‘Bob.’
I jumped the rear fence to see von Einem’s Toyota stop in the driveway of his house. He parked as he normally did, in line with the front door. His mother sat in the front left-hand seat. Von Einem got out of the driver’s seat and faced Trevor, who at first was about two metres away but then approached von Einem to be as close as a metre from him.
‘Mr von Einem, as you know this is Detective O’Brien and my name is Kipling from the Major Crime Squad. I wish to inform you that I am arresting you and that you will be charged with the murder of Richard Kelvin. I must also inform you that you are not obliged to answer any further questions and whatever you do say may be used in evidence. Do you understand that?’
Von Einem remained standing by the car and was silent for a moment before replying with a couple of words.
‘Yes, well.’ He was searching for words. Von Einem always had a story. He always had an answer. This time he struggled for words.
‘Oh, Bevan. What’s going on?’ Thora von Einem asked her son as she moved around from the passenger side of the vehicle towards the man who had just been arrested for murder. She was upset.
Von Einem stood there in his blue jeans, light-coloured shirt and brown jumper. He was not angry. He was not upset. He just stood there without displaying any emotion, probably just as he has failed to show any emotion for most of his adult life.
Trevor pointed towards the police car and the three of us moved towards it. Von Einem was placed in the rear of the police car, behind the front passenger’s seat. Trevor moved around to the rear of the car, got in and sat next to him and I hopped into the driver’s seat.
We drove in silence to the Angas Street police building. Behind the building was the old City Watch House. The watch house was a two-storey brick building with two wings — one for female prisoners and one for males. The female side was rarely occupied but the other side was always busy. Often the ground floor would fill and the spillover would have to be moved to the cells upstairs. Most of the cells accommodate one person but several had two slabs of wood fastened to the wall that served as a bed and allowed for two people in a cell. Each slab of wood had an extra piece of wood attached to one end. That was the pillow. Dark grey blankets were issued for warmth. It was one of the first places I worked after I graduated from the police academy.
The padded cells were around the back of the ground floor for prisoners who were violent or were trying to hurt themselves. The padding covers the four walls of the cell while the floor is covered by linoleum with a metal plug in the middle to allow vomit, faeces and urine to be washed away. Prisoners who go into the padded cells are stripped and left in darkness. The blackness tends to calm them. If they are trying to hurt themselves, the padding covered by heavy canvas prevents any injury even if they throw themselves against it or hit their heads against it — unlike metal bars, which can cause a bit of damage. Invariably, anyone visiting the cells to see what they were like was placed in a padded cell to get the real experience of it.
We pulled into the laneway next to the police building and moved towards the City Watch House. I walked alongside von Einem with Trevor walking a couple of paces in front, striding towards the cells of the City Watch House. Trevor checked through the window to see if the charge sergeant was free. He was and Trevor opened the door and walked von Einem to the window in front of the sergeant.
‘What’s the charge?’
‘Murder,’ Trevor said.
The Watch House sergeant looked up and stared at von Einem for a second and the cell guard standing nearby quietly signalled his mate to come from the fingerprint room. The sergeant looked down at his charge book.
‘Name?’
‘Bevan von Einem,’ said the accountant.
‘Do you have a middle name?’
‘Spencer.’
‘Address?’
Von Einem gave his address at Paradise.
‘Arresting officers?’
‘Kipling and O’Brien — Major Crime Squad,’ Trevor said.
‘Place your property on the counter,’ the sergeant said to von Einem.
The prisoner emptied his pockets and placed their contents in front of the sergeant who was filling out the charge book. We searched von Einem, ensured that his pockets were empty, and counted his money in front of the sergeant. The cash and property were placed in a dirty white canvas bag with a number on it, which was then recorded in the charge book. Trevor opened von Einem’s handkerchief, saw that it was empty and returned it to him before removing his belt and shoelaces. Too many prisoners have hanged themselves over the years with items as tiny as shoelaces. It was important we didn’t lose this prisoner.
Chapter 10
The Case
We had learned a lot about von Einem from B. His statement clarified so many things that we could only suspect. By this time other boys had been found who von Einem had picked up and drugged but they couldn’t say what happened once they were out to it. B completed the picture. We now could be confident that von Einem picked up boys and drugged them and abused them with different objects.
The picking up of the hitchhiker, George, and the taking of him to Alberton where the ‘girls’ were was just one example of his activities. On that occasion he openly offered tablets to the boy but said
