by Ian W Taylor
*
The house was untouched by the intruder except for the office which had been ransacked with books and files and papers scattered all over it. The screen on the computer was still on so the intruder had obviously been going through Barry’s computer files before he was disturbed.
“Barry must have had something of real value for them to have another go at robbing the place. And whatever it was, they probably didn’t get it because that guy wasn’t carrying anything when he ran off. Poor Elsie doesn’t need this on top of everything else.”
They set about cleaning up the office and restoring everything to its proper place. Once the office looked decent again Bill suggested they start their search.
“The problem is we don’t know what we’re looking for. It could be on the computer, a memory stick, some paper documents, an audio or video tape,” said Jake
“O.K., let’s do this room by room. Jake you take the computer, the office and the bedrooms and I’ll do the living areas and bathroom.”
They searched every room thoroughly, checking for hidden spaces, hollow walls, loose floorboards, even poked around in the ceiling, but could find nothing. After two hours, they were convinced that whatever it was, it was not in the house. They then started on the outside, the garage, the garden and the shed, still without success. The only remaining place to look was under the house. Bill changed into a pair of jeans and T-shirt and brought out some old clothes and a torch for Jake. Jake replaced his suit for the old clothes while Bill came out with a set of house keys and found one that unlocked the padlock to the gate providing access to under the house. Jake followed Bill as he crawled through the gate and they found there was just enough room to stand up if he bent right over. He shined the flashlight under the house brushing cobwebs aside as he went. There was a pile of timber, old bathroom tiles and a stack of plastic agricultural pipes as well as assorted tools and junk lying on the earthen floor, but nothing that would indicate a hiding place. They hauled themselves back out through the gate and straightened up. Bill went to replace the padlock when Jake stopped him.
“That padlock and key look new Bill, yet you wouldn’t think Barry would have needed to go under the house too often.”
“Yeah, that’s true but the old one could have just rusted out” replied Bill.
“But there’s nothing of any value under there, so why would he need a padlock at all? Let’s have another quick look.”
Jake ducked under the house again and shone his torch along the inside walls either side of the gate. There were two PVC plastic pipes lying along one wall, each about four metres in length and ten centimetres in diameter. They were the type that Jake had seen carried on roof racks of 4WD vehicles to be used for water storage. They had screw caps on each end. He picked up the end of the closest pipe, unscrewed the cap off and shone the torch down the pipe. All he could see was an old bag stuck in the pipe. Without any expectation he pulled out a plastic bag sealed with masking tape. He stumbled back through the gate into the yard. He peeled off the tape and opened the bag. Inside the bag was a small black box. It looked like a gift box used for jewellery or watches. He opened the box and inside it was a key ring. The key ring was of no interest to Jake. But he was very interested in the USB memory stick attached to it.
“Bill, I might have something here. Take a look!” Jake showed him the key ring and memory stick.
Bill looked at the memory stick. “Right, let’s load it onto the computer and see what’s on it.”
They walked inside and Jake plugged the USB into Barry’s computer. He started scrolling through the files. He found several documents that looked interesting including a letter, some emails and two contracts. He read the letter quickly and gasped.
“What’s in it Jake? Bill peered over his shoulder at the computer screen.
“This is a copy of a letter from a company called Northern Consulting to Baobab Trustees. It states that they will pay Baobab $2.25 million for services relating to land rights and environmental issues in the development of the Jabiru mine.”
Bill interjected “Christ Almighty! That’s what the intruders were looking for. Northern Consulting is the consultant commissioned by Energet to negotiate with the Land Council over the aboriginal land rights issue holding up the mine development. I’ll bet Baobab Trustees is owned by Bert O’Shea, President of the Land Council. They’ve made a secret deal with O’Shea to make sure the Land Council doesn’t object to the development of the mine. Barry’s got hold of a copy somehow. This is dynamite!”
Jake checked the other documents. There were emails detailing technical specifications of the area for mining development in Jabiru which didn’t mean much to him. Then he examined the largest document which was entitled “Agreement between Energet Resources and Nippan Energy”. It seemed to be a standard contract detailing terms and conditions for the exploitation of uranium in the Jabiru district. His interest was sparked when he scanned a second contract which was marked “Highly Confidential”. This outlined an agreement between Energet and Mitsustrata, a Japanese company he had never heard of. This also seemed to be a standard contract but one clause took his eye. It set out special payments for the production and supply of rare earths and spelt out the names of particular rare earths of interest. This confused Jake because all the publicity for the mine related to the production of uranium.
Just then, Lizzie and Elsie walked in the front door. Jake hastily closed down the computer and removed the memory stick. He returned it to the gift box and put it in his pocket. He spoke to Bill, “Let’s talk later about what we do with this.” Bill nodded his head in agreement and walked to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Lizzie was comforting Elsie who was overcome with grief and exhausted from the effort of trying to hold herself together at the funeral. Lizzie made her a cup of tea and encouraged her to lie down on her bed after giving her some sedatives to help her sleep.
Bill told Lizzie about the break-in and what they had found under the house. She gasped when Jake pulled out the memory stick from his pocket and explained its contents. They discussed what they should do for several minutes. Lizzie sat down next to Jake and said
“Jake, we’d like you to keep the USB and follow this up. Elsie won’t want anything to do with it after what’s happened to Barry. You understand this funny business better than anyone we know and we trust you. Will you take it and see that Barry gets some justice?”
Jake thought about it. “I’m not sure I’m the right person to follow this through. What about giving the stick to the police and letting them pursue it.”
“I wouldn’t trust the coppers as far as I could throw them. Look what happened to Barry. Please Jake, we don’t know anyone else with your background that could follow this up.”
“O.K. I’ll give it a go. I’ll talk to a few people and work out what’s the best course of action. But Elsie should have a say in this.”
“Thanks Jake. Don’t worry about Elsie. I’ll talk to her tomorrow when she’s recovered a bit from her ordeal. But I’m sure she’d rather you followed it up. All she wants is justice for Barry’s death.”
Jake nodded, not sure what he was getting himself into.
“I’ll think it over for the next few days.”
“You’d better stay here tonight Jake, it’s a long drive back to Daly Waters.”
Jake agreed, returning the memory stick to his pocket, and spent the evening talking to Bill and Lizzie. He retired early and slept on a mattress on the floor in the sleep-out.