by Malcolm Rose
Just as Lexi reached them, one of the girls screamed and, as far as Troy could see, simply disappeared. The second girl came to a halt and Lexi dived to the ground.
Putting on a burst of speed, Troy charged towards them, guessing that the first girl had fallen down a mineshaft or a pothole. When he got there, she was dangling from the lip. The fingers of her left hand were clutching the rock but slowly slipping. Lexi was holding her right hand, but didn’t have the strength or the grip to save her. The girl was panicking, kicking out uselessly with her legs. Still screaming.
Troy bent down and grasped her left wrist with both of his hands. He nodded at Lexi and together they hauled her out of the hole. They dragged her away from danger and then lowered her arms so she was sprawled on the grass, still in shock. Then they waited for the terror to subside.
The driver carefully steered the jeep, positioning it between the two girls and their escape route.
The girls shared a distinct likeness. The younger one, probably about thirteen, stood motionless and seemed almost as petrified as the girl who had fallen. She was a year or two older.
Troy plonked himself down next to her and touched her shoulder. ‘You’re safe. Thanks to Detective Lexi Iona Four.’
‘And you,’ she mumbled.
‘What’s your name? Both of you.’
‘I’m Shea Pickup and that’s my sister, Ursula.’
‘You’re majors?’
‘Yes.’
‘What are you doing here?’ Troy asked.
Shea swallowed before answering. ‘I … er … had a history lesson. The teacher told us they used to dig for gold here.’
‘So, you bunked off school and came to see for yourself?’
‘Yes.’
Troy looked up at Ursula, catching a brief expression of uncertainty on her face. ‘With your sister?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you find any?’
‘No.’
‘Nor me. But you’ve convinced me you don’t know where the mines are.’
‘How?’
‘By falling down one of them.’
Shea refused to smile. She had been thoroughly shaken by her ordeal. After all, she had been a few fingertips from death.
‘Why did you run?’
‘There’s a Keep Out sign. Dangerous cliffs or something. We thought we might be in trouble.’
‘That fits.’ Troy gazed across the green valley for a few moments, thinking. Then he extracted a bar of chocolate from his pocket. He popped a chunk into his mouth and offered the bar to Ursula and Shea. Ursula refused but Shea took a piece. She did it automatically. Instead of eating it, she simply fiddled with it in her hand. ‘Do me a favour, all right?’ Troy said to her.
‘What?’
‘Don’t come back. Seriously. It’s not safe. You’ve found that out. And it might be even more dangerous for majors than it looks. I don’t want any more people getting hurt. Okay?’
‘Okay.’
Troy glanced up at Ursula. ‘And you?’
Avoiding eye contact, she nodded.
‘Did either of you see anyone else?’
‘No. It’s a bit freaky up here. All alone.’
‘What’s your teacher’s name? And which school is it?’
‘Er … Mr Oates. Tight End High.’ Shea hung her head and muttered, ‘You won’t tell our parents, will you?’
‘That depends.’
‘On what?’
‘A couple of things,’ Troy said. ‘First, you stay away from here.’
‘What else?’
‘I’d prefer not to have to go and ask your history teacher about his lesson. I don’t want to waste my time – or his. So, why don’t you tell me what really brought you here? If you tell me the truth, I might not have to talk to your parents.’
‘Would you really go to see Mr Oates?’
Troy jerked his head towards his partner. ‘Lexi’s known for being thorough and methodical. She’d insist.’
Head bowed, eyes fixed on the piece of chocolate, Shea seemed surprised to see it in her hand. On auto-pilot, she put it in her mouth and sighed.
‘Tell him,’ Ursula said. Her voice was so hushed that the wind nearly took it away.
‘I don’t want to get … anybody into trouble.’
‘If they haven’t done anything against the law,’ Troy said, ‘you won’t.’
Shea wiped her forehead. ‘I’ve got a friend – an outer – and she gets all sorts of bling. You know. Jewellery. She asked me if I wanted … but we don’t have that sort of money.’
Troy needed to know the name of her friend, but he didn’t ask. He didn’t disrupt her flow.
Shea manoeuvred the chocolate to her left cheek and continued. ‘I was … curious. So I followed her. This was days ago. Not today. She was carrying quite a big bag. Made me … even more curious. She came here. Straight past the danger sign. She met someone. A man. Quite tall with white hair. Maybe he was old. I don’t know. I couldn’t see. They went off along the ridge.’
‘And what did you do?’
‘I turned back. They’d have seen me if I’d carried on. I did a bit of online research and found out about the gold. It made sense.’
‘Then, this afternoon, you got Ursula to come with you and take a look around.’
She sighed again. ‘Yes.’
‘And you found nothing.’
She nodded.
‘What’s her name? This outer girl.’
The two sisters exchanged a glance. Shea swished chocolate around her mouth without thinking or enjoying it. Ursula whispered, ‘Zoe Olivia Three.’
‘All right,’ Troy said. ‘I think we’ll leave it at that. I hope I don’t have to talk to you again. Or your family. But if there’s anything you haven’t told me …’ He left the threat hanging in the air.
Both girls shook their heads.
‘And don’t go near Zoe Olivia Three. Don’t contact her. If you did, it’d be perverting the course of justice and that means more than talking to your parents. It means a prison sentence.’
Troy looked into the sisters’ faces. They were both suitably sheepish. ‘Okay. Let’s get in the car. We’ll give you a lift – and make sure you’re well away from here.’
SCENE 27
Tuesday 13th May, Late afternoon
While Lexi began a thorough forensic analysis of all the mining gear under the large oak beams of Tight End Crime Central, Troy headed for the fish breeding centre.
Stepping inside the warm and humid reception, with its characteristic glow and tranquil gurgling sounds from the fish tanks, Troy went up to the desk. Clearly, the receptionist remembered him from his visit last Wednesday.
‘What can we do for you, Detective …?’
‘Troy Goodhart.’ He pointed to the man’s lapel. ‘You’re wearing your gold pin again. I’m interested in it.’
‘Nice, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. Where did you get it?’
‘A craft fair.’
‘Locally?’
‘Yes. Loose End. Why?’
‘Who sold it to you?’
The receptionist shrugged. ‘No idea what he was called. But he said he runs the jewellery shop here in the shopping mall.’
‘Tight End?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are there any other jewellers in town?’
‘No. You can’t go wrong.’
Troy nodded. ‘Thanks.’
A familiar face greeted Troy in the jewellery shop. Horatio Vines was helping a customer to choose a bracelet. When he saw Troy, the major’s expression shifted momentarily from smarmy to surly and back again.
‘Ah, it’s you,’ Troy said. ‘You run a shop as well as the fairs.’
Horatio stepped away from his customer and smiled. ‘Organizing art and craft shows doesn’t make me a living. I do it as a volunteer. Unpaid.’
‘But you sell things at the fairs.’
‘I do. It’s an extension of the shop. Sometimes the punters rol
l up and buy a good few items. Sometimes, the right customers aren’t there.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s like the shop itself. Good days and not so good days.’
From his phone call earlier in the day, Troy was convinced that Horatio Vines was protecting someone else in the gold and jewellery trade. Perhaps someone in his own business. Troy was also convinced the culprit was an outer, unaffected by mercury poisoning, and not a major. He asked, ‘Do you have an assistant?’
Horatio glanced furtively at his customer, licked his lips, and said quietly, ‘No.’
The shopper’s face expressed such surprise that even Horatio could not ignore it.
‘Well, yes, I had an assistant,’ Horatio said. ‘No doubt he served this lady at some point. But he’s no longer with me.’ He glanced towards the door marked Staff Only.
Troy laughed. ‘You’re hoping he won’t barge in right now and spoil what you just said. Or maybe you’re working out how to sneak into the stockroom – or whatever it is – to warn him about me.’ He shook his head. ‘Go on. Go and get him. I need to speak to him.’
When Horatio left the showroom, Troy turned towards the shopper and asked, ‘What are his prices like for pieces made with gold?’
‘Very reasonable,’ she replied. ‘I’m impressed. Cheaper than anywhere else I’ve come across. I don’t know how he does it.’ She paused and lowered her voice. ‘What’s going on?’
Hearing a door slam, Troy ignored her question and dashed to the back window. Below him, a young man with silver hair – taller than himself and Lexi – sprinted across a yard, between two buildings and out of sight.
Troy closed his eyes for a moment and muttered a groan. He knew that a chase was pointless. By the time he’d found the back door, Horatio’s assistant would be too far away.
Horatio came back into the showroom and said, ‘Now that’s unfortunate. I’m sorry but he couldn’t stay. He’s off duty and he’s got …’
Troy put up his hand. ‘Don’t even try. What’s his name?’
The customer, fearing a criminal connection, left rapidly without buying a bracelet or anything else.
‘Nigel Edwin Thirty-One.’
‘An outer.’
‘Obviously.’
‘I’m guessing here. Is he a scientist, an expert with gemstones, rocks and minerals?’
‘He’s a geologist and mineralogist. Very helpful in my line of work.’
Troy nodded. ‘Brown eyes by any chance?’
‘Now you mention it, yes.’
Anticipating a reaction, Troy gazed into the jeweller’s face while he asked, ‘Where’s Zoe Olivia Three?’
Horatio’s expression was genuinely blank. ‘I don’t know anyone of that name.’
‘Okay. Show me where Nigel Thirty-One sits, relaxes or works in the staff-only area.’
Horatio hesitated.
‘Or I’ll arrest you for obstructing my investigation,’ Troy stated bluntly.
Once Troy had seen Nigel Thirty-One’s chair and a corner where he examined and polished stones, Troy said, ‘Right. I’m calling in a forensic team. No one goes near here until they’ve finished. In fact, lock the door until they get here.’
‘But …’
Troy interrupted. ‘I’m still thinking about charging you with perverting the course of justice.’
‘Now that’s vindictive. Can you threaten me like that?’
‘I don’t see why not. You deserve it.’
Horatio sighed. ‘All right.’ Unwillingly, he added, ‘I’ll make sure nothing’s disturbed.’
By phone, Troy also asked for a team of officers to go to Nigel Edwin Thirty-One’s home and, if he wasn’t there, to search Tight End for the missing outer.
Waiting for the Crime Central forensic scientists to arrive, Troy looked up Zoe Olivia Three’s address. As soon as two officers turned up at the jeweller’s shop with their analytical kits, Troy directed them to the suspect’s work space. Then he left for Zoe’s apartment.
Troy glanced around the stylish living room and said, ‘Where’s Nigel Edwin Thirty-One?’
Taken by surprise, Zoe Three answered with a shrug. ‘No idea. Not here. At work, I should think.’
‘You don’t deny knowing him?’
‘No. Why should I?’
Zoe seemed full of confidence. She was about the same age as Troy and she had long dark hair – almost black. She had a bracelet on each wrist, gold earrings and an expensive necklace.
‘What’s your relationship with him?’
She shrugged again. ‘We’re friends.’ With a strange little smile, she added, ‘He seems to like me.’
‘You go out together?’
‘Yes. I don’t think it’s against the law.’
‘That depends where you go and what you do. How about Loose End Edge?’
For the first time, she looked uncertain. ‘I don’t like to say.’
‘Why not?’
‘Well, it’s full of lovely hidden places. I want to keep them to ourselves, not broadcast how good they are.’
‘So, you do go there?’
‘Good walking, picnic places, wild swimming in out-of-the-way pools.’
‘That’s why you’ve been seen starting out with big bags, then?’
‘Guess so.’
‘Have you seen anyone else up there?’
She shook her head. ‘Maybe once or twice, but it’s not bursting at the seams.’
‘I see you’ve got a lot of jewellery.’
‘Nigel works in a jeweller’s. He likes to give me presents.’
‘Gold.’
‘Some of it, yes.’
‘I’ve got a lot of evidence of illegal gold mining under Loose End Edge.’
Unconcerned, Zoe shrugged. ‘Nothing to do with me.’
In the face of her bravado, Troy knew he was on weak ground. She had accounted for Shea Pickup’s sighting of the couple at Loose End Edge and she had done so convincingly. Troy’s only suspicion was that her body language and responses were too confident and convincing. Even innocent suspects hesitated and showed signs of weakness, anxiety and doubt. But being self-assured wasn’t a crime. He had no justification for requesting a sample of her DNA.
‘Okay,’ he said. ‘That all figures. Thanks for your time.’
‘No problem,’ she replied jauntily.
SCENE 28
Tuesday 13th May, Night
‘What have you got so far?’ Troy asked his partner at Tight End Crime Central.
‘That water looked unspoiled – ideal for wild swimming – but it’s contaminated. Invisibly.’
‘Mercury?’
‘Yes. That’s why the fish died downstream.’ Lexi looked at him and said, ‘I know exactly what happened. Somewhere around the pool – and the amateur mining operation – there was a big spillage of mercury. Here’s the bad news. DNA profiling of the water tells me it’s got bacteria – probably on the riverbed – that turn mercury into methylmercury. Hey presto. That’s how and why fish and majors died. The bugs in the river are converting the pollution into the nastiest form of mercury.’
Troy nodded. ‘What about the gear in the cave?’
‘The two buckets had mercury in them. No fingerprints on anything. But I got hair and skin from the hard-hats. I’ll have the DNA results in the morning. Till then, nothing’s certain, but one hair was silvery and it looks like it matches the hair on Keaton Hathaway’s pad.’
Troy smiled. ‘Good work.’
‘We’ll see.’
‘Anything else?’
‘The fishing hook. I got a microscopic skin sample from it. That’s in for DNA right now.’
Troy said, ‘I’ve put some stuff in the forensic queue as well. Samples from a silver-haired, brown-eyed assistant at the jewellery shop in town. Nigel Edwin Thirty-One. An expert mineralogist and geologist. Friend of Zoe Three. Visitor to Loose End Edge.’
‘Interesting. Have you set up surveillance on him?’
Troy paused. ‘Horatio Vines told him I w
as after him. He took off. But there’s a police team out looking for him. I don’t think he’s with Zoe. Which reminds me. Are any of the hairs on the helmets long and black?’
‘Two of them.’
‘We’re going to need DNA from Zoe Olivia Three, then.’
SCENE 29
Wednesday 14th May, Early morning
Over breakfast in his hotel, Troy examined the main results that Lexi had sent to his life-logger.
DNA Profiles
DNA from mushroom, Rhodotus palmatus, detected in wooded area by pool.
DNA profile of Nigel Edwin Thirty-One established from hair and skin found in his working area of jewellery shop in Tight End.
DNA from root of silver hair on hard-hat matches exactly with the DNA from the hair in Hathaway’s notebook. Both are identical to the DNA profile of Nigel Edwin Thirty-One.
DNA from root of dark hair on second hard-hat does not match with any profile in any database.
DNA from fishing hook matches post-mortem sample of Richard Featherstone.
Troy smiled to himself and fisted the air. Through the wrinkled peach and the wild-swimming map, he had good evidence that Miley Quist had visited the valley below Loose End Edge. She had probably had a swim in the poisoned pool and maybe drunk the water.
He also had certain evidence that Richard Featherstone had been in the same place. Horatio Vines had seen another victim, Alyssa Bending, with Richard. It seemed likely that they had caught and unknowingly eaten contaminated fish. Maybe they’d had a swim as well.
Troy had the crime scene, the weapon and a suspect he could place in the same area. Nigel Edwin Thirty-One probably used mercury to scavenge illegally for gold. He didn’t have an obvious motive, though. He probably poisoned the victims by accident.
Troy also had undeniable evidence linking him with the fourth victim. Nigel Thirty-One had tried to destroy Keaton Hathaway’s connection to Loose End Edge by removing the latest pages from his journal.
But did Nigel have an accomplice? Or an apprentice for his mining operation. Was Zoe Olivia Three involved?