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in the first place,’ she said.
    ‘Because every time I look in a mirror, I’m supposed to see him looking back at me. I was supposed to be him; he was supposed to be the older brother I never had. Cassatt’s been there since I was born. His father and mine were old mates, they were in Korea together. After his dad died, he was always around at our house. Dad wanted me to be just like Mike. He used to say to me, “He’s someone you should look up to. He makes his own luck. You follow him and he’ll take you places.”’
    ‘Didn’t your father know what sort of a man he was?’
    ‘Dad knew everything about him. My father was a petty crim. He wasn’t always like that but that’s how he ended up. He got into pilfering when he worked on the docks. Then he started working for Mike’s mates—they had a machinery repair business down near the container wharves. Theywere importing heroin. Mike was greenlighting them, Dad was their cockatoo. I didn’t want to be like either of them.’
    She had a habit of flicking the end of her carefully manicured fingernails with her thumb when she was thinking. Today, they were a yin and yang of light and dark red. He noticed these things about her, the small pieces of her body language he had learnt to read.
    ‘Play the tape then. I don’t want to live in the dark about something like this.’
    ‘It’s about a murder, Grace. Are you sure you want to take that on?’
    ‘You said it was my choice. Play it.’

4
    ‘W hen you listen to this, Paulie, tell yourself one thing. You owe your dad your life. You kept giving me grief but I waited till old Jimbo died before I did anything about it. You’re so high and mighty now, but remember I got you your job as a favour to him. You owe me but you’ve always been disloyal. Even when you first came out of the Academy and you went to Dave McKenzie in Robbery when you were supposed to be with me.
    ‘Took me a while to get you over to my squad. You didn’t help any. The day I watched you walk through the door, I thought, I’m going to break you. Me, Joe and Jerry were there to meet you. I’ve still got the tie I had made for you, with New Boy on the nametag. “Put it on,” I told you. “Everyone here’s got one and you’re one of us now.” You closed up and I wondered if you were going to walk out on me. But you couldn’t throw your job away. You had that spastic kid to support.
    ‘I let it go a fortnight. Then I told you, “You don’t leave tonight, you’re driving for me.” It was just me and Joe, but you stayed, you got the message. You were twenty-three. Way past time for you to get blooded. I watched you drive us to Double Bay. Were you going to see it through, I wondered. But you kept driving and you parked where I told you to.
    ‘It’s dark there, in that corner of the street back from the shopping centre. People don’t see you. Finally the man we’re waiting for turns up. Mr Edward Lee. Merchant banker. He’d been out to dinner and was heading for his car. The last meal he ever had. I got him out of some bad stuff and he thought he could renege on me. I warned him: “You can’t not pay me, mate. You like fucking little boys too much and I can prove it.” Bold as brass, he came back: “You can get away with anything in this town if you know the right people. I know enough to protect myself but you’ll go down.” Bad mistake, Eddie. If people knew I’d let that happen, they’d walk all over me.
    ‘He was on the floor in the back of the car before he knew what hit him. Joe put the cuffs on him and stuck a bit of tape over his mouth. His face, the way he looked. I laughed. I said, “I thought you liked this sort of thing, mate.” I told you we were taking Eddie home. You must have known what was going to happen. I saw your hands shaking. I thought, you fucking coward. I’m going to make you do this.
    ‘We got into his house through the garage. I had Eddie by the hair. “You’re going to be sorry for