‘Before we set off, I must warn you that it is breeding season here at Seal Bay. The female seals are in season, and the bulls are very territorial and aggressive. The bulls can weigh up to 350 kilograms and grow up to three metres long. They will charge you and could kill you if you enter their territory. So when we get off the boardwalk and onto the beach, I’m taking a very wide birth of the bulls. Under no circumstances can you wander off. You must stick to me like glue.’
‘Don’t mind if I do,’ said Penny quietly to Rebecca as everyone set off down the boardwalk.
Rebecca could see the female sea lions stretched out on the sand, some under the shade of the boardwalk. They appeared to be fast asleep.
‘The female Australian sea lion can be at sea for up to two days foraging for food. When they return ashore, they are exhausted. You’ll also see a number of young seals, some of whom are still suckling.’
‘Excuse me Larry, but why is this place called Seal Bay if it is inhabited by sea lions and not seals? Shouldn’t it be called Sea Lion Bay?’ asked Penny.
‘Good point. I think when it was named Seal Bay over 150 years ago, people didn’t know the difference between seals and sea lions and just lumped them in the same category,’ replied Larry.
Rebecca looked back up at the car park and saw two of the Lodge’s white four-wheel drive vehicles pull up. She watched as about eight guests disgorged from the vehicles. She spotted Hendy and Yong, but not Sue.
‘Come on. Keep up,’ said Lisa to Rebecca.
‘Okay, I’m coming,’ said Rebecca as she skipped down the boardwalk that zigzagged through the dunes. They were now facing the car park and could see the Lodge group move off with their guide.
Rebecca stepped off the boardwalk and followed her group onto the sand. The bulls, female seals and pups were scattered along the beach. Larry kept the group well away from the bulls, hugging the sand dunes. While Rebecca could see some of the female seals in the dunes, the bulls remained on the beach.
She looked back and could now see the Lodge group making their way down the boardwalk. Soon they too would be on the beach.
Larry took the group further along the beach before stopping, allowing everyone to gather around him.
‘Sea lions eat fish, octopus, cuttlefish, crustaceans, and penguins.’
‘Penguins? Including fairy penguins?’ asked Lisa.
‘Yes, if they can catch them. But penguins are in more danger from the New Zealand fur seal that breed at Admiral’s Arch further along the coast. The New Zealand fur seals are far greater in number and more aggressive than the endangered Australia sea lions. But even so, penguins are fast swimmers, and there’s often easier prey about.’
Larry was about to say something more when Rebecca heard a roar. She turned to see a large bull charging toward one of the tourists in the Lodge group. A man had broken away from the rest of the group and had wandered into a pod of bulls.
Within a couple of seconds the bull had reached the man and had knocked him to the ground.
‘It’s Bo Yong,’ screamed Rebecca.
Larry and the Lodge guide ran toward the bull and Yong. The big sea lion appeared to be sitting on Yong, his wide mouth open, displaying a ferocious set of teeth, and Rebecca feared he was about to bite Yong’s head off. The two guides rushed at the bull, screaming with their arms raised. The bull looked unsure but stood his ground.
‘Come on,’ yelled Larry to the stunned groups, ‘join us. Make as much noise as you can. We have to frighten this bull off this guy.’
Rebecca led the charge, letting out a war cry as she rushed forward. Lisa and Penny followed, as did a few others. By the time Rebecca reached Larry and the other guide—who were now doing a stomping dance—the bull had decided enough was enough, and slowly lopped off.
Larry grabbed Bo Yong and pulled him to his feet.
‘Can you walk?’
‘I think so,’ said Yong, taking a few tentative steps.
‘Come on, let’s get you out of here,’ said Larry.
It wasn’t until they reached the boardwalk that Larry allowed Bo Yong to sit down. Rebecca and the other tourists all gathered close by. By now Hendy had seen her, Lisa and Penny, but he didn’t acknowledge any of them. Rebecca wasn’t sure if Hendy remembered Lisa and Penny from the blackjack table at the casino, but she knew he had recognised her.
Larry was feeling Yong’s limbs to see if anything was broken. He was shaken, but it looked like the soft sand had saved him. His body had left a deep indent where he had been forced into the sand.
‘What the hell were you playing at?’ said Larry to Bo Yong before turning to the other guide. ‘And what were you doing, Jack, letting him get so close?’
‘I told the group about the dangers. I don’t know what he was thinking,’ said Jack.
‘But I didn’t hear. I was talking to my friend. I didn’t hear any warnings about the sea lions,’ said Bo Yong in broken English.
Rebecca looked at Hendy, who immediately looked away.
‘Come on. We better get you to a doctor at Kingscote to get you checked out,’ said Larry to Yong.
‘I’ll be all right. There’s no need,’ said Yong.
Jack bent down to Yong. ‘Mr Yong, I insist on taking you to a doctor. You could have internal injuries.’
Rebecca watched as Bo Yong was led off, accompanied closely by Philip Hendy.
‘There was something fishy there,’ said Rebecca to Lisa and Penny.
‘What, that Bo Yong was stupid enough to get close to a bull sea lion during mating season?’ said Lisa ignoring the reference to fish.
‘No, I mean: wasn’t it just too much of a coincidence that Hendy distracted Bo Yong from hearing the warnings about the bulls? Hendy must have known about the dangers, but Yong obviously did not. If he was prevented from hearing the warnings on purpose, it would have been manslaughter if he was killed.’
‘That’s a bit of a long bow, isn’t it?’ replied Penny.
‘No, I think that’s just the sort of thing Hendy would do.’
‘Well, good luck proving that,’ said Lisa.
‘Hey, are we still going to Raptor Domain? In all the times I’ve come to KI, I’ve never been to see the wedge-tailed eagle show at Raptor Domain,’ said Penny.
‘If you want to,’ said Rebecca as she took off her thongs and attempted to brush off the sand from her feet and legs. ‘I wonder what happened to Sue?’
‘Oh, she’s probably having a round of golf at one of the courses on the island. The courses are a bit rough, but given they’re run by volunteers, they’re not bad. It will be great if a resort course gets off the ground. It will be another drawcard for the island,’ said Penny.
‘Can’t you think about anything else other than golf?’ asked Lisa.
Penny didn’t answer.
They spent the rest of the morning watching eagles, kookaburras, owls and falcons fly from their leather-gloved handlers and back to receive a bloodied piece of raw meat or a dead mouse.
‘What are we doing for lunch? I’m hungry,’ said Lisa as Rebecca watched an owl take a mouse from the handler and swallow it whole.
‘I’d be happy with a salad,’ said Rebecca.
‘Okay, let’s drive back to the shack for lunch and a swim. Remember we’ve got a big meal tonight, so I’m with Rebecca, let’s have a light salad,’ said Penny.
Enchanted Fig Tree
Rebecca was excited. She knew Lisa and Penny were too. The Enchanted Fig Tree was normally a lunch venue, but the owners had decided to open it up for selected dinners through the busy summer months.
They could have eaten at the owner’s shearing shed, but when Rebecca heard about a table set beneath an ancient gnarled fig tree planted by an early KI settler, she thought it sounded magical.
They each had another micro-shower and put on their party frocks. Rebecca’s shower was more micro than the others, as Penny spent longer than the agreed two minutes, leaving Rebecca to rinse out her hair in cold wa
ter.
It was still light when they left the shack for Snellings Beach, but by the time they pulled up at the shearing shed, the sun was disappearing fast. A staff member greeted them and invited them to have a sunset drink and to meet the other guests at the rustic former boatshed called the Beach Taverna. They wandered down to the Taverna, which sat only metres from lapping waves.
Rebecca was handed a tall iced glass of limoncello cocktail. There were four other guests: an older couple that Rebecca assumed were man and wife and two men. One man was facing her, and Rebecca guessed he was in his late twenties, very cute. The other man looked older, but it was hard for Rebecca to tell, as he had his back to her. What she noticed, though, was his eccentric dress. He was wearing a straw boater and an audacious blue-and-white vertically striped blazer.
Rebecca went up to the older couple and introduced herself.
The man shook her hand. ‘I’m Frank Wedgewood, and this is my wife, Hazel.’
‘Did I hear the name Rebecca Keith?’ asked the man in the straw boater.
‘Jonathan!’ exclaimed Rebecca.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ asked Jonathan as he grabbed the young man and pulled him toward Rebecca.
‘Hi,’ said Rebecca as she extended her hand to the young man.
‘This is Angus Beckett, a new best friend of mine,’ said Jonathan.
‘Pleased to meet you,’ said Rebecca who had now been joined by Lisa and Penny, who both hugged Jonathan.
Noticing the older couple were looking left out, Rebecca said, ‘Frank and Hazel, this is my good friend Jonathan Riddle and his friend Angus Beckett. And I’d also like you to meet Lisa Harrup and Penny Tavanagh.’
Grabbing Rebecca by the arm and taking her aside, Jonathan repeated his earlier question. ‘So, what brings you here?’
‘I’m just on holiday. Lisa, Penny, and I are staying at Penny’s shack down at Mad Creek Bay. What about you?’
‘Well, I’m on a naughty holiday with Angus. My catering business is doing very well, and I’ve decided to treat ourselves at the Southern Ocean Lodge.’
‘Really, you’re staying there? But I didn’t see you at Seal Bay this morning on the excursion with the other Lodge residents.’
‘We slept in, darling,’ said Jonathan with a wink.
‘Well, you’re not sleeping in tomorrow. You’re going to Remarkable Rocks in the morning and the fairy penguin tour in the evening, and you’re going to keep an eye on a few Lodge guests—Philip Hendy, Sue Barker, and Bo Yong.’
‘Am I? I like the sound of fairies, but I’m not so sure about the rocks. And who are these people you want me to spy on?’
‘I’ll tell you all about it at dinner,’ said Rebecca as she grabbed Jonathan and led him back to the other guests.
After they’d finished their drinks, a waitress led the way to the old fig tree. Small lanterns lit the winding path. From the gloom, two branches of an arching fig tree appeared, parting to create a grand entrance to an inner sanctum. An enormous blue silk Turkish rug delineated the dining area. On the rug sat a long table covered in a white linen tablecloth. It was set with green-leaf embossed plates, silver cutlery, white napkins, elegant wine glasses, crystal water glasses, vases of pink David Austin roses mixed with heliotrope, and candelabras painted pink and green. The light from the candles on the table mixed with more candle light from blue-glass Moroccan lanterns scattered throughout the branches of the tree. The whole setting had a fairy-tale quality.
‘This looks wonderful. I feel like Alice!’ exclaimed Penny, as everyone took their seat.
‘And I’m the mad-hatter,’ said Jonathan.
The waiting staff filled their glasses with champagne and placed interesting plates of canapés in front of them.
‘Now tell me, Rebecca. Who is it you want me to spy on and why?’ asked Jonathan as he leant closer to Rebecca.
‘Well, it’s a bit of a long story. You know these latest murder cases I’ve been working on? Pixie Browning, the professional golfer, and Bruce Wells, the guy who was stabbed at Adelaide Oval and pushed over the balcony?’
Jonathan moaned. ‘Oh, don’t tell me these guys you want me to spy on have something to do with murders. I’m still traumatised over losing the love of my life to that Popeye Murderer!’
Rebecca placed her hand over Jonathan’s. ‘It’s okay. No one you love or even know is involved in anything. And these guys might not be involved in murder. Someone has already been charged with both murders, but I still think these three have been up to something. I want to know what. As it is, one of them was nearly killed by a raging bull sea lion this morning.’
‘Who was nearly killed? And did you say a bull sea lion?’ asked Jonathan as he took another gulp of his champagne and shoved a canapé into his mouth.
‘Bo Yong. He’s a Chinese businessman, although we know he’s also a member of a triad. He didn’t hear the warnings that the bull seal lions were dangerous and got too close. The bull charged and sat on him. He was about to rip Yong’s face off when we were all instructed to rush at it and scream.
‘Really? How fascinating. And why didn’t Bo Yong hear the warning?’
‘Exactly! Because Philip Hendy was gasbagging to Yong, and I think he was doing it deliberately. I think he didn’t want Bo Yong to hear or understand the danger.’
‘That sounds rather far-fetched to me, darling. And enlighten me on Philip Hendy?’
‘He’s the Women’s Open golf course director. He’s got a gambling problem, and I think he’s up to his neck in something. If it isn’t the murders, it’s something. And he’s always writing in what I think is a diary. It’s a small leather-bound book. If you can get a look at that, I’m sure there’ll be something there that would shed some light on what he’s up to.’
‘So you want me to read his diary? How the hell am I going to do that? I don’t even know what Hendy or the others look like.’
Rebecca pulled out her phone. ‘Here, look. This one with the really big nose is Philip Hendy. And this one is Bo Yong. And the other person who is with them is professional golfer Sue Barker. I want you to keep an eye on her too. See, here’s a photo of her. And as for the diary, use your imagination.’
‘Right, then. Well, I’ll do my best. Only as a favour to you.’ said Jonathan without much enthusiasm.
The first course of carpaccio of local fish with homemade tapenade, fennel, and pink grapefruit arrived.
Breakfast at
Southern Ocean Lodge
Jonathan
As Jonathan and Angus walked into the dining area the next morning, Jonathan immediately noticed Philip Hendy and Bo Yong at a large table by the window. They must have only arrived minutes before, as they hadn’t any food in front of them. Hendy was writing in a small leather-bound book.
‘Come on, Angus, let’s have some company this morning,’ said Jonathan as he made his way to Hendy and Yong’s table. Sue Barker wasn’t with them.
‘Good morning, gentlemen. I hope you don’t mind if we join you. We haven’t met any guests yet, and it’s so unsociable of us,’ said Jonathan as he pulled out a chair and sat down, trying not to stare at Hendy’s nose. Angus seemed hesitant. ‘Come on, Angus, don’t make the place look untidy,’ said Jonathan as he pulled out the chair next to him.
Yong seemed a little startled, while Hendy looked annoyed and quickly closed his book. Jonathan saw the initials PH embossed on the leather cover.
‘I’m Jonathan Riddle, and this is my good friend Angus Beckett,’ said Jonathan as he held his hand out to Hendy first and then Yong. Yong’s face was bruised on one side, probably one of many bruises on Yong’s body, inflicted by the bull sea lion yesterday.
‘I’m Philip Hendy, and this is Mr Bo Yong.’
‘That’s Bo? Bo you say? You don’t mind if I call you Bo, do you?’ said Jonathan.
‘No, of course not,’ said Yong, nodding politely.
‘So, what brings you both here to this paradise?’ asked Jonathan brigh
tly.
‘We’re here on business.’
‘What sort of business?’
‘A golf course actually. I’m involved in golf, and Mr Yong here is a businessman with money to invest,’ said Hendy matter-of-factly as he browsed the menu.
‘Really? That sounds interesting. I hope you’re also getting to look around and see the attractions.’
‘Oh yes. We saw the sea lions yesterday and will be going to Remarkable Rocks this morning before our business meeting this afternoon,’ said Yong.
Jonathan couldn’t help himself. ‘Oh, the sea lions. We were so sorry to miss the tour yesterday. Aren’t they beautiful creatures? But those bull sea lions are massive. I wouldn’t want one to sit on me!’
Hendy looked at Jonathan suspiciously, whereas it appeared Yong took Jonathan’s words at face value.
‘But a bull sea lion did sit on me!’ exclaimed Yong as he pointed to the bruise on his face. ‘He charged at me and sat on me. He would have killed me if the others didn’t scare him off with yelling.’
‘Oh my goodness! You were very lucky to escape with just bruising. I’ve been told those things can weigh over 300 kilograms.’
‘It’s probably because Mr Yong’s body was pushed into soft sand,’ offered Angus, who now seemed interested in the conversation.
‘But you’re very composed. If I had been sat on by a bull sea lion, I don’t think I would be venturing out again so quickly,’ said Jonathan.
Yong gave Jonathan a steely look. ‘I’ve been through much worse than a sea lion attack, Mr Riddle.’
Jonathan was grateful for the arrival of the waiter.
‘Good morning, gentlemen. Please help yourselves to juices, cereals, muesli, croissants, and toast from the sideboard. Would anyone like to place an order for something hot?’
‘No thanks, darling. I’m got my Angus,’ said Jonathan, slapping Angus on the leg.
The waiter was speechless and left. At that moment Sue Barker arrived.
Hendy appeared pleased to see Sue. ‘And this is Sue Barker. She’s a professional golfer and part of our little consortium.’
A Royal Murder Page 16