Body in the Gorge (Cockatoo Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) (3 page)

Madge thought a minute “Yes, but come to think of it she left all her make up and toothbrush and soaps in the bathroom. Though if you’ve just had a big fight you’d be in a hurry to get out and may miss things when you want to get away from your partner.” Madge thought for minute, “then there was another girl three years ago who left me a note she said her mum was sick and she had to leave. I didn’t actually see her leave but we had just paid her and she took all her things with her. If you are interested, I’ll have to go over my files and look for the names and details of any missing people for the police anyway so I’ll make you a copy too.”

“Thanks” I smiled at Madge. “I kind of feel connected with the girl since I found her, it is hard to think of her lying out there all this time. I waved goodbye to Madge as more people came into the shop.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Talking to Sgt Grant & Const Mathews

When I arrived back at the caravan I found Troy had gone. Becca said, “I’m going for a walk around camp to stretch my legs, you should too.”

“OK I’ll just put these away, I can fill you in on what I heard at the shop while we walk.” I put the purchases away in the caravan.

We walked slowly up to the end of the camp where the staff cabins were, it was quite secluded up here, they were set well away from the main camp ground. We stopped at the no entry sign.

“I wonder if you can cut across to the main track through the bush here without going through the main camp?” I pondered.

Becca took some photos, then we turned around and walked back to the lookout track.

Becca looked at me, “are you up to a hill climb?”

I nodded, “Wow this is sure stretching my muscles!” I panted as we climbed the path. From the top we gazed down at the trees and up to the Gorge, some of the ground below had been cleared.

I pointed, “You could probably cut through to the main track through there.”

Becca agreed, I had already told her all of Madge’s speculations and we were both thinking of Sally the employee who left so suddenly. The walk back down was harder on my muscles but it was not very far to endure it. By the time we arrived back at our caravan the police were there looking for us.

“Hello I’m Sergeant Grant and this is Constable Mathews we need to take your statements about the finding of the remains. We settled down in the shade outside the caravan and went over the details of how I chased my hat up the hill and came across the body. There was not a lot to say so the statements didn’t take too long.

“Would you like a cup of Tea or Coffee Sergeant?” Becca asked whilst I was going over the details once again.

“Yes thanks I’d love a coffee its been a long morning,” grinned the Sergeant. Becca brought the coffee and biscuits out and I fetched our spare stools from the car. We all stretched our legs and sipped our coffee.

I dared to ask “Do you know how long the body has been out there?”

The Constable piped up, “Oh forensics reckons about five years?”

Sergeant Grant frowned “I guess its OK to tell you ladies you have stated that its your first time here. We don’t have to handle this type of thing much thank goodness. I’m sure its probably just an accidental death. But its not going to be easy to identify this one.”

“If it was a camper it will be almost impossible with all the people who come and go each year,” observed Constable Mathews

The Sergeant rose. “Thank you ladies, can you come into town tomorrow or the next day to sign your statements? If you hear any talk of missing persons you can let us know then. I’ll keep in touch through the Rangers office.”

Constable Mathews gulped down the rest of his coffee and grabbed his hat as he followed the Sergeant off to their car.

Becca stretched and yawned, “I think I’ll take a nap, all this is just tiring.” She looked at me “By the way Troy asked me to have dinner with him tonight its roast night at the shop cafe, will you be alright or do you want to come too?”

“Oh no I’ll enjoy some time on my own, I can do some sketches of the gorge whilst its still fresh in my mind, there’s a lot of painting ideas going round in my head, this is such a gorgeous place if you exclude dead bodies.”

Becca headed into the van for her nap and I went to the car to fetch my drawing things. The afternoon and evening passed Becca had left with Troy nearly two hours ago, I finished a few quick sketches and whilst I munched on a salad for supper then I started planning how I could make a miniature hanging moss garden.

The door of the caravan opened suddenly and Becca burst in “You’ll never guess!” she crowed with a great big smile. Troy has applied for a transfer to Fraser Island. He said he would be able to keep in touch with me when he comes to the main land and Hervey Bay.” She plopped down on the bed. “This holiday is becoming more interesting by the minute,” She sighed.

“Is that because of a certain handsome Ranger or are you a sleuth at heart,” I asked.

Becca looked at me sideways “I guess a bit of both” She shrugged “Really the sleuthing is no different to my job on the newspaper, and maybe there’ll be a story to tell at the end of this.” Becca closed her eyes and her face took on dreamy look. “Of course Troy does add a bit of spice to the script.”

“Oh boy you’ve got it bad!” I said.

The next morning neither one of us was in a hurry to rise. I read for a while then realized if I wanted breakfast in bed I’d have to make it myself, Becca was still snoring softly. I made tea and left Becca’s coffee ready for her to pour when she woke up. I took my tea and the cereal box back to bed and munched on the dry cereal as I read my book. There was a loud banging on the door.

“Are you awake?” Troy’s voice sounded a bit strained.

“I’m awake!” I yelled back

“What’s up” mumbled Becca from under the bedclothes.

“Hold on a minute,” I called to Troy. “Becca, Troy is at the door wake up.” I said more quietly.

I quickly rose and pulled on some clothes and went to the door to see Troy.

“What’s all this noise about, its only 7.30am, we are on holiday.”

He looked apologetic “Sorry but we’ve been summoned into town to the police station by 11am for interviews with the Homicide Detectives.

“Ah-h so it was murder,” said Becca from behind me, “I think there will be a story in this after all.”

“OK,” I turned back to Troy, “as soon as we’ve had breakfast we’ll be ready.”

Troy said, as he turned to go “I will be back in less than one hour to pick you up I’ve been ordered to take you in with me.”

“Just as well, one less journey on that road for my car is a good thing.” Becca observed as she poured herself a cup of coffee to wake herself up.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Into town

We rattled along the gravel road away from Carnarvon Gorge and were soon back on the bitumen, it didn’t seem so far this time especially since we were in someone else’s car. Once we arrived in the little town of Mallawa it didn’t take us long to find the police station carpark. We got out of the car and stretched our legs then reluctantly made our way into the station. There were certainly a lot of cars in town I guess there wasn’t much excitement usually and a body and a murder investigation was an unusual event.

We walked through the door into a dingy room and paused until our eyes adjusted to the gloom. Constable Mathews was behind the front desk and his smile was the only bright spot in the room.

“Hello again ladies welcome to Malawa, just sit over there.” He pointed to a bench against the wall. “The detectives will speak to Troy first then you Chloe will be next.” He informed us still grinning like a Cheshire cat. At least someone was enjoying this event.

We sat on the bench twiddling our thumbs until Troy finally came out. The Constable looked at me “You’re next Chloe.” I rose to my feet and walked down to the interview room trying not to shake, there is something about being interviewed by police which makes you feel guilty even if you are not.

The interview room was even darker and more like a funeral parlour than the rest of the station. I sat and looked at the detectives, one was small and neat with greying hair, the other was young and as large as Constable Mathews but lacked the cheerful manner. He leaned back to look at me and his stomach spilled out from the dark suit jacket. But it was the older detective who spoke “My name is Detective Danvers and this is Detective Rollin. I almost giggled with an immediate mental image of the Detective rolling down a hill, I changed the giggle to a cough. Detective Danvers continued talking, ignoring my reaction, I guess it was nothing new.

“Your name is Chloe Charlotte Evans from Riverside in Brisbane is this correct?”

I squirmed in my seat “Yes Detective.”

“When did you arrive in Carnarvon Gorge?” He queried.

I paused to think, “it was on Sunday, its hard to keep track of the days when you are on holiday, but yes Sunday.”

The interview went on and on going over every thing many times, what I saw, what I touched, my head was spinning by the time I walked out. I would hate to be an actual suspect for a murder under Detective Danvers scrutiny.

Constable Mathews, Troy and Becca were all huddled over the front desk talking quietly when I came out. I sent Becca in for her turn, although I’m sure she would handle it better than I, as most men liked Becca, although her flirting probably wouldn’t get her far with Detective Danvers.

After we’d all finished and signed our statements it was half way through the afternoon, our stomachs were a combined protesting, rumbling chorus. We headed for the local cafe for some late lunch. We ordered our food and settled at a table away from most of the dwindling crowd so we could compare notes in private.

I sipped my hot coffee as Becca leaned forward, “we found out from Constable Mathews that the body has been there for at least five years or more and they think an echidna’s (small Australian native marsupial) diggings helped uncover the body. The victim is definitely female, probably early twenties by the teeth.

I looked at Becca in admiration. “You certainly managed to get a lot of information out of our friendly Constable!”

Troy was also looking at Becca in awe “Yes she’s good at this she should have been a detective.”

“Oh no! Becca shuddered “I’m just used to extracting information for the newspaper even though I’m a freelance photographer now, I haven’t lost my talents for news and gossip. I just like to champion the underdog and the one who needs us the most is that poor young woman who’s been lying out there in the wilderness all these years.”

Troy sighed, “the biggest problem is finding out who she is. I’ll get my computer out of the car and see what we can find out from the internet, at least there’s good wi-fi access here in town.”

We crowded around the computer screen when Troy brought it back into the cafe.

After a bit of trawling through web sites Troy said, “we need to see all the missing persons from five years ago, thankfully the police like public co-operation and have this information available.”

I pulled out a pen and a notepad, “okay read them out I’ll list them.”

Missing persons

1. Ann Smith 2005

14 year old girl was abducted from Gumwood near Rollington while riding her bicycle through the bush to the road to catch the school bus. Her brother who left home ten minutes later found her bicycle and school bag by the side of the road but Ann Smith was never seen again.

2. Susan Bell 2009

British tourist backpacker 29 years old vanished in Central Queensland. Ms Bell was last seen walking along Rocky creek rd in September 2009. She was hiking to the Little rocky creek camping ground.

3. Jane Gunner 2010

Roma teacher’s aide Jane Gunner 21 years old disappeared while out walking her dog, a poodle in October 2008. Her car was found at Boundary creek. Neither Ms Gunner nor her pet poodle were seen again.

Troy looked at the list, “after an hour of searching that is all we have come up with in a possible time frame. I think number one is probably too long ago unless she was kept captive for five years before she was killed and dumped.”

“I suppose it is possible.” I was doubtful.

Troy continued, “number two seems a bit too old and if she was a serious hiker where are her boots?”

Becca joined in the speculation, “we haven’t got all the information, for example things like her backpack and boots may have been dumped elsewhere, so she couldn’t be identified.”

“Well the number three is a good candidate except where’s the dog?” Troy added

I piped in again, “my guess is the dog ran off and its probably too long ago to check dog records.” We looked at each other frustrated. Troy got up and ordered another round of coffee and returned to the table with a tray laden with fresh coffee and scones fresh from the oven with jam and fresh cream. We all tucked in to the feast then sat back.

Becca leaned forward again, “okay Troy you’ve been at the Carnarvon national park for ten years now, have there been any missing tourists?”