St Kilda Blues (Charlie Berlin #3)(74)
Within a year she had given up weddings and, using the experience she was gaining and the contacts she was making, had begun building a niche for herself in fine-art and fashion photography. Two years later Srurgis announced that the work his fellow photographers had sneered at was about to fund his early retirement and he offered the studio to Rebecca at a bargain price. She had kept the studio’s existing clients more than happy and had steadily added to the roster. Editors at the fashion magazines had begun calling and her fine-art female nudes had been exhibited in several of the new photographic galleries that had opened in Prahran and South Yarra.
‘My wife’s success is all of her own making, Your Honour, though on the odd occasion she does let me carry her camera bag.’
His tone was cold and Justice Luscombe held up both hands. ‘I didn’t mean to give offence. My point is that when a man, specifically a policeman, has a family income adequate to his needs then there is much less reason to perhaps succumb to temptation. I’m simply making an observation.’
Was the observation that I probably wasn’t corrupt because our household makes a decent quid? Berlin wondered. Lack of money wasn’t always the thing that made a cop go bad. He decided to move things along, what did he have to lose?
‘I don’t want to be rude Your Honour, but there’s a girl missing and I’m trying to help find her. Can you tell me why I’m here so I can get back to that.’
Justice Luscombe smiled and nodded. The judge had a friendly face, less lined than Berlin had expected for a man of his age, lightly tanned and topped with thinning white hair. His nose was slightly twisted and Berlin wondered if he had broken it when he’d broken his knees in that plane crash in France all those years ago.
‘It’s about your friend, Sergeant Roberts.’
Of course it was.
‘There are some things that you should perhaps know.’
THIRTY-FIVE
Luscombe’s men dropped Berlin off outside Rebecca’s studio where they had picked him up. The first person Berlin saw when he entered the studio was Lauren from the GEAR offices. She waved to him from the middle of the grey paper backdrop. He had his arms full with the box of Derek Jones’s negatives and proof sheets so he couldn’t wave back.
‘Hello, Mr Berlin, I called your wife.’
‘So I see.’ Berlin could see that and a whole lot more. Lauren was very naked.
Rebecca stepped out from behind the set where she had been adjusting a spotlight. The studio had electronic flash equipment but for her nudes Rebecca preferred using old-fashioned tungsten lights. She walked across and gave Berlin a kiss. Because of the paper backdrop she wasn’t wearing shoes and he thought the white socks with her blue denim Amco jeans was a rather sexy combination.
‘Just in time, Charlie. I need a big strong man to hold a reflector. This is our last set-up so it should only take ten minutes. Shoes off before you walk on the background, remember.’
Berlin dropped the file box on a nearby table, draped his overcoat across the top and then sat on a chair and unlaced his shoes before taking them off. In the middle of the studio Rebecca was putting a roll of film into a Mamiya twin-lens reflex camera mounted on a heavy Gitzo tripod.
‘Any joy on the missing girl, Charlie?’
‘Nothing yet, we seem to be chasing our tails.’ Ten minutes not thinking about work and missing girls was exactly what he needed right now, he realised. He put his shoes under the table. ‘What do you want me to do?’
In the middle of the background a totally unselfconscious Lauren was looking around the room. She seemed to be interested in the lights and reflectors and all the bits and pieces that made up the studio. Lance Meuwissen had been right in his estimation that she would look stunning in the nude. She smiled at Berlin again.
‘Thank you so much for giving me Rebecca’s card and suggesting I call her, Mr Berlin. I’m going to be in her next exhibition and she telephoned someone at Vivien’s Model Agency and I’m off to see them tomorrow.’
‘It’s a totally selfish gesture on my part, Charlie, so I can book her for next week for a three-day shoot for the Wool Board. It’s nice to have a husband with an eye for the ladies. We should change the music; can you find us some Chet Baker, Charlie? That be okay for you, Lauren? We have the EasyBeats if you prefer that.’
‘I’m not sure who Chet Baker is but I’m sure it will be groovy.’
Berlin flipped through the pile of LPs until he found Rebecca’s copy of Chet Baker Sings. Taking the black vinyl disk from its card-board sleeve and wiping it with the anti-static cleaning cloth he put it on the turntable and carefully lowered the needle down onto the spinning disk. There was a brief initial crackle then Baker’s warm, soft voice singing ‘That Old Feeling’ came out of the speakers.
Rebecca stepped back to the camera after taking a light meter reading. ‘Thanks, Charlie, now take that reflector board and get in close, please. Closer please, that’s better.’
Berlin moved in closer to the naked Lauren, who grinned at him. ‘This is fun, isn’t it?’
Berlin smiled and nodded in agreement and also in amazement at the girl’s total lack of selfconsciousness. Lauren did have an amazing body to go with that face, that was for sure.
Rebecca walked back onto the backdrop and adjusted the way Lauren’s hair fell across her shoulder. ‘Charlie might be helping me with another shoot tomorrow night, Lauren, but I bet you he won’t be having as good a time as he is right now, what do you reckon?’