“Mavis Whitaker,” she said. “I live next door. I’m with the neighborhood watch.”

Hicks looked at her ax handle and bobbed his eyebrows.

Mendez came down off the back steps.

“There’s nothing in the mailbox except for ‘Occupant,’” Hicks said.

“Oh, he didn’t get his mail here,” Mavis Whitaker said.

They both looked at her.

“I was speakin’ to the post carrier one day. She’s a woman, and a cute little thing. I told her all about the perv as soon as he moved in. You know, lest he try to lure her into the house and try somethin’.

“So I said, I don’t imagine he gets no mail but from his mother, if he knows who she is. And she told me he don’t get no mail at all. That he must have it delivered elsewhere. Not so much as a utility bill, she said.”

So much for a forwarding address the easy way, Mendez thought.

“How long ago did Mr. Ballencoa move out?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I went home to Australia for six weeks the end of April. When I got back, he was gone.”

“Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”

“I certainly don’t. I wouldn’t give him the time of day. Nor would he engage me in conversation. I told him in no uncertain terms when he moved here, if he thought he might get smart with me, I’d introduce Ol’ Hick’ry here to his kneecaps. Bloody wanker.”

“What did he say when you told him that?” Hicks asked.

“Nothin’. Not a word. He just looked at me like he was lookin’ through me, then went on about his business.

“I grew up in the Outback,” she said. “My dad was a miner, and a rough sort they are. Plenty of men like this one out there, walkin’’round with no souls. You wouldn’t walk beside them, I’ll tell you that. You’d go out in the bush and you’d never come back.”

“Did Mr. Ballencoa live here alone?” Mendez asked.

“I never seen nobody go in nor come out but him. Never saw a friend nor a girlfriend—’course he may have had one in a box in there. He’s that sort, ain’t he?”

“What kind of car did he drive?” Hicks asked.

“A white van. Plain as Jane. No windows.”

“Do you happen to know if he owned this house or rented?” Mendez asked.

“Rented. I called his landlord up and gave him a piece of my mind, I’ll tell you that. What kind of decent individual rents to a pedophile? And with the school right there? I called the police and gave them what for as well. It shouldn’t be allowed, but they told me he hadn’t been charged nor convicted and there weren’t nothin’ they could do about it.”