City Homicide (2007) s03e16 Episode Script
Big Bang Theory
Why? You're messing with my mood I want you as you are You're messing with my mood Why? You're messing with my mood I want you as you are You're messing with my mood Why? Why? You're messing with my mood I want you as you are Why? You're messing with my mood I want you as you are.
The ATM has been blown up on Harridane Street.
Oh, my God.
It's gonna be a long day.
You'd better get going.
Love you.
You too.
Bloody hell.
Multiple injuries, three fatalities.
I'll get a closer look once I get the OK.
It appears one of the deceased's an infant.
Think you'd get used to it.
The Task Force said it would happen and it has.
These ATM bombers have finally taken out some civilians.
Senior Sergeant Capelle's coordinating the ATM investigation.
There are a few anomalies here.
This is the first cash machine that's not an ATM from a bank.
And the others were at night - late.
Faulty timing device? A miscalculation? Guess the Bomb Squad boys should be able to enlighten us about all that in due course.
I'll make sure they liaise with your guys.
Yeah, thanks, Phil.
You'll send everything else you've got? It's already happening.
I'll provide updates as well.
We'll talk soon.
Yeah, thanks, mate.
Anything on the victims? Bomb Squad's already pulled IDs from both the adults.
We got a Talia Sterling and an Edward Portnoy.
They reckon the young woman was most likely with the pram, given the blast vectors.
You want us to do the death-knock, sir? Soon.
Let's regroup first and see what we're looking at.
The ATM Task Force and the Bomb Squad are looking at these guys as collateral damage.
Yeah, right, but there are still a few kinks in the MO.
This is the first one not at night.
These blokes usually blow the ATMs right out of the wall too.
It's enough to justify a closer look at the whole event.
According to Task Force notes, they do it manually with radio detonators.
We'll see what the Bombies have to say about that one.
Did you ever look at the footage from the earlier blasts? Yeah, a couple of CCTV pictures of masked men setting charges.
Hard to get an I D.
OK.
So not much use.
Plus there was no security cameras on this ATM.
Wasn't there some mention of stolen explosives in their report? Yes, but the burg at the quarry post-dated the earlier ATM hits.
Maybe they wanted to top up their supplies.
Maybe.
OK, Look, Let's inform the relatives of the deceased.
Get formal IDs done.
Start looking at the possibility of one of them being a target, not collateral damage.
Yeah, start backgrounding them.
The address on the male's licence was confirmed as current.
Freeman, wanna head over to Kingston? Inform his wife.
Already got some interesting things from following up on the licences.
Edward Portnoy worked for a credit union.
Same credit union that operates the ATM.
Is that a coincidence? Find out.
And the woman? Address on her licence was old.
But Crime Scene found a letter in her handbag from her husband.
A letter? He's not around? He's around, alright.
He's not going anywhere.
He's in jail.
What is it? What do you want to talk to me for? Mr Sterling, I'm afraid we have some bad news for you.
There was a bomb blast at an ATM.
And your wife and child were killed.
What? No, you got it wrong.
Your wife is Talia Sterling? Yeah.
Then I'm afraid she's dead.
No.
No.
No, not Talia.
How did it happen? It was an explosion.
An ATM.
We're very sorry for your loss, ma'am.
Loss? I was supposed to be getting out of here in a few days.
Supposed to be a new beginning.
Your husband worked at the credit union? Y es.
Inininvestments.
Handles a lot of accounts.
Did he often work on Sundays? Said it was his .
.
best chance to get ahead on his paperwork.
No customers around.
Do you have any idea who might want to hurt your wife and child? What child? I don't have any kids.
- Who'd want to hurt Talia? - We don't know.
Do you? Someone who was trying to get at you, maybe.
You are in jail, Mr Sterling.
Do you have any enemies? No.
No, I've kept out of trouble in here.
And I didn't do anything crooked outside.
I justmade a mistake, alright? I got into a punch-up.
I'm not a criminal.
Can you think of anyone that might want to harm your husband? No.
Edward's always He's always been very well-respected.
No financial problems or debts? No.
We were doing fine.
Oh, God! Do you have any idea who the child might be? A young boy.
About three months old.
Sheshe must have been babysitting.
She did that .
.
to make extra cash.
This way.
It's OK, Sterling.
I'll wait out here.
OK? He's in for Intentionally Cause Serious Injury? Yeah, yeah, a pub fight that went wrong.
Any letters or threats from the guy he almost killed? No.
No, I don't think so.
Look, there was a letter that Ricky wrote to him early in his time.
Some sort of apology.
What do you know about Sterling? Oh.
Oh, you know, he's no trouble.
Model prisoner.
Good candidate for rehabilitation.
How long's he in for? Three years, minimum two.
He's gonna be released in a few days.
He and his wife get on OK? Yeah, as far as I know.
Any enemies inside? No.
No, he's kept himself pretty much to himself.
What do I do about the funeral? We'll talk to the warden.
See how we handle it.
I'm sorry, Sterling.
Yeah.
Whoever did thisyou make sure you get the bastards, OK? We'll keep you informed, Mr You get them.
Come on.
They'll do their job.
Si, how'd you go with Sterling at the morgue? He was a bit of a mess.
So the spouses aren't good for it? He was in jail and he loves his wife.
Portnoy's wife is a cleanskin, no apparent enemies.
Happy marriage.
So nothing that paints a target on either victim? They all start out that way.
Maybe the baby was the target.
Maybe it really was one of those ATM hits gone bad.
A lot of maybes.
Joyner.
I think I might have something for you.
Sterling.
Yeah, what is it? Sweated on this all night.
I think I can help you.
How I can tell you who killed my wife.
I'm putting my dick on the block telling you this.
You don't dog on people in jail.
You're getting out soon, aren't you? Still time enough to cop a shiv in the back.
We'll see if administration can put you in protection for your last few days.
You'll keep my name out of it? Of course.
OK, I don't know the exact details.
I try and keep my head down.
But? Well, rumour mill in here a few months ago was saying that a bloke in B section was bragging to his mates about a scam he was putting together for when he got out.
The ATM hits.
This guy had some blokes on the outside setting it up, he reckoned.
Ready for when he got out.
He got out about two months ago.
Which ties in with the start of the ATM jobs.
Right - everybody in here's been watching that stuff going down on the news.
Looks like he got his scam up, doesn't it? What's his name? Come on, we can see that you're safe.
We can get you locked down.
Just tell us his name.
Tomik.
George Tomik.
We'll follow up on this George Tomik, see what we can find.
You'd better.
Or when I get out, I'll do your job for you.
I'll kill the bastard.
George Tomik.
What was he in for? Armed robbery, assault, unlicensed firearms.
Progress? Possible suspect in the bombing.
George Tomik and Associates.
ATMs R Us.
Known whereabouts? No sign of him.
He's only reported once since he got out.
It's a violation of his parole conditions.
You told the Task Force? Duly passed on.
Hope they were suitably grateful.
That works for us too.
We got more eyeballs out there looking for him.
What about our other jailbird, this Ricky Sterling? What's he in for? Pub brawl.
He decked a guy, then he glassed him.
Cut an artery.
The guy nearly bled out and died.
It's a good argument for sawdust on the floor.
Find out if the bloke he injured harbours any grudges.
Two years later? There'd been no threats made.
Ricky even apologised.
Big deal.
Ricky Sterling just got parole.
That often pisses victims off or their relatives.
Might be something in that.
Alright, we'll look into it.
Listen, any ID on the rugrat yet? Nothing from Missing Persons.
Nothing from Autopsy.
Babysitting's still our best option.
Hubby's still in jail, right? Wifey might've been rooting around.
Maybe it was her kid and he didn't know.
There's no record of Talia giving birth.
But her flat's full of toys and baby stuff.
Supports the babysitting theory.
We also got an address book with clients' names.
We'll check them out.
Probably a cash-in-hand business.
Even better, we've got a number for a cousin of hers, Rhiannon Casey.
Maybe we could get something out of her.
I don't think I can help you.
Sorry, I just can't believe she's dead.
I mean, Ricky's just set to come out and this happens.
I can't believe I was a bridesmaid at their wedding.
Talia's dad is coming over from Perth to make the funeral arrangements.
He didn't know anything about any baby.
We really need to find out who this child is, Rhiannon.
There's a family somewhere out there who've lost a little boy.
Why wouldn't they have reported him missing? They could've left him with Talia while they were away.
Could have been staying with her for quite a while.
Not that I know of.
I don't know who Talia babysat for.
Do you know anyone who'd want to hurt Talia? Nah.
She's a real sweetie.
Everyone loved her.
She and Ricky got on OK? Yeah.
Well, it was hard that he was in jail.
You know, it was just a fight in a pub.
Just one of those things that happens.
Just one mistake.
Were they planning a family? I reckon Ricky would have been.
He's your full-on family type, you know? So no issues between them? Talia loved Ricky, he loved her.
What issues would there be? Two years is a long time to be separated.
Not if you really love someone, eh? Another dead-end with the baby.
Talia's father knows nothing and her cousin's no help either.
I don't know.
It's got to be babysitting.
Maybe she kidnapped the baby.
There's no babies reported missing.
Maybe a false name.
Keep at it.
Any news on this bloke that Ricky Sterling went to jail for glassing? Al Lexington, no.
I spoke to his mother.
She said that he's well and truly over his stoush with Ricky.
He lives in Queensland now.
He's not exactly camped outside the jail waiting for Ricky to come out.
Anyway, I left a message on his mobile.
He's crewing a yacht in the Whitsundays.
Ha ha! Half his luck! Where's Ryan? He's still on the Tomik trail.
Phil Capelle might be able to help us out on that score.
The Bomb Squad's post-blast analysis is through.
It's now clear that the explosion was radio-detonated just like Tomik's previous blasts.
So it didn't have a timer? No.
What kind of signal range did the radio trigger have? Not more than 1 00 metres.
A similar distance to the device used previously.
What about the explosives? Nothing yet.
Probably Semtex.
But we're waiting on the chromatography results.
So this blast could have been a copycat crime? An idea picked up by another gang? Or another phase in Tomik's operation.
Either/or.
Tomik's technology is not rocket science, but I still think he's our best bet.
Any idea of his whereabouts? We do now.
Sir, I was down at Caulfield.
Their Cl's holding a guy on a bunch of burgs.
He's looking to make a deal.
Some leads on George Tomik's possible location in return for a favourable mention.
OK.
Why don't your people stay on Tomik, Phil? Take this info and run with it.
We'll focus on other aspects of the case.
But, sir No discussion.
Give Senior Sergeant Capelle what you've got.
Thanks, Phil.
Oh, pleasure.
Oh, and Freeman, you and Ryan are off this case as of now.
Why? I mean, what did we do? Nothing.
I need you on another job, that's all.
We're stretched.
Scored a John Doe.
Talk to dispatch.
Enjoy.
Horses in the pub.
Why the long faces? Tomik's our strongest lead, sir.
Possibly.
Phil's people can chase after Tomik.
I'm sure he'll return the favour and give us a hoy if he finds him.
In the meantime, we look at alternatives.
What if it wasn't Tomik or a copycat? This ATM could be just a mask for a murder.
We focus on the victims as targets like we decided.
Targets being Portnoy and Talia Sterling.
Why would someone want to kill a middle management banker or a con's wife? Still the same questions, ladies and gentlemen.
Let's try and kick loose some answers, huh? OK.
Thanks for your time, right? Ohhh.
Janitor used the bolt-cutters to get in after he smelt it and saw the mess that'd leaked through the bag.
He didn't touch the bag? No, Uniforms did that before they called us.
Pathologist's travelling.
Ohh.
And he's been in there a couple of weeks, at least.
No ID? No.
We'd be lucky to get any decent prints.
He's split like an over-ripe banana.
Let's get out of here.
Come on.
Take a look at this.
A whole lot of numbers.
You want to enlighten me? Investment results.
Seems like a bunch of Edward Portnoy's clients got taken for a big row when the economy went belly-up.
So he might have more enemies than his wife imagines.
Wouldn't surprise me.
Bankers - everyone hates them, don't they? If they lose your money.
He had a list of about 300 clients in his portfolio.
I know it's boring, but We make a list, find anyone who'd lost enough money to blow up their financial adviser.
Ah, detective work.
The excitement, the glamour.
This one's getting interesting.
Not from where we're sitting.
Jarvis was right.
The whole Tomik thing had us sidetracked.
So we went back to looking at Talia Sterling.
We looked further into births at hospitals.
And? Talia was in hospital under a false name.
Nurse lD'd her from a photo board.
Talia was there for five days just over three months ago.
In maternity.
The baby was hers.
Yeah, we had conjugal visits, but I used a condom.
I didn't want her getting pregnant while I was in jail.
She was doing it tough enough already.
Condoms don't always work, do they? If she'd gotten pregnant, why wouldn't she have told me? Maybe that's why she stopped coming to see me.
She stopped visiting? About eight or nine months ago.
No, no, no.
But she said she was in Perth, that her dad was sick.
Did you ever get the sense that she was seeing someone else? Oh, you take that back right now.
Do you know who you're talking about? That's my dead wife! Mr Sterling! It's a perfectly reasonable question.
No.
If she'd had a baby, it would have been mine.
We loved each other.
Look, there was no baby.
If there was, what did she do with it while I was out on weekend parole? How long have you had weekend parole? About three months.
Talia was back from Perth by then.
I stayed with her.
And I'm telling you, there was no baby.
Well, there was.
If she was concealing it from you, it was probably because the baby wasn't yours and she'd betrayed you, hadn't she? What? So I killed her? Did you? No! Why would l? Maybe you found out.
And then you're out on parole, on the weekends so you had both the opportunity and the motive to kill your wife.
I just told you, I didn't know about any baby.
Copy that.
Mr Fender, why didn't you tell us about Ricky getting weekend parole? Well, they go, they come back.
I didn't think it was relevant.
Everything is relevant to a murder investigation.
Does that surprise you? I didn't think.
It slipped my mind.
How does weekend parole work around here? Once the prisoner's earned it, he gets it monthly, then fortnightly towards the end of his sentence.
Supervised? No, no.
These are rehabilitated prisoners.
They're fully assessed before they get the privilege.
The idea is to introduce them slowly back into a normal life.
They're not supervised.
But the same restrictions as usual, right? Yeah.
Travel area, curfew, limits on association and so on.
Yes.
What, so you just drop them off at home? No, no, at the station, with their fare, on a Friday evening.
Then they're picked up from the same spot on Sunday evening to be brought back here.
That's what happened this weekend? Yes.
In fact, I was the one who dropped Sterling off and then picked him up again.
So what was the pick-up time yesterday afternoon? it was relevant.
Where? Same spot.
Outside the station, just down the road from here.
Closest one to the jail.
OK, thank you.
And that WAS relevant.
Sorry.
You know your way out of here by now? We'll manage.
Thanks.
If Ricky Sterling was at the station at 4:30 He couldn't have blown up that ATM.
And Edward Portnoy becomes our most likely target.
Who'd want to kill a guy from a credit union? Your husband didn't receive any threats? No, everyone liked Edward.
I've told you.
No strange letters? Anything like that? No.
He's alwaysvery conciliatory when it comes to dealing with people.
Except Yes? Well, sometimes people weren't so conciliatory back.
Yeah, times are tough.
Mrs Portnoy, I know that your husband was very good at his job, but according to the information that we have, he did have a few failures lately.
Failures? Just the global meltdown.
We pulled a few names.
If you wouldn't mind looking at them.
Anyone your husband might have mentioned or seemed concerned about? Uh, there was, uh, one confrontation he spoke about a few weeks ago at the office.
Uh, this name, I think.
Edward said there'd been a minor unpleasantness.
John Langham.
Yeah, I think so.
Um, maybe Edward's colleagues can tell you what happened.
Thanks.
We'll ask them.
Anyone else that you can think of? Maybe a family member? Um Well, Edwardhad some issues with my brother Arthur.
It's over my mother's will.
But surely you don't think What's your brother's name? Mr Finney, your sister told us about what happened - your mother left some vases to her and her husband instead of you? Not just vases.
They're very rare Royal Worcester vases.
They're hand-painted.
Nearly 1 00 years old.
And that would make them extremely valuable.
Oh, it's not about the money.
So the fact that they're worth $20,000 each, $60,000 a set, that doesn't interest you? They're fine pieces.
Edward had them but they were rightfully mine.
And you decided to do something about that.
Well, I wrote and complained to the credit union, I wrote and complained to the banking ombudsman.
Yeah, we know.
Your complaint came up in our checks.
$380,000 is the money you lost courtesy of Edward Portnoy's advice.
$385,000, actually.
I felt I had to take some action.
And you broke into the house? Edward confronted you? And you had a screaming row with him in his office? Y es.
Yeah, his colleagues remembered it when we mentioned your name.
Look, what's all this about? Is he accusing me of something? Or has he absconded with people's funds? To have gone to the police over a set of vases! Worth $60,000.
Does his death have anything to do with you threatening to cut his head off? I didn't.
I mean, I didn't Not specifically say that.
What did you say? I said I'd have his head on a plate.
It was figurative.
I could cheerfully have killed him then and there, but I was just letting off steam.
It wasn't a genuine threat.
I couldn't kill anybody.
I'm not a murderer.
Yeah, you'd be surprised how many murderers tell us that.
Where were you yesterday? What time? Oh, no.
No, no, no.
Let's not make it that easy.
The whole day.
Starting from when your feet touched the ground.
Tell me you've got something on the Portnoy angle.
Yes and no.
OK.
Edward Portnoy wasn't the financial guru his wife thinks he was.
He lost close to $2 million of his clients' money including 385 grand of this man's money.
There's a lot of it going around.
And the light-fingered brother-in-law, he had opportunity.
But pocketing Edward Portnoy's prized china, that is probably the naughtiest thing he'll ever do in his life.
Not exactly a Semtex with remote detonation kind of guy? No, but he's got no alibi.
Neither has our prime candidate, John Langham.
And they've both got motive.
So they both stay on the ever-increasing list of suspects.
Oh! He was pretty ripe.
Better you than us.
How long was he in that bag? Two or three weeks, give or take.
No ideas who put him there? No.
We must have talked to 50 people in that building.
Nobody saw anything, nobody smelt anything.
Can you believe that? There's been a lot of nasal congestion about.
Not for me, unfortunately.
Ah, murder weapon.
Zipped nice and tight round his neck.
You didn't see it because of the swelling.
He was strangled? Yeah.
Ligature strangling.
But innovative - two zip ties linked together.
Once it's pulled tight, these little teeth make it impossible to loosen.
He died a nasty, slow death.
There are abrasions on his arms, probably made as a result of thrashing around the concrete floor while he was trying to breathe.
Like you said - nasty.
Any identifying marks? No.
Why? No ID? Nothing.
Well,clothing? Could have been bought anywhere.
And it wasn't his storage unit.
The owner of the apartment was away.
A friend was looking after it.
So this is the friend? Looks that way.
We're trying to track down the owner.
In the meantime? Nothing.
No tatts.
No birthmarks.
Some interesting bridgework in his mouth.
That'll take a while to track.
Prints? Uh, his skin's basically sliding off.
It's called slippage.
I'll try and get the swelling and fluid levels down and then see if I can get you something.
But that'll take a while.
You'd probably find his mate first.
Till then, his toe tag still reads John Doe.
Well, we're about to clarify Tomik's place in the mix.
Phil Capelle's guys have got a solid lead on him.
They're about to make an arrest? The Senior Sergeant very kindly, quid pro quo, suggested we might like to attend.
Sure, I'll be in.
Bit of biff.
Blow out the cobwebs.
Got an address? In 20 minutes they're going in.
Let's go.
You coming, Si? Uh, no, I'll pass.
Really? Pass on a bust? You kidding, right? I'll nut through this some more, see if I come up with something.
How much money you got? Two hotels - Park Lane.
Police! Don't move! Get off me, you fucking bastard! I haven't done anything! You're going straight to jail, anyway, without passing Go.
ATM locations.
These guys are gone.
Oh, Phil, thanks for letting us talk to this bugger.
Take a seat.
Least I could do, Superintendent.
Look, I know I'm gone.
Who ratted me out? You ratted yourself out, mate.
You got a bit too cocky, didn't you? That hideout was as safe as Mother Teresa at a sodomite's picnic.
You provided us with plenty of evidence, anyway, Mr Tomik.
The money, the maps, the explosives.
All neat and tidy.
That's 'cause I'm a pro - organised.
You lot, you only got to me because somebody shopped me, it wasn't my screw-up.
You screwed up the last robbery, didn't you? Three people were killed.
Wasn't one of mine.
No? No.
You think you're so hot grabbing those maps.
Take a look at them.
Do you see that ATM there? No, you do not.
It wasn't even on my list.
So someone's copying you? Sincerest form of flattery, eh? There was a burg at a quarry four weeks ago.
Explosives were taken.
Was it you? You need to get your facts straight.
Right? Do your sums.
We'd already hit four ATMs when that happened.
Maybe to top up your supplies? You saw how much bang I had in that place.
I had what I needed.
Why would I steal any more? Smart-arse.
You admit to the other ATM jobs? Sure.
OK? Gone.
Not even a whimper.
But you're denying the attack on the last machine? My oath, I am.
Maybe it wasn't about the money.
What? Talia Sterling was killed in that explosion.
Who's Talia Sterling? She's the wife of an associate of yours.
Ricky Sterling.
Name sound familiar? I never did any jobs with any Ricky Sterling.
No, but you shared a jail with him, your last visit.
What was he in for? Intentionally cause serious injury.
Listen, mate, I was somebody in that jail.
I ran my section, I didn't hang out with any pussies or bottom feeders.
You're saying you don't know Ricky Sterling? I don't know him, alright? His wife got blown up.
It's a coincidence.
Yeah, right.
It's also highly un-bloody-ethical.
We hit those other ATMs at night.
We did that so people wouldn't get hurt.
Civic responsibility.
Professional pride, mate! There's lines you don't cross.
Killing civilians? No way.
No way.
Whoever blew that machine up had no morals.
It was criminal, OK? Criminal.
I hope you catch the bastard.
Our turn with him now.
Thanks for your cooperation, Superintendent.
Lucky you.
Our end's all tied up.
You've got everything I can give you.
I hope you get the bastard too.
Thanks, Phil.
I appreciate it, mate.
Yeah.
Ta.
So he's got his ATM bandits, over and out, that's it? What did you expect? We did get one useful thing.
Tomik had plenty of Semtex.
He had no need to steal explosives from the quarry.
That burg has got to be linked to our ATM blast and these murders.
There's got to be a connection.
There will be.
Just find it.
Morning.
Morning.
Something I said? We're trying to locate the apartment owner where our John Doe was staying.
Can't be that hard.
He's trekking in Nepal.
Right.
See ya.
Guys, I might be able to save you some trouble.
I just checked out the stone quarry, got some info from the employment records.
Looks like your Mr Portnoy might be a dead-end because the burg at the quarry is very much alive.
What did you turn up? Four years ago, guess who was hired to drive trucks at the quarry.
Don't make me guess, Mapplethorpe.
Ricky Sterling.
Sterling was alibied for the explosion.
Well, he could have commissioned it.
Or set it up and got someone to detonate it for him.
I could almost understand if he did it himself - crime of passion, bit personal.
But to get a third party to do it? I don't buy that.
Where's the satisfaction? He couldn't have done it personally.
- He was on a train.
- What's that thing? Once all the possibilities are eliminated, the answer must lie within the impossible.
We just haven't eliminated all the possibilities.
What if Sterling wasn't on that train? I told you - I picked him up from the station.
Mr Fender, two years before he was sentenced, Ricky Sterling worked in a quarry.
Now, four weeks ago, a lot of explosives were stolen from that quarry.
When Sterling was on weekend parole.
Now, it is possible that Ricky Sterling used his knowledge of that workplace to steal those explosives and then used them to kill his wife and her child.
Not his child, but someone else's.
But, Look, Ricky adored his wife.
He was always talking about her.
That would've made the discovery of the betrayal even worse.
You mean maybe he killed her because he loved her? Something like that, yes.
Look, Ricky was only a driver at the quarry, but he wasn't stupid.
He could have learnt how to make a radio-detonated bomb.
On the net.
Easy.
So, Mr Fender, if you are lying to us OK, OK.
Jesus.
After about the first three times dropping him to the station, he asked me if I could drop him to his wife's place.
It's on my way home from work, so it's no skin off my nose.
And it meant that he would be able to maximise his time on the outside.
And you went for it? Yeah, I did.
And picking him up? Well, generally, it was from outside the station.
And the last time? The last couple of times on my way back into work it was from his wife's place.
No, no, it's in Carlton.
He said that she'd moved.
Did you check? No.
No, l I trusted him.
Look, look.
Ricky has always been very straight with me.
Oh, how? These last six months or so, he's been keeping me across what's going down inside, you know.
So it's not just to do with the rehabilitation of a model prisoner.
You were repaying a debt.
He told me who was doing drugs, who was planning what.
We'd nipped a few things in the bud.
And you've scored a promotion.
You're in charge of that wing now, right? Mr Fender, he's been feeding you information for six months.
He has been grooming you as a mate to help him kill his wife.
I didn't know that.
Because you didn't check! If you collected him from Carlton, he wasn't visiting his wife because she still lives in Richmond.
And with a Carlton pick-up, he would've had ample time to detonate that bomb.
And you knew that, didn't you? OK, OK.
I knew that it was possible, but I didn't think there was any way he'd do it.
This could cost me my job.
It cost three people their lives! Mr Fender Ricky must have found out that Talia was pregnant.
Then, for several months, he pretended that everything was OK, he bided his time, he put on a front in jail while he put everything in place.
He used his weekend paroles to set his plan in action.
And he sucked me in.
Jesus.
The address in Carlton where you dropped him and picked him up.
I wasn't doing anything wrong.
I loved him, that's all.
So you were a ready shoulder to cry on when Talia did the dirty? It wasn't like that.
He's always liked me too.
Did he stay with you all the time when out of jail on those weekends? Not all the time.
He took my car for a drive, went to the Internet cafe.
I bet he did.
Did he do any work while he was at your place, Rhiannon, make anything, build anything, something he didn't want you to see? He sometimeshe shut himself in the spare room.
I don't know what he was doing.
Look, I haven't done anything.
You can't stop me seeing him.
Talia didn't love him anymore.
She had another guy's baby! So you knew about that! And you lied.
Rhiannon, we believe Ricky Sterling killed Talia and her baby.
No.
So what were you, just someone he sucked in? An accessory or an accomplice? I think it's time you told us everything you know.
OK.
OK.
Um Uh, Talia She started seeing Al Lexington when Ricky was in jail.
And she got pregnant and she was freaking out and she asked me what she should do.
What did you say? Well, I just saidtell Ricky it's over and pretend you're going back home to Perth for a while.
Yeah, but you didn't just leave it there, did you? You started visiting Ricky.
And you told Ricky about Talia having a baby with Al.
You're a good friend.
Hey, I didn't think it was fair.
Ricky was shattered.
He said he should have married me, not her.
That was cool.
You didn't tell Talia any of this? No.
When Ricky got weekend parole and he came to see me, I was in heaven, you know.
And then Al dumped Talia and the baby, went back to Queensland.
And she was frantic.
She knew Ricky was getting out of prison.
She didn't have anyone to protect her.
And you told Ricky.
Talia had every reason to feel frightened of Ricky because when he got out, we believe he used the bomb that he made in your spare room to kill Talia and her baby.
He said that when he got out we were gonna go away to Tassie.
I was just counting down the days.
I didn't mean to hurt anyone.
OK, thanks very much.
Travel agent's finally got in touch with John Doe's landlord.
And we have finally got the father of Talia Sterling's baby - Al Lexington.
The guy Ricky glassed at the pub.
Yeah.
You got a last known address? How do you know that? Because Al Lexington is our John Doe.
Looks like Ricky got revenge on him too.
You can't prove a thing.
We can prove that you lied to us about continuing to see your wife.
We can prove that you accessed the Internet and obtained information about building a bomb.
We can prove that you weren't on the train back to the jail.
We can show motive and opportunity.
Yeah, but you can't put me at the scene, though,can you? No camera on that ATM.
The people you tricked, the people you sucked in, they'll happily roll over on you, believe me.
I doubt it.
Jock Fender would lose his job and he likes me.
Rhiannon She loves me.
I was with herall the time.
No, that's not what she's saying.
What do you have to say about that? Oooh.
Women, eh? Can't trust them.
It got a reaction, for sure.
Yeah, not enough.
Look, this bloke kept a poker face about his marriage going belly-up for nearly a year.
He's not gonna spit it all out now.
You put us onto those ATM hits hoping that we'd write off your wife's death as a .
.
as an unlucky accident, as a coincidence, didn't you? But you set it off in the middle of the day.
That wasn't very smart.
I didn't do it.
See? OK, let's talk about Al Lexington.
Tell me, was this a coincidence too? By our reckoning, given decomposition and infestation, you killed him on your third weekend out.
Our colleagues are reviewing the intentionally cause serious injury case that put you inside.
That fight in the pub with Al Lexington, it was about your wife, wasn't it?! I, uh I told the court what happened.
He was hitting on her.
So you glassed him, you broke his jaw and luckily you smashed a couple of his teeth.
Dentals can help confirm the ID.
Good for you.
But he got the last word, didn't he? 'Cause he started hitting on her again while you were in jail.
And this time she fell for him and he got her pregnant.
And that child was his, wasn't it? I don't know.
Oh,come on, Ricky, yes, you do! And the DNA test will prove it.
In fact, I'll make sure that we get you a copy 'cause in the end Al Lexington beat you, didn't he?! I beat him! Come on! Sit down! Go on, be my guest.
Be my guest.
Sit down! She was my wife.
And she left me! Said she'd fallen out of love with me.
That she was going home to Perth.
I soon found out that last part was crap.
What about your wife's cousin, Rhiannon Casey? Oh, she loved me.
Thought the sun shone out of my arse.
She told me everything I needed to know.
So I stewed, waited my chance.
And then I found out about George Tomik and his ATM bombs and that gave me a nice little idea.
So you started drip-feeding Jock Fenton dirt about other inmates? Worked a treat and he green-lit my weekend parole.
And you went looking for Talia.
You know how much I hated her, when I saw her with that baby? And her bloody boyfriend.
The same bloody I spent two years of my life in jail .
.
because I stuck up for that slut! And then you found out that Al was dumping her and going to Queensland, courtesy of Rhiannon again.
Always first with the news.
I got to him .
.
before he got to sunny Queensland.
And what happened to Talia? I just followed her.
I watched her use that ATM three times .
.
before I did it.
Talia and that baby died a lot quicker than Al did.
I'm not a monster.
I thought he was gonna throttle you.
The guy's a psycho.
But we had him under control, didn't we? It was quite a plan he had in place.
It wasn't that good.
We caught him.
Joyner! Mr Fender.
It's him I want to talk to.
Where do you get off informing Correctional Services about what I did? Mr Fender, this isn't the time You broke the rules, mate.
A prisoner under your supervision killed four people.
I know I broke the rules and I know what happened.
You think I'm not pissing blood about this? You show a man a bit of compassion, he spits in your face.
He uses your good nature to do something unspeakable.
Compassion had nothing to do with it! You scratched each other's backs! Oh, maybe.
But it's not a mistake I'm gonna make again.
If it makes you feel any better, you prick, I'd already written my resignation.
You bastard.
What? You alright? Yeah, why wouldn't I be? You seem a bit out of sorts.
Out of sorts? Simon, you didn't go on a raid yesterday.
That's not like you.
Oh,come on, big deal.
So what, I didn't go on a bust.
I was investigating a murder.
Oh, and Jock Fender? I couldn't care less about Jock Fender.
You reported him.
Jen, if we screwed up like that, we'd cop it in the bloody neck.
It'd be the full inquiry.
ESD would be up our arses faster than a rat up a drain pipe.
So, yeah, I reported it because he bloody well deserved it! And you, get off my back and don't you dare judge me.
The ATM has been blown up on Harridane Street.
Oh, my God.
It's gonna be a long day.
You'd better get going.
Love you.
You too.
Bloody hell.
Multiple injuries, three fatalities.
I'll get a closer look once I get the OK.
It appears one of the deceased's an infant.
Think you'd get used to it.
The Task Force said it would happen and it has.
These ATM bombers have finally taken out some civilians.
Senior Sergeant Capelle's coordinating the ATM investigation.
There are a few anomalies here.
This is the first cash machine that's not an ATM from a bank.
And the others were at night - late.
Faulty timing device? A miscalculation? Guess the Bomb Squad boys should be able to enlighten us about all that in due course.
I'll make sure they liaise with your guys.
Yeah, thanks, Phil.
You'll send everything else you've got? It's already happening.
I'll provide updates as well.
We'll talk soon.
Yeah, thanks, mate.
Anything on the victims? Bomb Squad's already pulled IDs from both the adults.
We got a Talia Sterling and an Edward Portnoy.
They reckon the young woman was most likely with the pram, given the blast vectors.
You want us to do the death-knock, sir? Soon.
Let's regroup first and see what we're looking at.
The ATM Task Force and the Bomb Squad are looking at these guys as collateral damage.
Yeah, right, but there are still a few kinks in the MO.
This is the first one not at night.
These blokes usually blow the ATMs right out of the wall too.
It's enough to justify a closer look at the whole event.
According to Task Force notes, they do it manually with radio detonators.
We'll see what the Bombies have to say about that one.
Did you ever look at the footage from the earlier blasts? Yeah, a couple of CCTV pictures of masked men setting charges.
Hard to get an I D.
OK.
So not much use.
Plus there was no security cameras on this ATM.
Wasn't there some mention of stolen explosives in their report? Yes, but the burg at the quarry post-dated the earlier ATM hits.
Maybe they wanted to top up their supplies.
Maybe.
OK, Look, Let's inform the relatives of the deceased.
Get formal IDs done.
Start looking at the possibility of one of them being a target, not collateral damage.
Yeah, start backgrounding them.
The address on the male's licence was confirmed as current.
Freeman, wanna head over to Kingston? Inform his wife.
Already got some interesting things from following up on the licences.
Edward Portnoy worked for a credit union.
Same credit union that operates the ATM.
Is that a coincidence? Find out.
And the woman? Address on her licence was old.
But Crime Scene found a letter in her handbag from her husband.
A letter? He's not around? He's around, alright.
He's not going anywhere.
He's in jail.
What is it? What do you want to talk to me for? Mr Sterling, I'm afraid we have some bad news for you.
There was a bomb blast at an ATM.
And your wife and child were killed.
What? No, you got it wrong.
Your wife is Talia Sterling? Yeah.
Then I'm afraid she's dead.
No.
No.
No, not Talia.
How did it happen? It was an explosion.
An ATM.
We're very sorry for your loss, ma'am.
Loss? I was supposed to be getting out of here in a few days.
Supposed to be a new beginning.
Your husband worked at the credit union? Y es.
Inininvestments.
Handles a lot of accounts.
Did he often work on Sundays? Said it was his .
.
best chance to get ahead on his paperwork.
No customers around.
Do you have any idea who might want to hurt your wife and child? What child? I don't have any kids.
- Who'd want to hurt Talia? - We don't know.
Do you? Someone who was trying to get at you, maybe.
You are in jail, Mr Sterling.
Do you have any enemies? No.
No, I've kept out of trouble in here.
And I didn't do anything crooked outside.
I justmade a mistake, alright? I got into a punch-up.
I'm not a criminal.
Can you think of anyone that might want to harm your husband? No.
Edward's always He's always been very well-respected.
No financial problems or debts? No.
We were doing fine.
Oh, God! Do you have any idea who the child might be? A young boy.
About three months old.
Sheshe must have been babysitting.
She did that .
.
to make extra cash.
This way.
It's OK, Sterling.
I'll wait out here.
OK? He's in for Intentionally Cause Serious Injury? Yeah, yeah, a pub fight that went wrong.
Any letters or threats from the guy he almost killed? No.
No, I don't think so.
Look, there was a letter that Ricky wrote to him early in his time.
Some sort of apology.
What do you know about Sterling? Oh.
Oh, you know, he's no trouble.
Model prisoner.
Good candidate for rehabilitation.
How long's he in for? Three years, minimum two.
He's gonna be released in a few days.
He and his wife get on OK? Yeah, as far as I know.
Any enemies inside? No.
No, he's kept himself pretty much to himself.
What do I do about the funeral? We'll talk to the warden.
See how we handle it.
I'm sorry, Sterling.
Yeah.
Whoever did thisyou make sure you get the bastards, OK? We'll keep you informed, Mr You get them.
Come on.
They'll do their job.
Si, how'd you go with Sterling at the morgue? He was a bit of a mess.
So the spouses aren't good for it? He was in jail and he loves his wife.
Portnoy's wife is a cleanskin, no apparent enemies.
Happy marriage.
So nothing that paints a target on either victim? They all start out that way.
Maybe the baby was the target.
Maybe it really was one of those ATM hits gone bad.
A lot of maybes.
Joyner.
I think I might have something for you.
Sterling.
Yeah, what is it? Sweated on this all night.
I think I can help you.
How I can tell you who killed my wife.
I'm putting my dick on the block telling you this.
You don't dog on people in jail.
You're getting out soon, aren't you? Still time enough to cop a shiv in the back.
We'll see if administration can put you in protection for your last few days.
You'll keep my name out of it? Of course.
OK, I don't know the exact details.
I try and keep my head down.
But? Well, rumour mill in here a few months ago was saying that a bloke in B section was bragging to his mates about a scam he was putting together for when he got out.
The ATM hits.
This guy had some blokes on the outside setting it up, he reckoned.
Ready for when he got out.
He got out about two months ago.
Which ties in with the start of the ATM jobs.
Right - everybody in here's been watching that stuff going down on the news.
Looks like he got his scam up, doesn't it? What's his name? Come on, we can see that you're safe.
We can get you locked down.
Just tell us his name.
Tomik.
George Tomik.
We'll follow up on this George Tomik, see what we can find.
You'd better.
Or when I get out, I'll do your job for you.
I'll kill the bastard.
George Tomik.
What was he in for? Armed robbery, assault, unlicensed firearms.
Progress? Possible suspect in the bombing.
George Tomik and Associates.
ATMs R Us.
Known whereabouts? No sign of him.
He's only reported once since he got out.
It's a violation of his parole conditions.
You told the Task Force? Duly passed on.
Hope they were suitably grateful.
That works for us too.
We got more eyeballs out there looking for him.
What about our other jailbird, this Ricky Sterling? What's he in for? Pub brawl.
He decked a guy, then he glassed him.
Cut an artery.
The guy nearly bled out and died.
It's a good argument for sawdust on the floor.
Find out if the bloke he injured harbours any grudges.
Two years later? There'd been no threats made.
Ricky even apologised.
Big deal.
Ricky Sterling just got parole.
That often pisses victims off or their relatives.
Might be something in that.
Alright, we'll look into it.
Listen, any ID on the rugrat yet? Nothing from Missing Persons.
Nothing from Autopsy.
Babysitting's still our best option.
Hubby's still in jail, right? Wifey might've been rooting around.
Maybe it was her kid and he didn't know.
There's no record of Talia giving birth.
But her flat's full of toys and baby stuff.
Supports the babysitting theory.
We also got an address book with clients' names.
We'll check them out.
Probably a cash-in-hand business.
Even better, we've got a number for a cousin of hers, Rhiannon Casey.
Maybe we could get something out of her.
I don't think I can help you.
Sorry, I just can't believe she's dead.
I mean, Ricky's just set to come out and this happens.
I can't believe I was a bridesmaid at their wedding.
Talia's dad is coming over from Perth to make the funeral arrangements.
He didn't know anything about any baby.
We really need to find out who this child is, Rhiannon.
There's a family somewhere out there who've lost a little boy.
Why wouldn't they have reported him missing? They could've left him with Talia while they were away.
Could have been staying with her for quite a while.
Not that I know of.
I don't know who Talia babysat for.
Do you know anyone who'd want to hurt Talia? Nah.
She's a real sweetie.
Everyone loved her.
She and Ricky got on OK? Yeah.
Well, it was hard that he was in jail.
You know, it was just a fight in a pub.
Just one of those things that happens.
Just one mistake.
Were they planning a family? I reckon Ricky would have been.
He's your full-on family type, you know? So no issues between them? Talia loved Ricky, he loved her.
What issues would there be? Two years is a long time to be separated.
Not if you really love someone, eh? Another dead-end with the baby.
Talia's father knows nothing and her cousin's no help either.
I don't know.
It's got to be babysitting.
Maybe she kidnapped the baby.
There's no babies reported missing.
Maybe a false name.
Keep at it.
Any news on this bloke that Ricky Sterling went to jail for glassing? Al Lexington, no.
I spoke to his mother.
She said that he's well and truly over his stoush with Ricky.
He lives in Queensland now.
He's not exactly camped outside the jail waiting for Ricky to come out.
Anyway, I left a message on his mobile.
He's crewing a yacht in the Whitsundays.
Ha ha! Half his luck! Where's Ryan? He's still on the Tomik trail.
Phil Capelle might be able to help us out on that score.
The Bomb Squad's post-blast analysis is through.
It's now clear that the explosion was radio-detonated just like Tomik's previous blasts.
So it didn't have a timer? No.
What kind of signal range did the radio trigger have? Not more than 1 00 metres.
A similar distance to the device used previously.
What about the explosives? Nothing yet.
Probably Semtex.
But we're waiting on the chromatography results.
So this blast could have been a copycat crime? An idea picked up by another gang? Or another phase in Tomik's operation.
Either/or.
Tomik's technology is not rocket science, but I still think he's our best bet.
Any idea of his whereabouts? We do now.
Sir, I was down at Caulfield.
Their Cl's holding a guy on a bunch of burgs.
He's looking to make a deal.
Some leads on George Tomik's possible location in return for a favourable mention.
OK.
Why don't your people stay on Tomik, Phil? Take this info and run with it.
We'll focus on other aspects of the case.
But, sir No discussion.
Give Senior Sergeant Capelle what you've got.
Thanks, Phil.
Oh, pleasure.
Oh, and Freeman, you and Ryan are off this case as of now.
Why? I mean, what did we do? Nothing.
I need you on another job, that's all.
We're stretched.
Scored a John Doe.
Talk to dispatch.
Enjoy.
Horses in the pub.
Why the long faces? Tomik's our strongest lead, sir.
Possibly.
Phil's people can chase after Tomik.
I'm sure he'll return the favour and give us a hoy if he finds him.
In the meantime, we look at alternatives.
What if it wasn't Tomik or a copycat? This ATM could be just a mask for a murder.
We focus on the victims as targets like we decided.
Targets being Portnoy and Talia Sterling.
Why would someone want to kill a middle management banker or a con's wife? Still the same questions, ladies and gentlemen.
Let's try and kick loose some answers, huh? OK.
Thanks for your time, right? Ohhh.
Janitor used the bolt-cutters to get in after he smelt it and saw the mess that'd leaked through the bag.
He didn't touch the bag? No, Uniforms did that before they called us.
Pathologist's travelling.
Ohh.
And he's been in there a couple of weeks, at least.
No ID? No.
We'd be lucky to get any decent prints.
He's split like an over-ripe banana.
Let's get out of here.
Come on.
Take a look at this.
A whole lot of numbers.
You want to enlighten me? Investment results.
Seems like a bunch of Edward Portnoy's clients got taken for a big row when the economy went belly-up.
So he might have more enemies than his wife imagines.
Wouldn't surprise me.
Bankers - everyone hates them, don't they? If they lose your money.
He had a list of about 300 clients in his portfolio.
I know it's boring, but We make a list, find anyone who'd lost enough money to blow up their financial adviser.
Ah, detective work.
The excitement, the glamour.
This one's getting interesting.
Not from where we're sitting.
Jarvis was right.
The whole Tomik thing had us sidetracked.
So we went back to looking at Talia Sterling.
We looked further into births at hospitals.
And? Talia was in hospital under a false name.
Nurse lD'd her from a photo board.
Talia was there for five days just over three months ago.
In maternity.
The baby was hers.
Yeah, we had conjugal visits, but I used a condom.
I didn't want her getting pregnant while I was in jail.
She was doing it tough enough already.
Condoms don't always work, do they? If she'd gotten pregnant, why wouldn't she have told me? Maybe that's why she stopped coming to see me.
She stopped visiting? About eight or nine months ago.
No, no, no.
But she said she was in Perth, that her dad was sick.
Did you ever get the sense that she was seeing someone else? Oh, you take that back right now.
Do you know who you're talking about? That's my dead wife! Mr Sterling! It's a perfectly reasonable question.
No.
If she'd had a baby, it would have been mine.
We loved each other.
Look, there was no baby.
If there was, what did she do with it while I was out on weekend parole? How long have you had weekend parole? About three months.
Talia was back from Perth by then.
I stayed with her.
And I'm telling you, there was no baby.
Well, there was.
If she was concealing it from you, it was probably because the baby wasn't yours and she'd betrayed you, hadn't she? What? So I killed her? Did you? No! Why would l? Maybe you found out.
And then you're out on parole, on the weekends so you had both the opportunity and the motive to kill your wife.
I just told you, I didn't know about any baby.
Copy that.
Mr Fender, why didn't you tell us about Ricky getting weekend parole? Well, they go, they come back.
I didn't think it was relevant.
Everything is relevant to a murder investigation.
Does that surprise you? I didn't think.
It slipped my mind.
How does weekend parole work around here? Once the prisoner's earned it, he gets it monthly, then fortnightly towards the end of his sentence.
Supervised? No, no.
These are rehabilitated prisoners.
They're fully assessed before they get the privilege.
The idea is to introduce them slowly back into a normal life.
They're not supervised.
But the same restrictions as usual, right? Yeah.
Travel area, curfew, limits on association and so on.
Yes.
What, so you just drop them off at home? No, no, at the station, with their fare, on a Friday evening.
Then they're picked up from the same spot on Sunday evening to be brought back here.
That's what happened this weekend? Yes.
In fact, I was the one who dropped Sterling off and then picked him up again.
So what was the pick-up time yesterday afternoon? it was relevant.
Where? Same spot.
Outside the station, just down the road from here.
Closest one to the jail.
OK, thank you.
And that WAS relevant.
Sorry.
You know your way out of here by now? We'll manage.
Thanks.
If Ricky Sterling was at the station at 4:30 He couldn't have blown up that ATM.
And Edward Portnoy becomes our most likely target.
Who'd want to kill a guy from a credit union? Your husband didn't receive any threats? No, everyone liked Edward.
I've told you.
No strange letters? Anything like that? No.
He's alwaysvery conciliatory when it comes to dealing with people.
Except Yes? Well, sometimes people weren't so conciliatory back.
Yeah, times are tough.
Mrs Portnoy, I know that your husband was very good at his job, but according to the information that we have, he did have a few failures lately.
Failures? Just the global meltdown.
We pulled a few names.
If you wouldn't mind looking at them.
Anyone your husband might have mentioned or seemed concerned about? Uh, there was, uh, one confrontation he spoke about a few weeks ago at the office.
Uh, this name, I think.
Edward said there'd been a minor unpleasantness.
John Langham.
Yeah, I think so.
Um, maybe Edward's colleagues can tell you what happened.
Thanks.
We'll ask them.
Anyone else that you can think of? Maybe a family member? Um Well, Edwardhad some issues with my brother Arthur.
It's over my mother's will.
But surely you don't think What's your brother's name? Mr Finney, your sister told us about what happened - your mother left some vases to her and her husband instead of you? Not just vases.
They're very rare Royal Worcester vases.
They're hand-painted.
Nearly 1 00 years old.
And that would make them extremely valuable.
Oh, it's not about the money.
So the fact that they're worth $20,000 each, $60,000 a set, that doesn't interest you? They're fine pieces.
Edward had them but they were rightfully mine.
And you decided to do something about that.
Well, I wrote and complained to the credit union, I wrote and complained to the banking ombudsman.
Yeah, we know.
Your complaint came up in our checks.
$380,000 is the money you lost courtesy of Edward Portnoy's advice.
$385,000, actually.
I felt I had to take some action.
And you broke into the house? Edward confronted you? And you had a screaming row with him in his office? Y es.
Yeah, his colleagues remembered it when we mentioned your name.
Look, what's all this about? Is he accusing me of something? Or has he absconded with people's funds? To have gone to the police over a set of vases! Worth $60,000.
Does his death have anything to do with you threatening to cut his head off? I didn't.
I mean, I didn't Not specifically say that.
What did you say? I said I'd have his head on a plate.
It was figurative.
I could cheerfully have killed him then and there, but I was just letting off steam.
It wasn't a genuine threat.
I couldn't kill anybody.
I'm not a murderer.
Yeah, you'd be surprised how many murderers tell us that.
Where were you yesterday? What time? Oh, no.
No, no, no.
Let's not make it that easy.
The whole day.
Starting from when your feet touched the ground.
Tell me you've got something on the Portnoy angle.
Yes and no.
OK.
Edward Portnoy wasn't the financial guru his wife thinks he was.
He lost close to $2 million of his clients' money including 385 grand of this man's money.
There's a lot of it going around.
And the light-fingered brother-in-law, he had opportunity.
But pocketing Edward Portnoy's prized china, that is probably the naughtiest thing he'll ever do in his life.
Not exactly a Semtex with remote detonation kind of guy? No, but he's got no alibi.
Neither has our prime candidate, John Langham.
And they've both got motive.
So they both stay on the ever-increasing list of suspects.
Oh! He was pretty ripe.
Better you than us.
How long was he in that bag? Two or three weeks, give or take.
No ideas who put him there? No.
We must have talked to 50 people in that building.
Nobody saw anything, nobody smelt anything.
Can you believe that? There's been a lot of nasal congestion about.
Not for me, unfortunately.
Ah, murder weapon.
Zipped nice and tight round his neck.
You didn't see it because of the swelling.
He was strangled? Yeah.
Ligature strangling.
But innovative - two zip ties linked together.
Once it's pulled tight, these little teeth make it impossible to loosen.
He died a nasty, slow death.
There are abrasions on his arms, probably made as a result of thrashing around the concrete floor while he was trying to breathe.
Like you said - nasty.
Any identifying marks? No.
Why? No ID? Nothing.
Well,clothing? Could have been bought anywhere.
And it wasn't his storage unit.
The owner of the apartment was away.
A friend was looking after it.
So this is the friend? Looks that way.
We're trying to track down the owner.
In the meantime? Nothing.
No tatts.
No birthmarks.
Some interesting bridgework in his mouth.
That'll take a while to track.
Prints? Uh, his skin's basically sliding off.
It's called slippage.
I'll try and get the swelling and fluid levels down and then see if I can get you something.
But that'll take a while.
You'd probably find his mate first.
Till then, his toe tag still reads John Doe.
Well, we're about to clarify Tomik's place in the mix.
Phil Capelle's guys have got a solid lead on him.
They're about to make an arrest? The Senior Sergeant very kindly, quid pro quo, suggested we might like to attend.
Sure, I'll be in.
Bit of biff.
Blow out the cobwebs.
Got an address? In 20 minutes they're going in.
Let's go.
You coming, Si? Uh, no, I'll pass.
Really? Pass on a bust? You kidding, right? I'll nut through this some more, see if I come up with something.
How much money you got? Two hotels - Park Lane.
Police! Don't move! Get off me, you fucking bastard! I haven't done anything! You're going straight to jail, anyway, without passing Go.
ATM locations.
These guys are gone.
Oh, Phil, thanks for letting us talk to this bugger.
Take a seat.
Least I could do, Superintendent.
Look, I know I'm gone.
Who ratted me out? You ratted yourself out, mate.
You got a bit too cocky, didn't you? That hideout was as safe as Mother Teresa at a sodomite's picnic.
You provided us with plenty of evidence, anyway, Mr Tomik.
The money, the maps, the explosives.
All neat and tidy.
That's 'cause I'm a pro - organised.
You lot, you only got to me because somebody shopped me, it wasn't my screw-up.
You screwed up the last robbery, didn't you? Three people were killed.
Wasn't one of mine.
No? No.
You think you're so hot grabbing those maps.
Take a look at them.
Do you see that ATM there? No, you do not.
It wasn't even on my list.
So someone's copying you? Sincerest form of flattery, eh? There was a burg at a quarry four weeks ago.
Explosives were taken.
Was it you? You need to get your facts straight.
Right? Do your sums.
We'd already hit four ATMs when that happened.
Maybe to top up your supplies? You saw how much bang I had in that place.
I had what I needed.
Why would I steal any more? Smart-arse.
You admit to the other ATM jobs? Sure.
OK? Gone.
Not even a whimper.
But you're denying the attack on the last machine? My oath, I am.
Maybe it wasn't about the money.
What? Talia Sterling was killed in that explosion.
Who's Talia Sterling? She's the wife of an associate of yours.
Ricky Sterling.
Name sound familiar? I never did any jobs with any Ricky Sterling.
No, but you shared a jail with him, your last visit.
What was he in for? Intentionally cause serious injury.
Listen, mate, I was somebody in that jail.
I ran my section, I didn't hang out with any pussies or bottom feeders.
You're saying you don't know Ricky Sterling? I don't know him, alright? His wife got blown up.
It's a coincidence.
Yeah, right.
It's also highly un-bloody-ethical.
We hit those other ATMs at night.
We did that so people wouldn't get hurt.
Civic responsibility.
Professional pride, mate! There's lines you don't cross.
Killing civilians? No way.
No way.
Whoever blew that machine up had no morals.
It was criminal, OK? Criminal.
I hope you catch the bastard.
Our turn with him now.
Thanks for your cooperation, Superintendent.
Lucky you.
Our end's all tied up.
You've got everything I can give you.
I hope you get the bastard too.
Thanks, Phil.
I appreciate it, mate.
Yeah.
Ta.
So he's got his ATM bandits, over and out, that's it? What did you expect? We did get one useful thing.
Tomik had plenty of Semtex.
He had no need to steal explosives from the quarry.
That burg has got to be linked to our ATM blast and these murders.
There's got to be a connection.
There will be.
Just find it.
Morning.
Morning.
Something I said? We're trying to locate the apartment owner where our John Doe was staying.
Can't be that hard.
He's trekking in Nepal.
Right.
See ya.
Guys, I might be able to save you some trouble.
I just checked out the stone quarry, got some info from the employment records.
Looks like your Mr Portnoy might be a dead-end because the burg at the quarry is very much alive.
What did you turn up? Four years ago, guess who was hired to drive trucks at the quarry.
Don't make me guess, Mapplethorpe.
Ricky Sterling.
Sterling was alibied for the explosion.
Well, he could have commissioned it.
Or set it up and got someone to detonate it for him.
I could almost understand if he did it himself - crime of passion, bit personal.
But to get a third party to do it? I don't buy that.
Where's the satisfaction? He couldn't have done it personally.
- He was on a train.
- What's that thing? Once all the possibilities are eliminated, the answer must lie within the impossible.
We just haven't eliminated all the possibilities.
What if Sterling wasn't on that train? I told you - I picked him up from the station.
Mr Fender, two years before he was sentenced, Ricky Sterling worked in a quarry.
Now, four weeks ago, a lot of explosives were stolen from that quarry.
When Sterling was on weekend parole.
Now, it is possible that Ricky Sterling used his knowledge of that workplace to steal those explosives and then used them to kill his wife and her child.
Not his child, but someone else's.
But, Look, Ricky adored his wife.
He was always talking about her.
That would've made the discovery of the betrayal even worse.
You mean maybe he killed her because he loved her? Something like that, yes.
Look, Ricky was only a driver at the quarry, but he wasn't stupid.
He could have learnt how to make a radio-detonated bomb.
On the net.
Easy.
So, Mr Fender, if you are lying to us OK, OK.
Jesus.
After about the first three times dropping him to the station, he asked me if I could drop him to his wife's place.
It's on my way home from work, so it's no skin off my nose.
And it meant that he would be able to maximise his time on the outside.
And you went for it? Yeah, I did.
And picking him up? Well, generally, it was from outside the station.
And the last time? The last couple of times on my way back into work it was from his wife's place.
No, no, it's in Carlton.
He said that she'd moved.
Did you check? No.
No, l I trusted him.
Look, look.
Ricky has always been very straight with me.
Oh, how? These last six months or so, he's been keeping me across what's going down inside, you know.
So it's not just to do with the rehabilitation of a model prisoner.
You were repaying a debt.
He told me who was doing drugs, who was planning what.
We'd nipped a few things in the bud.
And you've scored a promotion.
You're in charge of that wing now, right? Mr Fender, he's been feeding you information for six months.
He has been grooming you as a mate to help him kill his wife.
I didn't know that.
Because you didn't check! If you collected him from Carlton, he wasn't visiting his wife because she still lives in Richmond.
And with a Carlton pick-up, he would've had ample time to detonate that bomb.
And you knew that, didn't you? OK, OK.
I knew that it was possible, but I didn't think there was any way he'd do it.
This could cost me my job.
It cost three people their lives! Mr Fender Ricky must have found out that Talia was pregnant.
Then, for several months, he pretended that everything was OK, he bided his time, he put on a front in jail while he put everything in place.
He used his weekend paroles to set his plan in action.
And he sucked me in.
Jesus.
The address in Carlton where you dropped him and picked him up.
I wasn't doing anything wrong.
I loved him, that's all.
So you were a ready shoulder to cry on when Talia did the dirty? It wasn't like that.
He's always liked me too.
Did he stay with you all the time when out of jail on those weekends? Not all the time.
He took my car for a drive, went to the Internet cafe.
I bet he did.
Did he do any work while he was at your place, Rhiannon, make anything, build anything, something he didn't want you to see? He sometimeshe shut himself in the spare room.
I don't know what he was doing.
Look, I haven't done anything.
You can't stop me seeing him.
Talia didn't love him anymore.
She had another guy's baby! So you knew about that! And you lied.
Rhiannon, we believe Ricky Sterling killed Talia and her baby.
No.
So what were you, just someone he sucked in? An accessory or an accomplice? I think it's time you told us everything you know.
OK.
OK.
Um Uh, Talia She started seeing Al Lexington when Ricky was in jail.
And she got pregnant and she was freaking out and she asked me what she should do.
What did you say? Well, I just saidtell Ricky it's over and pretend you're going back home to Perth for a while.
Yeah, but you didn't just leave it there, did you? You started visiting Ricky.
And you told Ricky about Talia having a baby with Al.
You're a good friend.
Hey, I didn't think it was fair.
Ricky was shattered.
He said he should have married me, not her.
That was cool.
You didn't tell Talia any of this? No.
When Ricky got weekend parole and he came to see me, I was in heaven, you know.
And then Al dumped Talia and the baby, went back to Queensland.
And she was frantic.
She knew Ricky was getting out of prison.
She didn't have anyone to protect her.
And you told Ricky.
Talia had every reason to feel frightened of Ricky because when he got out, we believe he used the bomb that he made in your spare room to kill Talia and her baby.
He said that when he got out we were gonna go away to Tassie.
I was just counting down the days.
I didn't mean to hurt anyone.
OK, thanks very much.
Travel agent's finally got in touch with John Doe's landlord.
And we have finally got the father of Talia Sterling's baby - Al Lexington.
The guy Ricky glassed at the pub.
Yeah.
You got a last known address? How do you know that? Because Al Lexington is our John Doe.
Looks like Ricky got revenge on him too.
You can't prove a thing.
We can prove that you lied to us about continuing to see your wife.
We can prove that you accessed the Internet and obtained information about building a bomb.
We can prove that you weren't on the train back to the jail.
We can show motive and opportunity.
Yeah, but you can't put me at the scene, though,can you? No camera on that ATM.
The people you tricked, the people you sucked in, they'll happily roll over on you, believe me.
I doubt it.
Jock Fender would lose his job and he likes me.
Rhiannon She loves me.
I was with herall the time.
No, that's not what she's saying.
What do you have to say about that? Oooh.
Women, eh? Can't trust them.
It got a reaction, for sure.
Yeah, not enough.
Look, this bloke kept a poker face about his marriage going belly-up for nearly a year.
He's not gonna spit it all out now.
You put us onto those ATM hits hoping that we'd write off your wife's death as a .
.
as an unlucky accident, as a coincidence, didn't you? But you set it off in the middle of the day.
That wasn't very smart.
I didn't do it.
See? OK, let's talk about Al Lexington.
Tell me, was this a coincidence too? By our reckoning, given decomposition and infestation, you killed him on your third weekend out.
Our colleagues are reviewing the intentionally cause serious injury case that put you inside.
That fight in the pub with Al Lexington, it was about your wife, wasn't it?! I, uh I told the court what happened.
He was hitting on her.
So you glassed him, you broke his jaw and luckily you smashed a couple of his teeth.
Dentals can help confirm the ID.
Good for you.
But he got the last word, didn't he? 'Cause he started hitting on her again while you were in jail.
And this time she fell for him and he got her pregnant.
And that child was his, wasn't it? I don't know.
Oh,come on, Ricky, yes, you do! And the DNA test will prove it.
In fact, I'll make sure that we get you a copy 'cause in the end Al Lexington beat you, didn't he?! I beat him! Come on! Sit down! Go on, be my guest.
Be my guest.
Sit down! She was my wife.
And she left me! Said she'd fallen out of love with me.
That she was going home to Perth.
I soon found out that last part was crap.
What about your wife's cousin, Rhiannon Casey? Oh, she loved me.
Thought the sun shone out of my arse.
She told me everything I needed to know.
So I stewed, waited my chance.
And then I found out about George Tomik and his ATM bombs and that gave me a nice little idea.
So you started drip-feeding Jock Fenton dirt about other inmates? Worked a treat and he green-lit my weekend parole.
And you went looking for Talia.
You know how much I hated her, when I saw her with that baby? And her bloody boyfriend.
The same bloody I spent two years of my life in jail .
.
because I stuck up for that slut! And then you found out that Al was dumping her and going to Queensland, courtesy of Rhiannon again.
Always first with the news.
I got to him .
.
before he got to sunny Queensland.
And what happened to Talia? I just followed her.
I watched her use that ATM three times .
.
before I did it.
Talia and that baby died a lot quicker than Al did.
I'm not a monster.
I thought he was gonna throttle you.
The guy's a psycho.
But we had him under control, didn't we? It was quite a plan he had in place.
It wasn't that good.
We caught him.
Joyner! Mr Fender.
It's him I want to talk to.
Where do you get off informing Correctional Services about what I did? Mr Fender, this isn't the time You broke the rules, mate.
A prisoner under your supervision killed four people.
I know I broke the rules and I know what happened.
You think I'm not pissing blood about this? You show a man a bit of compassion, he spits in your face.
He uses your good nature to do something unspeakable.
Compassion had nothing to do with it! You scratched each other's backs! Oh, maybe.
But it's not a mistake I'm gonna make again.
If it makes you feel any better, you prick, I'd already written my resignation.
You bastard.
What? You alright? Yeah, why wouldn't I be? You seem a bit out of sorts.
Out of sorts? Simon, you didn't go on a raid yesterday.
That's not like you.
Oh,come on, big deal.
So what, I didn't go on a bust.
I was investigating a murder.
Oh, and Jock Fender? I couldn't care less about Jock Fender.
You reported him.
Jen, if we screwed up like that, we'd cop it in the bloody neck.
It'd be the full inquiry.
ESD would be up our arses faster than a rat up a drain pipe.
So, yeah, I reported it because he bloody well deserved it! And you, get off my back and don't you dare judge me.