Live and Let Bondi

by Clare Kauter

  Apparently Billy had been to Long Bay before because he was very insistent that he knew the direction. Or maybe he just really didn’t want me to link my phone up to Bazza’s speakers again. We cruised down Anzac Parade with Bazza checking out the other car’s arses like the pervert he was. We spent a little time going through security when we arrived and then we were taken through to a room where we waited for the guards to bring in Spencer. Unfortunately for Billy, there was no dividing screen between us. We were in a room with a bunch of other criminals and their visitors, all sitting at different tables with a couple of guards watching over us.

  “Nat, I really want to leave here with all my nipples intact, so –”

  “All?” I repeated. “Not both?”

  “Maybe I have a third,” he said with a shrug. “You don’t know.”

  “We’re getting to know each other so well.”

  “My point is, I want you to let me know if you see him pull out a shiv so I can leave with as many nipples as I walked in here with.”

  I nodded once. “I shall remain vigilant for the sake of your many nipples.”

  We took a seat and the guards brought in Spencer. The second he appeared in the room, the air changed. Even the other criminals seemed to regard him as a bit of a psycho if the shuffling feet and lack of eye contact were anything to go by. He was shorter than I’d expected and he seemed to have bulked up a little since his mug shot was taken, like he’d been working out in the prison gym. And possibly drinking five protein shakes every day.

  When Spencer set eyes on Billy, he smiled. Billy visibly shuddered. Not that I could blame him. There was something about this guy. A character inspired by him was definitely going to make an appearance in the next season of Mindhunter. He shuffled over to our table, legs and arms manacled. I found myself planning what I’d do if he grabbed Billy or me and tried to strangle us with his chains. The only conclusion I came to was that I’d search him for the shiv he was definitely concealing somewhere on his person and stab him with it.

  Billy got his shuddering under control pretty quickly and did a good impression of someone who found this guy mildly distasteful rather than utterly terrifying. Not that he’d actually said he was scared of the guy. I guess I was just projecting. I mean, if someone wanted to steal my nipples and had shown up at my home in the past threatening me with a meat cleaver, I think even I’d be a little scared. Mostly for Theodore’s safety, but I’d still be worried.

  Spencer plonked onto his seat and grinned at Billy, staring at him without blinking. He didn’t so much as glance at me. Honestly I was fine with that. If he wanted to leer at Billy, I wasn’t going to demand he turn that gaze on me. As long as he answered our questions, I’d be happy to leave here without him looking at me once.

  “Billy Defranco,” Spencer said after a moment. “As I live and breathe. And as you live and breathe. Though not for too much longer.”

  “You’re in here for killing a guy,” said Billy. “You’re not getting out any time soon.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” he said, still staring unblinkingly at Billy. “I’m very well behaved.”

  “That’s not how I remember you.”

  “Maybe I’ve changed,” he said. “Reformed.”

  “I doubt it,” said Billy. “Wouldn’t be here if you had.”

  “I don’t know what it is you think I’ve done, but I had nothing to do with it. I have an ironclad” – he raised his hands and nodded down at his handcuffs – “alibi.”

  Ordinarily I was right on board with a good pun, but coming from him it just didn’t seem funny. He’d tainted the humour. Who even knew it was possible for puns to not be funny? Even coming from a psycho murderer?

  “Is that so?”

  Spencer shrugged. “Depends. Do you think I’m talented enough to disappear from a maximum security facility without anyone noticing?”

  “No, you’re way too thick for that.”

  Spencer’s grin didn’t falter. If anything, it grew wider. “Then I don’t know why you’re here.”

  “Maybe you didn’t stab the lawyer yourself,” said Billy. “Looks a lot like that last murder you did, though. You can see why we wanted to talk to you.”

  He shrugged. “Guess I’ve got a fan.”

  “Or an accomplice.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Billy. I was in prison at the time. I stabbed the other guy, sure, but I couldn’t have anything to do with what happened to my lawyer. I was in here the whole time.”

  “Were you annoyed that he couldn’t get you off the murder charges?” Billy asked. “You were paying a lot for your lawyer. I can see why you might have been pissed that he didn’t manage to keep you out of this place.”

  Spencer shrugged. “This place isn’t so bad. I found that out last time I got sent here. Remember that, Billy?”

  “I consider it some of my best work.”

  There. His grin flickered for a moment at that. Billy had struck a nerve. Billy himself, though, was slouched back in his chair, arms crossed, like he didn’t have a care in the world. He was good at keeping his wall up. Like none of this was getting to him at all. Like he wasn’t the biggest control freak in existence.

  “Look, Billy,” Spencer said, spitting out the name like it was some kind of insult, “I confessed. Look it up. I wasn’t trying to stay out of jail.”

  “Why hire the lawyer, then?”

  “Well, I didn’t want to spend longer here than I had to,” said Spencer. “He said I should confess and then I’d be out in a few years. In the meantime, I have plenty of time to plan how to finish what you and I started a couple of years back.”

  “Sure, Spencer,” said Billy. “Considering how well planned your last attempt to kill me was, I’m not too worried. What I am worried about, though, is your confession.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You weren’t nearly this compliant when you were accused of armed robbery. Denied it to the bitter end. Now that it’s a murder charge, suddenly you decide to confess. Curious.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe I’ve turned over a new leaf since we last met.”

  “You’ve murdered at least one guy since we last met, mate. I don’t think the other side of that leaf is any better.”

  I snorted. For the first time, Spencer acknowledged my presence. He glanced at me, checked out my tits and then turned back to Billy. “Who’s the girl?”

  “Watch it, Spencer. She could definitely take you in a fight.”

  Billy had never actually seen me fight, but I appreciated the vote of confidence. Maybe he’d heard about what I did to Bruno’s nose.

  “You didn’t need to bring a bodyguard, Billy. I’m not going to try anything.”

  I don’t know how, but when he said that, I got the distinct impression he was about to break out the shiv. Apparently Billy did too, because he stood. He didn’t hurry, and to most people I’m sure he looked perfectly relaxed as he stood behind his chair, placing more distance (and obstacles) between him and Spencer.

  “I know you were involved with the lawyer’s murder,” said Billy. “And we will find out all about it.”

  “I was locked up at the time.”

  “So you had one of your minions do it for you.”

  “Billy, I confessed to my crimes. I’m a new man. Whatever happened to that lawyer, it had nothing to do with me.”

  “Then you’ve got nothing to worry about when we speak to your crew later today.”

  All facade of pleasantness disappeared from Spencer’s face at Billy’s words. “Don’t you dare –”

  “That should do us, shouldn’t it Nat?”

  I nodded, now standing myself. “Definitely time to go and question everyone he knows. Figure out which one of them offed the lawyer.”

  Billy studied Spencer for a moment. “Judging by that vein throbbing in his temple and his sudden outburst, I’d guess it’s someone in his family.”

  I could almost hear Spencer’
s jaw clenching. If he squeezed any harder his teeth might actually pop out of his face.

  “Yeah, I’d say you’re probably right.”

  There was no trace of a grin on Spencer’s face when the guards came to lead him away. As he retreated, he called over his shoulder, “We’ll have another chat about your nipples sometime soon, Billy.”

  “No you won’t,” I replied. “If I have anything to do with it, he’ll be keeping all three of them.”

  Billy wasn’t happy on the trip back to the office.

  “I don’t understand why he confessed to the murder. That’s so unlike him.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe he really did think that would get him a shorter sentence. If they had a heap of evidence on him, that would have been his lawyer’s advice.”

  “Yes, but I still can’t believe he would take that advice.”

  “So what’s your working theory?” I asked. “He did what his lawyer told him to do, regretted it and ordered one of his dodgy friends to bump off Rogers as punishment?”

  “That seems most likely,” he said. “I mean, the way Jake was murdered is so similar to Spencer’s other victim. They have to be connected.”

  “Could be someone related to the first victim,” I pointed out. “Maybe they were angry with Rogers for getting Spencer such a light sentence and so they went after the lawyer because they couldn’t get to Spencer.”

  He frowned. “But would they really attack the lawyer for that? Why not the judge?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe that’s coming later.”

  “It’s been a month. Surely it would have happened already.”

  “Probably,” I agreed. “But my point is, this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with Spencer. After all, that was Detective Bobby’s top theory and we know how often he’s right about stuff like this.” I’d assign a percentage value to his rate of accuracy, but I was still waiting for the first time he was correct about something.

  Billy shook his head. “Spencer was hiding something,” he said. “I’m sure of it. He knows something about this, and he doesn’t want us looking into it. You saw the way he freaked out when we said we were going to question his people. He thinks we’re going to find something.”

  I didn’t know if I agreed with him, but I figured I probably wasn’t going to be able to change his mind, so I let it go. I had a feeling Billy wanted Spencer to be involved so there was a reason to keep him locked up for another thousand years and he could never show up on Billy’s doorstep again.

  I frowned, a thought occurring to me. “How did he find out where you lived?”

  “What?” Billy asked.

  “Spencer,” I said. “How did he get your address?”

  He shrugged. “No idea. I figured one of his contacts found it for him,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t even know how he heard that I was the one who got him arrested. I didn’t actually speak to him over the course of the case. I mostly used security footage and other people’s testimony.”

  I frowned. “You didn’t speak to your suspect at all?”

  He shook his head. “No fucking way. I saw the footage of that hold up right at the start of the case and I could already tell whoever had done it was a psycho, even without any sound,” he said. “I collected evidence from afar in that investigation.”

  “And yet somehow he found out you were involved and tracked you down.”

  He nodded. “Yep.”

  “Has that ever happened to you before?” I asked. “A person you investigated confronting you?”

  He shrugged. “A few times. Angry husbands and wives, usually. That was my first meat cleaver incident.”

  “Did they show up at your house too?”

  His brow furrowed as he tried to recall the details. “One of them,” he said. “He was waiting outside my place when I got back from a run one morning. Tried to punch me, but he was so drunk he just vomited in the gutter and then fell into it.”

  “And the others?”

  He glanced at me and narrowed his eyes like he was trying to figure out why I was so curious about this. “Coffee shop a couple of times. Out on the street.”

  “Not at the office?”

  He shook his head. “I always figured they watched the office and followed me when I left. Why?”

  I scratched my neck. “Just curious.”

  He looked over at me for a moment and I wondered if he knew I was lying, but he didn’t say anything further. He turned his eyes back to the road and joined Bazza in staring at the other cars’ arses.

  The truth was, I had a theory about how Spencer and all those other clients found out Billy was responsible for digging up their dirty secrets. Sure, maybe some of the spouses had let slip to their partners, but I doubted they all had. And even if that was the case, the shopkeeper who hired Billy certainly hadn’t given his name to the psycho who robbed the store. I chewed my lip. What Billy had just told me was worrisome, because it made my theory seem that much more likely.

  I considered telling Billy the truth, but after he’d gone out for drinks with everyone the night before I wasn’t sure whether I should. See, I was pretty sure someone at Baxter & Co. had a side hustle that involved doing dodgy shit. Things like taking money from the people they were meant to be investigating to cover up what they’d done rather than expose their misdeeds. My money was on Bruno. His case clearance rate was awful, which meant that if he wasn’t doing something shady then he was truly horrendous at his job.

  Plus there had been a couple of break-ins at Baxter & Co. protected sites lately that looked to me like an inside job. No alarms going off and so on. Oh, and I was ninety percent sure someone was selling information about other PIs to people who’d been investigated – cheating spouses and dangerous criminals alike – who were looking to punish the people who’d exposed them. I didn’t think it was a coincidence that I’d only started getting home visits from annoyed cheaters and perverts after Bruno decided he hated me.

  Yeah. Super above board stuff like that.

  At the moment all I had was a feeling. I needed to gather enough proof to turn whoever was responsible over to the Baxters – and the cops. It would have been nice to have someone help me out with my investigation.

  I just didn’t know whether I could trust Billy with that or not.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Billy

  We didn’t bother heading back to the office, instead going straight to the suburb of Maroubra to find Spencer’s buddies. In the course of my last investigation of him, I’d learned where his crew hung out and it wasn’t too far from the prison. We drove along in silence. I was still mulling over what Spencer had told me and wondering if I could place stock in anything he’d said. Ditto for what Eric had disclosed. I trusted them both about equally, although at least with Spencer he was up front about trying to kill me.

  Spencer’s guys liked to meet in a tavern a couple blocks back from Maroubra Beach. The pub they frequented was old and dingy with sticky floors and even stickier tables. The patrons’ hands were probably just as sticky as everything else, so I figured it was a good idea to keep an eye on my pockets. Nat and I parked near the beach (still nice, but no Bondi) and crossed the road, walking towards the pub.

  The chatter died down the second we stepped inside. Every head in the place swivelled our way and I wondered if maybe this was how Jake had died – wandering into this place and being stabbed to death by everyone’s deadly glares. The barman even paused in the middle of polishing his glasses to stand as still as a statue and stare at me. Not at Nat, I noticed. Everyone had their eyes locked in my direction. So they recognised me. Great.

  My nipples started sweating in apprehension.

  “Afternoon, lads,” I said, slipping my hands into my pockets for the dual purpose of looking more relaxed and also hiding my clammy palms. “How’s things?”

  No one replied.

  “Saw your boss earlier,” I continued, hoping to provoke a reaction but also hoping not to provoke a reaction
at the same time. “He sends his love.”

  “You walked into the wrong bar, Defranco,” growled some kid who was sitting to my right. He looked about thirteen, but he got points for trying to be intimidating. Might have been more effective if his voice wasn’t in the process of breaking.

  “Nah, kiddo,” I replied. “Pretty sure this is exactly the place I want to be.” I scanned the room. “So who’s in charge around here now that the big guy’s locked up? Not this child, I’m guessing, so which one of you is it?”

  No answer.

  “Oh, sorry,” I said. “You too scared to talk to me? I guess I might be too if I’d killed a guy.”

  “No one killed no one!” said another kid, older, who was sitting near the one who’d spoken before.

  “No one killed no one?” I repeated. I shook my head. “Don’t think that’s true. I’ve killed no one.”

  The guy who’d spoken, who was probably just old enough to actually be allowed to drink – eighteen, maybe nineteen – frowned, trying to figure out what I meant. It proved to be too much for him because he soon abandoned that quest and said, “Just get out of here. We all know who you are and none of us are gonna talk to yas.”

  “But you’ve never even met me,” I said. “Surely someone here is willing to chat. Get to know me for yourself, you know.”

  “I’ll chat to your girlfriend,” he said, smiling. It gave me the exact same creep-chills I got from looking at the front of Bazza. He was young to have mastered the art of being an utter pervert so completely. He looked Nat up and down. I briefly considered saying something, but Nat had it under control.