Forest Shadows (17 page)

‘Whoa there. That's enough. You're talkin' gobble-d-gook.' He turned to Reg. ‘So, what's the story?'

Reg didn't answer. Instead, he pointed to the boat. ‘What say we make tracks. I'll fill you in on the way. It's a long story, but be warned, you probably won't believe it.'

Quenton and Arnie sat next to each other in the cabin, neither feeling inclined to talk. Not after the happenings of the last few days. Quenton was the worst. Seeing his father for the first time in twelve months in such circumstances had clearly shaken him.

Arnie wasn't much better. He looked across at his brother. Hector, still trussed, had wedged himself into a corner as though trying to hide. ‘W-why d-did you d-do it?' Arnie managed to say
.

Hector raised his eyes; then through thin, twisted lips he said, ‘You're a traitor, a double-crossing rat. You're a deserter, so don't talk to me. I don't wanna hear any of your stupid questions.' Signalling that his tirade was over, he turned his head back towards the corner.

Surprisingly, Quenton turned to Arnie and patted him on the shoulder. ‘Don't listen to him; he's the rat and so is my father.'

In the meantime, Jim was listening to Reg's version of the last few days. ‘Unbelievable,' Jim said, shaking his head back and forth. He reached over and turned on the two-way radio.

‘Coastguard. Urgent! This is Jim Kelly, skipper of
The
Shandora.
Please inform police that two occupants of a small craft, currently heading for Strahan area, have committed the offence of attempted robbery. We have apprehended another person who was a likely accomplice. He is now in our custody. Estimated time of arrival at main wharf is approximately one hour. Request you inform authorities to meet us on wharf asap. Over and out.'

At one-thirty,
The
Shandora
dropped anchor at the Strahan wharf. Still on board, waiting to disembark, Jars dug Quenton in the ribs. ‘You won't get seasick going through Hell's Gates now.'

‘Why?'

She pointed towards the concrete area of the wharf. ‘Because your mum and my auntie are on the wharf waiting for us. You won't have to go back on the boat after all.'

Q
uenton's mother and Irene had left Cray Bay early that morning and now formed part of a small crowd that had gathered on the wharf. Earlier, they had been in a small cafe across the road when they saw
The Shandora
approaching. Downing their coffees, they'd made their way to the berthing area, and now, standing among a group of rather excited onlookers, they wondered what was going on.

‘What on earth's happening?' Madeline said. ‘The police are even here.'

Irene raised her hands in the air. ‘I've no idea. I just hope the kids are all right … wherever they are. We'll find out soon enough, though. The boat's here.'

The Shandora
drew alongside the wharf. As soon as its engines shut down, a serious-looking Arnie jumped ashore and began tying up to a couple of bollards. Almost immediately, Jim and the others followed.

‘Hi love, what're you doing here?' Jim said, spotting his wife straightaway. He walked over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. ‘You've brought Madeline too, I see.'

‘What on earth's happened?' Irene asked. ‘Why is that man tied up? Where have you all been? What have you been doing?'

Jim opened his mouth to offer some sort of explanation, but he was too late. Irene and Madeline had seen the kids. They forgot Jim and raced over to them. ‘Are you okay? Where have you been?' Snook's mother was the first to ask, inspecting Snook and Jars for injuries. ‘And Quenton, how are …' She didn't go any further. Madeline was already fussing over him.

Jim came over. ‘It's okay; everybody's fine. Look, I'll fill you in later, but right now all of us have to go and talk to the police.' He placed his arm around his wife. ‘Why don't you and Madeline go for a coffee? There's a shop across the road. We shouldn't be too long.'

Still looking confused, Irene reluctantly nodded her head. She grabbed her friend's arm. ‘It looks like we're going to have to wait for answers … for now, anyway.' They headed across the road as asked.

As soon as the women had left, two police officers advanced towards Jim. Guessing that he was in charge, one of them, in a no-nonsense way, said, ‘I'm Sergeant Wilson. This is Constable Collins.'

After a quick glance towards Hector, he asked, ‘What's this all about? Is that man one of the alleged thieves?'

Jim quickly explained, about the shooting, the attempted robbery and how Evelyn Grimshaw and Quigley escaped by boat.

Getting the gist of the situation, the sergeant turned to his partner. ‘Joe, hightail it over to the little jetty on the edge of town. See if the other boat's docked there. Place them under arrest if it has.'

‘Just one moment.' It was Reg. He dug into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flicked it open and showed it to the sergeant. Displayed inside was a signed I.D. card. It read:

‘R CARTER – CONSULTANT – AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE'

‘So? What are you saying?'

‘Some time ago a man died on the Strahan wharf, a Mr Yao Ming. Are you familiar with that incident?'

The sergeant nodded. ‘Yes I am, Strahan was in my jurisdic-tion then and from memory a post mortem revealed that he died from arsenic.'

It was Reg's turn to nod. ‘As I understand it you haven't, as yet, found out where the arsenic came from or how it ended up in his system. Is that correct, Sergeant?'

‘I guess so. It was a mystery to us then. Still is now. It's been put on the unsolved cases file for over a year.'

‘I don't think it's a mystery any more. I'm almost certain the poison came from a mineral called realgar. I learned of its unique properties during my work. I also heard of your unsolved case and, well, I just wondered …' He could see the bemused look on the sergeant's face. He briefly explained: ‘I used to be a ranger but now I'm a research scientist.'

The sergeant spluttered. His department, plus the Hobart and Launceston police, had been puzzling over the Yao Ming case for ages, and out of the blue this academic comes along and reckon he has it solved … in five minutes. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He did neither. ‘We'll look into it, your theory, and let you know if you're right. But I doubt it.' He scratched the top of his head instead.

Reg went on, ‘If it's all the same to you, I might as well go with your constable. I know the people we're after.'

The sergeant, as though lost for words, waved his hand towards the police car; then he stood watching and scratching his head as Reg and the constable sped off along The Esplanade towards the little jetty on the western side of town.

After they'd gone, the sergeant didn't waste any time. He drew himself up to his full height, thrust out his chin and in his best commanding voice, said, ‘I'll need statements from all of you. You won't be required to attend the station in Queenstown but there is a room in a hotel we sometimes use for purposes such as this. It's the one on the hill. We'll have to walk, I'm afraid; Joe's got our one and only car.'

Snook was curious. ‘Statements? We gotta make statements? What're they?'

His father explained.

‘Yuck. That sucks. That's just like bein' in school.'

Jars looked down at Shadow. He was looking a little perplexed. Things were happening around him that he didn't understand. She gave him a pat. ‘Don't worry; you won't have to make a statement.'

Snook overheard. ‘That's a pity. He could do mine. He probably knows more than I do, anyhow.'

'T
ake a seat,' the sergeant said after they were ushered into one of the back rooms of the hotel and Hector had been locked in another room. ‘This is the hotel's staff room,' he explained, ‘but it'll serve our purpose for now.' There was a long table, several chairs, some in-boxes for mail and an urn. A row of mugs that hung on hooks lined the end wall, and beneath them were some cupboards next to a sink.

He pointed at Jars, who was standing at the back of the room. ‘We'll start with you. Name and address first. Then tell me everything that's happened.'

Sitting behind the computer, fingers poised above the keyboard, the sergeant waited.

Jars, eyes lowered, stepped forward. She didn't want to do this. It was too … confronting. She forced herself and in a wavering, halting voice, she told the policeman everything she could remember. She told him about Mr Wu and his collection, about the strange creatures from outer space, about Shadow capturing Hector, and about Evelyn Grimshaw and Quenton's dad making their suspicious escape from the ranger's shack.

The sergeant, who had been busy writing notes on a pad, looked up and asked, ‘Did you see either Evelyn Grimshaw or Hector Grimshaw actually steal anything from the shack?'

‘No, but they left evidence. The bag with the crystals was on the table. When we came back it was on the floor.' She lifted her eyes and pointed towards her uncle. ‘That bag, the one my Uncle Jim is holding by its edge 'cause there might be finger prints on it, is the one with the precious stones, the one they tried to steal.'

‘Mmmm, I see. Finger prints, you say. Well, I'll need to retain that, I'm afraid … for evidence.' He took the bag from Jim and placed it to one side. That done, he continued with the paperwork.

Snook was the last to be interviewed. ‘Where'd ya stick Hector?' he asked, before Sergeant Wilson could say anything.

‘Don't worry about him. He's not going anywhere.'

‘What's gonna happen to 'im? Will he be charged with somethin'?'

‘That's for the courts to decide.'

‘I think he should be. He's not very nice.'

‘You're a persistent little devil, aren't you?' The sergeant took off his hat and scratched his head for the second time that day. ‘Look, all I can say is that if he has committed a crime then he will be taken to court and charged accordingly.'

‘Where?'

‘In Burnie, I should imagine.'

‘What'll he be charged with?'

A kind of
arrrgh
sound came from the back of his throat. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. ‘That'll be enough for now. No more questions.' Returning to a more normal posture, he pushed up from the chair. ‘There's enough material here for us to get the picture, but I must say, some of your statements about aliens and flying saucers are a bit, shall we say, startling.'

The sergeant walked from behind the desk to the door. He opened it to let them out. ‘Anyway, thanks for your co-opera-tion. I won't keep you any longer. I'm sorry you'll have to walk back. Joe still has the car.'

Jim lingered as the others made their way out. ‘Sergeant, just to let you know, I'm not sure either, whether to believe the tales about aliens and flying saucers. I think I agree with you. It does sound rather bizarre. I just thought I'd make that clear.'

‘I understand, Mr Kelly. But you know, it's quite odd.'

‘What is?'

‘Oh, some of the locals reported seeing strange lights near here last Thursday night.'

‘Is that so?'

‘Yes, they said that whatever made them, landed not far from here … that whatever it was, went down the other side of Teepookana Landing.'

C
onstable Collins, with Reg sitting alongside him, parked the police car out of sight on the embankment overlooking Macquarie Harbour and the little jetty. ‘This is where they'll end up for sure,' Reg said. ‘Their car's still here.'

‘I think you're right. All we have to do now is sit and wait.'

‘I thought they would've been here by now though,' Reg said. ‘Their runabout's a lot faster than
The Shandora.'

‘Maybe they've been searching for another place to beach their boat, to avoid us.'

Reg thought for a moment. ‘Yeah, trouble is there's no other place, not really. They'll have to come back here. I reckon we'll see them shortly.'

‘Let's hope you're right. I don't fancy traipsing about the backcountry trying to find them. It's nothing but sand dunes and scrub.'

‘There's no need to worry, Joe. Here they come now!' The boat, with Quigley and Evelyn in it, was heading their way.

Joe placed his hand on Reg's arm. ‘Let them come ashore. Wait until they've hitched the boat up to the trailer. Then we'll nab 'em.'

Leaning on the roof of the police car, Joe and Reg watched as the boat drifted alongside the jetty. Evelyn was waving her arms about, pointing at Quigley, who was also waving his arms and shrugging his shoulders.

‘He's getting an earful,' Reg commented.

‘He doesn't look happy. I'll say that much.'

‘I guess he'll be less happy when you collar him.'

They continued to watch as Quigley climbed out of the boat and onto the jetty. Using the towline, he dragged the boat to the shore ready for hitching to the car. Evelyn stepped out onto the pebbly shore and walked up the incline to the car. She climbed in and then reversed down to the boat. ‘Hook it up,' she called out of the driver's side window.

Obeying Evelyn's instructions, Quigley winched the boat onto the trailer; then he climbed into the passenger's seat next to Evelyn. Without a word, she started the motor and moved off, up the embankment and onto the main road. Suddenly, without any sort of warning, she slammed on the brakes.

A policeman was standing in the middle of the road, blocking their way.

Constable Collins walked up to the driver's window and leaned inside. ‘Switch off the motor, undo your seatbelts and step outside please. Both of you.'

‘What's going on?' Evelyn asked, once she was out of the car. ‘We haven't done anything.'