Kimberley Sun

by Di Morrissey

  ‘Looks like change is all the rage around here,’ said Sami as she walked around the tidy grounds and renovated sheds. ‘Mum said everyone had been busy.’

  ‘Life is all about change, isn’t it?’

  Sami nodded politely, but once again felt that slight niggling irritation that came practically every time she talked with Tim Hudson. ‘Yeah. Well, I’d better see Mum. Do you mind just keeping an eye on Biddy for a while?’

  ‘No worries.’

  Sami strode away, struggling to regain an inner composure. God knows how she was going to cope confined on board the lugger with Tim. Someone else had to go too or she would go out of her brain. She paused under a palm tree, closed her eyes, and took some deep breaths before walking up to the verandah of Dave’s cabin.

  It was obvious from the spread of papers and files across the table and scatter of empty chairs that quite a few people had been at the meeting earlier, but now there was only her mother and Palmer, sitting close and deeply engrossed in reading a report. They looked up when they heard her at the steps.

  Lily jumped to her feet and rushed down the verandah. ‘Darling, you’re safely here. How wonderful to see you.’ They hugged and kissed. ‘Oh, you’re looking so well. How’s Biddy? How did she handle the drive?’

  ‘She’s fine. Sleeping at the moment. We made a detour. I didn’t expect to see you, Palmer. I hear Mika and Bobby are here too.’ Sami rushed through the sentences, trying to adjust to the very obvious rapport between her mother and Palmer.

  Lily didn’t seem to notice. ‘And Pauline is coming up from Perth. Ross persuaded her to come. It’s going to be wonderful. We have so much news.’

  Palmer came over and gave Sami a little hug. ‘Hi, Sam. How was the desert?’

  ‘Interesting. Difficult. I’ll tell you about it later.’

  ‘Can’t wait.’

  ‘What’s all this?’ She waved a hand at the paperwork. And without waiting for an answer she said, ‘It seems everyone has a finger in the pie.’ She gave her mother a challenging look. ‘Half of Broome have trailed you up here. It feels like a three-ring circus.’

  Lily was instantly uncomfortable. ‘Sami, please don’t be like that. They’re friends who want to be supportive and if we can do things together, why not? It will benefit the farm in the long run, I hope. Dave and Tim agree with me.’

  Sami found herself struggling once again with the complexity of her relationship with her mother. ‘Great. Well, I’ll leave you to it. I’ve got to unpack a lot of your stuff from the car.’ Sami hated how she felt, and tried to hold off the tears that were stinging the back of her eyes.

  ‘Darling, don’t be silly.’ Lily glanced at Palmer and reached out to touch Sami, who pulled away.

  ‘Stop treating me like I’m five years old! Why do you always have to be the centre of attention? You’re not interested in what I’m doing!’

  ‘That’s not true!’ Lily was shocked and hurt. ‘Sami, let’s go and have a talk. This is just too silly.’

  ‘Mum, stop dismissing me. You never really listen to what I think.’

  ‘Because you never tell me!’ Lily was embarrassed at Sami’s outburst but Palmer was unfazed.

  ‘Sami, would you like to take a stroll around the circus?’ he asked. ‘Your mum needs to say hello to Biddy and I have a lot to tell you that I’ve been saving up. Waiting till you got back from the camel round-up or whatever. You’ll be pleased, I hope.’ He took her arm and gently propelled her towards the creek. ‘Let’s walk down to the bay.’

  ‘Why are you here?’ Sami asked.

  ‘To see you.’ He grinned, then immediately got serious. ‘No, initially I brought Ross up to see Sister Angelica. In short, he’s got a job running a training scheme for some young people from the local communities. Shall we?’ He gestured to an old seat under a tree.

  She slumped down, feeling deflated. ‘Please don’t tell me I’ve been silly.’

  ‘No, feelings are never silly. It’s not my place to intrude, but I suspect you might be feeling as you do because it probably surprised you to see me hanging out with your mother. I’ve got to know her a bit better recently, which you haven’t noticed as you haven’t been around. But don’t worry, I don’t want to trigger any discord so I’ll back off.’

  ‘And I’ll get the blame for that too!’

  ‘Your mother has a lot on her plate with the harvest, the investors turning up, trying to expand shell capacity quickly, and coping with old Dave, who’s getting a bit wafty. She’s leaning on Tim a lot.’

  Sami chewed her lip. ‘Is Tim a good guy? I can’t figure him out. He’s been so entrenched in my mother’s camp, and I don’t know if he’s being straight with her or in it for what he can get.’

  Palmer could see the competitiveness and insecurity that ran between mother and daughter. Anyone who was devoted to Lily and won her attention was, in Sami’s eyes, taking her mother’s time away from her. ‘You can make up your mind about Tim when you guys take Biddy up the coast.’

  ‘Yeah, I’m worried.’

  ‘I’d offer to come but I have some appointments. I’m planning to do a lot more research up here. Speaking of which, how are you doing?’

  She couldn’t help smiling. ‘There was mail for me in Broome, notes from my supervisor on the draft of the first half of my thesis. A lot of red notes but I seem to be heading in the right direction.’

  Palmer slapped her on the back. ‘Brava. I had no doubts. And the best is yet to come. So, face this next challenge of travelling with Tim and sharing Biddy’s journey, knowing your future is going in a very specific direction. Have you told your mother?’

  ‘Not yet. I guess she’ll be pleased.’

  ‘She worries about you, Sami. And she has a lot of worries at present. Your news will cheer her up a lot.’

  She gave him a grateful smile. ‘And will I ever become as wise an owl as you?’

  ‘Like Doonbi the owl?’

  Sami smiled, remembering a story Goonamulli had told them in Wandjina country, out in the Kimberley gorges, where she’d seen the paintings on the ancient rocks of a little owl, a freshwater turtle and a bush turkey.

  She found her mother sitting beside Biddy, who was sleeping. Sami walked in quietly but before she could speak Lily rose and embraced her. ‘It’s all right, Sami. You don’t have to say anything. I love you more than anything, anyone, in this world.’ They hugged again.

  ‘I know. I don’t know why I can be such a bitch at times. It’s just that you’re all I’ve got.’ Her words were muffled in Lily’s shoulder.

  ‘You might think like that, and I’ll always be here for you. But many people love you, Sami. Just accept you are worthy of being loved and admired.’

  ‘I’m sorry I snapped at you. I was jealous. I think of Palmer as my friend.’

  ‘And he is. I’ve come to realise he’s very special. You stick by him. He’s a man of integrity and very loyal to you. Even if he does have a rather quirky sense of humour and appalling taste in music.’

  Sami chuckled. ‘He says he can play Beethoven on the piano, and I believe him.’

  ‘When we goin’ on da lugger?’

  Lily and Sami turned around to see Biddy looking at them.

  ‘Tomorrow, Biddy. On the tide,’ said Sami. And squeezed her mother’s hand. At the same time, Lily locked eyes with Biddy and something passed between them. Lily knew then that this journey was going to be a special one for Biddy and Sami.

  Biddy lifted her face into the light breeze, smelling the salt air. She was settled on the deck in a canvas sling chair Tim had secured with ropes so it wouldn’t slide. A cotton blanket was draped across her knees and a shade awning had been rigged up. Rakka was curled up at her feet; Sami had decided they couldn’t leave her behind.

  ‘Did you ever go out on the luggers in the old days, Biddy?’ asked Tim from his position at the helm. They were using the engine as the wind was not strong enough for useful sailing.

  ‘Alf worked on d
a luggers some time. Biddy and Alf go out in de little boat. Dinghy boat. Fishin’.’

  ‘Biddy’s a great fisherwoman,’ said Sami, who was sitting beside her.

  ‘What about you? Do you like fishing?’

  ‘I don’t really go into that sort of thing in Sydney. But Ross, Eugene and Bobby took me mud crabbing. It was dirty, but a lot of fun.’

  Tim considered her response then said casually, ‘You’ve made friends with an interesting group of people up here. Do you mix with people like Eugene, Bobby and Farouz back in Sydney?’

  Sami missed the innuendo. ‘There aren’t people like them back there.’ She laughed. ‘They’re Broome people.’ Then glancing at Tim’s quizzical expression, she added, ‘Before you ask, I feel very at home with the mob up here. But it’s not my life, you know.’

  ‘We all have many lives, that’s for sure.’

  ‘Oh, what are some of yours?’ Sami didn’t know much about Tim other than the little her mother had told her.

  ‘I don’t have a very colourful past. Usual education, a lot of travel, a bit cluey about pearl farming, and a profitable experience over a few years in Indonesia. Workwise it was great, emotionally . . . traumatic.’

  ‘Girlfriend trouble?’

  ‘Yeah. Can you still see the claw marks?’ He lifted an arm. ‘Dainty, tiny little thing, sweet as could be . . . for a while. She turned into a wild tiger with an elephant-sized temper.’

  ‘So now you’re looking at pretty, sweet-tempered Aussie girls. Like Pauline,’ said Sami.

  ‘I like Pauline. As I like most of the girls up here. Is Biddy comfy? She’s gone to sleep.’

  Sami turned to check on her and adjusted the blanket before picking up the conversation again. ‘I haven’t been very pleasant to you, have I?’

  ‘I can understand that. You have your mum’s best interests at heart. That’s fine by me. She might have been swept away by a silver-tongued con man.’

  Sami was thoughtful. ‘How does Dave fit into all this? I don’t quite know what to make of him. Whether he’s just a loser, a lonely old pisspot, or running away from some crime in Pommyland. Or all three.’

  ‘It took some time but I’ve winkled the story out of him. Strictly between the two of us, okay? He’d be really embarrassed if your mother knew.’

  ‘God, what’s the story?’

  ‘Old Dave is actually David Francis James George, the son of the late Lord, the Right Honourable Richard Charteris, Eton and Christ Church Oxford, one time Conservative Member for Haddingtonshire.’

  ‘No!’ exclaimed Sami, bursting into laughter as she conjured up the usual image of Dave – a rangy, crinkled, suntanned man with untidy hair, dressed in tatty shorts, faded T-shirt, often with holes, and daggy sandshoes.

  ‘As a teenager Dave was sent out to the colony in the hope of making a man out of a pipsqueak. He worked on some big station in the Territory, and took to it like a duck to water. He never wanted to go back. Instead, he was happy to let his brother be the lord of the manor. Dave has bummed around the Territory and the Kimberley ever since.’

  ‘How’d he get enough money together to buy Star Two? The family inheritance, or did his brother pay him off?’

  ‘Actually, Grand-daddy left him most of the money and his father and brother went to court over it. Dave took a small settlement and walked away – bought this place. After his father died Dave’s brother took over.’

  ‘So he should actually be parading around the House of Lords instead of roughing it up here?’ Sami laughed. ‘No wonder he was so casual about making the company successful. I wonder how much loot he’s still got?’

  ‘I didn’t get that far. A bit too personal.’ Tim scanned the sea, checked the compass and glanced at the coastline, then the map. ‘You never know what people are really like till you know their story. People aren’t always what they seem on the surface.’

  ‘I know that,’ said Sami softly. ‘I met a woman in the desert. I wish more people knew her story. We shouldn’t judge people till we hear their story. Know the truth about them.’

  ‘Fair enough.’ They were silent for a moment, then Tim pointed to the coast. ‘See that headland with the cliff face? We land just around there. Nice little cove, well protected. We’ll get Biddy ashore fairly easily.’

  ‘That’s if Bridget and Dolly got the message,’ said Sami.

  ‘They’ll be there. They know these things.’

  Biddy stirred, sat up a little and cocked her head as if listening. ‘Nearly home, Biddy,’ said Sami.

  ‘Yeah. I can hear country callin’ me.’

  C h a p t e r N i n e t e e n

  BOBBY AND MIKA WERE WALKING HAND IN HAND along a deserted sandy beach on Red Rock Bay. It was embraced by two low headlands that gave the area a sense of remoteness and isolation. But it was a false impression, as the beach was part of Star Two land. However, it was at the most distant point of the farm, separated by thick, tropical bushland, and fringed by palms and mangroves.

  ‘It’s so beautiful,’ sighed Mika, pausing to take in the view. ‘It would be a dream in Japan to live in a place like this.’

  ‘We’re all dreamers. I’m still trying to make my dreams and plans happen,’ said Bobby.

  Mika took his hand and they continued walking. ‘Nothing wrong with nice dreams,’ she said reassuringly.

  ‘What are yours, Mika?’

  She stooped to pick up a small shell, then slipped it in her pocket. ‘Japanese girls have very limited dreams. I enjoy being a teacher. But generally we have the option of a conventional career as office lady and so on, then marriage and family.’

  ‘You don’t strike me as conventional. All that research you did at the Historical Society is not what the backpacker mob usually go for. What was that about anyway?’

  Mika dropped his hand. ‘Let’s sit down for a little while and I’ll tell you.’ They settled on the sand looking out over the bay. Mika folded her arms over her knees and watched a seagull circle then fly off before starting her story. ‘I’ve been researching my family history. I started back in Japan and ended up in Broome. My family came from Wakayama Prefecture.’

  Bobby gave her a quick glance. ‘Lots of the Japanese divers came to northern Australia from there.’

  She nodded. ‘I know. My great-great-grandfather Yoshi was number one diver with Captain Tyndall. I have a photograph of them together.’

  ‘How fantastic!’ exclaimed Bobby. ‘Does Lily know?’

  ‘No. I have been too shy to tell her that I’ve been reading her family diaries at the archives,’ said Mika. ‘I don’t want her to think she has to make me special. You understand?’

  ‘But you are special! She’d love to know this. Wow, how amazing. No wonder you’ve got a talent for working with the pearlshell – it’s in your blood.’ He was really thrilled that she had such a strong link to the area.

  Mika put a restraining hand on Bobby’s arm. ‘Please, Bobby. I want to tell her about this myself. When the time is right.’

  ‘Sure, Mika, anything you say. What else have you found out?’

  ‘It is a long story. Please. I didn’t want anyone to know. Just yet.’

  ‘Okay.’ Bobby didn’t understand her hesitation but he’d do whatever she asked. He took her hand again.

  In Broome, Ross put a cold beer in front of Detective Karl Howard in the quiet courtyard of the restaurant.

  ‘Welcome back to paradise,’ said the cop, raising his glass. ‘How is Perth stacking up these days?’

  ‘Not bad for a city. I met some interesting people, scored a few points, and picked up some news you might be interested in. I saw Pauline Despar while I was down there.’

  ‘How’s she coping?’

  ‘She’s good. Coming back shortly, heading up to Lily’s farm for a break and inspiration.’

  ‘Great. Now, what’s the real news?’

  ‘There’s another item to go on the list of property stolen from her shop. She had forgotten to check on it un
til I asked. It’s an old medallion shaped like the sun with big rays. Bobby apparently got it from Matthias Stern. Pauline borrowed it to copy for a jewellery collection she’s been putting together based on a celestial theme, or something like that. Not my field, you know.’

  Detective Howard grinned. ‘Yeah. Imagine it isn’t. So what’s it worth?’

  ‘Not that much in cash, I reckon.’

  ‘But valuable enough to keep in a safe.’

  ‘Well, maybe. People judge that sort of stuff from different angles, don’t they? Anyway, Pauline will be back soon. Bobby can give you a detailed description if you want it in a hurry.’

  ‘You know, it seems our Matthias Stern wasn’t the affable absent-minded professor Bobby Ching had him pigeon-holed as being. Well, he might have been once, but he was a man with a problem – gambling.’

  ‘He owed money?’ Ross sipped his beer.

  ‘Big time. The German police investigation of his bank records and other avenues confirm he dropped a bundle in a casino near Kuala Lumpur. But the debt was paid off and, according to the casino staff, he teamed up with someone. Some guy who was well known to them in Malaysia.’

  ‘He must’ve won a bit occasionally, or blown his pay to get in the big league,’ said Ross.

  ‘Ah, he’d had a problem for some time. He came under a cloud and his contract at the university wasn’t renewed. He told his son he had some prospects, though. Some sort of a deal that would set him up.’

  ‘Did the son know what it was?’

  ‘No, either he doesn’t know or won’t say. I gave the German police the details on that postcard. The son maintains his father never contacted him again, and he has no idea whether the deal he was hinting at really came off. Now, what do you reckon, Ross? Could the deal have been linked to his murder?’

  ‘The card from here said something about meeting on a Sunday and getting the merchandise, didn’t it? Well, he didn’t have anything of value with him, unless you count that sun thing.’

  ‘Hard to see what a trinket has to do with it. The person of interest is the man he hooked up with in KL, and then suddenly Stern travels to this neck of the woods for a rendezvous at an outback station.’