Cross Tides

by Lorraine Orman

  The launch comes close inshore. Steve cuts the motor and Glynn scrambles up to the bow to let down the anchor. ‘Bel! Are you all right?’ Lorna yells at me from the cockpit.

  ‘Yes!’ I scream back. ‘We’re both all right!’

  ‘Thank God,’ she says. I don’t actually hear her but I can see her lips saying the words. Beside her in the cockpit Steve is talking into a cellphone.

  A minute later Glynn and Steve untie a small inflatable dinghy from the back of the launch, clamber into it, and row furiously towards the shore. Steve jumps out into the shallows while Glynn gives me a wave and turns the dinghy back to pick up Lorna. Steve comes up to me, frowning with a face that’s grey and bristly and sagging with tiredness. His limp is much worse than I’ve ever seen it before. He gathers me into his arms in a huge, wet, woolly-smelling bear hug. ‘We thought you were dead,’ he says gruffly.

  ‘I know,’ I mumble into his jumper. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Thank heavens you’re safe,’ he goes on, still holding me tight. ‘We’ve been worried out of our minds.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I say again, my voice beginning to wobble.

  He lets me go and frowns at Daniel. Then he surveys the devastation of the camp site. The frown comes back. ‘What the hell’s been going on here?’ he demands.

  I open my mouth. Then I shut it. I look helplessly at Daniel. But before he can say anything Lorna arrives on the beach and rushes up to me and gives me another huge, woolly hug. ‘Bel!’ she cries. ‘Oh, thank God! We thought you’d drowned in the storm!’

  Glynn is close behind her. He stretches out both hands and gives my shoulders an awkward squeeze. ‘Hey, good to see you, cuz,’ he says. For once he doesn’t blush bright red.

  ‘What’s been going on? Were you here at Dawson’s Beach all the time?’ Steve asks urgently.

  ‘Yes,’ Daniel and I say together.

  ‘But Glynn and I came over with torches and walked along the beach and yelled till we were hoarse. We were looking for you and the kayak. So where the heck were you?’ He glares belligerently at Daniel. ‘Together somewhere?’

  Daniel opens his mouth but this time I beat him to it. ‘Listen! It’s not what you think. After you’d all gone off to the party I went for a walk. I went past Lenny’s cottage and heard him shouting at his dog about coming here and shooting the land protesters. He had a gun and he was boozed out of his mind. Like, totally wasted.’

  Lorna turns white under her freckles. ‘Lenny? But he told us he was going into Picton with one of his mates.’

  ‘Well, he didn’t go. He got drunk in his cottage instead. I paddled round to the beach in the kayak to warn the protesters. I got here just before Lenny and Ripper arrived. Daniel was the only one left in the tent. When we saw Lenny coming and heard him shooting we ran away into the bush. We’ve been hiding in a cave all night.’

  ‘Jesus. Well, that explains something else,’ Steve says grimly. ‘The runabout’s missing as well as the kayak. We couldn’t work out why two boats had gone. We knew you’d probably taken the kayak, Bel, so who stole the runabout?’ He hunches his shoulders and thrusts his fists into his pockets. ‘Lenny must have taken off in it. God knows where the bastard is now. Out in a small boat, drunk, in that storm. He could be on the rocks. We’ll have to tell the police to start looking for him instead of you.’

  ‘I can’t believe it!’ Lorna cries. ‘Surely he wouldn’t have actually shot anyone?’

  ‘You reckon? Come and look at this.’ Daniel marches up the beach, the rest of us following on his heels. He holds up the canvas so that light shines through the holes. ‘What d’you think those are?’

  ‘Bullet holes,’ Steve says.

  ‘Oh, no,’ Lorna moans. ‘How awful. Thank goodness you had time to run away.’

  ‘Only just,’ Daniel says, flashing a smile at me. ‘Like a total moron, I wouldn’t leave the tent when Bel first arrived and told me about Lenny. Then we heard him firing shots and that dog of his barking its head off. Suddenly hiding in the bush seemed like a good idea.’

  ‘If Bel hadn’t come …’ Lorna breathes.

  ‘I’d have been dead meat,’ Daniel finishes. ‘She saved my life.’

  They all look at me. At last. My big moment. Funny how I don’t feel like a heroine. All I feel is tired out of my brain. ‘I’m sorry about the kayak,’ I mutter. ‘I suppose it got wrecked by the storm.’

  ‘Yep,’ Steve says. ‘The police launch found it an hour ago on the rocks the other side of Queen Charlotte Sound. That’s when we thought we’d lost you, Bel.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I repeat and feel tears welling in my eyes.

  Lorna puts her arm round my shoulders and glares at the males who are watching me with varying degrees of embarrassment. ‘Come on, you lot, don’t be so useless. She’s exhausted. We’ve got to get her home,’ she snaps. ‘Glynn, you row her out to the boat and wrap her in a rug. Steve, you phone the police. They’d better find Lenny before he takes it into his head to shoot someone else.’ She looks at Daniel. ‘Uh … Daniel, do you want to come back home with us? Have a shower and a hot meal? Or will your people be coming to pick you up soon?’

  Daniel gives her a tight smile. ‘I’ll come back with you if that’s okay, and phone from your place.’ He looks around the beach. ‘There’s not much left for me here.’

  ‘What were they thinking, to leave you on your own with a southerly blowing up?’ Lorna asks indignantly.

  Daniel’s face closes down. ‘My grandmother wanted me to spend some time here on my own.’

  ‘Humph,’ Lorna says but bites back whatever else she was going to say.

  After that things happen very quickly. I’m lying on a bunk in the launch, wrapped in a warm prickly rug and half asleep. The steady throb of the engine is a nice safe sound. Then we’re back at the farm and Lorna runs a hot bath for me and I’m wallowing in the heat. I’ve been cold for so long I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to feel warm. Then we’re all sitting in the lounge, sipping cups of hot sweet chocolate and eating buttered blueberry muffins, and Daniel’s there looking quite different in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt borrowed from Glynn. The sleeves and legs are rolled up because they’re far too big for him. He’s washed his hair and pulled it back with a rubber band.

  ‘Where’s Tracey?’ I ask.

  ‘She stayed at the Rawlings’ place for the night,’ Lorna says. ‘She’s missed all the drama. According to Chris Rawling she hasn’t even woken up yet.’

  ‘She’ll be furious,’ Glynn says with brotherly satisfaction.

  We sit in silence for a minute, enjoying the muffins. ‘Hey, Bel,’ Glynn says.

  ‘Mmm?’

  ‘This cave, the one where you two hid. Where is it exactly? I didn’t know there were any caves at Dawson’s Beach.’

  Daniel and I exchange glances. ‘It’s in the cliff about a hundred metres up the stream,’ Daniel says. ‘It’s pretty hard to spot. We were wading up the stream trying to put the dog off our scent. The beam of my torch just sort of jerked up and we thought we saw a cave so we climbed up. I heard Lenny crashing round in the creek a bit later on but he didn’t see the cave.’

  ‘I wish he’d fallen on his face and drowned,’ I mutter.

  ‘The police’ll be here soon,’ Steve warns us. ‘They want to interview you both. When they eventually find Lenny they’ll hit him with enough charges to sink a ship.’ He scowls. ‘He needs to be locked up for a very long time after last night’s performance.’

  ‘He could have drowned in the storm,’ Lorna points out.

  ‘More likely he’s run for shelter somewhere. The police will find him. Ripper’s probably standing guard while his master sleeps it off under a tree somewhere. Stupid sod.’

  I’m almost asleep in my armchair by the time heavy feet sound on the porch outside and two policemen step into the already crowded lounge. Steve introduces them but their names go in one ear and out the other. The sergeant is a middle-aged Maori guy with a
cheerful smile and sharp eyes. The constable looks terribly young, not much older than Glynn. He doesn’t say a word during the whole interview, just writes in his notebook.

  Daniel and I tell our story all over again, from the moment I discovered Lenny raving at his dog right through to the time we came back to the beach and found the wrecked campsite. By unspoken agreement we miss out the bit about the bones. The sergeant nods and says, ‘Hmm,’ several times, his gaze flashing between the two of us. When we come to the end, he nods and says, ‘That it?’

  Daniel and I catch each other’s eye again. Time to speak up. I take a deep breath. ‘Look, we want to show you something we found in the cave. But …’ I hesitate, not sure what to say.

  ‘But we want some promises first,’ Daniel finishes for me.

  The sergeant’s eyes narrow to slits. ‘What’d you find, buried treasure?’

  ‘No,’ I say. ‘Bones. Human bones. Very old ones.’

  ‘Bones!’ Glynn leans forward. ‘Crikey! D’you reckon they’re Maori bones?’

  Daniel nods. ‘There’s a greenstone pendant lying under the ribs.’

  ‘I see.’ The sergeant stares shrewdly at Daniel. ‘So what are these promises you want from us, eh?’

  It’s my turn. ‘We want his bones to be buried in a Christian graveyard with a proper ceremony.’

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ Lorna breathes. ‘You two spent the night in a cave with a skeleton?’

  The sergeant nods. ‘Well, I can see no reason why the remains can’t have a proper burial after they’ve been examined. Bel, can you show us where the cave is? Maybe tomorrow?’

  ‘Yeah.’ I may as well get it over and done with.

  Then Glynn speaks up. ‘Hey, why don’t you bury him in the whalers’ graveyard? Several Maori are buried there, along with the Pakeha whalers.’

  The words ring in my head like the peals of a bell. Whalers’ graveyard. Whalers’ graveyard! Of course there’s a whalers’ graveyard. They must have had somewhere to bury their dead. Is that where Lizzie is? Can I find the last piece of the puzzle?

  ‘Bel, are you all right? You’ve gone quite pale.’ Lorna is obviously keeping an eye on me.

  ‘I’m fine,’ I manage to say. But my voice must sound weird because they all keep staring at me. ‘Glynn, can you show me where this graveyard is?’ I croak.

  ‘You bet,’ he says. ‘It’s hidden up in the bush behind the beach. I guess it’s pretty overgrown by now but I’ll still be able to find it.’

  ‘Tomorrow? Can you take me tomorrow? When we go there with the police?’

  ‘Sure. If you want.’ He looks slightly puzzled.

  ‘Why on earth didn’t you tell me about it before?’ I demand, frustration suddenly boiling up inside me.

  ‘Sorry. You didn’t ask. I thought you weren’t very interested in anything to do with the whalers,’ he says, blushing and hiding his eyes under his fringe.

  I laugh aloud. He’s right. I didn’t ask. When he was telling me about the whaling station at Dawson’s Beach I got so fed up with him going on and on about the whales being exterminated that I stopped listening. If I hadn’t been so hot-headed and impatient I’d have known all along where to look for the truth.

  My laughter sounds rather hysterical, even to me. Lorna stands up with a no-nonsense look on her face. ‘Sergeant, if you’ve finished for the moment I think Bel needs to go to bed. I’m sure Daniel can answer any more questions you might have.’

  Daniel rolls his eyes and smiles at me. I stagger to my feet, ready to go to bed like a good girl. But then it hits me. I won’t see Daniel again for ages. Maybe never. He’ll go back to his grandmother and I’ll go back to Auckland and that will be the end of it. ‘Daniel,’ I say, and my voice breaks.

  Lorna keeps firm hold of me. ‘Get into bed, Bel. Daniel can come and say goodbye in a minute.’

  Again things seem to happen terribly quickly, as if I’m falling off to sleep in between scenes. I’m in bed with Tracey’s horses grinning down their long noses at me from the photos on the wall. The room is dim because Lorna has pulled the curtains. My bed is warm from the electric blanket. Electric blanket in January, I think vaguely. What a place.

  Lorna puts her head round the door. ‘Daniel can talk to you for five minutes,’ she announces like a bossy nurse in a hospital ward.

  ‘I’m not sick,’ I protest.

  ‘I know that. But you’re exhausted.’ She disappears and Daniel comes in. He sits down on the bed and strokes the hair off my forehead.

  ‘Will you tell her?’ I ask. ‘About Lizzie and Matthew?’

  He knows who I’m talking about. ‘Yes, if that’s okay with you.’

  Daniel probably can’t keep secrets from her anyway. ‘I suppose so.’

  ‘Bel, will you be okay going to the cave tomorrow with the police? D’you need me there too?’

  I detect a slight hesitation in his voice. I bet he’s already thinking about his grandmother’s illness. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be okay.’

  We’re silent for a minute, holding hands, sharing thoughts. Eventually I say the words. ‘Will I see you again?’

  He squeezes my hand. ‘Let’s make a promise. I reckon Matthew will be buried in the whalers’ graveyard. It’s the obvious place. And we’ll probably organise a tapu-raising ceremony as well for the area round the cave. D’you think you can arrange to come south again?’

  I think of my mother’s probable reaction when she hears what’s happened. She’ll be so tortured with new guilt on top of the old guilt that she’ll promise me a trip to the moon. ‘Yes. I’ll be there.’

  ‘Okay. I don’t know when it’ll be. I guess it could be a few weeks or even months before they send the bones back. But we’ll both be there for the burial. Deal?’

  ‘Deal.’ I clutch his hand with fierce fingers.

  He eases my fingers away. ‘I’ve got to go, Bel. See you soon.’

  I watch him move through the doorway, still graceful despite the clownish too-big clothes. The last I see of him is his clean shiny ponytail swinging on his shoulders. Then he’s gone. I’m so tired I can’t cry any more, not even one tiny little sob.

  I lie in the warmth, trying to think about what I’ll find tomorrow at the graveyard. The bedroom door creaks open and a cat springs on to my bed. It’s Caesar, the snooty black one. He butts his head into my hand and purrs madly, overjoyed at finding someone in bed in the daytime. ‘Happy New Year,’ I say to him drowsily and fall into blackness.

  CHAPTER 17

  Going back to Dawson’s Beach the next afternoon is really weird. With my uncle and aunt, both cousins and two policemen, it’s like I’m leading an expedition to the South Pole.

  Every scrap of human debris has gone from the sand. I imagine Daniel and his fearsome uncles walking along their precious beach, carefully picking up every shred of plastic and every lump of cotton wadding. Leaving only footprints behind.

  I think about the remnants resting under the surface of the beach, buried in layers of time. Ngati Whetu fish-hooks and ear pendants, fragments of whalebone and old glass bottles, orange peel and plastic bags from the last boatie’s picnic. We’re standing on history here. I feel very close to Lizzie. There’s only a thin layer of sand between her life and mine.

  I lead the expedition party up the creek bed until we come to a large smooth rock. I can remember climbing over it just before we started scrabbling up the cliff-face. ‘Up there,’ I say, pointing to the bushes disguising the cave entrance.

  ‘Amazing how you managed to spot it, what with the dark and the storm and everything,’ Lorna comments, staring at the cliff face. ‘I wouldn’t have guessed there’s a cave up there in a million years.’

  ‘Oh … it was just the way the shadows fell,’ I tell her. I look at the policemen. ‘Umm … sorry, I’d rather not go up with you. You won’t have any trouble finding him. He’s in a kind of alcove.’

  I’m the only one who doesn’t scramble up the cliff. Lorna makes a few anxious
noises about Tracey going up to the cave but Tracey says, ‘Oh, Muuum,’ in such scathing tones that Lorna shrugs and gives her a shove up to the first handhold.

  I sit in a patch of sun on the big rock and think about Daniel. Or am I thinking about Matthew? They seem to be getting mixed up in my head. Spooky.

  ‘Wow,’ says Tracey, thudding down on to the rock next to me and making me jump with fright. ‘You mean you spent all night with those bones? I would have freaked out.’

  ‘I wasn’t scared,’ I tell her. ‘Daniel was with me.’

  That’s exactly the wrong thing to say. Her eyes light up. ‘You spent all night alone with Daniel Kelly! Wow! Did anything interesting happen?’ She giggles. ‘You know, like sex and stuff?’

  ‘No way. We talked and dozed,’ I say shortly. ‘That’s all.’

  ‘Oh, yeah, expect me to believe that?’ she chortles. ‘You two’ve got something going, haven’t you?’

  ‘Shut up, Tracey,’ I groan.

  Luckily Glynn appears then or I would have started strangling his sister. ‘Awesome,’ he says, shaking his head. He’s brought a backpack which he puts down on the rock beside him. ‘He must have been there for … how long? A hundred and fifty years? Maybe more. Unbelievable. I wonder who he is. Maybe he was an important chief.’

  I stand up. ‘Yeah. Maybe. Glynn, can you show me the graveyard now?’

  ‘Sure.’ He frowns at the thick bush on the other side of the stream. ‘We’d better go back down to the beach and then walk up the valley. I don’t know if I can find it from this direction.’

  ‘I’ll wait here for the others,’ Tracey announces. ‘I saw the graveyard yonks ago. It’s dead boring.’

  Glynn and I groan in unison.

  It takes us about ten minutes to make our way to the beach and then back up the valley, weaving between clumps of manuka and spiky flax bushes. Glynn seems to know where he’s going but it’s impossible to see any kind of path. We’ve left the sea breeze behind and the air is still and humid. The throbbing of the cicadas is really loud. I wipe my forehead and find I’m sweating.