by Di Morrissey
‘You have crocodiles, we have crazy drivers,’ said Veronica.
She carried drinks and a plate of cheese and olives into the small sitting room where Jamie was relaxing, his long legs stretched out, watching the early evening news.
‘I don’t expect you to wait on me,’ he said, taking the tray from her.
‘I’ve made a reservation for dinner at the local Italian,’ said Veronica.
But they never made it to the trattoria. They made love, they took a bath, they lay on the bed and talked and then made scrambled eggs, which they ate by candlelight while they shared a bottle of wine before returning to the rumpled bed. They went out for breakfast and then Jamie set off for his conference. Veronica went to the local farmers’ market to look for fresh ingredients to cook for dinner.
Veronica’s parents had invited them over for Sunday brunch, as her father liked to grill bacon and sausages and fry the eggs on his barbecue. Her mother had bought croissants, strawberry jam and cream.
While Jamie and her father were at the barbecue, Veronica helped her mother.
‘So what do you think of him?’
‘He’s certainly good looking, my goodness. And he seems very charming. Quiet, a gentle sort of person. Not your sort at all,’ added her mother.
‘What do you mean?’ demanded Veronica.
‘You’ve always been so competitive with your boyfriends. You can be quite bossy, Veronica,’ said her mother affably. ‘It’s nice to see you actually listen to what Jamie has to say. And he is very intelligent.’
‘So you like him?’ asked Veronica.
Her mother smiled at her. ‘What’s there not to like? I just hope he can find a job down here. I can’t see you hopping up to Darwin regularly.’
Lunch with Andy and a tour of the Our Country offices and Network Eleven was a success. Andy and Jamie hit it off, as Veronica knew they would.
‘I’ve said this to Veronica, having seen the segments in which you appear, you could kick around a TV station on a regular basis, Jamie. Just a matter of finding the right show for you.’
‘Thanks, Andy, but that’s not my thing at all. Veronica brought out the best in me. She’s easy to talk to and was genuinely interested in what I had to say,’ said Jamie, giving Veronica a warm smile. ‘I’ll leave the showbiz scene to her.’
‘I thought I’d show Jamie the rough cut of the show tonight,’ said Veronica. ‘I have it on DVD. See what he thinks. He’s trustworthy,’ she added.
‘Yes, I’d be interested in your reaction and comments, Jamie,’ said Andy. He stood up and shook Jamie’s hand. ‘I’ve very much enjoyed meeting you. Really, very much. I’d like to see you again.’
‘Any time you’re in Darwin, my turn to reciprocate,’ said Jamie.
‘Who knows? I might make a trip up that way. I’ve got a standing invitation with my friend, Jim Winchester,’ said Andy, giving Veronica a smile.
After dinner that night, Veronica played the DVD of the show for Jamie, who watched it intently. Even though Veronica had seen the vision countless times, watching it with Jamie was special. The places they’d been together made them laugh and reach out to touch each other. Jamie was bemused at seeing himself on camera and interested to see the interviews with Marta and Valma and touched at the scenes with his mother.
‘It’s still only roughly put together as my editor is still working on it and it needs a better ending, but what do you think?’ asked Veronica, realising how anxiously she wanted Jamie to approve.
‘It’s excellent. Intriguing, entertaining, but what I like most is the impact of the landscape. Maybe I’m biased as it’s about country that I love, but I hope that the people watching it will be moved and inspired and understand what’s important about keeping land, like Kakadu, in as natural a state as possible.’
‘I thought you explained the indigenous connection to the land very well. It’s a story on a lot of levels, isn’t it?’ she said.
He leaned over and kissed her lightly. ‘It’s a stunning opening show. You are sensational. I can hear the accolades . . . fresh, exciting. You’ll be able to write your own ticket. If it’s promoted properly, it will rate through the roof.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘So what’s next?’
‘Oh, I can’t bear to think of moving on from this. I can’t let this story go,’ she said slowly. ‘And you know what? I miss the north. I miss the air, the sun, the big sky, the things we did, like fishing . . .’
‘Oh, we haven’t done anything yet! I still owe you a picnic at Howard Springs. But you know, if you had longer up there . . .’ He paused. ‘Well, we could have a great time. I’d love to show you so much more of the Territory.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Can you ask Andy for some leave? You said you had a lot of holiday time owing to you.’
The following morning as Veronica lay in Jamie’s arms, she sighed. ‘I’d like to start every day like this.’
‘Me too.’ Jamie was about to lean over and kiss her when the phone rang.
‘Veronica, it’s Amber Delaney here from publicity. Congratulations on your story, it’s fascinating! So intriguing. A kind of detective story, too. We want to start promoting it, so I was wondering if you had any stills we could use of you and that gorgeous Jamie and any of the original group?’
‘Yes, we can take some stills off the original film and I have some lovely shots of Doris as a grown woman.’
‘Far out! That’s great!’
‘Jamie is here in town at the moment . . .’
‘Fantastic! Would he do some press interviews with the papers ahead of time? What’s his number?’
‘Let me ask him first,’ said Veronica, suddenly glancing at Jamie. ‘I’ll get him to call you.’ She looked at Jamie as she hung up. ‘Sorry, I got carried away. Is that okay? Would you mind doing an interview?’
‘Sure. And what about Colin?’ asked Jamie.
‘I don’t think that I’ll contact Colin until after the program goes to air.’
‘How do you think John Cardwell will be after he hears about it?’ asked Jamie.
‘I don’t know, but once he sees the story he’ll see that no-one is pointing a finger at him,’ said Veronica. ‘Cardwell knew that Topov wasn’t taken by a croc but I think he thought that if Topov’s body were found, he could be incriminated.’
‘Hmm. It’s still all a bit of mystery, isn’t it?’ said Jamie.
‘Veronica, it’s Amber here again.’
‘Ah, yes. How did Jamie McIntosh go with the press?’
‘Brill. Brilliant. What a talent. Boy, is he wasted up in the bush. But there’s something that’s just come up. Bit worrying.’
‘What’s that?’ asked Veronica.
‘Legal just rang. The first teaser went out yesterday and there’s been some fall-out.’
‘Lordy, what?’ asked Veronica.
‘An injunction’s been taken out to stop the story from going to air.’
‘Oh, no! Damn. Let me guess. John Cardwell, right?’
‘Yes, how did you know? The man is a big mover and shaker and has legal heavyweights by the score. Our legal advisor wants to discuss it with you,’ said Amber, glad to pass the buck.
‘Don’t worry about it, Amber,’ said Veronica firmly. ‘Cardwell is panicking for no reason. I’ll get straight onto the legal department. We’re running with the story.’
Andy thought Rowe looked exceedingly fit and relaxed despite having had a hectic schedule in Europe and the long flight back to Sydney.
‘Sit down, Andy. I hear Our Country has a very exciting opening show. When do I get a preview?’
‘I have it right here,’ said Andy, holding up a DVD. ‘It’s a bit open ended though. Veronica Anderson was looking for a wrap-up to finish as there are still some unanswered questions. We’re hoping you might be able to help, actually.’
‘Me? How? I don’t even know what the program’s about. I gave you free rein,’ said Rowe.
‘The story revolves around an outback filming expedition which se
t out in ’55 to make a documentary. There are three surviving members of the trip, two of whom we have used to piece the story together and fortuitously some of the old film footage turned up.’
‘Terrific. Should be interesting,’ said William Rowe. ‘I’m keen to have a look.’
‘There’s a small scene we discovered on the old film, one of the last things shot, that is a bit puzzling and we’re hoping you might be able to throw a bit of light on it. You were up in the Top End in 1955?’ said Andy.
‘That year I was all over the place. Started in the Western Australian goldfields, went to the Alice and travelled through Queensland and the Cape with a geologist partner.’
Andy nodded. ‘It looks like you fellows ran across one of the members of this expedition, a large, bearded Russian named Topov and we’re wondering if you recall anything. The man died soon afterwards. I know that it was over fifty years ago but I expect that you would probably remember meeting Topov. I don’t think that he was the sort of person you would forget easily.’ Andy paused as Rowe took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
Rowe drew a long breath. ‘Dear God, that Russian man. A movie director or something? Had a camera. I certainly remember him.’
‘You do?’ Andy said.
‘Yeah. He was a bit pugnacious. A loud fellow. Got Norman, my partner, offside, big time.’
‘What happened?’ asked Andy.
Rowe leaned back in his chair. ‘Andy, it was a helluva long time ago. But things like that happened out there in those days. The poor bloke was taken by a crocodile, you know. We read about it in the paper. Norman always thought it some sort of odd justice.’
‘Why was that?’ Andy leaned forward.
‘Now we were pegging a claim. Uranium had been found in the Territory and we thought that there could be a whole lot more minerals out there. We had been prospecting in the area of what is now Kakadu and parts of Arnhem Land and had some promising finds when out of nowhere literally this wild, big, fat fellow with a beard, appeared and started abusing us. He was shouting that he had the rights to the area. Kept jumping up and down waving a bit of paper and telling us to bugger off. He and Norm had words.
‘Anyway, I think it was the following day and Norman insisted that we go back to the claim that we had pegged out and, would you believe it, this Russian fellow was taking out our pegs and putting in his own. That sort of thing happened occasionally, but generally out in the backblocks there was a code of honour that you didn’t jump another man’s claim, but we caught this chap redhanded.
‘Norman hated foreigners at the best of times so he went a bit crazy and before I knew it he flew at the Russian bloke. Got stuck into him and there was a fight. The Russian was big but not a fighter. Norm gave him a bit of a hiding before I could intervene.’
‘What happened next?’
‘The big fellow went down like a ton of bricks. Then Norman grabbed me and pushed me towards the car insisting that we head straight for Darwin to establish our claim. I was worried as the fellow’s face was a bit smashed up and he’d fallen heavily but Norman kept insisting that he would be fine and if we didn’t get to Darwin before he did, we could lose our claim. First person who registers it owns the rights, you know,’ said William Rowe.
‘So you left him?’
Rowe continued, ‘Norman was so angry that I just wanted to get away. But I felt badly. The bloke, however, must have been all right, because a couple of days after we got to Darwin and registered the claim we read about a Russian bloke being taken by a croc around Wild Man’s Crossing. So we knew it had to be him, couldn’t be another Russian out there. Norman said that it served him right for trying to diddle us out of our claim. But no-one should end up like that, fodder for a croc,’ said Rowe with a shudder.
‘He didn’t die from a croc attack,’ said Andy. He paused then said, ‘Veronica dug up the remains of his body where it had been buried more than fifty years ago.’
‘What!’ Rowe sat upright. ‘How is that possible? Good lord, what happened?’
‘I’ve brought you the DVD of the edited story that Veronica has put together. That will tell you what the film makers did with Topov’s body. There’s a character in it called Johnny, the cockney cook. Better known these days as John Cardwell.’
‘The business operator? Casinos? You name it, unsavoury type?’
Andy nodded. ‘When he heard we were doing this story he tried to stop us because the group thought there was no-one else around when Topov died and so suspicion for his death would fall on them. Obviously, under these circumstances, Cardwell doesn’t want it to come out that Topov wasn’t taken by a crocodile.’
‘Christ!’ Rowe stopped, then looked at Andy. ‘This doesn’t make me look too good, does it?’
‘Is Norman still around?’
‘No, I parted company with Norman not long after because I got tired of his temper and his unpredictability. He died quite a few years ago, long before I raised the capital to operate mines in the north. So it’s just my word against a dead man’s?’
‘What are we going to do about this?’ asked Andy slowly. ‘Cardwell has taken out an injunction against us screening the show. He’s always been a bit paranoid about media exposure but I guess he has some justification this time.’
‘Telling what I know will clear all of them, won’t it?’ said William Rowe, staring at Andy. There was silence in the room. Finally Rowe said quietly, ‘You’re the Executive Producer. You’re the only one who knows my story so it’s your decision what to do with it.’ Rowe didn’t break his steady gaze and Andy looked away first.
‘I’m thinking this story could be very damaging to your reputation,’ he said.
‘You have to tell your producer Veronica Anderson,’ said Rowe.
‘Yes. I should,’ agreed Andy. ‘But because you own the network, I feel it’s your call.’
Rowe looked thoughtful. ‘For a couple of days, until that newspaper report about the Russian being killed by a croc turned up, I lived with the thought that I had left an injured man in the bush. We left him pretty badly cut up. But then I was able to go on with my life thinking that he’d met a different fate and I was off the hook. And I went on to make a lot of money. Now I realise that my original guilty feelings were justified. ’
‘Did that make you become a philanthropist?’ asked Andy suddenly. ‘You’ve given money away, helped a lot of charities and set up a big foundation to help others in the community who aren’t as fortunate as you’ve been.’
Rowe shrugged. ‘It seemed the right thing to do. Maybe remnants of that guilt were still there.’ Rowe stood up and shook Andy’s hand. ‘You’d better share this with your producer and let me know what you plan to do.’
‘No instructions from you?’ asked Andy, wishing Rowe would make the decision for him.
‘I said the day I arrived I would not interfere in the production decisions of my staff or in the content of programs.’
‘And you’re a man of your word.’ Andy turned to leave the office, his shoulders slumped.
‘Andy.’
He turned to look at the man behind the desk.
‘If it helps, you can tell your producer that I intend to decline the nomination for Australian of the Year. It will help the judging panel if I withdraw and they don’t have to make such a contentious decision.’ William Rowe smiled.
‘That’s a damn shame,’ said Andy.
Andy sat on the sofa in his office, his face in his hands.
‘Hey, what’s up?’ Veronica sat down beside Andy.
‘I saw Rowe.’
‘And?’ Veronica was trying to fathom Andy’s expression. ‘Did he see anything? Did he remember being out there?’
‘Oh, yes.’
She stared at Andy. ‘You don’t look happy. What happened?’
‘I’ll tell you the story as he told it to me.’
Veronica sat still, trying to digest the details of the full story of Topov’s death.
‘Po
or old Topov,’ she managed. ‘I suppose that there can’t be any doubt, not when you put together Marta’s story and see Topov’s film footage. It all adds up.’
‘Hopefully he didn’t recover consciousness. Better than being eaten by a crocodile, you’d hope,’ said Andy. ‘But now we’re left with a bit of a moral dilemma, aren’t we?’
Veronica nodded. ‘It’s a shame that William Rowe is such a decent man. If I hadn’t found Topov’s body and confirmed Marta’s story then no-one would have been any the wiser. Perhaps I should have taken Jim Winchester’s suggestions and left things alone.’
‘Even though Big Bill has said he’ll decline his nomination for Australian of the Year, this story will be a big blot on his character,’ said Andy.
‘And he really didn’t put any pressure on us?’
‘No. You’re the producer, what do you think we should do? Should we ignore the truth about Topov’s death to save the reputation of a good man?’ asked Andy.
‘Andy, you can coat the story in as many layers as you like to push extenuating circumstances and so on, but the fact remains, Rowe walked away leaving a man to die in the wilderness.’
‘And at the end of an illustrious career, he’s to be damned for an incident that happened fifty years ago?’
‘I know all that. But the fact remains, we are journalists and we have to tell the truth, no matter how unpleasant. If Rowe wasn’t our boss, would we think twice?’ argued Veronica.
‘Yes, the decision would have been easier if Cardwell had been responsible for Topov’s death,’ said Andy. ‘You’re right, of course. It’s a heck of a surprise end to the whole episode.’
‘Which is why we have to tell the truth,’ said Veronica firmly. ‘I hate my job sometimes.’
‘Has he made it easier for us by declining the nomination?’ asked Andy.
‘I don’t know. Putting the program to air will affect his standing around here as much as it will in the public domain. He might retire because of this. And just when we had someone running the place whom we all liked and respected and who seemed to have the right idea about television,’ said Veronica.