Forest Secrets

by David Laing

  Sighing, Harry shook his head, wondering what his wife was on about now. Resigning himself to being told, he sat back and waited.

  ‘That girl was holding back,’ his wife said. ‘It was as if she wanted to tell me something but couldn’t. She had a look in her eyes like she was dreaming or had a secret.’

  ‘Now, now,’ Harry said, sighing once again. ‘Don’t go letting your imagination run away with you. You know what you can be like sometimes.’ Doctor Huntingdale couldn’t help overhearing as he drove out of the park towards the main road. He asked himself, what have I started? I had no right to tell them about Snook and Jars and their will-o’-the-wisp images. No right at all. Slowing down and moving over to let another oncoming vehicle pass, he did a double take. That’s peculiar, he speculated; that’s the TYRANOSAURUS REX van that I saw leaving when I arrived at the camp about an hour ago, the one that belongs to that Blowhard fellow; he must have forgotten something.

  Reginald Blowhard was still thinking about the two police officers he’d seen passing his camp earlier – man and a woman. Then he’d seen the policewoman plus those two kids pass by again. Something’s going on, he said to himself. Either that or the police are just out on a routine patrol. Yes, that could be it, he told himself. Or …? Tossing up whether to turn around and investigate or not, he decided not to. ‘I’ve had enough of those little horrors,’ he said aloud. ‘Enough to last me a lifetime.’

  His mind made up, he started to sing along to one of his new recordings, a Doris Day song called, How Much is that Doggie in the Window?, when he saw another police car with two plain-clothes officers in it – at the turn-off to the main road where he’d slowed to make the left turn that’d take him to Cray Bay. Intriguing, he thought; something must have happened at the camp.

  He drew to the side of the road to think about what he had seen when he saw something else. It was those two other kids, on push-bikes; they were coming along the main road, also towards the turn off to the camp. It was the girl with the ponytail and the boy with the camera, the two who were at the campsite yesterday. ‘Mmm,’ he said aloud, talking to Rex again. ‘I think we’d better investigate after all. Whatever’s going on back there looks serious. Maybe the police are going to arrest those two meddling kids. One of them nearly drowned me back there, you know. I ended up soaking wet, but thankfully I had some spare clothes stashed in one of your cupboards.’ Executing a U-turn, he followed the second police car’s dust towards the gorge camping area.

  He passed a blue Volvo that was heading towards the main road, and a few minutes later he arrived back at the camp. ‘Ah hah,’ he said, still talking aloud. ‘The two police cars are here, but the camp’s deserted. I wonder where everyone’s gone. Maybe they’re at the lagoon. I’d better find them and see what they’re up to.’

  He opened the door to get out, and then he hesitated. ‘I’d better not go down to the lagoon and announce that I’ve changed my mind about leaving. They’d just make fun of me … again. I’d better observe them from a distance. Yes, that’s what I’ll do, but how?’ Then he remembered. There was an old bush road near the camp entrance that could lead to the back of the lagoon. Jumping back into the van, and after patting the steering wheel, he said, ‘We’ll have a look along there, Rex. Perhaps we’ll see what’s going on.’

  Turning the vehicle around and the music off, he drove back along the entrance road, and then turned right into the old bush road. And if anyone were to see or hear Reginald Blowhard right then, they’d swear on any bible that he was a madman, talking to his van as if it were a real live person. ‘We’re here, Rex. I’ve navigated correctly once again. We’re at the lagoon but we’ll have to be very quiet. We don’t want anybody to hear us. They’d just make trouble if they did.’

  Parking alongside some willows, and after a customary pat on the van’s side, he began to follow a well-used track that ran alongside the lagoon. After a short while he heard voices. Keeping low, he moved from the path into the scrub on his left and inched his way forward. Then he saw them. There were two police officers, the two Kelly children and their dog, and walking down towards the group were two other men in plain clothes. One of them was carrying what looked like a camera and the other a cardboard box with a pair of flippers sitting on top. That’s the two who were in the police car at the turn-off, Blowhard told himself. The one with the flippers was driving. And here come those other two brats, the girl with the ponytail and the boy with the camera. Blowhard crept forward, watching. This was getting interesting.

  Chapter 30

  * * *

  Standing back, Snook and I watched as the police went about their jobs. The diver, who’d been introduced to us as a Mr Graeme Souter, pulled on a wet suit whilst the photographer, a Mr Percy Stevens, proceeded to take shots of each and every bone that we’d found. Constable Sweetman ran around putting up the barrier tape. Why that was necessary, I couldn’t work out. It wasn’t as if we were expecting a crowd of people to descend on us. Shadow, enjoying the excitement, ran from one activity to the next, before settling down next to Snook and me. Quenton, who was still looking a bit sulky over yesterday – Gloria hadn’t been exactly overfriendly – had dragged Gloria off somewhere to try and find some suitable subjects for his photos.

  Shadow had me wondering, though. His ears were wiggling and he kept looking along the track that led to the far end of the lagoon. ‘What’s the matter, fella? What’s puzzling you?’ I knew there was something bothering him; the wiggling ears were always a dead giveaway. Maybe he’s catching a whiff of a wallaby or some other wild animal like a quoll; I’d seen tracks in the soft sand near the shore.

  My thoughts were interrupted when Percy Stevens called out to the sergeant. ‘Hey, Sarge, I’ve just finished checking through the bones that the kids found and I’m pretty sure that some of them are human and that they most likely once belonged to a girl. The pelvic bone’s got the female curve in it. I thought you’d want to know.’

  That was real good news for me – if Percy was correct – that the bones were a girl’s. He most probably was correct, I reasoned; after all, in his job, he must have photographed hundreds of bones. Either way, I was pleased; at least one mystery would be solved. I was also doubly pleased that we hadn’t told the Coopers about the bones earlier … that we hadn’t given them any false hopes. They would have naturally assumed that the human bones were their son’s whereas they probably belonged to a girl. Whatever the outcome, I still wondered whose skeleton it was. Who was the girl … or boy ?

  Carrying a pair of flippers, Graeme Souter walked over to the water. Doing the bit with the two trees again, I showed him where to go. Nodding that he understood, he waded out past the pebbly shallows and then further out into the deeper water.

  The sergeant caught up with us. ‘The diver will need a hand,’ he said in his usual gruff manner. ‘So you two can help with the recovery of any further bones. Constable Sweetman and I have other things to do … communications and such like.’

  Thinking he was quite rude, ordering us around like that – as if we were in his police force – I nearly said something back. Luckily, Snook saved the day. ‘I suppose we might as well help. If we wade out, you and I can take whatever the diver finds back to the shore.’

  At that moment, Quenton and Gloria came back from their photo taking.

  ‘Good,’ Snook said, when he saw them. He called out to them. ‘Hey you, Quigley; get over ’ere. You can help too.’

  ‘What’re you on about?’ Quenton said, sauntering over and shoving his hands in his pockets. ‘Huh, I don’t have to help. Whatever you’re doing’s got nothing to do with me … or Gloria.’

  ‘Yeah, it does. You’re ’ere, aren’t ya, so give us a hand.’

  ‘I don’t have to if I don’t want to.’

  Snook walked up to Quigley so that their noses were almost touching. ‘Oh, yes you do; so stop bein’ a sooky looky na na. Get yer shoes and socks off and get ready to help. It must have been the do it or
else look in Snook’s eyes that did it. Quenton was surprisingly quick to give in. ‘Whatever,’ he said with little enthusiasm, ‘but the police should’ve brought a boat with them. It would have been a lot easier and we wouldn’t have to get wet.’

  Ignoring him and standing in the shallows, Snook called out to Gloria, who was on her own by the shore. ‘There’s no need for you to get wet. You can stay on land and keep the fire goin’. I reckon we’ll need it by the time we finish.’

  ‘Don’t try and fob me off with the easy job, Snook Kelly,’ she called back to him as she walked down to the lagoon’s edge. ‘I’ve already put some wood on the fire, enough to last for a while; so like it or not, I’m coming down there to lend a hand.’

  Quenton, with a look that would shatter glass, sat down on the pebbles by the side of the lagoon and started to take off his shoes and socks. Snook, standing up to his knees in the lagoon and looking lost for words – Gloria was doing that to him lately – could only stand there with a stupid grin on his face.

  In the meantime, Sergeant McGruff wandered over, no doubt to check on us and to figure out how to put us to work. He wasted no time. Snook and I soon found ourselves wading out to where the diver was working. It was then, we’d been instructed, our job to relay his finds back to Quinton and Gloria who were to then take them to the photographer.

  The sergeant, after seeing his plans at work, nodded and walked along the bank where Constable Sweetman was still going from tree to tree putting up the black and yellow police tape.

  Surprisingly, after about a half hour, Graeme called a halt. ‘I reckon that’s it from me,’ he said to us as he came to the surface taking off his goggles. ‘All that I can get from this spot anyway. If there are any more bones, they’re somewhere else or they’re buried under the mud.’

  I can’t say I wasn’t pleased. ‘Let’s go up to the fire, Snook,’ I suggested, as we waded into the shore. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing.’ I couldn’t help noticing Quenton and Gloria disappearing up the bank towards the trees where Constable Sweetman was still grappling with her tape.

  ‘Ah, warmth,’ I said, when we were back at the fire. Rubbing my hands together, I sank back onto the ground and took off my wet socks and shoes. Sitting down next to me and doing the same, Snook said, ‘You’re thinkin’ about somethin’. I can always tell; your forehead goes all crinkly.’

  I looked across at him. ‘You’re right. I am wondering about a couple of things. The bones you found probably belonged to a girl. That’s what Percy reckoned, anyway. Thinking about it, I reckon he’s right ’cause no phantom ring has been found. Most probably, that would have still been on his finger. And if the bones are not Aaron Cooper’s then whose are they? It’s a real puzzle. But maybe we’ll find out later. I sure hope so. We’d at least be able to put the Coopers’ minds at rest if we knew that.’

  Chapter 31

  * * *

  Still sitting with Snook, I made a decision, not about the bones but about Snook and Gloria. I’d interfere. I’d try and help Snook square things with Gloria. If he kept carrying on the way he was, they’d never get back together. ‘I wasn’t going to say anything,’ I began, ‘’cause it’s not really my business, but I think I should … to help you out.’

  ‘Why? Whassamatta now?’

  ‘It’s just that you’ve been acting a bit standoffish with Gloria lately and I think she’s getting the wrong idea. She’s been looking pretty miserable too. I mean, she hasn’t exactly been bubbling over with fun, has she? She’s been getting around like she’s lost her best friend, and it’s because you’ve been acting like you don’t want her back.’

  Snook stared across at me. It was a kind of fierce warrior stare. I nearly fell backwards. ‘Look, I didn’t tell her to go chasin’ Quigley,’ he said. ‘She managed to do that on her own. If she wants me back, she can come to me and tell me. I’m not gonna go beggin’ her.’

  ‘I’ll just say two things to you, Snook. She hasn’t been chasing Quenton as you put it. It’s the other way round, and she didn’t start all the standoffish behaviour either; you did. It started last Thursday night when you first had the vision, when you wandered off in a daze; she thought you’d snubbed her.’

  ‘I couldn’t help that. I didn’t know what I was doin’ after I saw that asteroid.’

  ‘I can understand that,’ I said, feeling guilty for having brought it up and as a way of compensating, I ended up saying, ‘Don’t forget, I’m seeing the visions too, so between us we’ll work out what’s going on. Don’t forget, my mother’s helping us … from The Dreaming. She’s been warning us about a spirit, about Mamu. So, you shouldn’t stop being friendly with Gloria … because of the visions. I don’t think your reaction to them is bothering her that much.’

  ‘Okay, I hear what you’re sayin’. I’ll go talk to her after we’ve finished here … cap in hand and tail between my legs. Happy?’

  ‘Yes, I’m happy. Sorry about the lecture, but you do need to talk to her and the sooner the better.’

  I got up to put another log on the fire when I saw Graeme, re-entering the water. ‘Look Snook,’ I said pointing. ‘He’s going diving again. I thought he’d finished.’ Leaving the warmth of the fire behind, we raced down to the water’s edge.

  ‘Hey,’ Snook called. ‘Whatcha doin’? Lookin’ for more bones?’

  He gave us the thumbs up and then, taking his diver’s snorkel out of his mouth, shouted back, ‘The boss wants me to try some new spots further along. There’s no need for you to get wet again, though. I don’t think I’ll be long.’ With that, he frog-dived below the surface, a few metres downstream from where we had first found the bones. He’d been under about a minute when he burst to the surface. Treading water, waving his mouthpiece in the air in one hand and a bone about a metre long in the other. ‘I’ve found some new bones!’ he cried out. ‘There’s a pile of them!’

  With Graeme Souter retrieving the new catchment from the bottom of the lagoon and with us passing them back – we thought we’d better give him a hand – we soon had a new pile for Percy Stevens to photograph. After a while and feeling satisfied that we’d collected all we could get, we waded back to the shore where Graeme, after stripping off his wet suit, made a beeline for the fire. The others followed him, including Gloria and Quenton, who’d been following Constable Sweetman around. Except me. There was something I had to find out.

  I walked over to Percy Stevens and asked him straight out whether he’d come across a phantom ring during his preliminary examination of the new collection of bones. As expected, he shook his head. ‘But I’ve got this,’ he said, reaching over and picking up one of the bones. Holding it in the air, and after showing it to me from all angles, he exclaimed in a rather loud voice, ‘This is not a human bone!’

  Thoughts that it was a dinosaur bone flashed through my mind like a bomb exploding.

  Sergeant McGruff, who was talking on his mobile, muttered that he would call back and ran over to Percy and me to see what the fuss was all about. He looked at the bone Percy was still holding in the air. It was about as long as a man’s arm and flat like a cricket bat. It was clearly not a human bone. ‘Not human,’ was all the sergeant could think to say, as though he didn’t believe what he was seeing.

  ‘That’s right. It’s definitely not human and it’s not like any animal bone that I’ve ever come across,’ Percy was saying. ‘I reckon you’re gonna need an expert, like a palaeontologist, to tell you about that little fella.’

  The sergeant punched in some numbers on his mobile. ‘… correct,’ he said to whoever was on the other end, ‘… someone who’s an expert … on bones. I’ll be back at the station in about two hours … that’s right … palaeontologist.’

  Thinking that it was all getting very interesting, I decided to wander over to see what Snook thought of it all. He was standing next to the fire, dripping wet from the waist down. He was chatting to Gloria in what looked like a very serious manner. She, in turn, was
listening to him rather closely. She even leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. Good, I thought, he’s made up with her at last. I’d been feeling guilty about talking to Snook earlier about his love life so after seeing them apparently making up, I felt a lot better.

  Quenton Quigley, however, was another matter. Standing to the side, jaw clenched and eyes screaming, he looked as if he might do something he’d later regret. Suddenly feeling an icy pang of alarm in my gut, I moved as surreptitiously as I could between Quigley and Snook.

  I needn’t have worried, though. Constable Sweetman wandered over to join us, effectively putting any murderous thoughts out of Quenton’s mind. ‘The sergeant and I would like to thank you all for your help,’ she said. ‘It was very much appreciated.’ This seemed to appease Quenton somewhat, especially when she added, ‘We’ll be sure to mention you all when we talk to the press, and by the way, Sergeant McGruff has just heard from head office. The first lot of bones you found probably belonged to a twelve-year-old girl. She went missing around here on the 21st June, 1938, and her name was Lucy Kemp.’

  Pointing towards the two piles of bones, I asked, ‘Do you want a hand to carry these back to the cars?’

  ‘No, that won’t be necessary,’ she said. ‘We have body bags for that sort of thing. The sergeant went back to the car to fetch them a little while ago. Then we’ll get going; the team back at the station are quite anxious to see what we, I mean you two, have discovered.’

  ‘After that, can we nick off home?’ Snook asked.

  Smiling, Constable Sweetman said, ‘Yes, you’re free to go home whenever you want to and thanks again for your help.’