The cleaner made his way through the office, the vacuum strapped to his back, the power cord snaking its way behind him.
Zoe watched his feet travel past the glass of the conference room. Rob stifled a yawn.
‘Okay, I’ve got nothing recent on Ivan Raddich,’ said Anjali. ‘He isn’t in the database and his licence expired five years ago. It was issued almost ten years before that and his address at the time was the Grover Private Hotel in St Kilda.’
Rob, Zoe and Charlie knew all about the Grover. It had been the scene of multiple murders over the years.
‘That bad?’ asked Anjali.
‘Yeah, boarding house,’ said Rob. ‘Druggies mainly. Almost everyone who’s ever stayed there has arrived fresh from prison.’
‘Almost, but not all, it seems,’ said Anjali. ‘Ivan Raddich has no record with Corrections. I’ve checked with the Grover and they had no forwarding address for him. The lady there can’t remember him. She says she keeps a log of all troublemakers and his name’s not on it.’
‘What about welfare payments, child support, taxes?’ asked Zoe.
‘I’m checking all that now. I’ll know more in the morning,’ said Anjali.
Zoe nodded. ‘I had a look and he has zero social media presence, at least under his own name.’
‘How does a bloke who is living in the worst boarding house in the country, full of druggies and crims, start paying six months’ rent in cash on houses all over the place?’ asked Charlie. ‘Even all these years later, it’s a long way to drag yourself up. Dealing drugs?’
‘Maybe,’ said Zoe. ‘I rang our friends in the Drug Squad and asked whether they knew of Ivan Raddich or any of his aliases. They have no record of him, but it doesn’t mean he wasn’t dealing under another name.’
‘Okay, we need to add some resources to this,’ said Rob.
Zoe let out a groan. After the last couple of days, the thought of getting help from the rest of Homicide didn’t sit well with her.
Rob ignored her. ‘Hannah and Angus have capacity.’
‘But they were in charge of the Ben Jennings murder,’ protested Zoe.
‘And you and Charlie worked the Carlson case, so by that logic you should be taken off the investigation as well,’ countered Rob. ‘Plus, I really want this squad back working together. This will help, trust me.’
Zoe gave her reluctant agreement. ‘Okay, let’s work out a plan of attack and then we’ll brief Hannah and Angus in the morning. Anjali, can you look for other family members as well?
‘We need,’ continued Zoe, ‘to find some of these classmates and see what they remember about Ivan. Anyone who was spoken to as part of the murder investigations should be put to one side for the moment, but there should still be plenty of ex-classmates left to speak to.’
‘And what reason are we giving for wanting to speak to them about Ivan?’ asked Charlie.
‘We’ll say he’s a missing person. That’s nice and neutral. Plus, it’s true—we don’t know where he is.’
‘Okay,’ said Anjali. ‘I’ll find the people we haven’t yet spoken to. I’ll have a list ready for the briefing tomorrow,’ said Anjali.
‘Well done, everyone,’ said Rob, standing up and making for the door. ‘Get a good night’s sleep.’
Charlie was on his feet too. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘No worries, see you then,’ said Zoe.
Anjali rubbed her face.
‘Have you eaten?’ asked Zoe.
‘Not yet.’
‘Come on, let’s grab a quick bite.’
Anjali, Zoe and Harry headed down Lonsdale Street towards the restaurants and cafes in Hardware Lane. The sun had set and a southerly breeze was cooling the city.
‘Fresh air at last,’ said Zoe. ‘I don’t want to see another room of archive boxes for a long time.’
Anjali said nothing.
‘You okay?’
‘Sorry, I was miles away. Thinking about Ivan Raddich. Just hoping we can find him.’
‘You and me both,’ said Zoe.
They had just crossed King Street, on the edge of Melbourne’s legal district, when Anjali said, ‘Don’t look now, but your one-woman fan club is sitting across the road.’
Through the traffic, Zoe saw Sally Johnstone, smiling broadly, as she sat outside a bluestone pub. She reached over and touched the arm of the person across the table from her. Zoe stopped dead in her tracks. It was Tom.