The Mystery of Charlie Graves by Marcus Clark

1. CHARLIE GRAVES 2. THE TASTE OF LEMONS 3. MRS THOMAS IN TROUBLE 4. VANISHED 5. CHARLIE GRAVES AGAIN 6. CONFESSION 7. GRAVES’ GRAVE 8. THE VIDEO 9. CONFESSION OF MURDER 10. THE ARGUMENT 11. THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE GRAVES 12. MAKE UP 13. THE VET 14. DIGGING UP THE BOTANICAL GARDENS 15. THE BARMAID

16. A NEW SEARCH 17. COOCHIE 18. DOLPHINS 19. FINDING COOCHIE 20. TRAVELLING NORTH 21. GOING AWAY 22. HOUSE SOLD 23. BUS JOURNEY 24. COOCHIEMUDLO 25. IN THE PINK 26. INTUITION 27. REDLAND HOSPITAL 28. MR THOMAS GETS A PHONE CALL 29. GOING HOME 30. TEXT ME! 31. CHARLIE GRAVES

1. CHARLIE GRAVES ‘Last day of school!’ I shouted as we got into the car. Jodie’s mum was going to drive us to school. We sat in the car discussing what we would do for the two weeks of school holidays. On the first day of holidays two weeks seems like forever, but afterwards it seems like two days.‘Here comes your mum.’I was eager to get going; the last day of school was always fun: nothing to worry about, all the tests were finished. Mrs Thomas got into the car and started to back onto the street when she stopped. A man quite rudely stuck his head in the open driver’s window. Straight away I saw that it was Charlie Graves—after all everyone in Dayman Heads knew him.‘What do you want Charlie? I’m taking the girls to school.’He grinned, and even though he wasn’t in the car we could smell him. He never seemed to wash, always wearing the same dirty overalls. The only time they got washed was when he was locked up for being drunk and the police made him wash them.‘I got yer cat!’ He held it by the scruff of the neck and shoved it into the car. ‘I found the bastard in my front yard. Where do you want me to put it—under the back wheels?’ He laughed. Mrs Thomas stopped the car and got out. She took Gingerpus in her arms. Charlie said, ‘No, really I love cats, fair dinkum, cat stew, cat steaks! And the fur—do you know I can get five dollars each for a cat skin?’ He started laughing. Jodie looked at me with horror. We had all heard those terrible stories about how Charlie Graves kept animals in cages in his backyard: cats, dogs, wallabies, wombats. What’s more the man who owned the Butcher Shop told us that Charlie Graves never, ever, bought meat from his shop. Everyone at school knew Charlie Graves was a psycho.We could hear him talking. ‘I could do you a favour Lisa, true blue, I could get me rifle and shoot the useless bastard! Cats are the scum of the earth. Better still, I could shoot yer husband at the same time and then we could go and live on the beach at Coffs Harbour. No husband, no cat. What do you say?’‘Charlie, I think you’ve been drinking again. You shouldn’t talk like that.’‘Why not? Think I care if anyone hears? Everyone knows we’re sweethearts.’ He laughed loudly.‘That’s enough Charlie!’ She walked off carrying the cat, and put it under a cool bush. Charlie just stood staring at her, hands on his hips, the hot sun making the sweat run down the side of his face. Mrs Thomas got back in the car. ‘Thanks for bringing the cat home, Charlie.’ Before she could get going again, he had his head in the window. ‘Well now, it seems we have a car full of young ladies. All going for a nice drive.’‘Charlie what do you want? Can’t you see we’re going to school?’‘Oh it’s school is it? Which brat is yours? Jodie, as if I didn’t know! I could tell you stories about what these girls get up to when you’re not home!’ He turned to stare at me, then Jodie. ‘They are always snooping about, not minding their own business, and boys, fair dinkum, I could tell you about that!’‘Really Charlie, that’s enough! Get your head out of the car, or I’ll wind the window up on it!’‘Bitch! One day you’ll be sorry you turned me down. True blue, I’m a better man than that lazy bludger you’re married to.’ He laughed again, ‘I know you still love me!’Mrs Thomas wound up the window. Charlie pulled his head out just in time. ‘Go take a bath,’ she said and backed onto the roadway. Jodie’s mum looked quite shaken. She said, ‘That man is such a trouble when he’s been drinking!’

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Jodie asked, ‘What did he mean about being sweethearts?’‘Uh? Well ... it all happened a long time ago. We went to school together you know. I used to hang out with Charlie—that’s all. I suppose you girls have heard stories about Charlie Graves?’‘You bet we have! Everyone at school reckons he’s a psycho. Even the teachers.’‘When I get home, I’ll tell you about him.’‘Tell us now! We’d have a story for the last day of school. Does he really eat koala bears?’‘I’ll tell you later, it’s too long. We’re nearly there. Bye. Oh ... uh, I could be ... um a little late getting home tonight.’‘You won’t forget my MP3 player?’‘Not a chance! I keep saying the name of it over and over to remind me. MP3! MP3! MP3!’Jodie smiled, I know she was worried her Mum would get the wrong thing, perhaps come home with a USB drive.It was only a few minutes to school, but when we were getting out I noticed something unusual: Mrs Thomas was wearing lipstick. I had never seen her wearing it that early in the day before. Of course it didn’t mean anything at that moment, but before long I would realise how important it was—although the police didn’t think so.

2 - THE TASTE OF LEMONS It was great to get out of school on the last day of term. The worse part was Jodie and I had to walk home. We didn’t take our bikes that day because the previous term some of the kids had mucked-up and let the tyres down on all the bikes and jammed sticks in the chains ... for a joke. Some joke! We figured they might do something worse this time. ‘Karen, the first thing I am going to do is get in our pool.’ ‘It was lucky your dad got the money back after the police caught the counterfeiter.’ ‘Police caught him? Huh, we did most of the work on that mystery! I don’t want any more mysteries. I just want to relax and forget all that school stuff. No exams. Two weeks of lazing about!’ ‘No more school, No more books No more teacher’s dirty looks!’ ‘You know my mum said her grandmother used to sing that when school finished?’ ‘Your mum might be home,’ I said, ‘ with your MP3 player. Hmm,’ I teased, ‘ Or was it one of those USB drives?’ ‘She said she might be late. I just hope she bought the right one. I explained over and over, but she doesn’t seem to understand anything digital.’ I saw a bike racing along the opposite footpath. Jodie said, ‘That’s Ron Rocco across the road. Just watch he doesn’t try any stupid pranks.’ ‘Jodie, it is you he’s interested in, not me.’ ‘Nah, he just likes to cause trouble and tease.’ Sure enough he came across the road, on his bike, doing a big broadside in front of us. ‘Hi Jodie! Where are your bikes?’ ‘Bikes? Oh no! We must have left them at school,’ I said. Jodie joined in, ‘We’re halfway home now. We may as well leave them at school till next term. They should be okay for two weeks.’ Ron stood up on the pedals and slowly circled around us, like a sheepdog. ‘I don’t believe you. You girls think you are so smart ... did you hear the police arrested Charlie Graves again? Boy he is a real psycho, they reckon he was shooting dogs on the back of builders’ utes. ‘Uh, yeah. He tried to put our cat under the back wheels.’ ‘My brother says that when they went to his house they found a big pot of stew on the stove. When they took the lid off, they could see koalas and wombats in it.’ ‘Yeah, George Blare told us.’ And with that Ron Rocco took off without another word. Up ahead we could see one of his mates on a bike. ‘Boys!’ Jodie said, and laughed. When we arrived home, all Jodie could talk about was getting in the pool and swimming around like a dolphin. Jodie and I loved dolphins; sometimes we saw them surfing in on the waves at Dayman Heads. Even though it was the end of school term, I felt something was wrong. It was a strange feeling, like I had just taken a lick of a lemon, it’s hard to describe. ‘Wait!’ I said as Jodie put her hand on the gate. ‘What’s the matter, Karen? You look weird.’ I felt weird. She was staring at me, impatient to get inside and into her togs. I didn’t know what to say. ‘Uh Jodie ... uh your mum’s not home yet. Her car is still out.’ ‘So? Are you coming in for a swim or not?’ ‘Jodie,’ I spoke carefully. ‘There’s ... I think ... something is wrong.’ ‘Oh no! Not another mystery! Forget it Karen, school is finished! I don’t want to know about anything except swimming in the cool water. Come inside, and I’ll show you there is nothing wrong. Why would you even say that? You haven’t even got inside the gate!’ ‘Jodie ... I have this ... feeling and— ‘

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‘Karen, it’s like my dad says, you and your mum both have overactive imaginations! Always imagining stuff. Come on!’ She grabbed my hand and dragged me onto the verandah. ‘See,’ she said, ‘the front door is still locked. So no one has broken in or anything.’ ‘Uh yeah, that’s good. Good.’ But I knew there was something wrong, whether we could see it or not. Mum calls that feeling intuition. We walked through the house as if there was a madman hiding in each room with a gun. There was no one. Nothing was missing, nothing was wrong. No one was there. Jodie was triumphant, ‘You see! Everything’s okay, school is finished for two weeks, Mum will be home in half an hour with my new MP3 player. We can go over to your place and load songs off your PC. And I am going to be in the pool, wet and cool, right now. Karen, forget about your intuition—just go home and get your swimmers. If you’re looking for me Kiddo, I’ll be in the pool.’ ‘Don’t call me Kiddo! You’re copying your Dad.’ She always called me Kiddo when she proved me wrong. She ran off to the bathroom laughing. I went home, uneasily. Perhaps the problem was not at Jodie’s place, but mine. But there was nothing wrong there. I checked under the beds, in the cupboards. My CDs and Videos were all there, nothing missing, just dirty dishes in the sink; even the PC was asleep. Mum was still at work; she wouldn’t be home till 9.30 p.m. Since Jodie lived next door, and we were best friends, I often ate dinner with her. It was like we were sisters. We swam in the pool for an hour. Jodie heard a car pull up and said she was going to get out because she wanted to load her new MP3 player. But it was Mr Thomas who came home first. Hot and tired. He looked at us swimming around in the pool and said. ‘Hmm, I think I’ll have a pot of tea.’ ‘Hot tea, Dad?’ We smiled at each other. No matter how hot it was, he drank steaming hot tea. ‘Of course! It’s no-good cold. Where’s your mum?’ ‘She hasn’t come home yet.’ And that’s when I tasted the lemon for the second time. It was very strong, and I knew that something very bad had happened. Very bad. ‘I’m getting out, ‘ I said. I could feel thunder rolling in towards us, like an earthquake coming, and I wanted to be dressed with my shoes on, ready for anything when it arrived. ‘Me too,’ Jodie climbed out. It seemed strange to me that she couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t taste the trouble in the air, couldn’t smell it. Nor could her dad, but it was there to feel ... in the air, in my head, all around us—like a black cloud of fog, bitter and dark, descending on all of us.

3. MRS THOMAS IN TROUBLE ‘I’m going home to get dressed; I’ll be back soon.’ I ran off, dressed, put my cross-trainer shoes on, and my mobile phone in my pocket. When I got to Jodie’s place she was sitting at the kitchen table watching her father drink a huge mug of steaming hot tea. He was talking to Jodie: ‘Well go ahead and phone her! But it’s a waste of a call. She’ll be home any minute with your Walkman thingo. Go on then!’ He sounded annoyed, but she was about an hour late. Jodie dialled the number. ‘Hello Mum? W-what?’ There was a long pause, while she listened and then after a moment she hung up. ‘Well,’ her father said, ‘didn’t I tell you she’d be home soon? What did she say?’ Jodie just stared at the phone, ‘She didn’t say anything. A man was talking.’ ‘A man? What do you mean?’ ‘There was a lot of noise. I think he was talking to someone else.’ Mr Thomas looked annoyed, ‘Pass me the phone. I’ve got something to say to him.’ Jodie handed over the phone, Mr Thomas dialled Mrs Thomas’ mobile phone, and then hung up. ‘The number is switched off or out of range.’ ‘She must have dropped the phone,’ Mr Thomas said. ‘When she comes home, she’ll tell us.’ * * *But she didn’t come home that night at all. At ten p.m. Mr Thomas phoned the police. They told him not to worry. She would probably be home within a few hours. We could hear him talking on the phone. He said, ‘That’s not good enough! I think you’re trying to say to me that I have to wait 24 hours before I can report her missing. Is that what—oh I see. Do you mean I could report her missing after five minutes if I was concerned? Hmm, I didn’t know that! Well, I’m telling you I am concerned now! Alright then.’ He hung up the phone. ‘They are going to register her with the Missing Persons Bureau in Sydney. That’s ridiculous! She is not in Sydney—she is in Dayman Heads! I really wonder if they know what they’re doing. Well, we’ll see if she comes back tonight. Oh, surely she’ll come back any minute now! He got up and walked around the room in circles. ‘Where could she possibly be?’ ‘Dad, please sit down, you’re getting us upset.’

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‘Upset! Of course I am upset. This is the first time your mother has ever disappeared. This is maddening! I am so annoyed with her, she’s gone off shopping or doing some silly chit-chat with one of her girlfriends—oh, I hope that’s all the trouble is. What if something bad has happened to her? What if some psycho— ‘ ‘Dad, stop that. Put the TV on, maybe we might hear—‘ My mum came over when she got home from work, and we explained to her how Mrs Thomas had gone missing. Jodie remembered that before we got out of the car at school, Mrs Thomas told us that she might be a little late. So we sat around trying to watch television, but we really couldn’t focus on the story. About midnight Mum and I went home. There didn’t seem to be anything we could do that night. We just hoped that she would be home by the morning. As I lay in bed, I couldn’t help thinking about my own dad. Missing. The difference was we knew where he was: living in Brisbane with another family, another wife, another daughter. That was ... missing, and that always meant the same thing—misery for someone. Missing, was a hole in your heart that could never be filled.

4. VANISHED At six a.m. I went next door to see if Mrs Thomas was back. There was still no sign of her, no phone call, nothing—she had vanished. And that’s when I was certain something disastrous had occurred. Mr Thomas was distraught. He got in his car and drove around and around Dayman Heads. He came back about eight o’clock, and told us he couldn’t find her car. He said he would go to the shopping centre as soon as they opened. He thought that she might be inside somewhere, locked in some silly little room still trying on shoes. Mr Thomas said, ‘I’m going down to the police station to talk with Detective Withers. He knows me and I’m sure he will start a search.’ We sat in the living room, the TV on. I went to turn it off, but Jodie said to leave it on in case there was some news. There was nothing, no explosions, no one run over, nothing at all. ‘It’s no good just sitting here, we should do something.’ ‘What?’ ‘Let’s ride over to Suntown Shopping Centre and see if we can find her car.’ Outside the house it was steamy hot, not burning hot, more like a sauna. It would have been nice to have some rain. By the time we got to the shopping centre we were already hot and puffed. They were just taking the chains off the front of the car park to let the cars in. ‘Let’s go to where she used to park, coz that’s closest.’ The ramp was so steep we had to walk up it pushing our bikes; we were both sweating and puffing when we got to the top. We started to ride to Green-2 when a security guard ran in front of us. ‘Stop!’ We pulled up and looked at him, somehow I was expecting him to tell us something about Mrs Thomas’ car, like he had seen the car being towed away. ‘You girls can’t ride your bikes in here! Didn’t you see the sign on the front? No skateboards, no roller blades, no roller skates, no bicycles, no wheelchairs, no horses—‘ ‘We don’t have a horse!’ ‘Did I say horses?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Uh ... no err animals, that’s what I meant. Now get those bikes outside!’ ‘But we just want to find our car.’ ‘Car? What, you got a driver’s licence? How old are you girls, you don’t look eighteen?’ ‘I’m twelve.’ ‘Then you can’t drive. Didn’t I tell you to get those bikes out of here!’ He started to act tough. ‘Okay Sir,’ I said. Calling men sir always seems to impress them. ‘We’ll get them out as quickly as we can, Sir.’ ‘Don’t ride! You walk them, or I’ll call the police. Breaking the law in the shopping centre.’ ‘What happens then?’ Jodie asked, ‘Do you wheel-clamp the bikes?’ ‘Huh?’ We started walking away. ‘Not that way! You go out over there.’ He was pointing to the street. ‘Alright, Sir.’ When we had gone some distance, we turned and went across to Green-2. The car wasn’t there. ‘I didn’t think so,’ Jodie said. ‘She hasn’t parked here for six months, it’s always Orange-1, near the dark corner.’ Her car wasn’t there either. ‘Something has happened to her! Karen, please ... you said there was something wrong. You knew straight away! How did you know? Can’t you tell me what happened? Use your intuition or whatever it is that you use?’ ‘I’m sorry Jodie, but I just don’t know! I knew something was wrong yesterday when we got home from school, but I didn’t know what. All I know—‘ ‘Yes?’ She was pleading for help, but I really didn’t know anything. Intuition is not easy to control, it is something that just comes to me in a flash. It’s not something I can force, in fact, it mostly comes when I am not expecting it.

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‘Jodie, all I know is that this is ... dangerous, it’s not some mistake. This is a real disaster, and if anyone ... your father ... the police say that everything is okay, then—then they are wrong.’ As I said that I saw her face go white. ‘What can we do then?’ ‘I don’t know. Just... go back home and wait and see what the police have to say.’

5. CHARLIE GRAVES AGAIN Hours and hours passed and nothing happened. Mr Thomas was on the phone to the police. He told them that it was time they began treating Mrs Thomas’ disappearance with importance. About eleven-thirty two policemen arrived and talked with Jodie’s dad, but we were sent out of the room. There was a lot of talking and then eventually we were called in. ‘I’m Sergeant Snowden, and this is Detective Withers. I expect you remember us from the Darkson House case?’‘Yes,’ we both answered. We sure did. ‘Now it seems that you girls were the last people we know of who saw your mother. Jodie’s dad has told us that the car was getting low on petrol, no more than 50 kilometres left in the tank. He just checked with the garage where she gets fuel—she hasn’t been in for nearly two weeks. So that’s good news, girls. You see that means she is still somewhere around Dayman Heads. If she had been going anywhere else, she would have filled up. Can you remember if she said she was going anywhere when she drove you to school?’ Jodie answered first, ‘No. But she did say she might be home a little bit late.’ ‘How late?’ ‘Well, she would normally have been home by three o’clock. I was expecting her home by four.’ ‘Hmm, yes, anything else?’ Sergeant Snowden was writing notes in a small book. I said, ‘She was wearing lipstick.’ ‘Lipstick? What is so unusual about a woman wearing lipstick?’ ‘Well ... it means, uh ... she doesn’t usually wear—‘ ‘Hmm,’ he said. ‘I think we can forget about that. Anything else?’ He didn’t write it down. Jodie said, ‘The only thing was about Charlie Graves.’ Suddenly the policemen took notice. ‘What happened with Charlie Graves?’ ‘Well he came and stuck his head in the car window as Mum was backing out, and then he shoved Gingerpus in and ... said stuff about ... about killing our cat ... and he said ... he ...’ She looked at her dad. ‘Yes, yes, don’t be shy. You can tell us.’ ‘Uh, he said ... he could ... shoot Dad and go to Coffs Harbour ... and they could live together.’ She finished in a whisper. Her dad muttered, ‘The dirty bastard! That man has always been a menace to this town. It’s time he was locked up for good.’ Detective Withers said with a little smile, ‘It seems we have had him under arrest since three p.m. yesterday.’ ‘What for?’ ‘Going armed in public, carrying a weapon into a hotel, and ... well that’s all I have to say until we finish questioning the weasel.’ It seemed everyone in our town despised Charlie Graves. ‘Look, we’ve got to get back to the police station and ask Graves some serious questions.’ The police officers got up quickly and rushed out of the house, into the police car, and took off—driving like they were going to stop a murder.

6 . CONFESSION Dad phoned the police station at one p.m. while they were still questioning Charlie Graves. Detective Withers said they had been searching everywhere for Mrs Thomas, but there had been no sightings. She had vanished. We sat staring at the phone and looking out the window for Mrs Thomas until six p.m. I was just about to suggest a swim in the pool when the phone rang. Mr Thomas rushed to it, almost tripping over. ‘Yes, yes, it is Mr Thomas! News? Yes, go on. Why should I sit down? Just tell me!’ Then there was a long silence as he listened. Finally, Mr Thomas just sat down slowly and replaced the receiver without saying anything. Jodie stared at his pale face. ‘What has happened, Dad?’ After a long time, his voice croaked out: ‘They have arrested Charlie Graves and charged him with the ... with ... with the murder of your mother.’ And then he burst into tears. Jodie almost collapsed on the spot, her knees buckled and she sat on the floor, her head in her hands. I squatted down beside her and tried to comfort her. I put my arm around her but she said, ‘That doesn’t help! Nothing can help, nothing! Dead. Murdered—how I detest that Graves rat!’ Her father collapsed onto the lounge. ‘Detective Withers ... he said ... he said that Charlie Graves had confessed everything. The whole murder.’ ‘Where—where is she?’ I asked.

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‘They haven’t found her ... body yet. Charlie refuses to tell them. I’d soon make him! I’d wring his neck, I’d show him no mercy—how I hate that ... that miserable, low-down, scumbag. I’d like to kill him myself!’ Then he covered his face and started to cry loudly. Jodie said, ‘Nothing can bring her back. Nothing!’ And she burst into uncontrollable tears. I sat on the floor next to Jodie, wanting to help her, comfort her. In my heart I felt a deep sorrow that was bottomless, like a black pit of misery extending to deep space. After an hour Mr Thomas said, ‘I have to go and see them at the police station. I have to find out what happened.’ ‘Dad I want to—‘ ‘No! You stay here in case your mother comes home.’ When he realized what he said he burst into tears all over again. I started to cry myself, all of us crying together. I felt so sorry for Jodie and her dad. Death is ... so final. Missing forever. My mum came home and I guess she heard the crying from next door, because she came in and stood in the room without saying anything. I said to her, ‘The police ... phoned. They said ... that ... Charlie Graves murdered Mrs Thomas.’ ‘Charlie Graves? Are you sure they said Charlie Graves?’ Suddenly Mr Thomas became furious. ‘Of course I’m sure! That stinking pile of... scum! I would rip him apart if I could. How I detest that animal! I’ll kill him so he’ll know what it’s like!’ My mum looked at the floor, and I went over to her and put my arm around her. I looked up at her face, and to my astonishment I saw that she had a tiny smile. No one else could hear her, but I was certain of what she whispered to herself. ‘Charlie Graves? Why that’s good!’ I didn’t know what to make of that. I was so amazed I didn’t even say anything. Was she glad that Charlie Graves had killed Mrs Thomas? I just couldn’t understand that. They were next-door neighbours and close friends, they went to school together. At that moment, I looked up at my mother and felt ashamed. How could she say such a thing? I was just glad no one else in the room heard her. It didn’t make sense, but I had found a lot of things in the world did not make sense. In fact very few things did make sense to me. Often I thought I must be ... a bit crazy, because stuff seemed to make sense to everyone around me. Yet to me, those same sorts of things, were a puzzle in which none of the pieces fitted. My mother said, ‘David, I am so sorry to hear about ... why don’t we all go down to the police station? The girls have a right to know what happed. I’ll drive you all in my car. Come on. We need to find out about this ... murder.’ Meek as a little puppy, Mr Thomas followed Mum out to the car. I was surprised because I thought he would absolutely refuse to allow Jodie and me to go with them. At the police station it was hushed. There were a lot of police rushing about. Detective Withers took us into a special room. We sat down on the seats, our hearts crushed with grief. Except my mum. She didn’t look worried at all. And I started to think, she had already been through a lot of pain when my father left us and started a new family. Maybe that’s why she could cope with this horrible disaster. Detective Withers told us how sorry he was and how it was only a matter of time before they found the body. ‘We are doing everything we can to find ... the body. There is no doubt that Graves is the murderer. He has made a full confession.’ I was looking right at my mum, and her face did not change. But suddenly I felt a big warmth flow from her heart into mine. I can’t explain it. I felt it, and I knew she was telling me everything would be fine. ‘What ... happened?’ Mr Thomas was almost in tears. ‘I’ll tell you the whole story. First we know the Charlie Graves accosted Mrs Thomas in the driveway and made ... threats to kill the cat and Mr Thomas. Later that day, we ... got reports that a person, dressed in blue overalls, and carrying a rifle was firing shots. He became drunk and they called the police. He was arrested for having a weapon in a public place, that is the hotel.’ I looked around the room, Jodie was staring at Detective Withers, mouth shut tight, a straight line, her eyes red and smeary. Mr Thomas, head in hands, covered his mouth and stared at the floor, but appeared to be listening intently. Sergeant Snowden sat straight at his desk, he was alert and made notes from time to time; I could see he was secretly watching all of us, but particularly my mum. When I turned towards her, I could see she was different from everyone else. She was whispering something every now and then. I listened hard as I could until I could catch the words, ‘Lisa Thomas come home safely! Lisa Thomas come home safely! Lisa Thomas come home safely!’ I realised it was a chant, like a song. But what was the point if she was already dead? ‘When we questioned Charlie Graves about the whereabouts of Mrs Thomas, he said he knew nothing about her. Then he started saying it was a good thing she was gone because she never treated him seriously. We questioned him for six hours before he finally broke down and made the confession. ‘He told us he walked into the Suntown Shopping Centre, located her car, and waited for her to come back. He hid behind a post, and when she returned he forced his way into the car with her, and using his rifle he made her drive to a lonely spot. He won’t tell us where at the moment. When they got there, he forced her out of the car and they had a

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big argument because she would not leave Mr Thomas and go to Coffs Harbour with him. When she refused, he told her if he couldn’t have her then no one could, so he shot her in the heart. Then he buried her in a grave. It must have been shallow because he didn’t have any digging tools with him. After he buried the body, he drove the car into the bush and set it on fire. Then he walked down to the pub, and in his own words, celebrated by drinking six schooners. He was seen by three different people walking into town carrying a rifle over his shoulder. The man is a beast! We are all disgusted that we did not lock him up for good before he did this. We are deeply sorry for this, Mr Thomas. The only worry we have now is that he will plead insane and try and get off. He’s not insane, he is just ... an evil, drunken, scumbag.’ Mr Thomas said, ‘I can’t tell you how much I despise him!’ There was a hatred in his voice. Jodie said, ‘We should torture him to make him tell where the body is!’ ‘Oh no!’ Mum said. ‘Please don’t think like that Jodie. Hatred will only bring hatred.’ ‘So? I have enough.’ Mr Withers said, ‘Don’t worry, we have narrowed it down and we are digging up his backyard at the moment. We think he’s lying about burying the body in the bush. For a start, he confessed to walking back to the hotel. We believe he killed her close to town, within four kilometres. Also, as we said, the car was low on petrol. We’ve organised a back hoe to dig up the garden bed at the Botanical Gardens. We’ll find the body of Mrs Thomas soon enough.’

7. GRAVES’ GRAVE The next morning when Mr Thomas phoned the police, there was still no body. Despite digging up most of Graves’ backyard the police still could not find a body. Townspeople heard about what was happening on the TV news. Everyone had a theory about where the body was buried. People wanted to help so they started digging up parks and bush themselves.Detective Withers asked us all to go down to the station, it sounded like there might be a breakthrough. My mum didn’t have to start work until noon, so she came down too. Somehow, I felt sure that she knew more about this than she was telling us. And before long, I was proved right. It turned out my mum knew more about Charlie Graves than anyone else in town. And that’s what caused all the trouble. When we got to the police station, Detective Withers asked us all to sit down, back in the same room as before. It was a little cramped, with the four of us. Mr Thomas could not sit still. He was a nervous wreck. ‘Have you found her? Why can’t you find the ... body? Did you look in his backyard?’ ‘Yes, yes, we dug it all up, the vegetable garden, the lawn, underneath the house, the front yard. We found twenty animal skeletons so far, but no body. It looks like we were searching for gold.’ Mr Thomas gave him a hard look, he didn’t want jokes. ‘I must say that I am ... greatly disappointed with the progress of this case. You have the confession—‘ ‘Yes, yes. But Charlie Graves has made it quite clear, he will not tell us where the body is buried.’ ‘Why not! The man has already confessed to murder, what difference can it make to him?’ Mr Thomas was very angry. ‘Graves has told us that we will never find the body. He said that without the body, we can never convict him of murder, so it doesn’t matter if he has confessed. He said ... that when it goes to court, they will have to release him.’ ‘Is that right?’ Jodie asked. ‘I couldn’t stand it if they ... released that murderer.’ ‘Humph!’ My mum made a sort of snorting noise. We all turned and stared at her. ‘I was just ... coughing,’ she said. ‘Detective, would it be possible for us to ... view this confession? I expect you have a video of it?’ ‘Yes, of course we do. There was nothing illegal in obtaining the confession. I can assure you! But ... we do not usually allow people to—‘ ‘Detective, it might ... jog our memory ... we might remember something, some clue as to where he buried the body of Mrs Thomas. And that is what we all want to find, don’t we?’ I couldn’t help but stare at Mum. There was something wrong, the way she talked. Her tone, her thoughts, I could sense it. I began to suspect she knew more about what happened to Mrs Thomas than she was telling the police. At that moment I wondered, just wondered, might she have helped Charlie Graves?

8. THE VIDEO We all sat expectantly as Detective Withers put the video on. The camera showed Charlie Graves sitting on one side of a table, and Sergeant Snowden on the other, a clock in the background. The Detective started off by explaining to Charlie about the interview, and pointing out the time. Then it started. Alright Charlie Graves, what were you doing with a rifle at the hotel? Just having a drink You know, it is illegal to take a rifle into a hotel? Maybe, who cares? You have done this before, the magistrate will probably sentence you to a week’s jail this time. Talk to the hand.

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What were you doing walking around with the rifle? I was killing stray dogs. I like to kill stuff. Fair dinkum, true blue. Wombats, cats, dogs, horses. They shoot horses don’t they? Yeah cows. Birds, wallabies, I love to— Charlie Graves, if you kill birds, or wombats then you are breaking the law. So what. You know what I’d really like to kill? I don’t want to know. Killing animals means I am tough, right? The guys on TV, they are always killing people, and everyone thinks how tough they are, right? No, they are stories, just made-up stories that mean nothing. A story should mean something. You know what I want to kill? Honest to God, I love killing things, watching them die. You should see a psychiatrist, before you hurt someone. I think it’s time you went home Charlie Graves. I want to kill a whale. That’s illegal! So what, it didn’t stop the whalers from killing thousands of them right up to about forty years ago. I would get a boat and sail off Byron Bay and wait for them humpbacks to come past. Ridgy-didge, everyone would be standing near the lighthouse watching, and then I would kill it stone dead. Not with a .22 rifle, Charlie. Nah, that’s right. That’s why I want to get a bazooka. You know I’d fire it right down— Shut up Charlie! You’re scared. Killing things makes me strong. Right? Okay Charlie, go home, but you got to come back tomorrow to see about— (Detective Withers came into the interview room and sat down alongside Sergeant Snowden.) Charlie, mind if I ask you some questions? I don’t know anything about the smashed window in Clive Street. It’s Mrs Thomas, she has disappeared. Good. Fair dinkum I was sick of her. Good riddance. Do you know anything about her disappearance? Why should I? You were seen this morning arguing with her in the driveway. Those brats! They dobbed me in. I had my gun with me too. So what happened this morning? I found her cat on my property. I coulda shot it for trespassing, but I took it back home to her. Gave it to her. And you asked her to go to Coffs with you? Sure I did, test her out. See if she would dump her husband, see if she would stick by the silly old fart. What did she say? Said she wasn’t going nowhere with me. Bitch. You don’t like women? Fair dinkum, hate them. Then why ask her to go to Coffs? Test her out, see if she’d leave her old man. What happened after the driveway? Nothing. I went home, true blue, shot some wombats. Then went to the pub, had a few drinks. Got arrested. You can’t blame me for Mrs Thomas disappearing. You are my witness that I was right here in the cell. But there were hours between the time you argued in the driveway and— We didn’t argue! Why are you trying to pin this disappearance on me? We’re not Charlie, we’re just trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. Where did she go to? You think I know something? I don’t know anything about her disappearance. Ok, I think we’d like to keep you here a little while longer, to check a few things out. What do I care? Check whatever you like. Oh by the way Charlie, did you know Elizabeth Finegan? No. I heard about her, that’s all. And what did you hear? She disappeared two years ago, and last month her body was found in the billabong out near Napoleon Road. That’s right. We are still looking for her killer. There was another woman, Freda Petty, disappeared last month. Did you know Freda? Of course, she lived in my street. What are you getting at Withers? Nothing. Just gathering information.

* * *

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Detective Withers stood up and said to us, ‘That’s the end of the video. I hope you won’t be upset, but the next video we are to watch is ... it’s horrible. Are you all sure you want to go ahead with this?’

9. CONFESSION OF MURDER Detective Withers turned the second video on. We saw Charlie Graves and Sergeant Snowden sitting at the same table as before. Charlie on one side, dressed in the same old navy blue overalls, unshaven and red-faced. Withers sat down opposite him, a serious look on his face. Snowden made the introduction with the time and date, and that the interview was freely given. Six hours had passed since the end of the last video. Detective Withers looked at his watch. I need to ask some more questions, Charlie. I’m sick of all this! What now, more broken windows, car stolen, bank robbery? Another woman murdered? Who said anything about murder? Just guessing. What do you want? We want to ask you more questions about the disappearance of Mrs Thomas. Charlie, we have been questioning you for six hours. Why don’t you make it easy for everyone? Just tell the truth, and we will all be happy. Get it over with, you are going to confess in the end, because we are never going to let you go till we find her. I’ve told you everything I know. We had reports that you were seen walking along Highway One, carrying a rifle. Yeah, so? We’ve been through all this again and again. Can you explain what you were doing with the rifle? I told you I was shooting wombats and koalas. Ridgy-didge. Why do you keep asking me the same questions over and over? We want to make sure your answers are the same. When I asked you earlier you told me you were shooting stray dogs. Which one was it? Coulda been a dog. What’s your dog look like, Detective? Is it that big Ridgeback mongrel? I’m just waiting for it to step out onto the street. Charlie, the disappearance of Mrs Thomas is very serious. You are the last adult to have seen her. What about those brats? They saw her after me. Did you go back to her house after she dropped Karen and Jodie off at school? Why would I do that? I’m asking you, Charlie. Answer the question! Why should I tell you? Answer the question! Can’t remember. (Then he laughed.) Charlie Graves, if you know something about Mrs Thomas, it would be best to tell us now. If we find out ourselves, it will be worse for you. You’ll never prove anything. What would we be trying to prove? Probably that I murdered Mrs Thomas. Who said anything about murder, Charlie? I want a lawyer. A real lawyer, not some dumbo like last time. Sure. I’ll get you a lawyer. (The video showed Detective Withers stopping the tape, and then fifteen minutes later it started again.) I’ve arranged for a lawyer. She should be here soon. She? Who is this bitch? Fair dinkum, I told you I hate women. She’s a lawyer. Mrs parson’s daughter. Oh no! She’ll never shut up. The child of motormouth! I don’t want her. She’s all we got. But you don’t have to wait for her. You could start the interview now. Save time. Come on Charlie, just tell us what happened, you don’t need a lawyer. I can’t think, I’m too thirsty. I’ll make you a cup of tea. You’re trying to poison me, you’ll put drugs in it. I only drink beer if I open the bottle myself—that’s how I know it’s safe! I’ll see what I can do, although it’s strictly illegal. I got a medical condition! I have to drink a beer every hour of the day or I’ll die. Okay then. (Twenty minutes later. Charlie Graves opens a six-pack, he’s smiling again. He drinks the beer straight out of the bottle.)

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What do you want to know? Did you kill Mrs Thomas? Why should I answer that? If you think I did, you prove it. You can’t! Do you know what happened to her? You ever gonna shut up about Mrs Thomas? What about the broken window? Charlie, we are more interested in the disappearance of Mrs Thomas. By the light of the sun, I can’t help you.

I think you can. Tell us what you did that day. Fair dinkum, I shot a few wombats and two koalas, got drunk, got arrested. Usual thing. Okay, I want you to start from the time Mrs Thomas drove off from the driveway with Karen and Jodie. What did you do next? I’m sick of all these questions! I’ll stop when you answer them without lying. What makes you think I’m lying? You are a born liar Charlie. You couldn’t lie straight in bed. (Charlie Graves opens another beer, drinks it from the bottle. There are already two empty bottles alongside him.) Alright, this is true-blue, ridgy-didge, fair-dinkum. I’m gonna tell you everything about the murder. I never said it was murder. I did. (Detective Withers looks shocked, puts his hand up to his face. He doesn’t say anything for 20 seconds.) What happened, Charlie? I went to the shopping centre. Walked. Found her car. Where was it then? On the first floor. Orange-1, behind the last pillar. Engine in or boot in? Engine in. I waited till she came back to the car, no one around. Then I sneaked up behind her and grabbed her from behind. Got my hand over her mouth. Shoved her into the car, then pointed my rifle at her forehead, and got in. (Charlie looked unhappy, uncomfortable, he looked around the room. He took out another beer and drank it all down in one long gulp.) What did you say? I just told you, are you recording this? Play it back. No, I mean what did you say to Mrs Thomas? Keep quiet or I’ll kill you. Did she scream? No, she was scared when I pointed the rifle at her. I drove the car out. That’s all I’m saying. Keep going, Charlie, you are doing fine. Can’t think, too thirsty. I’ve run out of beer. I’ll get you another six-pack. Alright, if you insist. Sergeant, would you go to the bottle shop for me? Is this on petty cash? Uhh, I don’t know. Yeah, but we’ll work it out later. (The video stops again, when it re-starts twelve minutes have passed.) I don’t know if we should be doing this—giving you beer—Charlie. I got a medical condition. I’m receiving treatment. Ok. Go on. Huh? What did I say? You drove out the shopping centre ... Yeah. How did you drive, with the rifle... No, my hands. I mean, where was it? On my lap, pointing right at her stomach, side on. She was scared. Crying. Don’t kill me, don’t kill me! I laughed at her, true blue. I intended to put an end to that bitch once and for all. So I drove out to—can’t tell you! Go on, Charlie.

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When we got to the place ... I told her to get out the car, stand against the tree. I asked her was she gunna leave her husband and live with me. When she said no, I figured I may as well kill her. She was crying and pleading, saying she loved that stupid wanker of a husband, said she had to see her Jodie. Yeah. So I shot her twice in the back. She fell down, dead, so help me God I have told you the whole truth, ridgy-didge. Fair dinkum, I buried her right there in the—oops, nearly told you. What then? Drove the car into the bush, ran it into a gully off the road, set it on fire. One day you’ll find it, but there’s not going to be any evidence: no fingerprints, no DNA, no blood or hair. Walked to the pub to celebrate and drank six schooners. Why did you kill her? She’s a bitch. I hate women. Told you that, fair dinkum, everyone knows I hate women. She turned me down, so I figured it was time I got even with her. Now all I got to do is get her cat. Now tell us again, where did you bury her? You must think I’m drunk to fall for that old trick! Won’t never tell that as long as my arse points to the ground. Why not? Because Mr Copper, while you ain’t got a body, you are never ever going to find me guilty. Just wont happen! I know the law. You’re wrong Charlie, you can be convicted without a body. Bullshit! It’s almost impossible. A jury’s never gunna believe it. She could’ve run away with another man and be living in Coffs Harbour. You ain’t got a body, you ain’t got me, copper. And this confession is worthless with you getting me drunk. I don’t know what I’m saying. (He laughed gleefully.) You’re not drunk Charlie, and you do know exactly what you are saying. For once in your life you have told the truth. Come on Charlie, we’re sure to find the body, so tell us where you hid it, and don’t tell us any lies. I’ve told you the truth, fair dinkum, every word is true-blue. That’s all I’m saying, so turn off that stupid camera!’

10. THE ARGUMENT We all sat staring at the TV monitor in silence. There was a chill in the room, a chill of horror, of despair, of misery. My mother was the first to speak, ‘I’ve never heard such nonsense in all my life!’ Everyone turned to look at her. I looked at Mum’s face, she looked very annoyed. ‘I’ve known Charlie Graves since we went to school, and I know he would not hurt Mrs Thomas!’ Detective Withers said, ‘You just heard his testimony, his confession, what more could you want? The man has admitted to killing her! It all fits, even where she parked her car. He is a cold-blooded murderer, nothing more nothing less. I’ll tell you something else. We’ve been watching Charlie Graves for some time, because we suspect him in the disappearance of Freda Petty. She lived in the same street as him.’ ‘Nonsense, Charlie Graves wouldn’t hurt a fly! I can tell you that Charlie Graves doesn’t kill animals. Look at him on that video, just feel what he is saying with your heart instead of listening to the words he is saying.’ Detective Withers said, ‘Mrs Casey you have been in the sun too long. That man is a killer. There are signs on his house: keep out intruders will be shot, no one goes near him. The whole town hates him! If you say you know him you should know how many times we have had him in jail. More times than anyone else in town!’ ‘But not for violence, not for stealing, not for— ‘ ‘Yes, stealing and violence! Just last week he got into a fight with a builder at the pub. Tried to steal his dog, right off the back of the truck.’ ‘I don’t believe it!’ ‘See you are just sticking up for him! And tomorrow I am going to check out his story of working in the Mt Isa mines for ten years. It would not surprise me if he spent those ten years in jail for manslaughter!’ ‘Detective Withers, you have lived in this town for years— ‘ ‘Longer than you!’ ‘And yet you still do not know anything about Charlie Graves!’ Mr Thomas shouted: ‘I have lived here for twenty years! Don’t dare tell me I don’t know Charlie Graves! The man is a cold-blooded killer. He is evil through and through, you only had to watch the grin on his face when he talked about killing whales! That is the man you are defending! The man who murdered my wife and Jodie’s mother! You should be ashamed of yourself. You are supposed to be Lisa’s best friend! Some friend! I can hardly believe you would support a murderer! Next you will be supplying him with an alibi! Mrs Casey, I have absolute disgust for you. And if your daughter sticks up for him, then I don’t want to see either of you in our house again! Jodie said, ‘You can’t defend him just because you went to school together! He confessed to killing my mother!’ And then suddenly everyone in the room was shouting. It was crazy, I was shouting at Jodie although I can’t remember what I was saying. Mr Thomas was shouting at Mum. Detective Withers was shouting at everyone. We all stood up and started to move closer together, shouting into each other’s face, louder and louder. The more we shouted the

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angrier we became. Gradually we quieted down as we ran out of breath, but underneath we were all angry, even Karen and I were angry with each other. That is something that didn’t happen very often. Finally Mum said, ‘I think we all better go home.’ Mr Thomas said, ‘We are not going home in your car!’ ‘Fine, come on Karen let’s go.’ And so that’s how we left them. We walked to the car in silence, but I have to say I was not very happy with my mother. I thought she was letting her old schooldays get in the way of the truth. I didn’t know how to tell her this. As we drove home in the car, the only thing she said was: ‘After all these years, I can’t believe the people in this town do not understand Charlie Graves!’.

11. THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE GRAVES When we got home I knew I had to find out why she was protecting Charlie Graves. ‘Mum, at the police station ...’ I felt embarrassed to ask her why she defended Charlie Graves when he was obviously guilty. ‘Yes? What did you want to know?’ ‘You said that you believed Charlie Graves did not kill Mrs Thomas. Even though he made that confession. And then in the car you said, that ... the people in Dayman Heads don’t understand him. What did you mean? How do you know he didn’t kill Mrs Thomas?’ ‘Wait till I get a cup of tea. Okay, this is a long story. I wish Jodie was here so she could hear this. I guess ... you’ll have to tell her when she calms down.’ ‘This is about Charlie, right?’ ‘Of course. Mrs Thomas and I were both in the same class at school as Charlie Graves. Did you know that?’ ‘No, I didn’t. I bet he was one of those kids always in trouble!’ She burst into laughter. ‘Not at all! Charlie Graves was a nerd! That’s right, a quiet little nerd who wouldn’t hurt an insect, who wore big glasses to school, and a tie most days, even when it was hot. He always did his homework and was never in trouble.’ ‘Mum, you said you were going to tell me about Charlie Graves, that sounds like— ‘ ‘I am talking about Charlie Graves! This was when he was twelve years old. The trouble was, all the bullies and rough kids picked on him. They started to bash him after school, and then at school, he didn’t like to fight back because he didn’t want to hurt anyone. Day by day things got worse, everyone knew he was easy to push around. One day a new girl started in our class. She was very big and strong, like one of the biggest boys. She wanted to show everyone how tough she was; she seemed to think this would make the kids like her. She got Charlie Graves in the playground, pushed him over, sat on him and stripped off his clothes down to his underwear, she was really bashing him. Then she ran off and hid his clothes in a bin. Charlie Graves was crying and went home from school in his underpants. ‘He lived nearby, so I went around to see him. I always liked Charlie. Don’t look at me like that! Anyway, I told him something ... and maybe ... I am responsible for what happened to him. He said he wanted to change schools. I told him that if he didn’t change himself, the new school would soon be just the same as this one. I told him that the kids wouldn’t pick on him if he acted tough, he didn’t have to be tough, just look like it, talk like it, act like it, and everyone would leave him alone.’ ‘So what happened?’ ‘He didn’t come back to school for a week. When he did, it was in dirty clothes, and he had a knife with him. He showed it to everyone, pointed at the girl who beat him up. So they reported him to the principal, and then he got into trouble.’ ‘A knife!’ ‘Uh, well ... it looked like a real knife sure enough, but it was only rubber painted silver. Even I didn’t know till he told me. Well, from that day on he got a reputation for being mean and tough and nasty. Yes, a couple of them tried to bash him again, but you know what ... he acted out the part even in the fight, shouting in their faces and swearing, like he was mean, tough and a little crazy. They left him alone after that, because there was no fun in picking on him. The trouble was, Charlie Graves never stopped playing the part. Underneath he is the same person, on the surface he acts mean, talks tough. Oh he drinks far too much, we all know that! He got into a bad habit there ... and he can’t seem to stop drinking, but he never hurts anyone.’ ‘How many people know this?’ ‘Mrs Thomas does! Mr Thomas should know, but he only ever sees the surface. I don’t blame him though, Charlie Graves does a good job. He fooled you didn’t he?’ ‘Mum, I am amazed. But he is always in trouble fighting with builders.’ ‘Oh sure! Did I tell you he loves animals? Don’t believe that stuff about killing them! He loves all animals, birds, dogs, dolphins, whales, yes whales, even insects. That was the trouble at school, he was so obsessed with being kind to them, all the boys thought he was a sissy.’

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‘What about the whale he wanted to kill?’ ‘All lies.’ ‘But the police said that they dug up skeletons of animals in his backyard, they said he kills them.’ ‘Nonsense. He takes home sick animals from the vet, animals that are about to die. Says prayers, plays music for them. Cries. Hardly anyone knows, just the vet.’ ‘Mum, when they said Charlie Graves had confessed to murdering Mrs Thomas, you said: Good. I don’t understand. Did you think that— ‘ ‘Because I knew it wasn’t true! That means she is probably still alive somewhere! The police are wasting time, because they want to prove Charlie Graves is a murderer. I think we are going to have to search for her ourselves. The police can only think about Charlie Graves.’ ‘If he’s innocent, why did he confess?’ ‘Because they kept asking him to! Harassing him. How long did Detective Withers the say they questioned him for? Six hours! So Charlie said to himself, you want a story? Then I’ll give you one! He’s playing a game with them, probably hoping that next time they’ll leave him alone. He can’t tell them where the body is because they will soon find it isn’t there.’ ‘Karen there is something else I should tell you, but I made a promise to Charlie years ago that I would not tell anyone.’ ‘Well then how can you tell me?’ ‘Maybe I can hint at it. If you’re observant, you will be able to work out what I want to tell you. It’s like this, when Charlie Graves started to act mean and nasty he worked out a code with me and Mrs Thomas—oh yes she knows the truth about Charlie Graves too. Anyway we worked out a code that allows us to know when he is lying, and when he is telling the truth. The only people who know about this code, are myself and Mrs Thomas. It’s not hard to figure it out! Everyone in town would know it by now if they opened their eyes. It’s like this: when Charlie is about to tell a lie he always says a special phrase. And now I want you to think of what slang phrases we use in Australia that mean telling the truth.’ ‘Ohhh, let me see, well there is ... fair dinkum, there’s ridgy-didge, there’s... true-blue, and ... as God is my witness—is that one?’ ‘Good! Now, do you remember in the interview if Charlie Graves used any of those expressions?’ ‘Oh yes! He was saying those things all the time. Oh you mean—that if he says one of those things he is about to tell a lie?’ She smiled, ‘I cannot confirm or deny that! When Charlie is about to tell the truth, he uses an expression that has something to do ... with hot.’ ‘Hot? I’m not sure I know what you mean. A fire? Stove?’ ‘Well, it’s something ... an object that is the hottest thing ... in the solar system.’ ‘The sun!’ ‘Yes, I can’t tell you exactly, but if you hear that word used as an expression, then that means that whatever he says is true. I did hear him use that expression once during the interview. It was right before he said he knew nothing about the disappearance of Mrs Thomas.’ ‘Mum, this is absolutely astounding! Unbelievable. And you mean that practically no one in town knows the truth about Charlie Graves?’ ‘Well after thirty years, I thought everyone would have figured it out by now! Of course Charlie didn’t live here all that time. He went off and worked in the mines at Mt Isa for about ten years, then came back. Did some training as a vet. But ... people seemed to keep away from him, remembered his reputation. So, now he just does odd jobs.’ Mum finished her tea, and stretched out on the lounge. ‘Karen, there something else you should know but ... ‘ ‘Yes? What?’ ‘Well ... you know your Uncle Karl?’ ‘The mysterious uncle who’s always travelling?’ ‘Yes, that’s right. The one who gave you the portable DVD player for your birthday.’ ‘Yes of course. I’ve never even met him. Is he finally coming for a visit?’ Mum was staring at me, she didn’t say anything just stared at me. I shouted: ‘I don’t believe it!’ Mum smiled at me, ‘ It’s true.’ ‘But he called me a brat!’ ‘What can I say?’ She was laughing now. ‘But he’s never nice to me!’ ‘That’s right. He has an image to keep. He doesn’t want anyone to know what a nice person he is underneath. All I can say is that he really does care about you, Jodie, and Mrs Thomas. When no one else is around he asks about you and Jodie—he is a different person. He wants to help pay your university fees if you decide to go.’

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‘Really? Uncle Karl always gives me gifts, and ... it’s Charlie Graves? The psycho the whole town hates? Mum is any of this true? Are you teasing me? Is this whole story a joke?’ ‘By the light of the sun, it is all the truth.’ I stared at her, and slowly smiled. ‘And Jodie—he gave Jodie a portable DVD player for her birthday. Mum, this is really amazing. I wish I knew all this before.’ ‘Karen, you must learn not to judge things by their outward appearance. Sometimes you have to look a little deeper to get to the truth.’

12. MAKE UP The next morning Mum had to go to work, but before she left she told me that I should try and make up with Jodie. How I was supposed to do this I had no idea. Now that mum had explained about Charlie Graves, I could see that it was a waste of time trying to get him to confess things. But how could I ever convince Jodie? ‘Mum, how can I ... last night at the police station, we were all yelling at each other. Jodie thinks that we don’t care about her mother, and that you’re protecting Charlie Graves. Mr Thomas was furious with us.’ ‘Yes, but he’ll be over it this morning. You’ll just have to find a way to tell Jodie that your friendship is the most important thing.’ ‘But ... but what can I say? She won’t listen to me.’ Mum thought for a moment, and it seemed like she didn’t know, then as she picked up her handbag she said, ‘You can say something without words. You can tell a person something with actions.’ ‘How?’ ‘Maybe a song— ‘ ‘A song! Mum that’s so— ‘ ‘Or a drawing.’ ‘Of what?’ ‘Karen, you’re good at drawing. Draw her a picture of what you feel like at the moment. Use colours, felt-tipped pens—think about that. Then put it on her doorstep. Gotta go.’ At first I thought it was silly, but then I started thinking about it. I was getting a few ideas, so I figured I would draw them as they came to me. I drew the two of us swimming through the waves at the beach, diving like a pair of dolphins. That was for our friendship. Then I drew a picture of her mum and dad and Jodie standing together holding hands, and then another picture, but this time I cut out Mrs Thomas, cut a hole right through the paper, so she was missing. Then I drew a picture of a mean Charlie Graves, and he was pushing Jodie and me apart. Finally I drew a picture of me, but where the heart was I cut a hole in the cardboard. I took the cardboard around to her place and put it on the back step where she would see it as soon as she opened the door.* * *I was sitting in the kitchen, with the door open, sunshine was streaming in and I was looking at the light on the floor. Our dog, Chester sat near my feet. And perhaps that gave me the clue. It was at that moment, Jodie came to the door and stood there. I sprang up, and said, ‘Come in!’ Jodie said, ‘I thought I’d better come over—because of what Dad said last night. And ... uh we were shouting at each other. Of course he didn’t mean it. He was just so upset. I want us to be friends more than anything else. Especially now...’ I was nearly crying. ‘Me too, Jodie. Me too!’ I was so glad I had taken Mum’s advice with the drawing. My heart felt full of sunshine. ‘Jodie, last night when we got home I asked Mum about Charlie Graves. What she told me was astounding! It is almost unbelievable. I am going to tell you what she told me about Charlie. You’re going to find this very hard to believe, but if I can make you understand you will see how important it is, because it means that your mother is probably still alive! And it means that we should be looking for her.’ Jodie had a puzzled look on her face, sceptical even—but she didn’t say anything, just laid down on the carpet and waited for the story. So I told her everything that my mother had explained about Charlie Graves. She found it hard to believe. I suppose because she had got it second-hand from me, instead of straight from my mother. As for Uncle Karl being Charlie Graves, she just laughed and said that was not possible. As I said, our dog Chester gave me the idea. ‘Jodie’, I said, ‘why don’t we go and see the vet, and ask him about Charlie Graves? Mum said that Charlie was often at the vet’s place helping with animals. The vet would know if Charlie Graves kills animals or not. According to Mum, Charlie would never hurt an animal of any kind.’ ‘Karen, if what your mum says is true, everyone is wasting their time with Charlie. Mum could be hurt, or kidnapped while the police are digging up the town looking for a body.’

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‘Exactly!’ ‘Could we ask Charlie Graves?’ ‘No, he has to keep his act. Besides he told the police over and over he knew nothing. It wasn’t until he was questioned for six hours that he got fed up and told them the story they wanted to hear.’ ‘Okay let’s go and ask the vet. But I tell you, I’d be amazed if... Well, let’s just wait and see. Come on and I’ll get my bike.’ We walked around the back of her place and I could see that the drawing I did for her was flung in the corner of the porch, like she had kicked it aside. She picked it up. ‘What’s this?’ She gawked at it, eyes wide. ‘Didn’t you see it yet?’ She was staring at it, and I felt embarrassed, because suddenly it looked corny, silly, babyish. It was then I remembered that I didn’t put anything on top of it to stop the wind blowing it around. So it must have blown away before she saw it. I was waiting for her to say something, even something silly, or nasty. But she said nothing, it was like Mum said, there are more ways than words to speak to someone. She was crying, tears streaming down her face. She hugged me, she put her arms around me and cried some more. Then she took the drawing inside, and put it in her bedroom. I just sat and waited for her. When she came out she said, ‘It would take more than Charlie Graves to break us up!’.

13. THE VET The vet was busy, but said he’d talk to us for a few minutes. He said we could come with him while he nursed some of the sick animals. ‘Charlie Graves? What is it this time?’ Jodie smiled, ‘Do you know him?’ ‘Of course I know him, he’s always here.’ ‘Does he kill animals?’ The vet laughed, ‘Yeah, that’s what everyone in town thinks.’ ‘So it’s true?’ ‘Nonsense! Charlie Graves is the kindest man I know. Cries over hurt birds. Oh don’t tell him I said that. Always bringing me hurt creatures. Goes walking along Highway One to look for anything hit by a car. Once or twice he brought me insects, praying mantises, stuff like that. I’m a vet I told him, not an entomologist.’ Jodie wasn’t convinced, ‘They say he’s got animal skeletons in his backyard.’ ‘Sure. He takes home sick animals— wallabies, dingos, bandicoots—when I can’t help them, he ... nurses them till they die, then he gives them a burial. Reads them poetry, burns candles and incense.’ ‘You are talking about Charlie Graves?’ Jodie couldn’t seem to believe it. He laughed again. ‘The same one the whole town thinks is a mad-dog killer. Forget what they say. I’ll tell you a secret about Charlie Graves, but don’t tell anyone because it will only make his life worse.’ ‘Something bad he did?’ ‘No! Why does everyone think the worst about Charlie? The secret is ... that ... well ... he can communicate with some animals.’ ‘You mean... talk?’ ‘Sort of. I don’t understand. Never seen anything like it. Animals just seem to love him. Get a dog in pain, he goes over and pats it and next thing ... it’s asleep. New Years Eve, all the dogs get terrified of the fireworks. They run away. We get some brought in here trembling and whimpering. Charlie goes near them, they stop and start wagging their tales. I don’t know if it’s something he says, or the way he pats them. No, I tell you it’s not. They can sense when he is coming. I have them in the cage crying, whimpering. Suddenly they stop. A few seconds later, Charlie walks in. Goes straight to the animals in need. Don’t you dare tell me that man is a murderer! If the police would leave him alone, they would solve a lot more crimes. Someone steals a car, the police go around and pick up Charlie.’ ‘But he’s always bashing people down at the pub’, Jodie said. ‘Detective Withers told me that.’ The vet took a small dog out of the cage and examined its paw. ‘I was talking to the RSPCA fellow last week. He told me that Charlie gets into fights with people who lock their dogs in hot cars, or the builders who tie them up without water. Charlie goes around to all the building sites and checks on the dogs. If they’ve got no water, there is sure to be a fight. Then Charlie will report them to the RSPCA. Makes people mad. They reckon they know what is right for their dogs. But I reckon Charlie ... it’s like the dogs tell him how they’ve been treated.’ He finished bandaging the dog paw, it looked like a Jack Russell dog to me. He carefully put it back in the cage and gave it a pat. ‘Now you take Mrs Jones with her two Scotch Collies. She’s really kind to them, dotes on them. And guess what, she loves Charlie Graves. He doesn’t pick on her, because she looks after her pets. Charlie only has to look at a pet and he

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can tell you all about the owner and how it’s been treated. Sure, I can see if there are cuts, or if it’s starving, or nervous. But Charlie... ahh I wish he would tell me how he does it.’ Jodie hesitated, here was the real question: ‘Do you think he would kill an animal?’ ‘It’s not likely, he’s a vegetarian. He would rather starve than eat meat or fish because that involves taking the life of a living creature. Charlie spends all his time looking after sick animals, so what do you think?’ Jodie still wasn’t quite convinced, ‘They say he shoots wombats and koalas.’ ‘Yes, that is actually true!’ The vet took a kitten out of its cage and looked at its teeth. ‘Quite often small animals—birds, koalas, and wallabies—are hit by cars on Highway One. Charlie walks along it every few days, if he finds any animal that can’t be helped, dying in agony by the side of the road, he shoots it to put it out of pain. Then he buries it as if it were a sacred being. He chants, he prays, he cries as he buries them. So it is true: he shoots animals. Any more questions?’.

14. DIGGING UP THE BOTANICAL GARDENS We sat on the concrete wall outside the vet’s surgery, while Jodie tried to sort out her thoughts about Charlie Graves. ‘Karen, it looks like I was wrong about Charlie Graves, if he wouldn’t kill an animal, then that means a lot of the things he said on the video confession were lies. And ... well ... maybe everything your mum said was right. Detective Withers did say they questioned him for six hours before he decided to confess. So maybe he just got sick of all the questions and decided to play a game with them.’ ‘Right! And that means your mum was not murdered by Charlie Graves! So it means there is a good chance that she is still alive somewhere. The police have got to stop this digging and start looking for her.’ ‘I’ll explain to Dad and he can tell Detective Withers. Wow! This means she could still be alive. Come on! We’ve got to get busy. She could still be alive!’ Jodie kept repeating that all the way home.* * *‘Dad! Dad! We’ve just been to see the vet.’ ‘Oh. Any news from the police?’ ‘Nothing. But the vet said—‘ ‘I wonder if they have dug up under the old railway bridge—Fred Murphy was just here, he said he saw Charlie Graves walking along the highway a few days back, thinks there is a spot in the bushes.’ ‘Dad, dad, I think Mum might still be alive!’ He stared at her. ‘Jodie, come here Sweetheart. I know it is hard to accept that your mum is dead until we find her body, but there is no use pretending. We all want to believe she is still alive. Sometimes people keep believing for ten years, always hoping, wishing. But once they find the body,’ he cried into his hands for a moment before finishing ‘then, we will be able to accept it.’ Jodie wasn’t interested in that anymore. ‘Dad, we talked to the vet and he said that Charlie Graves is a kind man who looks after animals.’ Her father burst into laughter, then said, ‘The vet was being ironic. You know what that means, sort of like sarcastic. He was saying the opposite of what he meant. You only have to look at Charlie’s evil face to know he is a killer.’ ‘No dad, come back with me and we’ll talk to him again. You’ll see!’ ‘I can’t. Detective Withers is starting to dig up the Botanical Gardens, near the swimming pool. I’ve got to get down there. He’s sure that the body is there.’ ‘Can we go with you?’ ‘Uh, I suppose so.’ At the gardens, heavy machinery was being unloaded from trucks, a large backhoe, and a smaller one. Sergeant Snowden called out, ‘Now take it easy boys. We don’t want to disturb the body. We just want to uncover it. So be gentle. Try over there behind the bushes, you can see where the dirt has been disturbed.’ ‘Hello Mr Thomas.’ ‘Detective, what is the news?’ ‘We had a report, confirmed by two witnesses, that Charlie Graves was seen digging in this spot, see where the backhoe is going? Charlie had a shovel and was burying something.’ ‘Why didn’t they say something to him?’ ‘No one wants to talk to Charlie Graves! He’s such an mongrel. This occurred about the time that Mrs Thomas went missing. So prepare yourself. It might be better if you waited down the other end, under the trees. Try not to—‘ Jodie couldn’t hold back any longer, ‘Detective Withers, Karen and I went to see the vet, and he told me that Charlie Graves is not ... that he’s a kind man who loves animals.’ Withers laughed. ‘No, girlie, he’s not. You heard what Charlie said on the interview. Wants to kill a whale! If the vet told you that then I suggest he was joking with you or trying to be kind. He’s just trying to give you hope ...’ ‘No, he wasn’t. He meant it.’

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‘Okay. I got a lot to do.’ ‘But Detective, don’t you see that ... if Charlie Graves is kind to animals, it means he was lying in his confession.’ ‘So what? Even if he is kind to animals —and I’ve got to see that—he certainly isn’t kind to humans! We know that. We also know he has confessed to killing your mother. Now why would he do that if he’s innocent? I know this is difficult for you all. I have contacted the family trauma councillor. It is always hard when loved ones ... pass away. Some people just cannot accept it—cannot believe it. They keep imagining that the person is lost, run away, or lost their memory. Anything at all rather than face the fact that the person has been murdered.’ He glared down at us. ‘Girls, come over here a moment.’ He took us aside, so her dad couldn’t hear. ‘I want you to be very brave and accept that Mrs Thomas is dead. If you can do this, it will help Jodie’s dad. Otherwise he ... he’s not a strong man, he might ... need hospital treatment. Don’t make it harder for him. Just accept the truth. Mrs Thomas is dead, murdered by that mad-dog Charlie Graves. So don’t worry him with stories about how Charlie is a saint. The whole town knows Charlie’s the worst drunkard, the worst troublemaker, the biggest liar. Always lying. We have arrested him more times than anyone else in the whole town!’ ‘What for?’ I asked. He started walking towards the backhoe. ‘Last week for example. A builder parked his ute outside the pub. Left a couple of dogs tied up on the back. Next thing Charlie Graves is out the pub trying to steal them. Got into a fight with the builder. Constable Barton, tell the girls why you arrested Charlie last week.’ ‘Oh yeah! I had to go down and sort it out. Charlie Graves said he was untangling the dogs, said their leads were too tight, and they had no water. What a liar! Got into a fight with the builder who reckoned Charlie was trying to steal the dogs. Good guard dogs. Take your arm off if you go near them. But ... well... ‘ ‘What?’ ‘The funny thing was ... the dogs didn’t even growl at Charlie Graves. He was just talking to them. I got down to the pub, to arrest Charlie Graves, and the dogs were sitting next to him, like he owned them. You know, I think he must have given those dogs a leg of chicken or something. Okay girls, you’d better go down the other end. We got serious work to do.’ We watched the backhoe digging in the earth, trying to be careful, looking for a body. ‘Come on Jodie, there’s no point in staying here.’ As we walked away, she said to me, ‘Karen, did you ever hear the story about the man who had to paint a house? He was working flat out. Said he had to get it done in a hurry. Fast, fast, fast, no time to listen to anyone, no time to think about what he was doing, no time for anything. All he wanted to do was finish the house as quickly as possible. A little kid tries to talk to him, tell him something, but the painter tells him to get lost. He has a rush job to do. The painter works flat out, day and night till the house is finished. The trouble was, he was painting the wrong house.

15. THE BARMAID When Mum came home from work, it was after seven p.m. Jodie was with me in my bedroom. We went into the living-room, where Mum took off her shoes and had a mug of tea and some Tim Tams. While she was eating and drinking I told her about our visit to the vet, and then how we tried to convince the police and Mr Thomas about Charlie Graves. She told us that five years ago she used to be a barmaid at the pub. Charlie Graves was always getting drunk and into fights. Mostly with the builders, the ones who have the dogs tied up on the back of the trucks, or shut up inside the cabin. ‘He’d go right up to the dogs, and give them water. Untie them, sometimes he’d bring them into the shade of the pub. He was getting into fights because he cared about the animals. Some builders were cruel to their dogs. If Charlie Graves saw that, you could bet there’d be a fight. People saw a man who was always fighting. What I saw was a man who was always fighting to protect animals. Different things.’ ‘Two people saw him burying something’, Jodie said, ‘in the botanic gardens.’ ‘He used to do that when I worked at the pub. He’d find dead birds, once a dead dingo, buried them in the botanic gardens because the soil is fresh and soft. He said it was a nice place for their final rest, shady trees, nice lawn, flowers. He used to call it the pet cemetery.’ Jodie said, ‘Mrs Casey, Detective Withers said that... well ... the vet was just being kind to me ... to give me hope. And that Charlie Graves really does hate animals. And he said just because he is kind to animals, it doesn’t mean he is kind to people. I don’t know what to believe. Dad is so convinced, the police are certain he is a cruel man. The whole town hates him. And he ... he did confess, didn’t he? And ... what about the whale? He wanted to kill a whale!’ Mum smiled. ‘Okay, go and get the phone book, Jodie.’ ‘What for?’ ‘Do it. Now look up “Whale Protection Society”. It’s in there ... we are going to phone them and ask if they know anything about Charlie Graves.’ ‘No, it’s not—ahh, yes! Here it is. Do you want me to phone them?’ ‘Phone and ask if they know anything about Charlie Graves. Ask them if Charlie has ever attacked any whales.’

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‘It’s late, they’d be closed,’ I said. ‘Leave a message. Ask them to phone here in the morning.’ ‘Okay.’ Jodie keyed in the number. She listened to the message and put the phone down. Jodie was staring at Mum, her mouth open. ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘You forgot to leave the message.’ ‘The voice ... the man who said to leave the message after the beep ... ‘ ‘What?’ ‘Was Charlie Graves!’ ‘Impossible!’ I couldn’t believe it. Mum smiled. ‘Now, look at the number in the phone book. Then turn to Charlie Graves phone number. What do you see?’ ‘Same number!’ ‘Charlie Graves is the president of the Whale Protection Society. He was lying about killing animals and whales. He loves them hopelessly. He always has. Charlie wouldn’t hurt any living thing if he could help it. Even when he gets into a fight, it’s mostly shouting. He doesn’t hit, unless he’s attacked. He protects animals.’ Jodie was silent a moment, then pleaded: ‘What can we do? We have to find Mum! Everyone is wasting time with Charlie Graves, and it’s nothing to do with him.’ Mum put her arms around both of us. ‘If Charlie Graves didn’t kill her, then Mrs Thomas is probably still alive. Our job is find out what happened to her, and this is how we will do it!’

16. A NEW SEARCH Mum said, ‘We have to start from the beginning. Jodie make notes—any ideas ... anything that could be a clue. Forget all about Charlie Graves. Now, what else have we got to go on?’ ‘Lipstick!’ I said. ‘What?’ ‘The day Mrs Thomas drove us to school, she was wearing lipstick.’ ‘She wouldn’t do that unless she was going somewhere. Karen, you should have told the police, that was a vital clue.’ ‘I did! Detective Withers said it didn’t mean anything.’ ‘I think the Detective has locked-in his ideas. We are going to have to do this ourselves. So we know she must have had something planned all along. Something she did not tell Mr Thomas about, something she kept as a secret.’ ‘Jodie what do you think? Got any ideas about your mum?’ ‘The mobile phone! We have all forgotten about the mobile phone.’ ‘Phone it again,’ I said. Jodie went to our phone and keyed her mother’s number. ‘It just says dis-connected. But ... wait. I remember the first time I phoned, someone answered. It wasn’t Mum.’ ‘What did they say?’ ‘They didn’t actually answer me, but I could hear voices in the background. I am remembering what I heard. Just... give me a second. Yes, someone said, it might be wrong, but it sounded like: “Two poets love.” ‘”Two poets love.” Who do they love?’ I asked. ‘What does that mean?’ ‘What else did you hear? Anything else?’ ‘It was noisy. Glasses clinking. Music. People laughing.’ There was a long pause, while we all thought what it could mean. Poets in love? Suddenly Mum burst out laughing, like she had just heard the best joke in the world. ‘What’s so funny?’ ‘I told you I was a barmaid. It’s funny how these things work out! If I hadn’t been a barmaid serving in a hotel, I would never have figured this out. Jodie, you have just given us a wonderful clue and it proves the police are way off track with Charlie Graves. In fact we are in the wrong state. Mrs Thomas is not here—she is in Queensland!’ ‘What?’ ‘Listen again. You said there were noises, music, laughing, clinking. Glasses clink when they are bumped together. That sounds like a hotel, a pub. Right?’ ‘Yes! You are right.’ ‘And the voices in the background said: Two poets love.’ ‘Yes.’ ‘But could they have said, “Two pots, Luv”?’ ‘Pots? Yes. You’re right. But what does that mean?’

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‘It means someone was ordering drinks! Often the men call the barmaids “Luv”.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Doesn’t matter. Who knows? We serve them beer, they love us.’ ‘What are pots?’ ‘Glasses of beer.’ ‘Oh.’ ‘But not in New South Wales! In Queensland, or Victoria, but not in this state. In this state they are called “middies” or “schooners”. So maybe she could be in Victoria or Queensland. But what time did you say you phoned?’ ‘Six p.m.’ ‘So she couldn’t get to Victoria by six unless she went by jet. But it would be easy to get to Queensland in three hours by car, and her car disappeared with her. What I am telling you is this: Mrs Thomas’ phone is in Queensland. If the phone is there, then she is probably not far away.’ I felt a tingle of excitement. For the first time it seemed like we were making progress. ‘Jodie, I want you to go home and search your house. Look for scraps of paper. Anything. Something that might be a clue, like the lipstick. Something simple. See if any of her clothes are missing. See if she left a note someplace. An address book, anything that could be a clue. ‘Should we tell the police?’ ‘We did,’ I said. ‘We should tell them again’, Jodie said. ‘This time we really have something, don’t we? If you tell them about the lipstick and the Two pots, Luv. You were a barmaid, they’ll believe you Mrs Casey.’ ‘Yes, okay I’ll phone now. After all we can’t go searching Queensland.’ Mum phoned the police station. ‘Detective Withers? It’s Mrs Casey here.’ I put my head up near the phone so I could hear. She pushed me away and switched it to the speaker phone. ‘Yes, yes. We are just going there now,’ he said. ‘Oh, where? Here?’ ‘No. No, out to Napoleon Road.’ ‘Well ... I phoned about something else.’ ‘Proof the Charlie Graves is innocent?’ He sounded scathing. ‘Noo. Not exactly. It’s just that ... when Mrs Thomas first went missing, Jodie phoned her mum’s mobile. And she heard noises in the background.’ ‘Did anyone answer?’ ‘No, but she heard someone say: Two pots, Luv.’ ‘Huh? I’m not following you, Mrs Casey.’ ‘Well I think the person who answered was in a hotel. Someone pressed the answer button on the phone but did not speak. Jodie overheard a person ordering beer in the background.’ ‘Oh fabulous. Which hotel was it?’ ‘Really Detective, I think this is a clue.’ ‘Tell me about it.’ ‘Pots! We call them middies or schooners. Someone answered in Queensland.’ ‘Yes, well ... that’s very interesting, perhaps they were in Melbourne, or maybe Adelaide. I am writing all this down, trust me. Hmm. Okay? Thanks very much. Now I have to get down to Napoleon Road. Charlie has finally told us where he buried the body.’ ‘Whereabouts in Napoleon Road?’ ‘The corner of Pilkington Rd.’ ‘The corner?’ ‘That’s what I said. Do I have to repeat everything?’ ‘But that’s ...’ ‘What?’ ‘Oh never mind.’ ‘Two pots! Mrs Casey, leave it to us. We have the crime, we have the confession. We have the murderer! All that is missing is the body. And I guarantee we will have it by tomorrow!’ Mum hung up the phone. Then she smiled. ‘He doesn’t believe a word of what I told him.’ ‘But he should! It’s so obvious.’ ‘Detective has his own ideas, and he doesn’t want any information that will alter what he believes.’ Then she started laughing. Jodie came back, she looked at Mum laughing. ‘What happened?’ ‘Charlie Graves is pulling the wool over their eyes! He’s playing with them. They think he is a stupid man, but he is not. He told them where the body is buried.’ Jodie gasped.

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‘It’s alright, he told them that he buried the body in Rozzer’s property.’ ‘Who is that?’ ‘He trains greyhounds to race, and I can tell you he is not a nice person. It’s believed that he . . . uses cats, and other poor animals to train his dogs. He cuts the claws off the cats so they can’t fight, then lets the greyhounds tear them to pieces. They call this “blooding the dogs”. It is illegal of course, the trouble is they have never been able to catch Rozzer. But I tell you this, when they go out there, they are going to search that place for the body, and I bet anything they find evidence of blooding greyhounds. This is going put an end to Rozzer and his cruelty. The RSPCA will be called, and this time they’ll be able to prosecute him. Charlie Graves is using the police, and they don’t even know it!’

17. COOCHIE The next morning, Jodie came over about 6.30 am. She had a wall calendar with her. ‘Look, Mrs Casey, on the day she disappeared she marked the calendar.’ I looked at the writing: COOCHIE, 1 p.m. ‘This is really a clue! She was apparently going to meet this person Coochie at 1 p.m. But where? Why?’ Mrs Thomas said, ‘Let’s look in the phone book, and see if there is anyone listed under Coochie.’ Nothing. I felt disappointed; we had come to a stop again. ‘I’m not surprised it sounds like a first name,’ Mum said, ‘or a nickname, not a family name. I’ve got to go to work now. But we are on the right track, girls. Keep working on Coochie. See what you can come up with because I think this is the way. The lipstick meant she had planned to go somewhere, and it was almost certainly to meet Coochie. Jodie, ask your dad if he knows anyone called Coochie.’ Just as Jodie was going out the door Mum asked, ‘Karen, what was she wearing? A good dress? A suit? Or just ordinary clothes?’ Jodie answered, ‘Oh, yes, one of her nicer dresses.’ I was looking through the wall calendar that Jodie brought back. ‘Mum look! The day before she disappeared: Hair dresser, 2 p.m.’ We all gathered around the book. ‘You’re right! She had her hair done the day before! So ... this means that it was some kind of special day. She didn’t tell anyone ... it seems that she wanted to keep it a secret.’ ‘Do you think that ... well ... Coochie is a man?’ Jodie sounded worried. ‘I think that is quite possible, maybe her pet name for him. Maybe someone she didn’t want Mr Thomas to know about. Girls, I’m afraid the water is getting murky.’ Mum took her car keys, her handbag, and headed towards the door, ‘I must be off to work. But you have done well ... keeping thinking about it.’ After Mum went, we sat around feeling washed out. About 9.30 we had a swim in Jodie’s pool. We came out dripping and feeling a lot better. Mr Thomas was on the verandah drinking hot tea. ‘Have a dip, dad.’ ‘Of course I don’t want a trip! I’m not going anywhere. ‘ ‘Dad, did Mum say anything about ... going anywhere the night before she... disappeared?’ ‘No. I don’t think so. Go where?’ ‘Well, we think she might have ... gone to ... meet someone. Someone named Coochie. Do you know anyone by that name?’ ‘Never heard of her. I think I better get down to Warwick Bridge. The police have got the trucks out there already. A bobcat. I told them to get a bobcat this time. I hate all the onlookers. People gawking and waiting to see the police dig up ... a body. I wish it was Charlie Graves’ body!’ He got up and went inside.

18. DOLPHINS We spent an hour trying to think of something, without getting anywhere. We decided we may as well go to the beach for a swim. We couldn’t think of any way we could ever find this mysterious Coochie. We took our boogie boards and came in on some great waves, but Jodie was still thinking about Coochie. I figured she was thinking her mum might have run away with this Coochie. Maybe she might not see her again. Or maybe it wasn’t Charlie Graves who murdered her, but Coochie. ‘Guess who’s coming.’ ‘Not Ron Rocco?’ ‘You did guess!’ ‘He’s sure to be annoying.’ ‘Hi Jodie, Karen. I thought you’d be down at Warwick Bridge. They got two lots of digging going on now, Rozzer’s Greyhound Kennels, and under the Warwick Bridge. You must really hate that bastard, Charlie Graves.’ ‘Of course,’ Jodie said without much feeling. ‘I always knew he was a murderer. My brother says there are hundreds of skeletons buried in his backyard.’

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‘Not hundreds, Ron. And they are not people, they are animals, poor, sick animals that were dying.’ ‘He kills stuff all the time. My brother reckons he kills kangaroos with his car, drives smack into them and then drags them home and eats them raw.’ ‘Ron, did you know that Charlie doesn’t have a car?’ ‘Well ... of course! I mean when ... he steals a car. Anyway I know something about. . . ‘ ‘What?’ ‘Well, this is top secret, see my brother knows Ken Snook, and his brother is a copper, and he saw that confession that Charlie Graves did. Reckons he is stark mad. Charlie confessed to killing a whale with a bazooka! Oh man that is so gross!’ And despite Ron Rocco’s best efforts to hold it in, he laughed joyously. ‘Sure. Huh, we got to get going.’ ‘Yeah. See ya. And don’t worry about your mum, Jodie, coz my brother says they are sure to hang Charlie Graves.’ ‘And that will bring my mother back?’ ‘Nooo. But you’d feel better wouldn’t you?’ ‘I’d feel better if I didn’t have to go to school, but that doesn’t mean it’s what I should do.’ ‘Huh?’ He stared at Jodie, trying to figure out what she’d said, after a long pause he said, ‘Did you hear about the dolphins?’ ‘What about the dolphins?’ ‘Well there was a plod swimming around off—‘ ‘A pod.’ ‘That’s what I said, a plod of dolphins, and one of them swam right up the beach.’ ‘No it didn’t,’ Jodie said. ‘Dolphins can’t swim on sand.’ ‘I mean it swam in and ... then the waves washed it onto the beach.’ ‘Is it still there?’ ‘No, the lifesavers towed it off about half an hour ago. They tied something onto its tail, towed it right back into the water. But now the plod are trying to swim onto the beach. You can see them over there.’ I looked out past the breakers and I could see them leaping and thrashing about. The lifesavers were out there in a rubber dinghy, trying to keep them from coming in onto the beach. ‘I hope one of them dies on the sand,’ Ron Rocco said, ‘because my brother reckons they have souls.’ ‘Why would you— ‘ ‘I could look at its eye when it dies and see if the soul comes out.’ ‘Really?’ I said in disbelief. ‘Sure. My dad said that the eyes are the windows of the soul. So if you are looking at its eye when it dies, you can see the soul come out. You knew that didn’t you Karen?’ And for once I didn’t know what to say. ‘Yeah. Maybe, but I wouldn’t want to see a beautiful dolphin die just to see its soul.’ I looked across at Jodie, and I was thinking that maybe she felt the dying dolphins were somehow connected with her mother.

Ron Rocco started walking, ‘Yeah, see ya round. You too, Karen.’ ‘Come on Karen. Let’s go somewhere.’ We started walking along the beach in the opposite direction to Ron Rocco. ‘Somewhere! That’s it!’ ‘What?’ ‘Coochie! I just had an idea. Coochie might not be a person. It might be a place!’ ‘Hey that’s right! We kept trying to think of who it might be.’ ‘And if it is a place, it might be in Queensland where the phone is!’ ‘Now we are getting somewhere!’ ‘Let’s go home and start checking maps.’

19. FINDING COOCHIE We took out a map of Queensland, it was only then we realised just how big it was... huge. Over two thousand kilometres long, and one thousand four hundred at the widest. If there was such a place as Coochie, it could be anywhere. Jodie said, ‘We will have to do this logically. Let’s start at the top at Thursday Island and work our way down the coastline.’ We spent half an hour searching before getting back to Brisbane. But there were so many names on the map we needed a magnifying glass to read them. And what if it was a suburb in Brisbane? They were not all listed on the map. ‘Karen, why don’t we Google it?’ ‘Of course! Coochie.’ We ran to my bedroom and logged on. ‘Okay, open Firefox. Hey, that’s cool, you have Google on your search-bar. Okay, Coochie.’

21

‘Wow! Was that fast or what? This is great. Look. Coochie! Ahh ... see there is a place Coochiemudlo Island. History. Save that page! Look, it is not far from Brisbane. Victoria Point. Save all those pages, and we’ll print them. This is interesting. But why oh why would your mother be going to Coochiemudlo Island? We can print maps, oh cool, now we’ve got maps of the island.’ ‘Karen, do you think this is the place? I mean it’s not Coochie, its Coochiemudlo.’ ‘I don’t know, it looks too small for anyone to live on it. I can understand the locals calling it Coochie, but your mum ... ‘ ‘All the same, Google knew Coochiemudlo was Coochie. I just don’t understand the connection she has with this place. It’s weird. Out of the blue she goes to Coochiemudlo in Queensland? Why? And if she did want to go there, why wouldn’t she tell us? Why would she go all that way ... 200 kilometres and not even tell Dad? I can’t figure it out.’ ‘Let’s go and find your dad and ask him if he knows anything about a place called Coochiemudlo.’

* * *They were all in the shade under Warwick Bridge, not doing much because it was so hot. Under the bridge was good because of the shade and water. We could hear the cars rattling the wooden planks overhead. The water was muddy and reedy. The police frogmen were there, swimming around. They didn’t seem to mind being in the water. There was a bobcat, but it wasn’t doing much. It had dug up some of the mud, made some holes, and now it was bogged. They were trying to tow it out with the backhoe which was further up the bank. Dad was sitting in the sun, no hat, staring out at the river. Jodie and I walked over to him. ‘Hi Dad!’ ‘Uh? I wonder if he drowned her in the river, and the body was washed downstream. It might take days to find. What if it was washed out to sea? I hate to think of the sharks—‘ ‘Dad what if ... well we all know that Charlie Graves is a big liar. The biggest liar in town, right?’ ‘Yeah. Biggest bastard. Biggest killer, most evil person. You heard what he said about killing a whale. He is insane.’ ‘Dad, what if he made up the whole story about killing Mum? What if it was just another lie?’ ‘Oh Jodie! It would be nice to believe that. But people don’t go around confessing to murder. You don’t understand grownups. They lie about stuff to make them seem important. They don’t confess to murder, and then get put on trial, and spend months in jail. For what? And another thing, Detective Withers has assured me that he is certain Charlie Graves killed your mother. The confession is watertight. He knew things that tied in: for instance, he knew exactly where she parked her car. He was seen with his rifle. Oh Jodie! I’m so sorry you have to go through this. It’s terrible, terrible. But you will have to face it one day. Detective Withers is worried about you too. He said he is arranging for a social worker to talk to you—err us. Just to help us accept your mother’s death.’ ‘I will not accept it! It is stupid. Everyone in town knows where Mum parks. Detective Withers is a drongo! All he can think about is Charlie Graves! And all the time, Mum could be ... ‘ ‘Could be what?’ Detective Withers had come up behind us. ‘A drongo am I? Girlie, you need to hold your tongue and respect your elders! We are doing everything possible to find your mother’s body. We know it is hard for you to accept, but blaming the police will not help the situation. If anyone is pigheaded—it is you and your friend Kay. Just because you helped to find the counterfeiter, doesn’t mean you know anything about this situation. We would have found that O’Brien anyway, we were very close to arresting him I remember. I suggest you go home and watch TV, go for a swim. And let us get on with the job that we know best.’ Jodie turned to me and said, ‘Yes, maybe he is right Kay, let’s go and watch The Simpsons.’ And as we walked off I said to her softly, ‘You think Police Chief will be more helpful?’ And for the first time that day she laughed.

20. TRAVELLING NORTH ‘Any news, girls?’ Mum put her shopping down on the kitchen table. ‘Jodie and I came up with an idea. We think that Coochie might not be a person, but a place. There is an island off Victoria Point, in Queensland, called Coochiemudlo. When we typed Coochie into Google it came up with Coochiemudlo, so I guess that means people must call it Coochie.’ I took out the map, put it under the light and we all gathered around it. Mum was doubtful. ‘It’s so small. Do you think anyone even lives on it?’ ‘Oh yes, we have got the history of it off the internet. We spent an hour reading up on the history; it’s a very small island about a kilometre long, and about half a K wide. It’s only about 200 metres offshore. There’s a ferry that leaves from Victoria Point which is about 20 K from Brisbane. It is a kind of holiday retreat, not many houses or people live there, maybe two hundred.’ Jodie added, ‘Mathew Flinders landed there in 1799! And white people have been living there for about a hundred years. The army even had a camp there during the Second World War.’ ‘Oh wait!’ Mum said, ‘I have got a surprise.’ ‘What?’ I was thinking chocolate.

22

‘I have a cousin who lives in Queensland.’ ‘Where?’ ‘Well... I’m not sure where it is, but a place called Raby Bay, somewhere near Brisbane. That means it’s probably less than fifty kilometres away from this Coochie. I’m going to get a cup of tea and a biscuit.’ Mum sat in her fav chair, drinking hot tea. ‘My cousin, Jennifer Fry lives at Raby Bay. Now, it seems to get anywhere with this search for Mrs Thomas someone has to go to Coochiemudlo and start asking questions.’ She put her mug down and stared at the wall, I didn’t say anything because I knew she was working something out in her head. Jodie was reading all the information about Coochiemudlo trying to see what on earth could have possessed her mother to go there. Did she want a holiday? Some peace and quiet away from everyone? Was she hiding from Charlie Graves? ‘Listen girls, here’s my plan. I can’t leave here because I have to work every day. Mr Thomas ... well, he’s not any help at the moment. So I am going to suggest to him that you both go away from all this ... madness, this depressing search for the body, and have a short holiday. You can stay with my cousin at Raby Bay. When you get there, you can ask her to drive you to Victoria Point and go across to Coochie. What you will do when you get there I don’t know. But since it is small, you can start asking people questions about the day Mrs Thomas disappeared. You are going to have to do a lot of thinking, and use a lot of intuition. Take notice of everything. Leave your minds open to ideas. I will phone my cousin, she is a very nice person, and I know she will do everything she can to help you find Mrs Thomas.’ She looked at Jodie, ‘What do you say?’ Suddenly Jodie was crying, sobbing. ‘It’s alright love. We’ll find your mother!’ ‘Mrs Casey, I ... want to thank you so much! But dad, will ... he might not want to—‘ ‘Leave your dad to me. You run along home. I have got a phone call to make, then I’ll be over to see your father.’

21. GOING AWAY ‘Mr Thomas, can I come in?’ ‘What? Is there some news? What time is it? Have they found her body?’ ‘Nine-thirty. I want to talk to you about something.’ ‘I hope you’re not going to stick up for that murderous bastard?’ ‘Of course not. I am certainly not going to help a murderer! I wanted to talk about the girls.’ ‘The girls? Where are they? Oh yes, of course.’ We were sitting in the same room. ‘Jodie and Karen have been acting strange lately, disturbed by this terrible shock ... this murder. They just can’t seem to accept—‘ ‘Exactly! I have tried to convince them! They won’t listen to me. The social worker is coming for counselling, but ... she won’t be here for days yet.’ ‘Well, that’s a long time. I mean this is so disturbing for the girls. I think they should go away for a short holiday until this ... business is finished. Not the trial of course, but it’s going to be terrible, just terrible when they dig up the body. The kids shouldn’t have to go through this.’ ‘No, no... you are quite correct. This is awful ... awful ... ‘ He started crying. Weeping openly, loudly. Mum went over and put her arm around him, and he cried even more. It is disturbing to see adults cry, so I went back to my place and watched TV. I was just getting ready to go to bed, when Mum came in. Smiling. ‘It’s all set. Tomorrow you catch the bus to Brisbane, your aunt will meet you at Roma Street Transit Centre—that’s in Brisbane —and then you catch a train to Cleveland. You’d better start packing enough things for a week. I wish I could go with you.’

‘So do I, but ...’ ‘Anyway, it has been you and Jodie that have found the pieces of the puzzle so far. I think you will work out a way to find her.’ I shook my head. ‘I don’t know. It seems ... how do you find a person who has just disappeared? How do you go to a strange place, where you don’t know anyone—and find someone no one has ever heard of?’

22. HOUSE SOLD The next morning, I was packing my bags for the trip to Queensland when I heard Jodie at the door talking to Mum. We were to catch the nine a.m. bus, so we had an hour to spare. I was looking for a book to take with me, Animal Farm was my choice, except I would finish it in a few hours, still it looked interesting. I heard my mum shout: ‘What! I don’t believe it!’ I went out to the kitchen. Jodie was white- faced and crying. ‘Come quickly!’ They ran out the kitchen and across to Jodie’s place. I followed them, thinking there must be a fire.

23

We all ran into the living room. Mr Thomas was standing staring at a photo of Mrs Thomas. He turned towards Mum, who said: ‘David, Jodie tells me you have sold the house! Tell me this is not true.’ ‘The house? Yes, yes, I sold it this morning. Of course there’s still a lot of paperwork. But I expect it will all go through.’ ‘Whatever for? Why would you— ‘ ‘We can’t stay here now! With Lisa dead ... this place is meaningless, don’t you understand that? There’s nothing for me here. Or Jodie. We’ve got to leave, go away.’ ‘But where?’ ‘I don’t know. Start a new life ... somehow. Maybe Jodie should go and live with my sister in Melbourne. I don’t know. She can’t stay here after this awful murder.’ ‘How could you sell your house so quickly? ‘Huh? Oh, that Mr Jellie just phoned up. Bob’s such a nice real estate agent. Very friendly and helpful, after talking to him I realized the best thing would be to sell up and move away. Signed some papers. Signed everything, I don’t care what ... ‘ ‘How much did you sell for?’ ‘That’s personal. It doesn’t involve you. You should mind your own business!’ ‘Do you know how much?’ ‘What does it matter? I don’t care! I’d give the house away now. We can’t stay here without ... and I’m sure I can trust the real estate man.’ ‘David, everyone in town knows Bob Jellie is a crook! You should get a solicitor to look at the contract. Mrs Parson’s daughter could help.’ ‘We can’t stay here! We have to pack, get out soon.’ ‘Show me the contract.’ ‘It’s not your business!’ ‘Jodie!’ She ran, snatched it up and gave it to my mum. ‘Just like I thought, you have waived the cooling off period! You have given the house away! This is madness. I’m going to see a solicitor.’ ‘Get out of here, the lot of you! I’m fed up with your interfering. If I want to sell it cheaply that’s my business. Bob will look after me. Anyway, what does it matter? Money, is nothing. I don’t care what happens now.’ He stood up and walked to the window, staring out at the Jacaranda tree. ‘Jodie will be alright in Melbourne, there’s an aunt there.’ I wanted to scream at him: What if we find Mrs Thomas today! What if she comes back and the house is sold? What if Jodie is sent to Melbourne and we never see each other again? My heart would be cut out, like in the drawing. But I didn’t scream, I didn’t cry, I took a deep breath and thought how I was going to have to find Mrs Thomas without much help from anyone. Mum couldn’t go with us, Mr Thomas wasn’t trying, and Jodie was so upset she couldn’t think straight. I glanced at her face as she stared at the floor, thinking about Melbourne, the tears just running down her face and dripping onto her shoes. I knew I would have to find Mrs Thomas before the house sale was finished.

23. BUS JOURNEY Mum watched as we climbed aboard the bus. It was sad, but at the same time it was something of an adventure. More than an adventure because we had to find Jodie’s mother as quickly as possible. Mr Thomas was determined to sell the house, and the only thing that could stop him would be finding Mrs Thomas. Jodie was looking rather depressed. Of course she had a lot of worries, but I was hoping that the bus journey might cheer her up. She sat staring out the window, not speaking. I stared out too, wondering how we would ever succeed in this venture. As I looked out the window, I began to think we were mistaken. What if Detective Withers was right? What if Charlie Graves was a murderer? What if he had also killed the other women who had gone missing? After all, he admitted knowing Freda Petty who disappeared without a trace. What if Mrs Thomas was already dead? Jodie must have been thinking the same things, for she said: ‘I’m really worried. I just don’t know what to do, how will we ever find my mum again? Oh sure, we go to Coochie, but what then? That is only one step? What’s next?’ ‘I don’t know, Jodie. Maybe ... life is like that. We can only see one step at a time. When we take that step, we see one more step.’ ‘Like someone going down stairs when it is dark, you know the steps are there, but you don’t know how many, and you can’t see them until you are standing on them.’ ‘Yes, that’s what I meant! You still find your way to the bottom of the stairs. But if you stood at the top and said, “it’s hopeless, I can’t see a quarter of the way down “... then you might never go down those stairs.’ The Bus trip passed quickly. Before we knew it, we were standing at Roma Street Transit Centre. People were dragging bags, or lugging huge backpacks—everyone was off to some destination. Jodie said, ‘I keep feeling we should be in Italy.’

24

My mobile phone began to ring. ‘Hello. Oh Mum!’ ‘How was the bus trip?’ ‘Good, it’s just... that it’s hard to see how we are ever going to find her. Queensland is so huge, and... ‘ ‘Karen, you are not going to search Queensland, you’re going to look on Coochiemudlo Island. That is a different story.’ ‘Yes, for a start it is much smaller!’ ‘Start there, Karen; that is your first step. I was ringing to tell you something else. I went to see Mrs Parsons’ daughter, you know she is a solicitor, and I told her about how Mr Thomas was trying to sell the house. She said there was very little I could do, because I was not involved in the sale in any way. The police know about Bob Jellie, but he is acting on the fringe of the law. He always gets people to sign their rights away. He waits till people are in a desperate situation, sick, injured, upset, bereaved—then he strikes like a snake. The best chance we have of saving the house is to find Mrs Thomas. That will put an end to the whole silly business. Please find Lisa Thomas as quickly as you can!’ ‘Okay, we’ll do our best. Bye Mum.’ I was just explaining to Jodie what my mum had said, when my phone rang again. This time it was my Aunt Jennifer, she was supposed to meet us at the bus station. ‘I’m sorry I can’t make it, someone was away from work, so I have to do their shift.’ ‘How will we ever—‘ ‘I’ve sent my son Anthony, to meet you. He should be there by now, waiting for you. He’s the same age as you and wearing a green T-shirt. He will bring you back to Raby Bay, and then when I get home I’ll drive you down to Victoria Point, and you can catch the ferry across to Coochiemudlo. Will that be okay?’ ‘Sure. How will we find him?’ ‘He’ll phone you, okay? I’ve got to rush, bye Karen.’ But no one phoned. We sat around on the bench trying to figure out what he looked like, or where he was. I kept checking my phone to see if it was working. We waited half an hour, every minute counted. I couldn’t help but worry if Mr Thomas signed the papers for the house, then Jodie would have nowhere to live. Even if we found Mrs Thomas, they might have to move. No one phoned. Jodie said, ‘Phone your aunt and tell her we’re still wait—‘ ‘Err ... either of you girls, Karen?’ ‘Yes, me.’ ‘I’m Anthony. I was supposed to meet you here and take you to—‘ I snapped, ‘You were supposed to phone us! We’ve been waiting half an hour.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Huh. Well, my phone battery went flat.’ Jodie was smiling at him. Why I don’t know because he wasn’t cute or anything. But he was holding one of those Palm Tungsten things. And she was staring at it. ‘That’s okay, I’m Jodie. Are you going to take us to Raby Bay?’ ‘Sure. We catch a train over there, just got to get tickets first. This is pretty cool, huh? I didn’t even know you were my cousins. This is gunna be fully sick, going over to Coochie. Mum gave me money for drinks and stuff.’ That got me annoyed. Most things Anthony did seemed to annoy me. I tried to keep my cool ... but I didn’t succeed very well. ‘Anthony, did your mother tell you why we are here?’ ‘Sure, Jodie’s mum has disappeared. And ... well ... ‘ ‘What?’ ‘She probably got lost or something.’ ‘The police think she has been murdered, so this is not exactly a holiday for us, okay?’ Jodie said, ‘Karen, don’t get stroppy with Anthony. He’s here to help us.’ ‘Uh, yeah, sorry. Well, let’s get going.’ I picked up my bag, and yeah, I realized Jodie was right. When we got to Cleveland, we walked to Anthony’s house. It was a long walk in the hot sun. The weather was humid, more so than Dayman Heads. We had not gone far when Jodie’s mobile phone began to ring. ‘Hello? Oh Dad!’ She listened for a few moments, then said, ‘Oh no! Dad, couldn’t you wait a while?’ There was another long pause while she listened. ‘Yes, I see. No, I do not want to go to Melbourne. Never, never, never!’ Then she listened again, before hanging up. She started to cry. ‘What’s the matter with Jodie?’ Anthony asked me. She overheard him. ‘My dad ... he is selling our house, he wants me to go to Melbourne and live with some aunt, someone I’ve never even met, and he’s talking of going to Adelaide to live with his brother.’ ‘That’d be cool! But why?’ He was fiddling with the little Palm Tungsten, trying to play a game. ‘Jodie,’ I said, ‘the best thing we can do is to try and find your mum as soon as possible. We should go to Coochiemudlo right away.’ Anthony said, ‘Sure, Mum will be home in twenty minutes, she can drive us to Victoria Point. It won’t take that long, and we can get the ferry across to Coochie.’

25

His house was huge, a fancy gate, a monstrous Tuscan wall, a driveway that went around in a circle, and of course a humongous swimming pool. Inside the house was air-conditioned—everything nice and cool. But we didn’t even sit down, we drank orange juice with ice cubes in it standing up. Aunt Jennifer came home, and gave us a big welcome. We explained that we wanted to go to Coochie right away. She seemed a bit reluctant, but pretty soon we were all in the car. ‘I’ll drop you off at the ferry, and when you want to come back phone me, and I’ll pick you up.’ ‘Could you drive us across to Coochie?’ ‘Oh no. There’s no bridge, and it’s not easy to get a car across and back. The ferry doesn’t even take ten minutes.’ In the car I stopped paying attention to Jodie and Anthony. I was staring out the car window, trying to think how we would ever find Mrs Thomas. Jodie was sitting with Anthony in the back. I could hear them talking softly. Aunt Jennifer dropped us outside the shop at Victoria Point. We went inside and bought cold drinks and ice creams. To tell the truth I was getting exasperated with Anthony. He was distracting Jodie from finding her mum. At the same time, I did feel a helplessness. How do you find someone who has disappeared, not knowing if she had even been to Queensland, let alone Coochie? Anthony took a bite out of his ice-cream and said, ‘I think you are on a wild goose chase. Even if your mum was on Coochie, how would we know? And how would we find her? There are ... hundreds of people on the island. We can’t search every house. I really think this is a job for the police.’ That was the last straw for me. I turned around, ‘The police? Are you loopy? The police are back at Dayman Heads digging up mud under a bridge! They won’t listen to us, because we are just kids and they know everything.’ ‘Karen! Calm down,’ Jodie said. ‘Oh great! Why should I worry? Let’s leave it to the police.’ Suddenly, I figured out why I was so annoyed. Anthony was taking my best friend away from me! He was talking with Jodie nonstop about digital music, Linux and stuff like that. Computer talk! No wonder she was paying attention to everything he said! I turned and looked at him. Oh, oh. Suddenly I saw that he was a geek! I wish I had noticed before.

24. COOCHIEMUDLOAnthony was saying, ‘... of course we can still go to Coochie if you want, but what’s the point? Your mother is not going to be sitting on the beach. You don’t even know if she is in Queensland. You are going by this, two poets love each other.’ ‘Two pots, Luv,’ I said. ‘So what? It might mean anything. Jodie isn’t sure of what she heard. It could mean her mother loves another poet. She might think of herself as a poet. And as we know poets are weird people, mad people, not what I would call rational. Did your mother read poetry?’ ‘Uh, well ... I didn’t see her, but she might have when I wasn’t there.’ ‘Precisely! And so, “Two poets love” could mean she was in love with a poet. Are there any poets in your town?’ ‘Well ... I don’t know. I suppose so. The English teacher ... and—‘ ‘Even if she was in Queensland ... guys, I got to tell you it’s a big state, as big as France and Germany put together. She could be anywhere.’ I shouted: ‘But we saw “Coochie” written on the calendar!’ ‘Not Coochiemudlo? Coochie-Coo? Could be a secret name for two poets in love. But we can still go there if you really want to. If I were you, I’d let the police find her, after all they are the experts. What did they think about this Coochie idea?’ ‘They thought it was stupid.’ ‘Hello? Does that ring a bell? Warning light: big time-waster ahead! Blue screen of death.’ We walked through the park, tall trees, parked cars, and across the water I could see the mysterious Coochiemudlo Island. It looked peaceful: trees, a thin strip of yellowy sand, blue water washing onto the beach.

I walked on ahead, I didn’t want to argue with him. Now I could hear Anthony going on and on about open-source software. I could smell the sea, and see Coochie across the water. I thought I could swim across ... but maybe there might be sharks or a rip. Jodie asked, ‘Do cars go across on the ferry?’ Anthony laughed, ‘I like to see that! It can hardly carry a bicycle. Did I tell you that Ogg Vorbis, open source software— ‘ Jodie said in a sharp voice: ‘Anthony keep quiet for a minute!’

26

I turned around to look at Jodie. She said, ‘What a birdbrain I’ve been! Why couldn’t I have thought of this before? Anthony’, she turned to look at him, ‘if my mother came here in a car, then she must have parked somewhere near the ferry. Is this correct?’ ‘Uhhh, I suppose so, I don’t know much about this place. I’ve only been there once. That’s the Island, Coochiemudlo, over there.’ ‘Anthony, do you understand what I am saying? If my mother is still on Coochie, then her car would be parked right here!’ ‘Yes, that’s true. And if her car is not here, then she can’t be on the island.’ ‘Karen, can you go down there and check out the cars? I’ll ... no it’s not up here. Oh quickly, down the steps. Can you see it?’ To our great disappointment Mrs Thomas’ car was not there, which probably meant she was not on Coochie. Anthony said, ‘Well ... do we waste our time searching the island, or go to a movie? Her car’s not here—so she’s not on the island. If she’s not on the island we can’t find her there, can we? That’s logical enough. Let’s go home.’ Jodie stared at the ground, looking sad, near to tears. Failure. Dead end. I was fierce, ‘Anthony, we have come 200 kilometres to this island. It’s now close enough to swim to it. We are going to Coochie by ferry or by swimming. Which is it?’ ‘Have it your own way, but it is a waste of time. You just can’t face it ... that you were wrong.’ Jodie stepped in before I got really annoyed, ‘Karen, it’s okay, the ferry is nearly here. Come on or we’ll miss it.’ It was a small ferry, nothing like the huge ones I had seen on Sydney Harbour, but much bigger than the one at Dayman Heads. Coochie was so close I know I could have swum across to it. The ferry didn’t go straight across, but in a sort of semicircle, probably to avoid sandbanks.When we got off, I spoke to the captain and asked him did he know everyone who lived on the island. ‘Not quite, most of them. Why?’ ‘We’re looking for a Mrs Thomas, a visitor.’ Jodie showed him her mother’s photo. ‘No, I don’t remember her at all. But Mrs Kweary would know. She knows everyone who comes and goes on the island. See the house near that red car? Go and ask in there.’ We walked up the street, tall trees provided beautiful cool shade. There was a strip of sand along the shoreline, restful and peaceful. No wonder people came here for a holiday. I could see someone sitting on the balcony. As we got closer, I could see a large lady peering down at us with binoculars. Jodie looked up at her, and called out: ‘Excuse me, can I ask you a question?’ She put her binoculars down, and walked closer. ‘You just have. I suppose you’d like to ask another question now?’ ‘Uh, yes, yes I would. We are looking for someone who stayed on Coochie. We have a photo of her.’ ‘Would you like me to come down?’ ‘Yes please.’ She came down the front stairs rather slowly, hanging onto the steel handrail. ‘Where are you kids from?’ Jodie said, ‘We’re from Dayman Heads, in New South Wales. And Anthony, is from— ‘ ‘Raby Bay,’ he finished. ‘Questions are very important,’ she said. ‘Questions are how we think! Have you ever thought about that? Imagine you are sitting under an apple tree, and an apple falls on your head—you ask yourself what made the apple fall? Was it attracted to the earth? Why would an apple be attracted to the earth? Think of two beams of light travelling across the universe in opposite directions, how fast would they be going when they crossed each other? Oh questions—they are the most important things we ever think, don’t you think? Now why would you girls be trying to find someone?’ Jodie said, ‘My mother has disappeared. We think she might have come to Coochiemudlo before she went missing.’ Then Jodie added: ‘Do you think she’s been here?’ ‘Ahhh, that’s good, you’ve asked a question! Now let me tell you this—it is the quality of your questions that is just as important as the questions! Why don’t you show me the photo?’ Jodie got the photo out, she started to hand it across to show Mrs Kweary who only glanced at it before saying, ‘Of course, Mrs Thomas! Then are you her daughter? You must be—let me see—Jodie?’ ‘Yes! How do you know? Is my mother on Coochiemudlo? Where is she?’ Suddenly we were both so excited. For the first time we had proof that we were on the right track. ‘You are asking a lot of questions! Now what is it in particular you want to know?’ ‘What was my mother doing on this island?’ ‘She was here for the reunion of course! Didn’t she tell you?’ ‘What reunion?’ ‘The reunion they have every three years. Surely you knew about it?’ ‘No. My father didn’t know about it. What is the reunion?’

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‘Well, there are five women, they were all nurses at the Tweed Heads Hospital, years ago. And every three years they have a reunion. The previous time it was down ... in New South Wales someplace. But all the ladies left on Friday. Including your mother. Did I see them get on the ferry? Yes I did! When would that have been? Hmm, let me think. Oh yes, that would have been Friday afternoon, last week. If you wanted to know more, you could talk to Mrs Pink who held the reunion. Would you like to do that?’

‘Would I ever? Where does she live?’ Jodie seemed to have caught the question bug. ‘You want me to tell you? Go to the end of the street, and you’ll see a low-set house, blue, with a Poinciana tree, that’s her house. Got that?’ ‘What does a Poinciana tree look like?’ ‘Haven’t you seen one before? They have large orange flowers, and the tree is shaped like an umbrella. Understand?’ Anthony said, ‘I know what they look like!’ I said, ‘Thank you very much for your help, Mrs Kweary.’ ‘You have a nice day now, won’t you?’ I saw Jodie smiling, each was trying to get in the last question. As she walked away, Jodie called out, ‘Wasn’t it nice to have a chat?’ And then when we had walked on a little more, we heard her faint voice, ‘Yes, lovely. You won’t forget what I told you about questions, will you?’ We all smiled. We were too far away now to ask another question, besides we could see Mrs Pink’s house, where all the questions about Mrs Thomas’ disappearance would soon be answered. And wasn’t that more important than asking another question?

25. IN THE PINK It was only a few minutes walk along the street to Mrs Pink’s house. Jodie was now energised, I could see the excitement on her face. We both felt that we were getting close to finding her mother. As for Anthony, he seemed uninterested in the whole proceedings. He had his Palm Tungsten and was pressing buttons like there was no tomorrow. I didn’t know if he was playing a game, texting someone in Melbourne, or discovering a new planet. Jodie rang the doorbell, but the door was wide open, welcoming us, as though we were expected. Nobody answered the doorbell, so Jodie called out, ‘Hello, anyone home?’ Another question, I thought. After a moment a woman came along the hallway, she was carrying a small fluffy white dog. She said brightly, ‘What can I do for you?’ ‘I’m sorry to bother you,’ Jodie said, ‘but we are trying to find my mother.’ ‘Oh, what’s her name?’ ‘Mrs Lisa Thomas.’ ‘Ohhhh! You poor thing, I just heard the news on the radio, they said they are searching for your mother’s body under a bridge!’ She put the dog down—it ran to an armchair and leapt up onto the seat. ‘Yes, but we think she is still alive. Was she here last Friday?’ ‘Oh yes! On Friday afternoon, for the reunion.’ ‘My father didn’t know anything about it.’ ‘No, I suppose not. You see about 15 years ago we were all nurses together, your mother, myself, and three other women. We all worked together in a hospital at Tweed Heads. And wait— ‘ She turned to the TV still running in the background, the news was coming on. ‘If we put the news on now, we can hear if they have found ... her.’ REPORTER: “We have an update on the search for the body of Mrs Thomas. The police spokesman said that they have failed to find any sign of her body at Rozzer’s Greyhound Kennels. In a dramatic revelation the police uncovered scores of mutilated cat skeletons. Police have now closed Rozzer’s Kennels. The RSPCA, will be prosecuting Rozzer for cruelty to animals. The penalties can run into thousands of dollars and a prison sentence. It seems unlikely that the kennels will ever reopen. “Mr Savage is the president of the local greyhound racing association. Mr Savage, what effect do you think this will have on the greyhound racing at Dayman Heads?” “Disastrous! The worse thing that could have happened to us. And it is all because of that mongrel Charlie Graves! He deliberately sent the police here to snoop around and try to find some reason to shut down the kennels. Those cat skeletons are probably a hundred years old, why I bet—“ “I saw those skeletons, some of them still had fur, they were only a few months old.” “Nonsense! What do you know about cats? You’re just a damn TV reporter. Get off my case! Without Rozzer’s Greyhound kennels, it will be the end of greyhound racing in Dayman Heads.” “Do you think some people might think that was a good thing?”

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“Idiots would! What harm does it do to race greyhounds? We give people great entertainment. The only person it will please is Charlie Graves.” “The RSPCA seems pleased.” “Rubbish! We are respectable trainers. The idea that a trainer would blood greyhounds is ... preposterous.” “How do you explain all the cat skeletons, the claws cut off?” “I don’t have to explain! I’ve got to go to ... a meeting.” “Thank you Mr Savage.” “As for the body of Mrs Thomas, a new search will begin in the morning.” There was silence for a moment then Mrs Pink switched off the TV. ‘All right, everyone sit down and I will tell you why Mrs Thomas was on Coochiemudlo. This goes back eighteen years. I worked as a nurse with Lisa Raymond, who later married Mr Thomas, and became Mrs Lisa Thomas. Now, in those days we were a lot younger, about nineteen, and for a while we were ... off the rails. We went out to night clubs, and drank too much, missed work, failed nursing exams. We were always going up to Surfer’s Paradise every chance we got. There were five of us, myself and Lisa Thomas of course. She was quite a beauty I can tell you ... doctors were always ringing her up, trying to get a date. Well, one of the other girls, Kylie ... ‘ Mrs Pink stopped speaking, and took a deep breath, then stood up and walked to the window and stared out at the blue ocean in the distance. ‘Kylie was drinking more and more. And one night she was driving to the hospital after spending most of the afternoon drinking. She crashed her car near Tugun and ... and she was killed.’ Mrs Pink stopped talking and cleared her throat. ‘That woke us all up. It was devastating to us, to lose someone ... so close, like a sister. So we all made a vow to change our ways, give up drinking and late nights, get back to our nursing studies. And we did. At the end of the year, we all split up. We went to live in different parts of the country. Your mother went down to Dayman Heads as you know. I went to Brisbane, then eventually moved to Victoria Point, and then Coochiemudlo. ‘Before we separated, we made a vow that we would help each other if any of us were ever in need, or began to drink too much. We agreed that every three years we would meet, just for a few hours and catch up on what we had been doing. Last time Lisa Thomas was the host, and we met at Dayman Heads! This time we all met here, in this house. Your mother sat right in the same seat you are now in, that was just five days ago.’ There were still some unexplained events. ‘Why didn’t my mother tell us where she was going?’ ‘I can see she should have! Your father did not approve of these reunions. He knew us when we drank too much and gambled and smoked. He thinks that we are trying to lure Lisa—your mum—back into the old ways. Of course we are not! It’s all about helping each other. Last time we met at Dayman Heads your mum and dad had a big argument. So this time she decided not to say anything. Her plan was to drive back by six p.m. the same day and not even mention that she had been here. Obviously, we can now see that was a big mistake.’ Jodie said, ‘For the first time things are starting to make some sense. Until now we had no idea why she came to Coochiemudlo, in fact the police think that she never left Dayman Heads.’ ‘Nonsense! She was here last Friday, sitting right in that chair there.’ ‘What happened when she left here? We all walked down to the ferry, and I watched them all go back to Victoria Point. The only thing...’ she hesitated, and then looked down at the floor. The only thing... well, when she got on the ferry, it’s probably nothing—but there was a man looking at her. A man I had never seen before, someone who doesn’t live on this island. It might not mean anything, I just don’t know. I can’t understand what happened to her. Obviously it was something that happened between leaving the ferry, and arriving back at Dayman Heads.’ ‘So it could have happened on the road, say at Tweed heads for example?’ ‘Yes, if we could find her car it would be the best clue of all. Because where the car is you can be sure she won’t be far away. I don’t think I can help you any more than that. Now, would you like me to call the police in Dayman heads and talk to them? I could tell them everything that happened.’ ‘I don’t think that would help at the moment, you see the police have their own theory.’ Jodie paused and thought for a moment. ‘Yes, you should do that. It would finally prove they are wasting their time digging up Dayman Heads.’ Once we got outside, Anthony phoned his mum, and asked her to pick us up at the Victoria Point jetty in half an hour. I began to feel that we were very close to solving the mystery, although we still had a big job to find Jodie’s mum.

26. INTUITION We walked down to the jetty, and waited for the ferry to arrive. Onboard the ferry, we sat in different places. I wanted to be alone to think over what we had discovered. I went out the back area of the ferry and sat in the open by myself. When the ferry moved off from the wharf, I stared at the white froth bubbling from behind the stern. Jodie and Anthony were sitting inside. When I last saw them, Anthony was babbling on about his Palm while he played some game. Jodie was staring at the floor, wondering just what she should do next, trying to think through the problem

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logically. Although we had discovered her mum had been at Coochie, it didn’t help much because she had disappeared all the same.

It was nice on the back of the ferry, the breeze blowing in my hair, the waves swirling behind the boat. I looked at the swirling whiteness, while holding a picture of Mrs Thomas in my mind. I imagined that I was Mrs Thomas, sitting on the ferry just like she had done last Friday. Then I asked myself the question: Where is she? Where is she? Where is she? I didn’t try to force an answer, just tried to keep an open mind, a blank mind, like a sheet of white paper, and waited expectantly for the answer. And then it happened! It was like someone hitting me on the back of the head with a stick. I saw it all, in just one second. It was Mrs Thomas, she was wearing the same dress I’d seen her in when she took us to school. I saw a car knock her down, I saw her head hit the ground, I saw blood oozing out onto the roadway. Then I saw her surrounded by whiteness, whiteness like the frothy white water I was staring at. And for a fraction of the second, I saw the whiteness was a pillow, and the white sheet of a bed. Jodie was standing next to me, ‘Can you hear me?’ ‘What’s wrong with her? Why doesn’t she answer?’ ‘Karen, we’re back at Victoria Point. Karen! Karen! What’s the matter with you?’ I could hear Anthony calling out in a fuzzy voice, ‘We have to get off! What’s she doing?’ ‘Oh, yes. Jodie I know what happened to your mum!’ Jodie stared at me, she knew what was going on in my head. ‘Let’s get off the ferry and talk about it.’ I followed them to the waiting room where we sat down. ‘Jodie, I saw your mother get knocked down by a car. I saw her head hit the ground, and... and... there was blood.’ Jodie gulped. ‘Is she... is she alright?’ ‘I don’t know. That’s all I know. She might be in a hospital, because I saw white sheets and a pillow.’ ‘But where did it happen? It could have been anywhere, Brisbane, Tweed Heads, Ballina ... ‘ ‘What’s she talking about?’ Anthony said, ‘What is going on?’ Jodie tried to explain to him. ‘It’s intuition, Karen sees a picture in her mind, very quickly, just for half a second. Instead of working something out logically, she just gets a mental picture of the answer.’ For the first time Anthony was really looking at me, he had forgotten his Palm thingo. ‘Karen, you saw Mrs Thomas get hit by a car?’ He sounded serious, for a moment I thought he believed me. ‘Yes, just a quick flash of a picture.’ Now he was glaring at me, ‘What are you talking about? What do you mean, you saw her? This is just your imagination. You’re psycho!’ Jodie flared up, ‘Anthony you don’t know a thing about Karen!’ ‘She is just guessing, anybody can guess that your mother is in a hospital!’ Jodie stood up, ‘Let’s go, your mum will be here soon.’ We walked along the jetty, and by the time to we got to the end, Aunt Jennifer’s car pulled up. She opened the doors and we got in. ‘Well, did you find out anything?’ I could hear Jodie explaining the whole thing, except for what I had seen with my intuition. At the end, Jodie said, ‘Perhaps she is in hospital. Maybe she was knocked down by a car.’ Anthony said, ‘Or perhaps she has been abducted by aliens! She could be on the Enterprise.’ He began to laugh. I didn’t care, I knew what I had seen in my mind. I didn’t tell people about my intuition, because hardly anyone understood. And I didn’t want to have to explain it, after all I didn’t understand it myself. Mum knew, in fact, she taught me how to use it. It’s not extraordinary, it’s just some sort of a mental skill most people can learn, if they’re patient enough. Our car was driving along Colburn Avenue, past all the beautiful Poinciana trees, and up ahead I could see the traffic lights. Anthony had out his Palm bizzo again, pressing buttons like he was trying to save the world from monsters. ‘Over there! That’s where it was!’ ‘What?’ Aunt Jennifer was puzzled. Suddenly, I knew that was where Mrs Thomas was knocked down by the car. Jodie gripped my arm, and said quietly, ‘That shopping centre ... could we go there, and ... get a drink, or an ice cream?’ ‘Bunker Road? Yes, this is Victoria Point Shopping Centre. Sure, I’ll get you all an ice cream. It’s been a hot day.’ ‘Park down the end,’ I said without knowing why. And now suddenly, it was Jodie who screamed out in sheer excitement. ‘Over there! Over there!’ She was bouncing around in the seat. ‘What is it now? You girls are worked up today.’ Anthony said, ‘They have let their imaginations go crazy, probably gone troppo. Can’t take the Queensland sun,’ he said smugly. I turned to look out the window, to see what Jodie was pointing at. It took me a moment to see, and then I noticed a white Corolla with yellow numberplates.

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Jodie said, now in a very calm voice, ‘Mrs Fry, could you please park over there, alongside my mother’s car?’

27. REDLAND HOSPITAL Jodie gawked at the car for a moment, and then she did something extraordinary. She went towards it and tried to hug it, as though it were her mother. She was crying now and I put my arm around her, and my other arm across the engine bonnet and we cried and laughed, sprawled across the engine bonnet. Anthony said, ‘You two are mad!’ I turned to Aunt Jennifer and asked, ‘Is there a hospital nearby?’ ‘Yes, Redland Hospital isn’t far. That’s a good idea, we should check.’

At the hospital, Aunt Jennifer went to reception and asked the nurse if they had a Mrs Thomas staying, or had they treated a Mrs Thomas in the last week. She looked up her records and then said quite firmly, ‘No, we haven’t had any Mrs Thomas for months.’ ‘Oh, alright. Thanks anyway.’ We went back to the car, I felt very disappointed. It was because I was sure Mrs Thomas had been knocked down by a car. I had seen the white sheets and pillow, it looked like a hospital bed. We got into the car without saying another word. Aunt Jennifer started the engine. Anthony said, ‘No aliens here.’ Jodie said, ‘Wait, we should show the photo—in case she is here under a different name.’ Anthony said, ‘Awwww come on! We’ll end up missing The Simpsons. What are the chances of her giving a false name? Forget it, she’s probably in Sydney.’ Aunt Jennifer turned off the engine. ‘You’re right Jodie; we must make sure. After all, the car is at the shopping centre, so it is possible.’ We went back to the reception desk. As soon as we showed the photo to the nurse she looked at us with surprise. ‘Of course! This is a woman in the coma. We’ve been trying to find relatives for days. Didn’t you miss her? We’ve listed her with the Missing Persons Bureau. Why didn’t you contact the police?’ Jodie said, ‘Of course we missed her! We’ve had the police looking for her, we’ve been searching for her since Saturday.’ ‘Didn’t the Missing Persons Bureau contact you? They are supposed to let everyone in Queensland know.’ ‘But we come from New South Wales!’ ‘Oh, that might explain it! Apparently they only look within the state—not very smart is it? Come on and I’ll show you to her room. She came in without any identification. She was knocked down by a car in the shopping centre at Bunker Road. She didn’t even have a purse with her.’ The nurse led us along a passage way, round a bend. I wanted to run ahead, but tried to walk as slowly as the nurse. Jodie was skipping about, and then holding back. The nurse said, ‘I have to let you know that this patient is in a coma, she has been in it since she arrived. A good sign though was this morning. She seemed to wake up and mutter something. Then went back into the coma.’ ‘How long will she stay in the coma?’ ‘We can’t really tell. It could be hours, or it could be months. It’s very difficult to tell how long a person will stay in the coma. But we do know that sometimes when a relative arrives and talks to them it can wake them from the coma. I should also warn you that ... sometimes they never wake up, they just ... die.’ The nurse stopped at a doorway. ‘Here she is!’ Mrs Thomas was lying on the bed, on her back, eyes closed. She had tubes going into her nose, and her face was white as the pillow. I don’t know about Jodie, but I was puzzled because Mrs Thomas looked different. There was a bandage on her temple, but the whiteness and the closed eyes, and being in the bed ... it all seemed to make her look different. But it was her, we knew that much. Jodie went over to her mother put her arms around her, and her cheek against her mum’s cheek. She was talking into her ear and hugging her, but Mrs Thomas’ eyes remained closed. I went over to the bed and took Mrs Thomas’ hand and rubbed it. The nurse was fussing about, checking tubes and dials. She said, ‘Now let me think, what was it that she said? Ah yes, it was very strange! I still don’t understand what she meant.’ ‘What did she say?’ ‘It’s really weird, I’ve got to tell you that. What she said was: MEN PISS FREE. Why she would say that I’ve got no idea! Maybe it was a bad dream.’ Jodie asked her, was it: ‘MEN PEE FREELY?’ ‘Oh yes, that is right! Same thing, isn’t it?’

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Jodie burst out laughing! I joined in a moment later when I realised what her mother had really said. We were laughing so hard, that the nurse was puzzled. Jodie said, ‘MP3! You know the music! She bought me an MP3 player!’ The nurse started to laugh, and then we all laughed quite loudly. Jodie and I were laughing—not just because of MP3—but because we had finally found her. She was not dead! In the whole of Australia, we had tracked her down, and we knew that she would be okay. It was such a huge relief. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a movement from Mrs Thomas. I turned to stare at her, because her eyes were now wide open, and as the nurse and Jodie turned towards her, Mrs Thomas said in her normal voice, ‘What is so funny?’ Jodie was hugging her and crying, the nurse looked very pleased as though she had cured her. I couldn’t help crying with relief. Mrs Thomas said, ‘Why am I here? Is this a hospital? What happened? I don’t remember anything.’ Jodie told her how she was hit by a car in the shopping centre car park. Her purse must have been stolen while she was unconscious, so when the ambulance took her away there was no identification. The man who had her phone, must have taken her handbag. Aunt Jennifer introduced herself and Anthony, who didn’t seem that interested in any of it. After awhile he looked at me and said, ‘Okay, so you got lucky.’ ‘Lucky?’ I thought for a moment and then said, ‘Yeah, it was just a lucky guess about the car and the hospital.’ ‘I knew it! What about all that intuition stuff?’ ‘Guesswork,’ I said. I think Jodie heard us, but she didn’t say anything, because she knew why I said it. I didn’t want people thinking I was some kind of freak. I’d rather they thought I was just lucky.

28. MR THOMAS GETS A PHONE CALLJodie said, ‘We have to phone dad and tell him that you are alright.’ ‘How long have I been missing?’ ‘Five days.’ ‘And I’ve been here all that time? Oh, he must be worried about me. I’ll bet he’s mad because I didn’t tell him I was going to the reunion. I thought I would be back by six o’clock. I was supposed to tell your mum, Karen, but every time I went to phone something interrupted me. Oh I am in trouble.’ ‘Mum ... the police think that ... that Charlie Graves murdered you and hid your body.’ ‘What? Total nonsense! Why would they even believe that? Surely they understand about Charlie Graves by now? He’s been in the town for thirty years!’ ‘They don’t. Here Mum, use my mobile phone.’ She pressed a few buttons. ‘David?’ We couldn’t hear what he was saying. ‘Lisa,’ she said loudly. ‘Lisa Thomas! Your wife! You remember ... digging up what? That’s funny! Charlie Graves has fooled them. Well you should understand, Darling. Charlie hates Rozzer because he bloods greyhounds. They what ... the RSPCA?’ There was another pause and then she said, ‘No, I’m in a hospital. I was hit by a car and in a coma. I just ... woke up. Well, it seems someone stole my handbag so no one knew who I was. The car was parked in the shopping centre. No not that one ...’ She turned to the nurse. ‘What is the name of the shopping centre?’ ‘Victoria Point Shopping Centre, at Bunker Rd.’ ‘No, darling, it’s not at Dayman Heads! I’ll tell you all about it when I get home tomorrow. You should tell the police so they can stop searching and release Charlie Graves. No, I can assure you he didn’t kill me! Well, if Detective Withers won’t believe you, tell him to phone me. I have Jodie’s phone.’

29. GOING HOME We didn’t stay much longer at the hospital, because we wanted Mrs Thomas to get some rest. Aunt Jennifer let us stay the night in her living room. Anthony was playing video games with Jodie, but at one point they switched on the TV and we saw the news. It was from Dayman Heads, recorded earlier in the day. That in itself was strange, because Dayman Heads hardly ever made the news. They had the TV cameras down on the beach, and what I saw horrified me. A dozen dolphins had beached themselves. Crowds of people were gathered around them, pouring water on them, stroking them. But no one knew what to do, they were walking around puzzled, some people were crying, as they watched the dolphins slowly dying in the hot sun. The reporter was walking backwards and forwards, and pointing to another pod swimming around just off the beach, as though they were ready to launch themselves up onto the sand and die with their friends.

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Reporter: “We have been phoning the Whale Preservation Society for hours, but there is just a recording. The whole town is frantic, trying to contact someone who understands dolphins, four dolphins are already dead, another six rapidly dying. The townsfolk don’t know what to do as a second pod repeatedly tries to beach themselves. “If they can’t contact the whale people in the next hour—the Mayor is going to fly in experts from OceanWorld. All day today, people have tried to get the dolphins to go back out to sea, but without success. There doesn’t seem much hope for them. It’s very sad to see such wonderful creatures dying on the beach. That’s all for tonight, but we will be here first light in the morning to see what can be done to save these wonderful dolphins.” Then there was a view of some silly kid standing right up close to a dolphin, staring into its eye. Suddenly without even seeing his face, I knew that it was Ron Rocco, looking for the dolphin’s soul.

30. TEXT ME! The next morning we were all up early. Anthony seemed sorry to see Jodie go. He kept trying to get her to show him how to play chess. But we didn’t have much time. We wanted to get home as soon as possible. I was still worried that Mr Thomas might sell the house completely. I kept thinking of those poor dolphins dying on the beach in the sun. How many would be dead by the time we got back home? Anthony wasn’t going with us. He said to me as I was getting into the car, ‘See ya, Lucky!’ ‘Thanks for your help, Anthony.’ He gave me a big grin. Then I saw him grab Jodie’s hand as she was about to get in the car. ‘You’ll text me every day, won’t you?’ ‘Mmm.’ ‘What about your boyfriend?’ I said. ‘Oh yeah! Ron Rocco.’ She nearly laughed. ‘He might get jealous.’ ‘Don’t tell him about us,’ Anthony said. ‘Don’t forget, text me every day!’ ‘See you Anthony!’ She called out as she got in the car. When the door closed, she turned to me and said, ‘Tell him he’s dreaming!’ Aunt Jennifer drove us to the hospital, where we picked up Mrs Thomas, already dressed and waiting for us. She looked and sounded just like her old self. Aunt drove to the Victoria Point Shopping Centre where Mrs Thomas’ white Corolla was waiting patiently, just where she left it. We changed cars, leaving Aunt Jennifer’s car at the shopping centre. She was going to drive us back to Dayman Heads because the doctor said Mrs Thomas shouldn’t drive for a week. As we turned onto the motorway, Mrs Thomas said, ‘Girls, I was going to tell you about Charlie Graves on the last day of school, remember?’ ‘We know everything, Mum. Karen’s mum explained it all.’ ‘True blue?’ ‘By the light of the sun,’ we both answered together. ‘Mum, something puzzles me. Dad said there was hardly any petrol in the car and you didn’t fill up at George’s garage. So how did you drive all the way up here?’ She laughed. ‘Oh it doesn’t take a lot of imagination! I filled up at Tony’s garage! I didn’t want your dad to complain about wasting money to drive to Queensland to see my friends. I thought it would be best to pay out of my personal account. Didn’t the police figure out—‘ ‘Mum, all they figured out was that Charlie Graves murdered you and buried your body at Rozzer’s greyhound kennels!’ ‘Jodie, I almost forgot. Have a look in the glove box.’ ‘Mum! My MP3 player, you didn’t forget! When we get home I’ll let you listen to it.’

31. CHARLIE GRAVES We drove all the way down to Brunswick Heads before we stopped for a snack. We went into a café and ordered drinks and cakes. Jodie sat alongside her mum, smiling and glowing with happiness. It was now less than an hour’s drive to our homes, but just as we were getting ready to leave the café the news came on TV. We sat and stared at the TV. World news. More bombings, more killings, children dead. Leaders talking about peace while building better weapons; be alert and alarmed. Then suddenly we saw Dayman Heads Beach on the TV. Reporter: “The police are bringing a man onto the beach. People are staring at him. Some are booing. It doesn’t look like this man is popular. “Wait, he’s swimming into the ocean. My, what a stomach! People are yelling out.” “Graves! Graves!” “Let’s talk to this lady: ‘Why are the people calling out “graves”? Are they trying to get the people to dig graves for the dolphins?”

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“No, it’s that murderer, Charlie Graves, everyone hates him. He kills whales. We don’t want him down here. The police should lock him up.” “Viewers I can see a representative from the police force here. Perhaps he can explain what is happening. Oh look, this Graves fellow is swimming around with the dolphins. Making clacking noises with his tongue. “Detective, can you tell me what is happening?” “We have contacted OceanWorld, and they are bringing a helicopter and a rubber boat, should be here this afternoon. Although the dolphins could all be dead by then.” “Detective, some people have told me the president of the Whale Society could not organise help for the dolphins because he was in jail. They say he has been charged with murder.” “Nonsense! He ... he told us he murdered someone. He’s been under suspicion of murder. It was a pack of lies! No one was murdered. That’s him out there swimming around with the dolphins. What a show off! I should arrest him for overacting. “Look at him, swimming under them, over them. Clicking his tongue, he’s trying to lure them away. That man is not the full quid, he’s got kangaroos loose in the top paddock.” “But look! The dolphins are following him!” “They won’t follow him for long. I bet he’s trying to lure them into a fishing net.” “Detective, you don’t seem to like him?” “No one in this town does.” “Look at them, they are 60 metres out from the shore. Wow, look at them jump over the waves! The dolphins are following him! I’ve never seen anything like it. They are still going out. Must be 100 metres from the shore. How far can he swim? Viewers we were due to cross to the studio, but this is the most amazing sight I’ve ever seen. That Mr Graves is swimming with the dolphins, and they are following him, must be twenty of them leaping all around him, frolicking with him as he leads them further out to sea. We are going to see if we can get up on the tower for a better view. In the meantime we will cross to the studio.” Advertisements seemed to last forever: shampoo, soap that cleans deep down, hamburgers that keep you healthy, Oh What a Feeling! Back to the news. “Viewers, good to have you back. If you look out to the left, you will see that Mr Graves—I have been told his name is Charlie—has gone way out, leading the dolphins beyond the breakers. You can just see his head in the water. Wow! That dolphin jumped right over him. Looks like Graves has stopped swimming. He must be half a kilometre offshore. The dolphins are swimming around him. Look at that, never seen anything like it! He has stopped swimming, but the dolphins are continuing past him. Yes, he is actually waving to them. This is incredible. If only we had a microphone out there to hear what he is saying. “He’s swimming back to the beach now. I can see in the distance that the dolphins have moved out to sea, except for those ... that sadly died on the beach.” Slowly, Charlie Graves staggered out of the water and collapsed on the beach. The whole town cheered and clapped. Everyone began to gather around him, smiling and wanting to shake his hand. REPORTER: “The people in this town must be mighty proud of that Charlie Graves!” The camera moved in closer towards a group of people standing near the water. It came up close to a woman wearing a yellow straw hat. “Hello, are you from Dayman Heads?” “Oh yes, I was born here.” I stood up at the café table and shouted at the top off my lungs: ‘That’s my mum!’ Jodie was already standing, then Aunt Jennifer followed. We were absolutely amazed. “Fair dinkum, everyone in town respects him,” Mum said. “Do you know him yourself?” “Oh yes! By the light of the sun—he’s much loved by the people who know him, really know him. And it is the animals, birds, and dolphins that know Charlie Graves better than anyone else!” REPORTER: “That’s the end of our special report from Dayman Heads. The dolphins are all out at sea now. So we better get back to the studio.” We were all standing in the café, gathered around the TV. Smiling and laughing. Mrs Thomas, put her arms around Jodie and me and said, ‘Come on girls, let’s go home!’

The end

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