McCullock's Gold

by Lindsay Johannsen

  Chapter 16. On The Road Again; and The Copper Coloured Rocks

  Twenty minutes later Jack Cadney was on the road again, Angelica by his side. She’d insisted on joining him but had complained loudly about the lack of notice, most of which Cadney had missed. After explaining the plan he’d disappeared outside to remove the Holden’s radiator.

  One thing Angelica did know about travelling with Cadney was that anything could happen – tyre trouble, breakdowns, rain… Unplanned detours to other Communities looking for car parts.

  She’d learned from experience to always take extra food and clothing and, seeing this trip as no different (despite the vehicle’s appearance), she’d packed a suitcase, rolled their swag and topped up the tucker box, then had all three items stacked by the Nissan inside fifteen minutes – and was waiting in the cabin.

  Cadney had arrived moments later. He’d loaded their things behind the cab, wedged the radiator between the suitcase and the bedroll and secured it all with a rope and some truckies’ knots.

  By mid-afternoon they were at Harts Range, their first stop being at the Atitjere Community where an Aunt of Angelica’s lived. Angelica went inside while Cadney unloaded their belongings, after which he delivered the Nissan to the Police Station yard for the night. A short time later the policeman drove him back to the Community.

  He collected them early the next morning and, after refuelling the vehicles at the Station, they continued on their journey. Once in Alice Springs Frazier went directly to the Police Station.

  Cadney and Angelica followed. They parked at the rear while Frazier reported in and logged-in the Nissan. From there they were led to the vehicle holding yard, where their gear was transferred to the police wagon. All three then squeezed into the front and Cadney gave directions to his brother-in-law Jupiter’s house.

  Their belongings unloaded, Frazier thanked him and drove away. His wife was staying at her mother’s place due to one of their two littlies being ill and he was looking forward to seeing them.

  Jupiter and family were sitting down to lunch when Cadney and Angelica arrived. They were invited to join in and during the meal Cadney mentioned the damaged radiator. Jupiter offered him their Mitsubishi wagon to take it to the repair shop.

  “Keith Maskell Radiators” the one-man business was called. It occupied part of a slightly decrepit World War Two shed which the developers had somehow missed. Cadney’s car-projects usually needed radiator attention of some sort so he was well known there.

  Maskell looked up from his work as the station wagon stopped in the street. On recognising the driver he filled the jug to make coffee – so he and Cadney could discuss business in a fitting and proper manner after first having had a good yarn. Then, local gossip and the affairs of the nation dealt with, Cadney told him about the abandoned Nissan and its odd little radiator repair.

  Maskell was intrigued; it sounded like a job he’d done a couple of weeks back. He went to his so-called office in the front corner of the shed, rummaged amongst his papers briefly and returned.

  “I was right,” he said as he sat down again. “Raymond Sheldon was the bloke’s name. From Adelaide. A nuggetty little fella with dark curly hair. Early thirties I’d say. Asked me to mail the tax invoice back to his address in Torrens Park.”

  Cadney could hardly believe his good fortune. This was an amazing turn of events.

  “The leak was a manufacturing defect that had only just started giving trouble,” Maskell went on. “Sheldon said he was getting ready to go bush for a week and came across it when he was checking the engine. He was heading to Jervois Range, he reckoned; wanted to look around the old mines there and do a bit of prospecting out from some waterhole. —Gees, I wonder what happened to him?”

  “Yeah, I’m beginning to wonder myself,” Cadney replied. He stood up and headed toward the open roll-a-door, then hesitated.

  “—If you don’t mind,” he added, “could you keep all this to yourself? …until you hear from me, anyway. It could be important.”

  “Sure, Cadney. Let’s know how it goes, though.”

  “No worries,” Cadney replied. He stepped into the sunshine. “I’ll pick up the radiator later this arvo.”

  “This arvo?!!” Maskell stopped in the doorway. “Just what do you think I’m running here, a bloody miracle factory?”

  “Thanks for the coffee,” Cadney said over his shoulder.

  “Hey! And it’ll be cash on the finger, too! None of this ‘I’ll give you the rest later’ stuff.”

  Cadney kept walking. “Okay, okay. Whatever you say.”

  “And rush jobs are double, y’ know.”

  An empty tip truck went by on the narrow roadway. Cadney waited on the kerb as it clattered past then went around to the driver’s door. “Only double?” he yelled over the diminishing truck-noise. “Isn’t that your usual price?” He opened the door and slid behind the wheel.

  “And I close at five! If you’re not back by then, tough bananas.”

  Cadney stood up again but Maskell had retreated inside.

  “I know I know!” he shouted at the empty doorway. “Five to five; cash on the knocker. I’ll go rob a bank or something.”

  As he went off to find a second hand windscreen Maskell put the radiator on his workbench and looked at it resignedly. It was worse than he’d thought. Out the back he began searching for the old HZ core he seemed to remember having somewhere.

  The following day Jupiter took Angelica and Cadney back to Bonya in the Mitzy wagon. All three had to ride in the front because Cadney had folded down the back seat to accommodate the extra things they’d purchased.

  Packed in behind them along with the re-cored radiator and the other items they’d brought to town was the replacement windscreen, a carton of spray-can paint, a box of car parts, two cartons of supermarket purchases, two cartons of VB cans repackaged as baked beans and a second suitcase Angelica had filled with second-hand clothes from St Vinnies.

  There was no room inside for their swag; that was lashed to the pack rack. They’d also borrowed a pillow to sit on, as two on the bucket seat would have been impossible without it.

  Before setting off to the service station for fuel Jupiter had checked the springs. “A man shoulda bought a bloody truck,” he’d muttered to himself.

  The trip was uneventful, though markedly slower than usual due to their heavy load. At Harts Range they’d called in to the Police Station in case Frazier had returned but he was still in town. Two and a half hours later they’d arrived at Bonya Community.

  Jupiter parked in the driveway then he and Cadney unloaded the car. Angelica made lunch and boiled the billy.

  After the meal Cadney refuelled the Sigma at the Community store. He was hoping to see the manager’s husband while he was there but Dan Papa was at the airstrip collecting the mail. Fifteen minutes later Cadney and Angelica were waving Jupiter goodbye when Danny drove past their front gate.

  Cadney followed on foot. He wanted to ask Dan if anyone had mentioned seeing a bronze Nissan tray-back Patrol running around – much like the one he’d been driving the other day, he said.

  “I wondered about that,” Dan replied. “What did you do, mug some poor tourist?”

  “Nah, the battery was buggered so the copper got it going with his jumper leads,” Cadney improvised hastily, regretting not first thinking this through. “But he was worried about the driver so I said I’d take it into town for him. —I gotta keep going though Dan; yes or no?”

  “No.”

  “See y’se later then.”

  As Danny watched in puzzlement, Cadney hurried off to his mother’s house. Magdalena usually knew all the comings and goings about the place. There Cadney asked the same question.

  Magdalena knew nothing. “Only them two whitefellas you were driving around with in that flash Toyota,” she replied. “Why? Who was it?”

  Cadney said not to worry. It was nothing. The coppers just wanted to see the driver. He was probably in Queensland
by now.

  Her own son. Why wouldn’t he tell her anything?

  Next Cadney went to the public phone and rang Harts Range. It was important he tell Frazier what he’d discovered, but not urgent enough to ring him privately. There was no answer, however, just a recorded message about conditions on the Plenty Highway and the road through to Boulia. Frazier must still be in Alice, he decided. He’d try again later.

  Back at his own place Cadney retrieved some tools from the rear of the Holden and set to work installing the reconditioned radiator. After checking the job for leaks he cut away the massed strands of fencing wire holding the engine, then jacked up the front of the motor and put in the new mounts. That done, he found himself reconsidering the wire restraints…

  They’d done their job well, he decided. Replacing them could be helpful in the event of a similar accident, except this time he’d make them stronger by threading the wire more carefully.

  Later he turned to some other work he’d planned for the car. Fitting the new windscreen would come last.

  Later that afternoon the Harts Range police wagon arrived unexpectedly in Cadney’s driveway.

  Cadney was inside when it pulled up. On hearing a car door slam he went to the window to see who it was, then quickly detoured to the bedroom for a shirt. By the time he’d pulled it on and stepped out onto the veranda Frazier was standing by the Holden, staring at it in disbelief.

  By his best recollection, Cadney’s station wagon was a grubby looking off-whitish colour, with a metallic-blue driver’s door, a dark brown left-hand mudguard and a fire-blackened and blistered red bonnet. The car in front of him now, however, was an eye-searing, iridescent yellow. Each front door sported a big red number 1 on a huge white roundel, and two white racing stripes bisected it from end to end.

  “Pretty stylie, ay Fraz?” Cadney said cheerily. “Whatcha reckon?”

  The policeman struggled to find an answer. “…words fail me,” he said eventually. “But why day-glow yellow?”

  “So everyone can see me coming! ―You know, like when I’m in a hurry.”

  “Riiiiiight. Good thinking, Batman. And what’s the ‘Number One’ business?”

  “That’s me, Fraz. ‘Jack Cadney: NUMBER ONE!’”

  Frazier closed his eyes for a moment. The expression on his face didn’t change. “What about the kangaroos?” he asked when he opened them again.

  “…Kangaroos?!!” Cadney was puzzled. “Mate, the kangaroos don’t care what colour car I drive.”

  “No what I mean is – you know, when you’re out hunting. Won’t they...”

  But he was talking to air. As he’d turned back to the car Cadney had disappeared inside to boil the billy.

  After a while Frazier wandered over to the veranda and collapsed into a plastic chair. He was still staring at the Holden’s ghastly yellowness when Cadney returned with the tea.

  As soon as he arrived the policeman began telling of developments, more than happy to get his mind onto something else. No missing persons had been reported to Alice Springs Police, he said as Cadney put the mugs on the table, so they’d told him to enquire if anyone at Bonya had seen the abandoned Nissan driving around.

  Cadney sat down. He’d already started doing that, he said; so far without success.

  Frazier then explained that besides lacking its VIN and number plates and a rego sticker, both the Nissan’s chassis and engine numbers had been gone over with a chisel to make them unreadable. This would make identifying the vehicle’s owner particularly difficult, he added, unless someone came forward.

  Cadney didn’t comment. He took a cautious sip then put the mug down again and turned to stare at the distant hills, his eyes half closed as if communing with some remote Dreamtime Spirit.

  “Am I keeping you awake?” Frazier demanded eventually.

  “Wait…” said Cadney, putting out a hand to hush him. Then without looking up he said hesitantly: “The Nissan belongs to ... (Pause. Fingers held to forehead as if concentrating) …someone called… Wait up – umm… Ray. ―Raymond. ―Raymond Shell …

  “Sheldon! That’s it; a Raymond Sheldon of, erm... (Hesitate; close the eyes. Open them again.) …some place in Adelaide.

  “A suburb. …Torrens River. —No! Torrens Park! Yeah! And he was going to Jervois Range to check out the old mines there or something.”

  Cadney could feel Frazier’s eyes boring into him. He kept staring at the horizon, desperately trying to keep a straight face.

  It was more than he could manage. A moment later he fell back in his chair laughing fit to cry.

  Frazier glared at the hysterical figure opposite. “You bloody wanker; you’re making it up! —NO! You’re not! So how did you find out? And don’t say your Dreamtime Spirit Ancestors bloody told you. I didn’t come down in the last bloody shower, y’know.

  “In town! You got onto it in town, didn’t you. But how did you pick it up so quick?”

  Cadney’s hilarity eventually subsided enough for him to speak. “It was just blind luck,” he admitted, pulling a rag from his pocket to wipe his eyes. “When I took the radiator around to Maskell’s we got talking. I happened to mention the abandoned Nissan and how its radiator had a fresh looking repair, as if something had punctured one of the inside tubes.

  “Keith identified it as a job he’d done a couple of weeks back. He had the details in his office. Sheldon was a short nuggetty bloke, he reckoned, with dark curly hair.

  “I told him to keep it under his hat. Later I tried ringing you at the Station but you must have been on the road or somewhere, so I was going to try again in half an hour.”

  Frazier was silent for a while, then said: “Well, this certainly puts a different light on things. I’m beginning to suspect Mister Sheldon’s chances are not looking too good. What say you and I make a trip to the mines tomorrow. We might find some tracks there or see where he camped or something.

  “If nothing comes of that I’ll get you to do a crawl along the Highway to see what you can find there. You never know, he might have stopped or turned off somewhere.

  “I have to get back to the Station, unfortunately. I’ve got paperwork up to my bloody ears waiting for me and I’ve heard there’s a surprise inspection in the wind.”

  By this time it was early evening, so with tomorrow’s plan of action settled Frazier returned to his wagon and drove over to the store manager’s house.

  Danny answered the door. Margaret wasn’t at home, he said, and invited Frazier to join him for a beer under their back yard bloodwood tree.

  Halfway through the second round Marg Papa arrived with the resident nurse, Liz Ward. After some conversation she invited Frazier and Liz to join them for dinner and suggested he stay the night. Frazier had a swag in the wagon but happily accepted the offer of more comfortable accommodation.

  Later Dan mentioned that Cadney had asked about a bronze tray-back Nissan Patrol. Frazier said they were interested in locating the driver, and in the morning he and Cadney would check to see if there was any sign of him around the mines.

  He might collect some specimens while he was there, he added, and get a few green-stained rocks for the Police Station garden.

  “It’s only natural,” he told them. “I’m a copper, see; I like copper-coloured rocks.”