Body in the Gorge (Cockatoo Cozy Mystery Series Book 1)
Page 7
Becca walked back into the room and looked at Emma. “I just saw Sergeant Grant have a quiet word with the Doctor, he’ll go down to the Caravan Park and check Carol out, she’ll be fine and she is in good hands.” Becca turned to me. “Chloe, they need you to show them where the track to the hut is, so Troy and I are coming with you, we need to leave quickly before all the searchers start leaving to head home. We don’t want them to see where we are going.”
I followed Becca out the side door where Troy’s National Park Vehicle was waiting. We piled in the back
“Okay just to be on the safe side you two hide under the blanket. We don’t want the target getting suspicious.” Troy started down the drive.
A voice called out. “Where are you going Troy?”
Troy stuck his head out the window, but didn’t stop. “I have a tourist incident I’ve been called to, see you later.” Troy kept on down the drive and out the gate. Several people watched the car leave but then turned to Sergeant Grant when he called for attention.
“OK girls you can come out now.” Troy said
Becca pushed the blanket off. “Was that Randall who asked you where you are going?”
Troy nodded. “Yes but he wasn’t the only one to show interest.”
All was quiet at the airfield as we drove past, the helicopter wasn’t back yet. We drove on until I recognized the track and pointed it out to Troy.
Troy stopped the car. “I’ll just send the GPS co-ordinates to the police via our headquarters, then I’ll take you to the Caravan Park. Three of my Rangers are waiting for me there to help with this stakeout.”
“Oh we’ll miss all the fun.” Joked Becca. Troy frowned but before he could start a lecture Becca continued, “don’t worry I’m anxious to see Caz anyway.”
When we reached the Caravan Park the Doctor and Madge were enjoying a drink out on the deck.
Madge raised a glass. “To the heroine.”
I blushed. “Cracker and the Echidna are the true heroes.”
Becca interrupted. “How’s Caz, can I see her?”
The Doctor held up his hand. “No I’ve given her a sedative, physically she’s okay but she was confused and traumatized, so a good nights sleep is what she needs.
Becca and I joined them for a drink and nibbles which Madge brought out. Madge offered a barbecue but everyone was too tense to eat a meal yet.
Two hours later the CB radio came to life Madge ran over. “We’ve got him and only a few bruises, no other injuries, but we’ve got him.” Troy crowed.
Madge replied impatiently. “Well who have they arrested, over.”
“Oh I forgot to say, its Jim! Definitely Jim the pilot.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The Capture
Two days later we were being royally treated to a barbecue tea by Emma and Joe. Troy and Colin were also there and of course Caz was being given special treatment. She’d recovered quickly once she knew the threat was past and Jim was in jail having been arrested for kidnapping and murder.
Becca leaned forward. “Okay what did happen at the stake out of the hut and who nabbed Jim first, the Police or the Rangers?”
Troy looked at Chris, then Troy began. “Well by the time I had Pete drop us off and take our car away to park out of sight. Sergeant Grant had his men in place.”
Chris continued. “Yes we only had eight men altogether, three Rangers, three Police and two farmers. We were all determined to catch this guy, half of us have daughters so there was no way we were going to loose this creep.”
Troy took over the tale. “Us Rangers moved to the rear of the hut where the forest surrounded the hut. It seemed too thick to allow escape we didn’t have to go far into the bush to disappear from view.”
Chris next. “The volunteers were on one side, I was on the other side and hidden out front were the Sergeant and Constable Ben. Just on dark we were completely surprised to see Jim come sauntering down the track with a back pack. We’d put the padlock back on the door so it wasn’t until he got close the he noticed the break-in. Sergeant Grant gave a shout and we all raced in, but Jim took off past Chris towards the back and disappeared down a track which none of us had spotted it was so over grown.”
Troy interrupted. “I was closest to the track and managed to break through and ran after him, Chris caught up with me very quickly he’s certainly fitter than I am, and luckily we were both fitter than Jim because we both caught up with him in a little clearing and we both tackled him to the ground, by this time the others had arrived. He was not so brave when he was surrounded, I hope he goes away for a long time.”
Constable Chris grinned. “Well I think there is no problem with that, we searched his place and found hair souvenirs of three girls and two boxed sets of the matching earrings and necklaces unused.”
Becca cried. “Oh I hope one of them is not Amy Brown.”
Chris nodded. “It might be, unfortunately we have to wait for DNA tests, we will be examining that clearing behind the hut looking for another body too. Jim is not talking, still I’m pretty sure we have him for kidnapping and one murder that should get him a life sentence.”
A couple of weeks later we stood next to our car with the caravan hitched up.
Emma gave us a hug. “You’re ready to go, I’ll miss you and I can never thank you enough for what you’ve done for Caz and our family.” A loud squawk came from the aviary. Emma said. “Would you like to take Cracker with you? He certainly wants to go.”
I looked at Cracker who was doing a frantic dance back and forth across the cage. I looked at Emma. “I’d love to but won’t you miss him.”
“Yes I’ll miss him but I never have enough time to give him the attention he wants, he is very demanding and if you would like him I would be very pleased.”
I went over to Cracker and opened the cage. He hopped straight onto my shoulder and did a little victory dance. “I’ll leave the cage here, you’ll certainly need it for your future orphans, I’ll buy him a new one.”
I put him onto the branch which was still in the back seat, and climbed in next to Becca. We waved two arms and a wing as we left the farm for our next destination.
THE END
If you would like to read more of Chloe, Becca and Cracker’s adventures
The Cockatoo Cozy mystery series
Book 2 Body by the Beach
Book 3 Body in the Gardens
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CHAPTER NINETEEN
Authors Note
AUTHORS NOTE
This story is inspired by the Carnarvon Gorge in Central Queensland Australia. It is a beautiful tourist destination and I loved visiting it and hiking through it. The Moss Garden and ampitheatre exist but the story is fiction and we didn’t actually stumble on a body there. The people and local towns in this story are also fictional.
As it is an Australian story I have used Australian English which differs from the US in some of the spelling such as jewellery compared to jewelery. Another example of differences is caravan which is called a trailer in the US.
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Table of Contents
Contents
CHAPTER ONE Prologue
CHAPTER TWO Platypus pool
CHAPTER THREE The Moss Garden
CHAPTER FOUR The body
CHAPTER FIVE Ranger Troy inspects body
CHAPTER SIX Th
e Day After
CHAPTER SEVEN Talking to Sgt Grant & Const Mathews
CHAPTER EIGHT Into town
CHAPTER NINE Wild Animals
CHAPTER TEN Dawn comes early
CHAPTER ELEVEN Meeting Cracker
CHAPTER TWELVE Off to Emma's place
CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Barbecue
CHAPTER FOURTEEN A day to recover
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Missing
CHAPTER SIXTEEN The clue
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The hunt
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The Capture
CHAPTER NINETEEN Authors Note