Body in the Gorge (Cockatoo Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) (2 page)

CHAPTER FOUR

The body

A gust of wind like a Willy-Willy suddenly scooped up my hat, away it flew up the slope where it disappeared behind a large outcrop of rock. This terrain definitely looked like a giant has had a tantrum and tossed huge boulders everywhere. I looked around, no-one in sight I didn’t want to be caught off the footpath in the National Park but that was my favourite hat and I didn’t want to loose it.

I scrambled up the hillside and made my way through the tufts of long grass and around the rocks, past the Cycad palm to see my hat cheekily perched on a round boulder. I retrieved it and turned to make my way back down the hill when something shiny caught my eye beneath the boulder outcrop. I moved closer then screamed! I was staring at a skull which seemed to be staring back at me.

“Chloe, Chloe where are you? Are you alright?” Becca came running down the track.

“I’m up here,” I moved around the rocks and waved my arms madly at her. “I’ve found a skeleton up here some poor soul has died here.”

“What! are you sure it’s human?”

“Well come see for yourself.”

Becca climbed up and took a close look at the skeleton which was covered with loose dirt, fallen leaves and bark like a quilt which had been tucked in around the body to give it comfort, then she raised the camera in her hand and automatically took some photos. Well its second nature for her she is after all a newspaper photographer as well as an art photographer. We both carefully backed out of there and made our way back down the hill to the walking path.

Becca took my hand we were both a bit shaky. “OK there’s no phone reception here I’ll go and find the Ranger, you wait on the path so we know where the body is. Don’t tell anyone what you’ve found, it’s obviously been there a long time. Just look tired and in need of a rest.”

“Well that won’t be hard! I am exhausted.” I replied as Becca hurried off down the track towards the Information Centre. I watched Becca as she disappeared around the bend her easy stride taking her quickly away. I wished I was as fit as my sister she was 10 years younger and didn’t have my hip problems. I made myself comfortable on a handy log by the side of the path this would take a long while. I thought about the day up until now.

CHAPTER FIVE

Ranger Troy inspects body

I shifted uncomfortably on my log seat, it had been about an hour since I had found the body when I went uphill chasing my hat, and Becca had left to find a Park Ranger. I looked up at the boulders which from this angle appropriately looked like grave stones for the skeletal body resting behind them. I wondered if the body had been buried originally, the rain here can be extremely heavy in the wet season, any loose soil would be washed down hill. My musings were interrupted by the sound of voices.

“You’ll have to show me your photos sometime,” a deep male voice said.

“I’ll send you an invitation to our next exhibition, maybe you’ll be in Brisbane then.” That was definitely my sister, she sounded happy. It has been a long time since her marriage broke up, so maybe the handsome ranger could break the drought I thought as the two of them rounded the bend and stopped in front of me.

“Hi Sis here we are.” Becca stated the obvious.

I looked with interest at the rugged tanned face which was etched with laughter lines. He held out his hand.

“Hello my name is Troy and you must be Chloe.” Troy gripped my hand firmly “You’d better show me your bones and I’ll decide if its the police or the archaeologist we need.”

I rose to my feet and turned and pointed up the hill. “Its just behind that rock outcrop, between the rocks and the Cycad.”

Becca and I stood there and admired the rear view of a strong muscular man climbing above us. He’d obviously kept fit over the years.

After quite a while we heard Troy’s voice float down the hill. “Looks like we need the police.”

He came carefully back down the slope retracing his steps. Once on the path he stepped away and pulled out his two-way radio and spoke to his office. He turned to us, but he looked at Becca “You two should head back to the Caravan Park. The police will have to come from Rollingtown or they may wait for the Homicide detectives from the city.

“Homicide!” I squeaked

“Well at least a suspicious death, isn’t that what they say.” Troy smiled. “Don’t worry it obviously happened a long time ago, but there is still some evidence of clothes and jewellery so I’m pretty sure its not a native Australian of ancient times.”

Becca smiled back “Well could I get some photos?” I could see Troy really wanted to give in to her.

In the end he swallowed and said, “No sorry I’ve been ordered to keep people away from the body so I have to stay here.” He looked at me, “Chloe you’ll have to give the Police a statement, it could be late tomorrow before they come looking for you.”

I turned to go, “That’s okay, not sure I’ll be doing much moving tomorrow, I’ll be too sore.” I rubbed my hip.

Off we plodded and by the time we made it back to the campground the sun was low in the sky. Becca just plopped into the deck chair like a rag doll.

“The only thing I’m moving for is a glass of wine and nibbles, the platypus can wait until tomorrow,” she sighed.

“That was a long day,” I added as I poured us two glasses of white wine and put the glasses and nuts on the table outside our caravan. We both started to relax as we sipped and watched the kangaroos grazing on the grass in front of us lit with a golden glow from the sinking sun.

Becca picked up her camera and started looking through her pictures.

“Look at this photo,” she sounded excited.

“Oh!” was all I could say as I looked at the skeleton in close up detail.

“No, look.” She pointed to the ribcage of the skeleton and there amongst the forest debris was a gold and opal necklace around the neck.

“Maybe they can identify the person from this,” she said. “Can you see there is still some hair on the skull it looks to be long and blond.”

I took off my glasses, being short sighted I could see detail better without them. “Well now I know what caught my eye when I picked up my hat it must have been the sun on that necklace,” I looked at Becca. “How many photos did you take?”

“I took quite a few and lucky I did, before I left to get help. Don’t tell Troy,” she replied without looking up. “Looks like she was wearing jeans and probably a T-shirt although there’s not much trace of that now, but most of the jeans are still on her so hopefully she wasn’t raped!”

“Then how did she die? Surely she didn’t go out there in the bush to commit suicide. Why hasn’t someone missed her?” I queried.

Becca handed me the camera again “Here look at this one, look closely at the neck.”

I peered at the photo. “The neck bones are out of line, do you think her neck was broken?”

“Yes that’s what I thought,” said Becca as she reached for the bottle and topped up our glasses. “I think I could have been a forensic pathologist like Bones on TV,” mused Becca.

I looked at her “I think you’ve had plenty to drink, I’d better get us something solid to eat.”

After tea we both headed for a hot shower and then we both climbed into bed after the long exhausting day which had been full of surprises.

CHAPTER SIX

The Day After

I opened my eyes to sunshine flooding in. I looked at Becca’s bed it was empty, I must have slept in if Becca was already up. I remember having dreams of skeletons and big rocks rolling down hills. I must have got some sleep I could see it was eight am. I hauled myself out of bed and dressed.

Then I heard Becca’s voice “Did you always want to be a ranger?”

The deep reply “Well it was a toss up between the police force or this but the National Parks and animals won and truthfully I don’t think I would have liked general policing, this job has too much of that in the parks as it is!”

I opened the door In time to see Becca and Troy arrive outside our van.

“Hello Sleepyhead,” grinned Becca. She didn’t often beat me out of bed, so she liked to gloat when it did happen. I gingerly stepped out of the doorway and winced then nearly missed the step as my hip locked.

“Oh-h, I’m so stiff and sore!” I cried as Troy helped me down. I grabbed a towel “I think I’ll go and have another shower to warm up my muscles. See you soon.”

“That’s okay I’ll start breakfast, I invited Troy along, its his second breakfast for the day. It will be ready when you get back,” said Becca taking my arm and getting me started.

I smiled at her, it was good to see her so perky in the morning. “I’m all right, thanks.” I waved as I hobbled over to the shower block.

By the time I arrived back, feeling much more mobile. Becca was placing plates on the table.

“That smells wonderful.” My mouth watered looking at the omelettes with cheese, chives, tomatoes and mushrooms oozing out of them with bacon crumbled on top. I forgot my aching muscles as I tucked into the delicious breakfast. Becca could excel at cooking when she wanted too. Troy was obviously enjoying his second breakfast too.

“I told Troy about the photos, he wants to see them,” Becca admitted as she shrugged her shoulders.

Troy swallowed his last mouthful and turned to me. “Its OK, Becca explained she took the photos before she went for help, it probably means you’ll both need to make statements with the police. I’m quite interested in this investigation, but the police aren’t going to share much with me, so maybe we can do our own investigation starting with Becca’s photos.”

Becca brought her camera out and handed it to Troy, he slowly looked through the collection. He paused on one and peered closer, “this necklace, I’ve seen similar in Biloela where there is a craftsman jeweller who makes pieces like this and sells from his gallery. He has been doing this for twenty years or more. Each piece he makes is different. Maybe he could help us,” Troy sat back. “It would make it easier if we knew when she died,” he sighed.

“Do we know the gender?” Becca asked

“The necklace is very feminine and the long blonde hair, surely its a girl.” I pointed out.

“We’ll have to see if we can get more information out of the cops when they eventually turn up for our statements,” Becca said.

Troy and Becca were entranced with the photos sitting there with there heads together I decided to give them some space.

“I’ll head down to the shop, we need more milk and bread,” I said as I grabbed my purse and headed for the shop. I don’t think they even heard me leave.

Down at the camp shop there was a retired couple over at the counter talking to Madge, one of the owners of the park. I headed for the souvenirs and began to browse where I could hear the latest gossip.

”Here’s your change,” said Madge handing over coins to the gentleman in the safari type shirt.

“Thanks,” he said, “I heard there was a body found in the park yesterday, do we have a killer amongst us?” the couple looked worried.

Madge leaned over and consoled them, “it’s okay there’s no danger here the body was just a skeleton and has been out there for a long time, years in fact poor thing. But we will have the police here today investigating.”

The couple gathered their groceries and stiffly moved out of the store. Obviously they had been bush walking yesterday too.

I picked up a fridge magnet for my collection and went for the milk and bread. As I was paying she looked at me. “You are the lady that found the body aren’t you?”

I nodded, “yes it was quite a shock.”

“I was right wasn’t I, telling them the body had been out there a long time?” Madge asked.

“Oh yes!” I replied “It was just a skeleton although some clothing remained, looked like it had been there a few years. Have you been here long?”

“Bill and I have been running the park for twenty years and Bill’s parents ran it before then.” Madge pulled up a stool and sat ready for a chat.

“Do you remember any missing people from the park then?” I asked.

Madge stopped to think, “well we’ve had a lot of young employees, they only stay for a few months usually for the holiday period. I can think of a few, there was a boy who left suddenly ten years ago and we even set up a search party and searched the tracks. A few months later one of our other employees rang us to say he thought he saw him in Rockhampton, but it was never verified. Then there was a young girl, she seemed a reliable sort. She worked for us for six months some of that time she shared her cabin with her boyfriend who did odd jobs for us when he was around. Then one morning she wasn’t at work on time, I went looking for her because she had never been late before. The boyfriend was in the cabin, no sign of Sally, that was her name. He said they had a fight and Sally had walked off, said she was going home. He quit his job and he told me Sally quits too. The last I saw of him was as he took off on his motorbike. I never saw either of them again.” Madge sighed

“Did she take all her things?” I asked