The young woman went on with a long list of information, but Rebecca had tuned out. She was nervous about Hendy’s presence. After what seemed an inordinate amount of time, the young woman led them outside, handing out torches as they filed out.
Rebecca, Lisa, and Penny stayed together as they walked down the boardwalk onto the rocks and the beach. The guide led the way, stopping from time to time to point to penguin burrows under the rocks.
‘Look, I see one!’ said Penny excitedly.
‘Oh, isn’t he cute,’ said Lisa.
Rebecca shone her red light onto the beach and saw three fairy penguins making their way out of the water. ‘Look over here,’ she yelled. ‘There’s three of them coming up onto the beach.’
Everyone shone their infrared lights onto the penguins making their way out of the water. ‘Look there’s more over here,’ yelled another member of the group, swinging his torch around.
‘A mother and baby!’ squealed Penny.
The Beach
Jonathan
Jonathan shone his torch under a rock and saw two penguins staring up at him. He was about to call Angus over, when he noticed that Angus and the rest of the group had gone ahead.
‘Don’t shout out or you’re a dead man,’ said Hendy as Jonathan felt a cold blade against his neck. Hendy wrenched Jonathan’s arm painfully behind his back.
‘You’re hurting me.’
‘You’ll be dead soon. That should stop the pain,’ said Hendy as he pushed Jonathan down to the other side of the beach.
Jonathan was scared and kept stumbling as Hendy frogmarched him through the dunes. Finally Hendy shoved him toward the shallow water, and Jonathan lost his footing and fell.
‘So, you read a bit of my diary?’ said Hendy.
‘No. Not at all.’
‘Jesus Christ, you people are fools.’
‘And just why do you need to kill me?’ said Jonathan as calmly as he could.
‘Because you read my diary.’
‘No, I told you I didn’t. I didn’t have time to read anything.’
‘Don’t lie to me. The police told me you read today I’m going to get Yong. They asked me to explain. I told them you misinterpreted it. I told them that if you bothered to read on you would have read, today I’m going to get Yong some better legal advice on the golf resort deal. I told them I wasn’t happy with the advice we had been getting.’
‘Okay, so you’ve explained it away. You were only getting legal advice. There’s no need to kill me. ‘
‘You know there was no legal advice.’
‘But I didn’t see anything else. If I did, why wouldn’t I tell the police? The only other name I saw on the page was Rebecca.’ Jonathan suddenly fell silent.
‘Gotcha! You did see who was next on my list. It was only a matter of time before you twigged. What else did you see?’ said Hendy.
Jonathan started to sob. ‘I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I won’t hide anything,’ gasped Jonathan. He was now shaking with fright and his voice was wavering.
‘Did you see the drawing of a flower?’
‘Yes, I did. But what does that mean? I don’t know what that means.’
‘It’s my calling card for those murders that I don’t want to appear as accidents like Yong’s today or yours tonight. The lotus flower links the murders to Sol Semler. The police haven’t told the public about the flower being found in the pockets of Pixie Browning and Bruce Wells, and your darling Rebecca hasn’t found out about it, either, or it would have been splashed across the paper by now. But the evidence will come out in the trial, and if the police knew I had drawn the flower in my diary, even they might put two and two together. Plus there’s other scribblings I’m sure you saw that you might recall and tell the police.’
Still trying to stall for time Jonathan asked, ‘But the newspaper report says Sol’s fingerprints were all over Pixie’s body. It doesn’t make sense.’
‘Ah, there’s the genius. With modern computer technology even fingerprints can be forged. But I haven’t got time to go into that now,’ said Hendy, tightening his grip on Jonathan.
‘How are you going to kill me?’ spluttered Jonathan, his mind racing about what he could do to save himself.
‘It will be gentle. No white lotus flower for you,’ said Hendy as he moved closer.
‘Wait! Wait!’ yelled Jonathan, thinking about how he could gain a few more minutes of life. ‘I don’t understand why you wrote it all down. Why take the risk?’
‘I want to put my genius on the record. It’s my legacy to the world.’
‘But why not electronically? Wouldn’t that have been safer?’
‘What, and be hacked by Yong’s Golden Dragon triad? They know everything I do electronically. They hack my phone, my emails, my computer, my iPad—everything. But they can’t hack my handwritten diary. Old technology is the safest.’
‘At least tell me why you did it,’ asked Jonathan, pleading.
‘No. I haven’t got time. They’ll be looking for you soon.’
Hendy placed his large hands on Jonathan’s shoulders and pushed his head toward the water.
‘No!’ yelled Jonathan.
Hendy applied extra force as Jonathan struggled, kicking his feet and trying to thrash his arms about, but Hendy’s grip on his shoulders was too strong.
Just as he thought he was going to pass out, Jonathan heard a woman’s muffled yelling and suddenly Hendy was no longer gripping his shoulders. Jonathan struggled to the surface and gasped for air, looking around to see Hendy wrestling with Rebecca. Hendy was holding her underwater. Rebecca broke free from Hendy and managed to stand up, smashing him with a karate chop to the neck. Then she raised her leg and kicked him hard in the groin. Jonathan watched Hendy go down.
‘Are you okay, Jonathan?’ asked Rebecca to Jonathan.
‘Watch out! He has a knife!’ yelled Jonathan, as he saw Hendy thrash through the water toward Rebecca with the knife in his hand.
Rebecca swerved, just missing the blade. Jonathan heard a gunshot.
‘He’s shot her!’ screamed Jonathan.
‘Just move away from Rebecca and come out of the water, Hendy,’ yelled Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jarvie.
Tardy Rescue
Rebecca
Rebecca looked up and saw Gary running down the beach with a group of policemen behind him. The police wrestled Hendy to the ground before handcuffing him.
‘Are you okay?’ yelled Jonathan as he ran toward her.
‘It’s okay. It was just Gary firing a warning shot. I’m okay.’
As two police officers led Hendy from the water, Gary said, ‘Philip Hendy, I’m charging you with the attempted murder of Jonathan Riddle and the murder of Bo Yong, Pixie Browning, and Bruce Wells. Anything you say may be used in evidence.’
‘Where’s your proof?’ snarled Hendy.
‘Your confession to Jonathan just now for one. We had a shotgun microphone trained on you and heard everything,’ Gary nodded to the police officers holding Hendy. ‘Take him away.’
‘He tried to kill me!’ wailed Jonathan.
At that moment, Angus, Lisa and Penny arrived. Angus rushed up to Jonathan, taking him into his arms.
‘What the hell happened?’ asked Lisa breathlessly.
‘Hendy tried to kill me, that’s what!’ exclaimed Jonathan.
‘It’s all okay now. Hendy’s confessed to the murders and the police have just taken him away,’ said Rebecca before turning to Gary. ‘What took you so long? Jonathan and I were in danger.’
‘I’ve only just arrived and as soon as I sized up the situation I acted,’ said Gary.
‘What were the local police doing? Playing cards?’
‘Just calm down Rebecca. You’re both okay.’
Rebecca looked shocked but decided it best not to criticise the local police at that moment, knowing that it would be unprofessional of Gary to comment. ‘So what made you decide to come to the Island?’
&
nbsp; ‘After the Yong death this morning and your call, I asked the local police to interview Hendy extensively and to find that diary. When they told me they couldn’t find it, I told them to indicate to Hendy that they thought Yong’s death was an accident, to let him go, and to follow him. We needed to give Hendy a bit of rope. My plane landed half an hour ago and I made it to here as soon as I could.’
‘But he nearly drowned me. If you were tailing him, why didn’t the police grab him sooner?’ demanded Jonathan.
‘It’s okay, Jonathan. The police weren’t going to let him drown you, but we needed evidence. We needed his confession.’
‘At one point he had a knife to my throat! He could have slit it!’ yelled Jonathan.
‘No, he wanted to make it look like an accident. He wasn’t going to slit your throat.’
Jonathan sobbed into Angus’s shoulder.
‘But what’s your evidence that Hendy did all the murders?’ asked Rebecca.
‘As I said, we were tailing him. The police had a shotgun mic that could pick up their conversation. They’ve recorded his confession to Jonathan. Plus I’ve nearly tied up some other evidence that will strengthen the case.’
‘What evidence?’
Gary ignored her question. ‘Jonathan, you will need to go to the police station to make a statement.’
Gary turned to Jonathan. ‘Come on.’
Rebecca grabbed Jonathan by the arm. ‘Why don’t you and Angus come over to the shack for a nightcap after you give your statement?’ suggested Rebecca, thinking he might need some debriefing to overcome the shock.
‘No. When I’m finished at the police station, I’m going back to the Lodge. I’m going to find it very hard to forgive you for getting me into this mess. I was nearly killed!’ yelled Jonathan as he took Angus’s arm and stomped off.
‘No need to thank me for saving your life!’ yelled Rebecca to Jonathan as he walked away. Although she knew Jonathan was right. She regretted getting him involved.
‘What about you, Gary? Will I see you later tonight?’
‘We’ll see. You and the girls go back to the shack.’
Rebecca was disappointed that Gary hadn’t jumped at the chance of catching up with her later.
Rebecca suddenly had a thought. ‘Wait Gary. What I don’t understand is that Sol’s fingerprints are all over the bodies? If Hendy is the murderer, how can you account for Sol’s fingerprints and not Hendy’s fingerprints being all over the body?’ asked Rebecca.
‘The local sergeant told me that according to Hendy’s confession just now, he forged Sol’s fingerprints using a computer program. I’ve only come across it once before but I know it has forensic pathology spooked. It’s a real game changer,’ said Gary.
‘Really? That’s frightening.’ Rebecca watched Gary get into a police car and drive off.
‘I better call Reg,’ she sighed as she slid into the Rover’s passenger seat.
Reg picked up straight away. ‘What’s the latest?’
‘Quite a bit actually.’
‘Well, go on. Cut to the chase.’
Rebecca quickly summarised the situation.
‘Shit. This story just keeps getting better. Got photos?’
‘Yes and no. I couldn’t take photos during the drama but I’ve taken some general shots of the beach and some fairy penguins. I’ll send them through with my copy shortly.’
‘Hang on. Fairy penguins? Haven’t you got anything better than that?’
‘No, I haven’t. I was in the middle of trying to save Jonathan’s life! Give me a break,’ said Rebecca.
‘Okay. Let’s not dwell on the photos. But what about Sol’s fingerprints on the bodies? They weren’t Hendy’s,’ said Reg.
‘That’s the really weird thing. There’s evidently now computer technology capable of stealing fingerprints,’ said Rebecca.
‘How?’ asked Reg.
‘I’m yet to find out, but I will,’ said Rebecca.
‘Good. Send me those photos and copy within the next ten minutes. And find that diary!’
The Diary
Rebecca awoke with a smile. She had been dreaming about Gary. Through the old glass doors of the bedroom she could see nothing but a blue expanse of water and sky. And she could smell coffee.
‘Breakfast is up! Come on, Rebecca, I thought you wanted to be up early to find that diary,’ called Lisa from the verandah.
Rebecca pulled on a cotton dressing gown and wandered out.
‘Here, get this into you,’ said Penny as she held out a large mug of coffee.
‘I’ve made bacon and egg toasties on the barbie. Less fussy to eat,’ said Lisa, handing both Rebecca and Penny a toastie on a plate.
‘Thanks, guys. It smells great,’ said Rebecca.
‘You know the other thing you need to do?’ said Penny.
‘What?’
‘You need to see Sue and apologise. Even to you it should now be clear Sue had nothing to do with these murders and wasn’t lying to you.’
‘I know. I know. I’ve been a prat,’ said Rebecca. ‘Let’s go see her and then make a hunt for the diary.’
‘Good idea,’ said Penny.
‘But first, I’m going for a swim! And I’m not bothering about bathers,’ said Rebecca as she flung off her dressing gown and ran into the water.
‘I think I’ll join you,’ said Lisa, pulling off her nightie.
Penny shrugged, tugged off her T-shirt and undies, and ran after them.
The girls frolicked, splashing one another to squeals of laughter for about fifteen minutes before removing their glistening bodies from the water to walk up to the shack to shower.
It wasn’t long before they were in the car.
As Penny turned the Rover from Mad Creek Road onto the main road, Lisa yelled ‘Stop!’
Penny slammed on the brakes and looked both ways. ‘What is it?’
‘Up in the gum tree. There’re two koalas!’ said Lisa excitedly.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Lisa! I thought I was about to plough into a car!’ said Penny.
‘Aren’t they cute?’ cooed Lisa.
‘They’re a pest actually. They’re in plague proportions and are eating themselves out of house and home,’ said Penny.
‘Oh, don’t spoil it, Penny. They are too adorable to be called a pest,’ said Lisa.
‘Come on. Let’s get going. If you want to see more koalas, just look up, Lisa. They’re in practically every tree. I can’t believe you haven’t seen them before now.’
Penny drove on and, after about an hour, she pulled into the car park of the Southern Ocean Lodge.
‘I hope Sue is actually here, after we’ve driven all this way,’ said Lisa.
‘I could have called ahead, but I thought I’d take the chance of her being here. I didn’t want to do this over the phone,’ said Rebecca.
They all piled out of the car and went into the Lodge’s great room.
Rebecca saw Hannah approach them looking worried. ‘Hi again, Rebecca. You’re not going to use the murder of one of our guests in your feature article on the Lodge’s excursions, are you?’
‘What? No, of course not. Obviously it’s a news story now but, for the feature, of course not,’ replied Rebecca.
‘Oh, that’s a relief. I thought I might be in trouble for giving you that itinerary,’ said Hannah.
‘Don’t worry about it. The death has nothing to do with the Lodge. Now I’m looking for one of your guests, Sue Barker. Is she here?’ asked Rebecca.
‘Yes, she is. She’s in her room. Do you want me to let her know you’re here?’
‘Yes, please. We’ll wait over here, if that’s okay,’ said Rebecca, pointing to some white leather lounge chairs by the window.
It was only a few minutes before Sue was standing in front of them.
‘Hi, Penny. Hi Lisa,’ said Sue affectionately. ‘What can I do for you, Rebecca?’ she asked coolly.
Rebecca looked at Lisa and Penny and slapped her hands o
n her knees before standing and addressing Sue. ‘Actually, can we go for a walk? Just you and me?’
‘I think whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Penny and Lisa.’
‘Okay.’ Sue wasn’t going to make it easy. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry for doubting you. I never really thought you could be the killer, but in my line of work you have to be sceptical. I thought you lied to me about being in a relationship with Pixie, and I found that disturbing. I accept now that you didn’t lie, and I’m sorry.’
‘Actually, I changed my mind, can we go for that walk?’ asked Sue as she turned and strode off toward the entrance doors.
Rebecca looked at the others, surprised, before rushing after her.
Sue led the way along a boardwalk that wound its way toward the coastal cliff top. At the lookout, with its sheer cliffs falling away on three sides, she turned to look at Rebecca. ‘Can I trust you?’
‘Well, it depends. If you are about to confess to murder, no,’ said Rebecca, giving a nervous laugh as she took a couple of steps back from the edge of the cliff.
‘Of course I’m not about to confess to a murder. But I repeat, can I trust you?’
Rebecca looked at Sue. ‘Yes, you can trust me.’
‘I have been lying to you. I did have an affair with Pixie for about a year. We were lovers. I broke it off a couple of years ago. I’m sorry I lied, but I can’t afford for this to get out. I’m trying to establish a new career in the golfing media, and despite people in the community being less judgemental about a person’s sexuality, golf is still a very conservative world. The industry is run by middle-aged white men who—sometimes consciously but mostly unconsciously—discriminate against gay women. Actually, make that all women, but gays get it even tougher. You’ve got to promise me you won’t tell anyone,’ said Sue in a rush of words. Tears began to run down her cheeks.
Rebecca gave Sue a bear hug. ‘Of course, I won’t tell anyone. It’s no one else’s business. But you should have told me before. I knew you were hiding something.’
A Royal Murder Page 18