 'Looks after you, does he?'

Tammy yanked her arm back. 'Dall and I were gonna go places. See, that's what I loved about him. Most of the people around here are too lazy to even go on proper welfare. Not Dall, he had goals, you know? He had plans plans. He was trying to get us outta this s.h.i.thole.'

'What kind of plans?' Novak asked. 'Far as I knew, he was happy in his apartment.'

'Well, he never said nothing specific, but he kept talking about getting Rachel outta the flats and us all moving away, starting a new life and s.h.i.t. All we had to do was stick together, and then ...' She didn't finish, instead turning away and looking out over the dry garden below.

The man I recognised from the green Valiant stepped out of the flat in a pair of boxer shorts. A large tattoo of a dragon crawled up his lean torso.

'What's goin' on?' he said to Tammy.

'I'm fine, Fletch. We're just talking about Dall.'

Fletch put an arm around her, revealing a line of track marks up his wrist.

'Want me to stay here with ya?'

She straightened her dressing gown and turned around, composed. 'No. We're nearly done. I'll be in soon. Go back to bed.'

Fletch gave us both a cold look. When he'd gone, I decided to move things along.

'So you went to McDonald's with Dallas. Then what?'

'Well, I left with Fletch. Dall had to meet somebody. Somebody from the park.'

'The park?'

'Luna Park?' said Novak.

'Yeah, a perve, you know; a rock spider.'

I was confused, then suddenly I remembered Dixie's response when I'd said Dallas had cleaned up his act. Clean, if that's what you want to call it Clean, if that's what you want to call it.

'Hang on. Dallas was meeting a paedophile?'

'S'pose so. That's what he did.'

Novak moved closer. 'What, are you saying he prost.i.tuted himself? I've never heard such '

'f.u.c.k no,' Tammy said. 'He was too much of a sook for that. He was just a scout, you know? He'd line up other kids to go in the movies they were making. Get a finder's fee and a percentage of the profits, plus he kept copies to flog on the side.'

'He was making kiddie p.o.r.n?' I said, disbelieving.

She nodded. 'Not much I wouldn't do done almost everything there is to be done. Some real sickos come down here. But Dall, he worked for a whole other type. I've seen some of the movies and they're real freaks, man. Make me me look like a nun. He used to keep a whole box of them in his room. He'd go down to Luna Park and sell 'em like hot dogs. Some nights he'd have to come home and burn more copies.' look like a nun. He used to keep a whole box of them in his room. He'd go down to Luna Park and sell 'em like hot dogs. Some nights he'd have to come home and burn more copies.'

'Jesus,' Novak said, clasping his mouth. He looked as though he wanted to puke.

I wasn't usually surprised by the things I saw or heard in St Kilda, but this jolted me. Dallas Boyd selling child p.o.r.n wasn't what I'd expected, especially given his concern about Rachel. Then again, everyone in St Kilda had a hustle. If you weren't hooking, stealing or selling drugs, you had to earn your money somehow.

'Who was he supposed to meet down there?' I asked.

'Dunno. Never told me any of that. Glad.'

'Don't lie to me, Tammy.'

'I dunno,' she insisted. 'Like I'd wanna. All I know is he left us at Macca's to go meet someone at Luna Park. Obviously felt safe enough to wait for whoever it was by himself. I mean, there were still a lot of people around.'

I pictured the Acland Street junction late at night. It was a busy intersection, about fifty metres from where Boyd's body was found. There were always people there after dark, usually drunks from the nearby nightclubs and gutter crawlers cruising for hookers.

'What time was this?'

She shrugged.

I waited for a guess but none came. I should've expected it. A lot of these people had no concept of time. They only knew whether it was day or night.

'Okay, how long was it after you went to the 7-Eleven?'

'Maybe an hour.'

That was good. I now had a timeline to work from. It looked like Tammy wasn't going to be able to a.s.sist much more and I wanted to finish, but there was one more loose end I needed to tie up.

'Dallas had his mobile phone on prepaid, correct?'

She smiled at me. Gapped teeth. Yellow from methadone. 'Ya know how it is, they're harder to trace.'

'What sort of phone was it?'

'Dunno. Nokia something. Annoys the s.h.i.t out of me.' She looked past me then, towards the sky. 'Stupid b.l.o.o.d.y ringtone. "Hi Ho Silver".'

I wrote this down, along with the other notes I'd made, unsure of the significance. When I looked up I saw that Tammy's lips had stretched to an odd smile as she stared at the clouds. Maybe she could see Dallas up there, like a memory playing out in her mind.

'Do you know a kid named Stuart Parks?' I asked Novak. 'Calls himself Sparks.'

'Sure, he's a local,' he said. 'Everyone knows him.'

Then I should know him too, I thought. Just went to show how long I'd been off the ball.

'Where can I find him?'

He gestured towards the south. 'Maybe try the squat down on Clyde Street.'

I knew the place and decided to end it there. 'Thanks for your time,' I said to Tammy.