Stevie poked at the papers in front of her with her pen, determined not to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. And he’d wondered why his application for the Cyber Predator Team had been turned down.
‘If I hadn’t met Emma before, I’d say yes, it’s a possibility, but the girl I know seems too clever to allow herself to be trapped by someone like that. I think she’s run away because of abuse, most probably by “old family friend” Aidan Stoppard.’
‘Have you checked him out on the National Child Sex offender Register?’ Wayne asked.
‘Yes, and he’s not on it. I’ve made an appointment to see Emma’s school counsellor at her home this afternoon, she may be able to tell me something. The more I can find out about her, the more likely I can figure out what’s happened to her, why and where she might have gone.’
‘Angus, find out as much as you can about this Aidan Stoppard,’ Monty said.
Angus nodded and wrote himself a note. ‘How do you spell Aidan?’
Stevie reached into the pocket of her jeans and slid across the business card Stoppard had given her.
‘Thanks,’ Angus glanced at the scenic view on the front of the card and flipped to the business details on the back. ‘Importer of Mexican art with a hills showroom called Chateau-by-the-Lake, and an accountant too, with his own company and a St Georges Terrace office,’ he paraphrased. ‘Want me to check out Breightling as well, boss?’
Monty nodded.
‘Hang on a minute Angus.’ She held out her hand to him. ‘Let’s have another look at that card.’ After examining it for a moment she frowned and said to Monty. ‘This is the same picture as on the postcard in Emma’s room. I thought it must have been from Europe.’
Monty frowned. ‘I didn’t notice any postcard when I was in there with Stoppard. But hang on a minute.’ He delved into his briefcase, took out SOCO’s inventory of Emma’s room and shook his head. ‘Not listed.’
‘I don’t understand, what’s the big deal?’ Tash asked.
‘It was there, I saw it—I’m sure it was the same scene.’ Stevie looked to Monty to see if he could make sense of it. ‘The postcard was balanced on her teddy bear’s arms. I wonder if she’d done it deliberately, so it would be seen? At the time it didn’t occur to me that it was significant. But the picture is of Stoppard’s showroom, some kind of a European style castle in the hills. He must have taken it, don’t you see?’
‘Sure he could have—but it sounds a bit cloak and dagger.’
Stevie glanced at Barry, noticed the beginnings of a smirk. She was too tired to deal with this.
‘Look, can I get a word in, guys. I need to get out again,’ said Wayne. Stevie decided to keep her thoughts to herself for the moment, and responded to Monty’s raised eyebrows with a shrug.
Monty sighed and pointed his pen at Wayne. ‘Tell everyone what you’re up to at the moment.’
‘I’ve found the kid who’d been hanging around with Zhang Li. It seems he was with Li at the time he was killed. He told me he saw it happen, but then clammed up when I asked him for details. I’m waiting on a social worker now for the interview.’
‘So if we find Zhang Li’s killer, we’ll more than likely find Kusak’s killer. Some coup, eh?’ Barry beamed at the serious faces surrounding him.
‘Things are never as easy as they can look,’ Wayne cautioned.
27
With his curly blond hair, porn-star moustache and fish belly complexion, Julian Holdsworth was everything Stevie imagined a paedophile webmaster to be. Although he seemed genuinely shocked to hear of Emma’s disappearance, and Stevie felt inclined to believe him, she made no effort to hide the contempt in her voice.
‘You’ve been identified by staff at the Mt Lawley Internet cafe as a frequent visitor and your signature is scrawled all over the logs. You always choose to sit in the booth furthest away from the counter where no one can see your screen.’
‘Would you like a lawyer, Mr Holdsworth?’ Tash cut in.
Sweat gleamed on Holdsworth’s brow. He fidgeted with the collar of his open neck shirt and undid another button to reveal a glint of a gold chain through a tangle of dark chest hair.
‘Innocent men don’t need lawyers,’ he said.
Christ, how often had Stevie heard them say that? She reached for the file and opened it on the table, fanning the glossy hardcore photos before him. Tapping her pen on one of the photos, she said ‘For the benefit of the tape I am showing Mr Holdsworth exhibit C7.’
‘Oh God, that’s disgusting.’ Holdsworth turned away.
She pointed to another. ‘Look at this please sir. For the benefit of the tape I am showing Mr Holdsworth exhibit C3.’
He gave the photo a timid, sideways glance. ‘Christ,’ he put his hand over his mouth. ‘How can you even imagine I could be responsible for distributing these?’
He was a good actor; the man really did look as if he was about to puke, he’d turned as green as the interview room walls. Stevie scanned the room, wondering if there was a suitable receptacle available, but all she found was an empty coffee cup. She hoped it wouldn’t be needed.
She said, ‘These photos were sent from the Internet cafe you were logged in at, from your account, on two consecutive days last December.’
Holdsworth marshalled his strength, folded his arms and looked her in the eye. ‘I didn’t send them.’
‘What about these, these and these.’ Tash pointed out several more, reading out their identification numbers for the tape. ‘Coincidences don’t happen that often,’ she added.
‘They’re nothing to do with me.’
‘What about these photos, Mr Holdsworth, surely you don’t deny taking these?’ Stevie showed him the ‘art’ photos from Tall Poppies.
He glanced at them, gave a start then looked more closely. ‘Oh yeah, they’re mine, my God, where the hell did you get them from?’
‘These were sent from the same Internet cafe, the same account, on the very days you were logged in.’
‘I took them, yes, but I never distributed them on the Internet.’
‘Lolita,’ Tash said.
Holdsworth looked at her blankly, swallowed. ‘Wasn’t that a movie?’
‘All right Mr Holdsworth,’ Stevie said. ‘Let’s try something a bit easier. Tell me why someone like you, with a whole studio of computer equipment, needs to use the services of an Internet cafe?’
Holdsworth bit his lip and said nothing. He picked up the empty cup before him as if he were trying to read the tea leaves at the bottom.
‘Our experts are pulling your computer apart now,’ Stevie went on. ‘You may as well just save us all a great deal of bother. I’m afraid our techs aren’t always as gentle with impounded equipment as they could be.’
Holdsworth crumpled the cup in his hand. ‘Shit, okay, I’ll tell you, but you won’t find anything illegal on my computer, and certainly no porn.’
Tash who had been prowling around the room pulled up a chair next to him.
He took a breath. ‘Online gambling. I visit a US site that’s illegal in Australia. I use the cafe so no record is left on my computer. The gambling site is also riddled with viruses which I don’t want on my equipment.’
The detectives took their time to digest this, exchanging arch glances as they did so.
Tash straightened in her chair. ‘That’s not good enough, Mr Holdsworth, you’ll have to do better than that.’
‘I couldn’t go to prison for that, surely? A fine? Maybe I should call my lawyer after all?’