Cry of the Taniwha

by Des Hunt

  ‘Nah! We wouldn’t break the glass. We’d do the lock.’

  ‘It was the girl. Ana. The one who Skulla sent to get us. Do you know where she lives?’

  Immediately, Croke was back on the defensive. ‘Maybe. What of it?’

  ‘She stole something of mine.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It was that piece of ponga that was in the strongbox that Skulla opened. We need it back so it can go in the museum.’

  Croke nodded slowly. ‘She’s Motz’s sister. She’ll be around there. Come with me. I’ll make her give it back.’

  The way he said it frightened Matt a little: he wanted the ponga piece back, but he didn’t want the girl hurt because of it. Still he went inside, gathered some things and was soon trailing Croke down the drive. It looked like getting the diamonds back would be easier than he’d originally thought.

  Walking around with Croke was quite an experience. People stared, but not if they thought Croke was watching, and each of the starers wore either a disgusted look or a sneering smile. Some of them studied Matt as well, no doubt wondering why a normal kid like him was going around with a gang thug.

  The house was in a poorer part of Rotorua, in the sort of street that Matt would normally have avoided. Three battered cars sat out the front, parked so that they were half on the road and half on the footpath. Two more cars were sitting on what would have been the front lawn if there’d been any grass. They looked as if they hadn’t been driven for years.

  As they walked down the driveway, Matt had to watch that he didn’t trip over broken bits of concrete or fall down a hole where chunks had been removed. The doors of the garage were open, revealing a large pool table. Six males were sitting on boxes drinking beer, watching another male take a shot. All of them were dressed in gang clothes, even though a couple of them must’ve been over thirty. They all looked scary.

  Croke went into the garage and was greeted with funny handshakes and grunts. Matt was left out on the drive, wondering what he’d let himself in for. This was a seriously scary place. Plus some of the gang looked as if they were drunk already. Matt didn’t know whether this was just the start of the day’s drinking or a continuation from the previous night. Either way, he didn’t want to have anything to do with any of them.

  Eventually, Croke and another guy came out. Matt recognized him as the one who’d gone off with Ana, the one who had clipped her over the ear.

  He stood in front of Matt, swaying back and forth as he tried to maintain his balance. His eyes ranged up and down Matt with a look of contempt, as if he was looking at a large dog turd that had got in his way. Matt kept staring to the front, avoiding eye contact and trying not to show his fear.

  ‘This is Motz,’ said Croke. ‘He says his sister didn’t do your house.’

  Motz nodded at this, which caused him to lose his balance and stagger a couple of steps sideways.

  ‘She did,’ replied Matt. ‘She took something that is old and valuable.’

  Motz’s ears pricked up when he heard the word ‘valuable’. He turned to the house. ‘Ana!’ he bellowed. ‘Get your fat ass out here.’

  A moment later the girl appeared, cowering as if anticipating a beating. When she saw Matt her eyes went wide with shock, and in that instant he knew for certain that she had stolen the ponga piece.

  Croke must’ve seen the guilt as well, for he said, ‘Go get it.’

  Without a word she turned and went back into the house, returning a moment later with the piece. She handed it to Croke.

  ‘This it?’ asked Croke.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Matt. He was scared to say anything more in case they picked up on his excitement: the piece was complete and didn’t look as if it had been opened.

  ‘Why you take something like that?’ asked Motz.

  ‘Cos it looked cool,’ Ana replied.

  It was then that Matt noticed that everyone in the garage was watching the exchange with interest.

  Motz turned to Matt. ‘You said it was valuable. Is it?’

  Matt regretted ever using the word. ‘Only because it’s old.’

  One of the men came out of the garage and took the piece from Croke. ‘This doesn’t look valuable.’

  ‘Nah!’ said another, taking it from the first. ‘But we could use the candle to heat substances.’ There was a giggle from the other members at the way he said ‘substances’. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and slid it between the top of the candle and the ponga. ‘Yeah! It’s coming out easy.’

  Matt watched in horror as the man eased the candle up until it was just resting on the top.

  ‘Tell you what,’ said the man, pointing at Matt with the knife. ‘You have the wood; we keep the candle. What ya think?’

  Matt didn’t know what to say. If he said yes, then the diamonds would be discovered. If he said no, then the gang would take it anyway and he might even get damaged in the process.

  The rest of the gang shuffled out of the garage in anticipation of some action. All eyes were on the boy, waiting for his reply. But Matt was now so scared that he couldn’t say anything even if he’d had an answer.

  Then a voice spoke for him. ‘Nah!’

  Immediately, the eyes swivelled to the one who had spoken: it was Croke. ‘He keeps it,’ he added. ‘He keeps it all.’

  The man with the knife didn’t like this. The knife was turned so that it pointed towards Croke. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because he saved Skulla.’

  It took a moment for this to sink in, but then the effect was dramatic. All heads turned back to Matt; eyes went wide and mouths gaped.

  The knife was lowered as its owner said, ‘What? This weedy-looking thing?’

  Croke nodded. ‘Yeah! He kept Skulla alive. Did that blowing in the mouth stuff.’

  Then one of them laughed. ‘He gave Skulla the kiss of life? That, I would like to have seen.’

  This was greeted with much laughter.

  ‘Hey!’ said one of them, slapping Matt on the back. ‘I don’t think Skulla’d want you going round saying yous been kissing him.’

  Now they were all laughing about it. There was more slapping on the back and even some handshakes. Matt was the hero: the boy who had kissed Skulla.

  When things settled down, Matt was handed back the ponga piece. It was almost like a ceremony: a ritual returning of a stolen item—the righting of a wrong. He accepted with a nod of his head. Then there was even more back-slapping and handshaking before he got the opportunity to leave. He walked slowly down the drive, forcing his body to stay calm when everything in his head told him to run.

  As soon as he was out of sight of the gang, he stopped and jammed the top of the candle firmly down into the ponga. The last thing he wanted was to drop it and have diamonds spilling all over the footpath. Then he realized how stupid he looked carrying the thing along the street, especially around this area. If he was seen, he was likely to have it stolen again. So he looked around until he found a shopping bag lying in the gutter and placed the thing in that. Now he could walk home as if he was carrying the shopping, instead of the most valuable collection of diamonds ever seen in Rotorua.

  Chapter 26

  Burty and Lew were in the kitchen when Matt got back to the house, and that suited him just fine. The sooner someone else took responsibility for the ponga piece, the better.

  The floor was covered with bags; the result of Eve and Nan’s shopping. On the table were plates of food, but not Nan’s usual baking: this had the mass-produced look of bakery food. It didn’t seem to make any difference to Burty, who was eating with his usual gusto. As always, Lew was left with the job of reporting on the happenings of the past two days.

  When things had died down at the explosion site, the police had moved in with sensitive metal detectors. They’d scanned the area for hours, but all they’d found were some old cooking utensils indicating that people may have camped there sometime in the past. There was no sign of the pendant. They didn’t doubt that Skulla had be
en holding it before the eruption, but he certainly didn’t have it afterwards: all parts of his clothing and body had been thoroughly searched—he’d even been X-rayed just in case…Diz’s body had been similarly searched without success.

  In the end, the police had accepted that the Rothery Stone must’ve fallen back into the explosion crater, which had since become a boiling hot spring. If it was like similar springs at Whakarewarewa, the hole would reach down hundreds of metres. The general consensus was that the pendant would never be recovered. It seemed that the Rothery Stone was now gone forever.

  After Lew had finished, Eve and Nan reported on their morning. They’d had a ball! Nan in particular was excited about the things they’d done. Apparently, she hadn’t been shopping with another woman for years. When Hone went with her, all he wanted to do was get it over and done with as quickly as possible. Whereas Eve was like Nan, and liked going into shops just to look at things. From all the bags on the floor, Matt gathered that in many of the shops they did more than just browse: it looked like some serious buying had taken place.

  ‘So, Matt,’ said Eve, when they’d finished their story. ‘What did you get up to?’ She pointed to the bag, grinning. ‘Have you been buying me lingerie?’

  For the first time, Matt took a look at the bag he’d picked up: it was from a shop called Bras and Panties. He smiled to himself as he imagined what the gang members would have made of that if they’d seen him, especially seeing he was the one who liked kissing Skulla.

  ‘Nope,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘Recovering some stolen property.’ He pulled the ponga piece out of the bag.

  ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ said Nan. ‘Where did you get it from?’

  ‘It was in the strongbox,’ Matt replied.

  Burty and Lew looked at him strangely, but said nothing.

  Eve leant forward and touched the candleholder, as if checking that it was real. ‘And is it…complete?’ she asked breathlessly.

  ‘Let’s see,’ said Matt, picking up a knife and sliding it into the bottom part of the candle.

  The others got increasingly interested as the wax lifted out of the wood. By the time he got it loose, Eve was almost jumping out of her chair. Matt was feeling pretty excited, too.

  He made a big show of pulling it out and carefully placing it on the table. Then he put his hand into the ponga bottom and moved it around for a while. A look of dismay spread over his face. Eve lifted a hand to her mouth.

  ‘Don’t tell me,’ she cried. ‘Don’t tell me.’

  Matt nodded his head slowly. ‘Yes,’ he said, almost groaning with disappointment. ‘They’re here.’ Then his face spread into a wide grin, as he pulled out the black bag. ‘They’re here!’

  Eve squealed with excitement. The two policemen sat with their eyes wide in anticipation. Nan looked perplexed, unsure of what was happening.

  ‘Clear a bit of the table, please, Eve,’ Matt said as he untwisted the tie. She did so, giving enough space for Matt to pour the stones out into a sparkling circle.

  Nan gasped; Burty’s and Lew’s eyes jumped out as if they were on stalks; and Eve giggled excitedly.

  ‘The Clancy diamonds,’ said Matt like a showman, spreading his hands over the collection. ‘Stolen from the Bank of Soho, London, in 1885.’

  ‘And brought to New Zealand by Edward Basham in 1886,’ added Eve.

  ‘Where they were stolen by Jack Boult,’ Matt continued, ‘who lost them and his life during the Tarawera eruption.’

  Lew nodded his head. ‘And recovered by Matt Logan,’ he said.

  ‘And Eve Hastings,’ squeaked Eve. ‘Nobody would’ve found them, if I hadn’t said where to look.’

  ‘Yes,’ Matt conceded. ‘And don’t forget Jackson Peters—he was involved too.’

  ‘Well done, everyone,’ said Nan. ‘Now, would you like something more to eat?’

  The diamonds were big news on Tuesday morning. The previous afternoon had been quite a time for Matt and Eve: TV shoots, radio interviews, followed by a mini-press conference at the museum. Everyone wanted a piece of the action. And it wasn’t over yet. That afternoon they were due to attend a function at a bank where the diamonds would be viewed and valued by an expert. It was expected that a statement would be made about the ownership of the collection and the payment of any reward for its recovery. It was going to be a big day, and Nan insisted that they start it with a decent sit-down breakfast.

  For the first time, all four were at the table at the same time; Hone had the day off, and Nan made sure that Matt and Eve were up in time to share the meal with them. It was a pleasant time, with them recalling the events of the past week: the fun parts, the scary parts, and the downright dangerous bits.

  Matt told them about his visit to the gang house and how frightening he’d found it at the time. They laughed at the kissing Skulla part, but were disturbed about the way Ana was treated.

  ‘She’s meant to be in a foster home,’ said Hone. ‘I’ll check it out later. That house is no place for a young girl.’

  ‘It’s no place for anyone to be,’ said Nan with feeling. ‘Those sorts of places just breed criminals.’

  ‘Yes, Nan,’ said Hone, reaching out his hand to touch her arm. ‘I agree, and I’m trying to—’

  There was a loud knocking on the door. Immediately Matt thought of Croke—the knock was the same as the one the day before. Maybe he’d found out about the diamonds and now the gang was upset that they’d been tricked out of a fortune.

  Hone put up his hand, indicating that they should remain seated. He went and opened the door. It was Croke, but he didn’t look angry. He actually looked almost happy, and greeted Hone with the hint of a smile.

  ‘Come in, Cory,’ said Hone. But Croke hadn’t changed that much. He shook his head and took a step away from the door.

  ‘Just want to see Matt,’ he said.

  Matt was surprised to hear the man use his first name. He stood and moved outside. ‘Hi, Croke,’ he said.

  Croke responded with a tilt of the head. ‘Skulla wants to see you.’

  Straight away, Matt felt a twinge of fear. Hone saw it and turned to Croke. ‘I hope it’s for a friendly reason.’

  Croke flicked his eyebrows. ‘Yeah. He wants to see the girl, too.’

  Hone thought about this for a while before saying, ‘OK! They’ll both go, but only if I come, too. Is that a problem?’

  ‘Nah! Skulla won’t mind. He said you might want to come.’

  ‘Right! Then we’ll be with you in a minute. Come inside and wait. Have something to eat.’

  But Croke wouldn’t go inside. So instead Nan took out a plateful of food, which the man ate sitting on the doorstep, while the others prepared themselves—physically and emotionally—to go and see Skulla.

  Walking through the hospital with Croke was even more of an experience than walking through the streets. Patients, nurses, visitors—they all wanted to study him, but at the same time not be seen doing so. Matt found the situation amusing, whereas when he first came to Rotorua he’d been scared to be anywhere near the man.

  They first visited Jackson, who was obviously thrilled to see them. He said he was OK, but it was clear that the burns on his face were still a problem because he had trouble speaking properly. One side of his face and his hands were covered with a sticky substance which showed the almost raw flesh beneath. Yet, even with the difficulty in talking, he said more in ten minutes than he had in all the time Matt had known him.

  The main topic of conversation was the diamonds. Jackson was very interested in the possibility of a reward. One of the nurses had told him that he might get thousands of dollars. In his mind, Jackson was already spending the money on game consoles, big televisions, pool tables—all of a sudden, he had developed very expensive tastes.

  After Hone got permission from the nurses’ station, Jackson joined them on their trip to the other ward. Croke walked one side of him and Matt the other, which seemed to please the boy: he strutted along wearing his
injuries as if they were battle scars, which in a way they probably were.

  If it hadn’t been for the skull tattoo, Matt would’ve had trouble recognizing that the person sitting up in bed was Skulla. His cheeks were hollow and his body limp, as if all the life had been drawn out of him. Yet after a closer look, Matt could see aspects of the old Skulla: the confidence, the fearlessness, and the plain don’t-mess-with-me attitude.

  To Matt’s surprise, Hone went straight to the bed, leant over and gave the man a hongi. When they separated, Matt could see that both men were deeply affected by the action. Then Skulla beckoned Matt with his hand, indicating it was his turn.

  With butterflies flapping wildly in his stomach Matt stepped forward. As soon as he was within range, Skulla took over, taking the boy’s hand in a traditional handshake. From then on it was easy, as if he’d done it hundreds of times before instead of this being his first hongi. Their noses touched and then their foreheads.

  Later, Matt would not be able to explain what happened next; however, he knew that it was an experience he would never forget. All he’d ever be able to say was that something flowed between them: it was not love, yet nor was it hate; it was not knowledge, yet he felt wiser afterwards; it was not energy, but it made him stronger.

  When they separated, Skulla continued to grip Matt’s hand. ‘Thank you,’ he said, his voice shaking with emotion. ‘Thank you.’

  After that, it was Jackson’s turn and Matt noticed how carefully the man avoided hurting the boy’s burns. Matt thought back to the first time he’d seen the two together: that morning when Skulla had been bullying Jackson in the thermal area. So much had changed in so little time.

  Then Eve went forward to hongi, ending with a kiss on the cheek from Skulla.

  Finally, Croke and Skulla greeted each other in the usual gang manner, which made Matt wonder whether anything had really changed. Was all that had happened in the last few minutes just some ritual? When Skulla recovered, would things simply drift back to the way they’d been before? After all, how could an accident cause anything much to change in their lives? The houses they lived in were the same; the people around them the same; and the need to have money would be the same. Why should Matt expect things to be different?