by Lyn Walker
She frowned, “the chef’s name is Luke Dane but he isn’t here today, George cooked the lunch.”
I helped her gather the plates. “Oh yes George said Luke had a missing niece.”
Tammy paused glad to put off the clearing job for a few minutes. “Yes his brother’s kid, apparently she worked here about five years ago, it was before I came here. I hope it’s not her for Luke’s sake.”
Becca came back from the pond. “Are you ready to go?”
We made our way back to the caravan. Becca yawned, “I’m going to lie down on the bed with a book.”
I pulled out my paints and art supplies and set up my easel on the table under the awning outside the caravan. I wanted to do a quick Carnarvon Gorge painting whilst I was still here. When I’m painting I get in a zone and time passes by. At one stage I could hear snoring coming from the caravan but after that nothing else distracted me and the afternoon slipped by. Even the shower of rain did not distract me. I suddenly stepped back from the painting and gasped. I had included the crime scene in my painting. I began the painting with the moss garden with the hanging moss and ferns, it was the prominent subject taking up half the painting, behind it I had included the Gorge cliffs and waterfall with the creek cascading down the rocks, but to the right of the painting I had included the rocky outcrop where the body was found and the wallaby and echidna were hidden in there too.
The caravan door opened and Becca leaned out “Time for a wine?” I just nodded and put away my brushes and paints. The last of the sun’s rays caught my painting as we sat sipping our wine in front of it.
Becca suddenly jumped up she pointed to part of the painting “Who’s that?”
I looked closer and exclaimed, “I don’t know.”
We both stared at the face of a young attractive woman.
I was dumbfounded. “Well I guess I must have been thinking of the victim, I didn’t even plan to paint the burial site. I started out painting the moss garden as you can see.” I indicated the moss and ferns, Just then the sun caught the back part of the painting of the canyon walls, another face looked at me it was not as distinct but definitely a masculine face this time.
I shivered “Look.” I whispered to Becca “Can you see him?”
Becca gave a little scream. “You’ve painted the killer as well. Do you think her ghost was trying to show you?”
I rubbed my arms I had goosebumps “No, its just my artistic vision of it all, who knows what they look like!”
Becca crossed her arms “Well two people know and one of them is dead.”
The next morning we rose early again, we’d be getting used to this soon, I was kidding myself. Becca wanted to take photos of the wild platypus and I was eager to see the painting in the morning light, convinced we were seeing things last night. But one look at the painting and I could see the faces still there, it was like a dot painting used in colour blindness tests, once you know the image was there it was obvious,, unless you are colour blind of course.
As I was sitting contemplating things over a cup of coffee. Madge walked past, she stopped when she saw me and approached me. “You’re up early have you special plans today? She turned and looked at the painting “This is lovely it really shows the spirit of the Gorge.” She stood there admiring it for a minute then took a closer look. “There’s a face here that is interesting, you know that reminds me of Sally the girl I was telling you about that went missing.” Madge looked at me did you see a photo of her?”
My mouth dropped I was astounded, “I didn’t even know I had painted her I had no idea what she looked like, my style is semi abstract and I just basically throw paint around until I’m happy I don’t usually include people. Its a bit weird isn’t it?”
We both stared back at the painting, I pointed at the other face “What about this one is he familiar too?”
Madge stepped back this time to get a longer view. “I see him, he’s not as clear is he. No I don’t recognize him.” Madge looked a bit uncomfortable. “You know if you paint some more of the Gorge maybe without the faces I would love some small prints to sell in the shop.”
I smiled, “I’d love to, I certainly intended to paint more of Carnavon once I get back to my studio. I can email you.”
Madge looked at the painting again, “speaking of Sally I gave the police her toiletries which she left behind it included a hair brush in case they needed DNA. I’d better get on I have a lot of jobs to get through this morning. Bye for now.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Meeting Cracker
Emma’s property was not far away so as soon as Becca had drunk her second cup of coffee. We headed that way and arrived by mid-morning. She came out of a side gate to greet us. Around her shoulder hung a knitted bag and when she stopped two ears poked up and two brown eyes peered at us. Becca and I were entranced by the furry baby.
“This is ‘Magpie” she’s actually a Whiptail Wallaby otherwise known as Pretty faced Wallaby.” Emma said as she tipped the wallaby gently out of the bag onto the grass.
Becca moved in with the ever present camera. “Well you can see why these wallabies have that name she is very pretty.”
“Magpie still needs milk, but she is starting to eat grass now.” Emma explained.
A loud screeching call sounded from the nearby shed, Emma moved over there with Magpie hopping behind her trying to keep up. We followed to see what made such a loud noise. In a large bird cage on the bench, Becca and I peered in at the comical bird perched in there, It was a black cockatoo chick his beak was wide open begging for food, he had a lot of black feather stubs but still sprouted white down feathers all over and spikes of these white feathers still stuck straight out of the top of his head just like a little punk.
“This cockatoo is another one that needs feeding regularly, we have one more black cockatoo in the bigger aviary outside, that one can feed itself. When this one is weaned we’ll put them together for a while before we release them.”
As we walked around the aviaries and sheds I could see there was a lot of work involved in feeding and housing these animals.
“Do you get much help?” I moved over to a small aviary with a white cockatoo who lifted his yellow crest and piped, “Hello.”
Emma opened the cage and the cocky hopped on to her shoulder, “I do get some help from volunteers and from time to time I get enough cash donations for me to pay a school kid to come out and help out. This cheeky fellow is Cracker he broke his wing, but by the time he was found the injury was days old, the vet couldn’t restore much movement in the wing. He is now in permanent care.”
Cracker did a little dance bobbing up and down, then jumped onto my shoulder, he is clearly a show-off. It was lucky I was wearing a denim shirt his claws are very sharp.
Emma stopped walking and turned to me. “He really likes you he doesn’t usually go to other people.”
We walked to the back room where a range of seed bags and bins were kept, most of them were nearly empty. Emma showed us the large variety of feeds needed when you care for so many different birds and animals. Come and have a cup of coffee and I’ll show you some photos I took of the animals I’ve already released back into the wild. We headed for her house. With coffee and biscuits in front of us we chatted idly about the refuge and admired the photos. Cracker was still on my shoulder so I fed him a bit of biscuit he took in in his claw and daintily nibbled on it.
Emma frowned, “you remember that earring we found yesterday I handed it in to the police but they didn’t seem impressed with the fact the Wallaby found it, they said it could have been caught in his fur anywhere and a tourist probably lost it. I have been thinking, it reminds me of the earrings one of my former helpers always used to wear. Yes, young Amy always wore earrings like that one, she told me her boyfriend gave them to her. But she left home a long time ago, I know her Grandmother misses her.”
Becca looked up at Emma. “Would that be Amy Brown?”
Emma was surprised. “Yes, how did
you know?”
Becca picked up her camera and moved in for a close up of the cocky. “Oh we ran into her in town at the cafe, had a little chat until her family took her away.”
Emma nodded. “Her son doesn’t like Amelia chatting to people about the family, makes you wonder sometimes what he has to hide, but I think he’s actually just a control freak.”
Becca brought the conversation back. “So you think the earring may have been Amy’s?”
“Well I couldn’t swear to it, but the earring certainly reminded me of Amy, but I’m sure she left with her boyfriend, she told me her plans in confidence because she didn’t want to leave me short handed when she disappeared.”
After morning coffee Becca and I completed our tour and headed for our car.
I turned to Emma and gave her an envelope “Thanks for showing us around. Here’s a donation, hopefully it will help with the cost of some food I wish we could do more.”
Emma looked at us. “If you really mean that and have some spare time come and stay here for a while you could park your caravan over by the worker’s huts there is a toilet and shower over there, in exchange for some help with the animals you can stay for free. How does that sound?”
I looked at Becca, we both nodded and smiled. “We would love too, our plans are not set in concrete, we just planned to head for the coast next but we are not in a hurry.”
After arranging to bring our caravan to Emma’s place tomorrow we waved and headed out the drive. I pulled my notebook out of my bag. “I think Amy Brown could go to the top of our victim list she sounds like a responsible person who wouldn’t leave her Grandmother grieving for no reason.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Off to Emma's place
When we arrived back at camp we were surprised to find Troy back early and waiting for us. “I’ve some news, I bumped into Chris, that’s Constable Mathews, we are cousins by marriage, anyway they have a hit on the DNA. I’m sorry to say that it seems the body is Sally Cook who used to work here at the caravan park she did not get far when she walked out. Now of course the Police are trying to find the boyfriend. I can’t remember his name he only worked here on and off. That is why the detectives are back, they are looking at Madge’s records seems no one knows much about him.”
“If he only worked part time here where else did he work?” I prompted as we all sat down.
Troy pondered, “I think he may have helped out the helicopter mechanic sometimes and he did odd jobs on the properties around here, he certainly moved from one place to another frequently. Sally was the only one who stayed here for six months or more.”
Becca looked sad. “What if Sally is not the only victim, there seem to be a lot of missing young women from this area. Sally was buried in a remote spot if the echidna hadn’t partly dug her up she may never have been found. What if there are others buried in the wilderness.”
Troy shrugged his shoulders. “Well we cannot make a serial killer pattern out of one body. The most likely candidate is the boyfriend, the police just have to find him.”
I rose to go and make some sandwiches for a late lunch and to give Troy and Becca some time to themselves Troy still had time off work.
As we sat munching on the sandwiches Troy returned to the main topic. “I spoke to my jeweller friend Joe and showed him the photo of the necklace, he recognized it, Joe made it about seven years ago he said. He made six similar sets of necklace and earrings, Joe remembers them especially as he sold them all to one man. That is a big sale for a Sunday market stall and he was paid in cash. Unfortunately he can’t remember what the man looked like other than he was a youngish man and there is no paper trail we can follow as it was a cash transaction. So a dead end really if you’ll excuse the pun!”
Becca gave him good punch on the arm. She stretched “I feel like a walk before Dinner as our lunch was so late. Troy its my turn to take you out for Dinner later do you want to join us Chloe?”
They both looked at me, I waved them off. “You two go ahead I’ll start tidying up the caravan in preparation for our departure tomorrow, I’ll also let Madge know we’re leaving and pay the rest of the account, then get my own Dinner and I have a good book to read.”
The next morning we stowed everything in the caravan ready for moving and hitched her to the car and set off for Emma’s Place. We parked the caravan in some shade near the shower hut but not too close.
Emma came striding over. “Hi let me show you how to feed the babies, I’ll need your help this afternoon as we’re having a Barbecue tonight to raise money for the care of the sick and injured animals. So I’ll be too busy to do any of the feeding, Of course you are invited to the party and by now you may know a lot of the people who are coming. We do have a lot of animals in care at the moment, more than usual so I’m really happy you could stay for a little while.”
We all walked into the big barn. And gazed around at lots of cages and containers spread all over the space. Emma lead us to a small cage. “I get a large variety of birds and animals here because there aren’t enough carers in Central Queensland, in the city, carers usually specialize in one type of animal but I get all sorts.”
A tiny face with dark eyes was peeping out of a nest in the bottom of a box inside the cage. Emma pulled on some leather gloves and picked up the youngster and quickly wrapped him in a thick cloth which was a bit ragged at the edges. You will want to put gloves on when feeding this fellow he is nearly weaned of milk and is gaining weight and attitude fast. His claws and teeth are very sharp.” Emma picked up the bundle and pulled out a little bottle of milk with a teat and offered it to the animal.”
I moved closer “He’s so cute what is he?”
“This is a spotted tail Quoll he must have fallen off his mother’s back while she was out finding food. A tourist found him on the path in the Gorge. We only handle him when he needs a feed we don’t want him too used to humans as he’ll be placed back in the wild in Carnarvon Gorge where tourists walk. A feisty biting quoll would not be a tourist attraction. Once he is weaned we will only touch him again when the vet checks him before release. They are naturally nocturnal animals very rarely seen in the wild. Emma handed him over to me to finish the feed and moved over to a large aquarium and pulled out some mealy worms.
“Give him a few of these now and some more with his next bottle this afternoon. Emma handed Becca another bottle of milk. “This one is for ‘Magpie’ she pointed to a cloth bag hanging on the wall, it was starting to wriggle. Becca took the bottle over to the bag which now had a wallaby head fully out and looking for breakfast. Emma stopped in front of a large blackboard on the wall. “I’ve got a schedule of feed times and all the information on each animal’s food just go by this and you’ll be right and I won’t be far away if you need me.”
After the babies were fed we followed Emma to a garden shed outside where she pulled out buckets, brooms and shovels and rubber gloves. “Right this morning’s job is to clean all the enclosures.”
She led us to the closest cage which belonged to ‘Cracker’ the cockatoo. As soon as the door opened he hopped onto Emma’s shoulder, climbed around her back and fluttered over to my shoulder, lucky I had another denim shirt on as Cracker’s long claws gripped on tightly.
Emma looked up in surprise. “Wow he really likes you, he has gone to you again.”
I rubbed Cracker’s feathers behind his neck, his eyes closed in bliss “You like that.” I whispered
Emma handed me a brush “Okay this cage is yours to clean just sweep it out change the water and fill up the seed and pellets.” She turned to Becca, “come and see our most endangered animal.”
They headed off towards a large well built enclosure. I hurriedly finished with the cage and with Cracker still on my shoulder I caught up with them in time to hear Emma say, “Tom grumbled about making this enclosure, he had to bring in large concrete pipes for the sleeping dens this was over concrete floors which were covered with dirt for digging, the tractor worked har
d that weekend. We have a smaller version for the Echidnas. But we had to be sure this was safe from any wild dogs thats why we have the netted wire over the top as well.”
We both lent over the concrete wall and peered through the wire covering it, all we could see was a hairy nose sticking out from the hole made by the pipe and lots of sand and topsoil.
“This fellow was brought to us by a park Ranger from up north in the Epping Forest National Park. He found the mother dead from a dog attack, he looked around for a joey and found this one hiding in a nearby hollow log. I’d really appreciate an album of photos of the girl they are so rare. In a few days we’ll bring her out for a photo shoot.”
After everything was cleaned and all the animals fed it was lunch time.
I walked over with Cracker still on my shoulder. “Emma do you mind if Cracker comes back to the caravan with us for a while?”
Emma grinned, “no that’s good I’m afraid I don’t have much time to keep him company so he’ll enjoy that, he is really a social animal. Now I’ve got to go and organize a party, I’ll see you later.”
I made some sandwiches for us and a bowl of vegetables and fruit. Becca made our cups of tea. We all helped ourselves to food. When Cracker picked up a piece of carrot with his claw Becca swung her camera up and Cracker posed nicely.
“He’s a bit of a ham, I’m going to have some great animal photos for magazines.” Becca predicted
“Oh yes,” I said through a mouth full of sandwich, “and I can see in my mind a series of children’s books based on different birds and animals!” Cracker bobbed up and down in agreement.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Barbecue
In the middle of the afternoon Becca looked up from her book. “It looks like people are arriving already Chloe, I think we’d better feed the animals now before too many guests arrive.”
Cracker fluttered from the back of the chair onto my shoulder as I put down my sketch book and stood up. Once all the feeding was finished. I found a treat for Cracker and locked him in his cage much to his disgust.