Black Mountain (14 page)

‘You've done it, you clever girl. Not only does this feel so much better, it smells better.'

‘Don't play down your part. Your knowledge of essential oils helped a lot. In fact, it was when I remembered how you add rose essential oil at the end to pull everything together, and decided to do the same, that's made all the difference, and is why it's turned out like this. '

‘I'm glad I was able to contribute something. Rob would be pleased.'

‘Now all we have to do is find the plant.' Elly sighed, her elation evaporating.

‘What you've done was the next step, you've done what he wanted to do,' Beth told her with determined cheerfulness. ‘He would be so proud of you. You've finished what he started, and that's a huge accomplishment.'

‘Yes, but is it ever going to come to anything? If we can't find the plant …'

‘We're not giving up yet. Let's see how far Mitchell's gone. I'll give him a call and get him to come in.'

When Mitchell arrived later Elly realised that the break from seeing him regularly, coupled with the intensive work she had been doing, had blunted the feeling of hurt she'd felt at seeing him with Fancy Pants. But she would adhere to her decision to keep their relationship on a strictly business level—that kiss obviously hadn't meant as much to him as it had to her. He was just being friendly. Trying to comfort her.

When he showed them on the map the large area he'd searched since they compared notes last time, Elly's confidence in finding the
stripling
plummeted lower. There was still so much ground to cover. But she hated to accept defeat.

‘Beth, I don't like continuing to take your money when I know the chance of finding the plant is minimal,' Mitchell said as he rolled up the map.

‘It's my decision,' Beth replied. ‘I must know that I've given it every chance. I owe it to Rob for his hard work and his persistence. Just a bit longer, Mitchell, I can afford it for a bit longer yet.'

Elly felt a sweep of sadness as she heard the despondency below her mother's forced cheerfulness. If only they had some idea of where to look. If only Della had not died …

‘I'm going to call Della's niece again, on the off-chance the daughter might have come back,' she told them.

Taking out her phone she made the call straight away, and what she heard filled her with excitement. After a few words she clicked off her phone and looked at the others with a triumphant grin.

‘We have a place. Near Black Mountain.'

Beth gasped. ‘Black Mountain! But that's way up near Cooktown, and I've heard stories about it. It's a wild place. Dangerous. People have disappeared in it, and never been found. I've read that a whole mob of cattle once disappeared inside it. It's a dangerous place. I don't want you to go there, your life is more important than any plant!'

‘That's all superstitious rubbish, Mum. I've never been up that far, but I've heard it's just a great big heap of volcanic rocks, and it doesn't scare me. And I'm sure it doesn't scare Mitchell either.' Elly turned to Mitchell. ‘Does it now?'

‘It doesn't scare me, no. But some of the stories are based on fact. It is a wild place, and one to be careful about when you go there. But there's very little growth in Black Mountain itself, so I doubt it's actually in the mountain—it's all rock, bar a few scrubby bits where soil's lodged in the crevices. Did she say exactly where?'

‘No, and she said near Black Mountain, not in it. I didn't speak to the daughter, she's still away, but the niece said she asked her about it when she rang one day, and that's what she told her. She couldn't be more specific, but now we know the area, we'll find it. And the most interesting thing is that she said there's a clump of them, not single plants. But only one clump, that's all there is.'

‘A clump,' Mitchell exclaimed. ‘Well now, that will make things easier. And there certainly are plants growing there that don't grow anywhere else.'

Beth wasn't convinced. ‘I'm not at all sure that's where it is. Rob never said anything about it being up there.'

‘But he did go up there?' Mitchell asked.

‘If so he never told me. But sometimes he was away for a few days, and unless it was something specific we didn't always discuss where he'd been.'

‘When he went away overnight did he camp out?'

‘Yes, always.'

Elly felt a memory pulling at her. ‘I think he must have been up there sometime. I remember him telling me about that area. It's in a national park, and the Aboriginal name is Kalkajaka, and it means “the place of the spear”.'

‘Camping's not allowed in the actual national park, but he could've camped nearby and walked in.' Mitchell pursed his lips. ‘Hmm. If the plant was inside the national park, which is a protected area, there are restrictions on what you can take, and he might have needed to apply for a licence. Perhaps that's why he wasn't specific about the area.'

‘Whatever, I don't like the idea of you traipsing around up there,' Beth reiterated. ‘What if you break down or something?'

‘It's not too far from Cooktown,' Mitchell soothed her, ‘and there's the Lion's Den pub in between, if we needed help.'

‘We need to find the plant, Mum. And this is the only clue we have.'

Beth sighed. ‘Yes, of course.' She turned to Mitchell. ‘But you will be careful, won't you?'

‘Yes, I promise you.'

‘When do you want to go?'

Elly couldn't wait. She wanted to go right now, but knew they had to prepare for camping out.

‘As soon as we can. How about tomorrow? Can we be ready by then?' she asked Mitchell.

‘Yes. Do you have a tent?'

‘Yes.'

‘Then I have enough other gear for both of us.'

‘Don't forget you promised Gai you'd go with her and Tim to Galligans again on Friday night,' Beth reminded her.

‘I'll ring and tell her we'll make it another time, she'll understand. Now, how about food? Mum, will you help me prepare that?'

‘Of course.'

‘Don't worry too much about food,' Mitchell said. ‘Cooktown's only about twenty k's away, and the Lion's Den is even closer. We could always get a meal there.'

‘I'll bring enough for a few days. And my own tent and sleeping bag.'

‘Good.' Mitchell pushed back his chair and stood. ‘Then I'll see you in the morning. Get a good night's sleep, it'll be the last time you'll see your bed for quite a few days.'

Sleep was a long time coming for Elly. Mitchell's presence was unsettling. As she lay in bed her mind wandered unbidden back to a time in her life she had relegated to her past, and didn't care to remember.

She'd been young and naive when she met Parker, and she'd fallen madly in love with him, so when he asked her to marry him she had been over the moon, and hadn't hesitated to say ‘yes'. Life had seemed so wonderful as they planned their future together. They would be married in St John's Church in Cairns, the church where her parents had married, and where she'd been christened. She would continue working with her parents until they decided to have children. They planned on four, preferably two boys and two girls. Everything was roses, until that appalling night when she caught Parker in bed with another woman.

They were at a party at Parker's parent's house to celebrate his brother's twenty-first birthday. It was as Elly was passing Parker's bedroom on her way to the toilet that she heard what sounded like a cry from inside. She stopped, listening, thinking perhaps Parker had hurt himself or was unwell, realising she hadn't seen him for the last half hour or so.

She tapped lightly on the door and called his name softly. When there was no answer, but another cry came from inside, she opened it a crack and looked in. What she saw caused the blood to freeze in her veins.

On the bed lay her friend Julie, her legs wrapped around Parker and her head thrown back as she continued uttering the cries Elly had heard, while Parker, bare from the waist down, was on top of her, pumping away vigorously.

As rage surged inside her Elly crashed the door open so hard that it flew back and hit the wall.

‘You bastard!' The cry was torn from her as she crossed to the bed.

Suddenly silent, Julie's eyes widened and her body stiffened, and Parker lay rigid for a second before turning his shocked face towards her.

‘Bastards!'

Elly spat the word at them as she stood by the bed, glaring as Parker hurriedly rolled to one side and pulled at the bedcover, breathing heavily as he tried to cover his nakedness, his face scarlet.

Pulling the ring from her finger she threw it at him. ‘You'd better give this to her,' she panted, ‘because I don't want it. And I never want to see you again.'

‘Elly, wait …' he called as she stalked from the room, slamming the door behind her.

Hurriedly gathering her things, Elly fled the house.

When Parker tried to contact her she told him to stay away, and after a few attempts he gave up, and a few months later he left Cairns and she never heard from him again.

But the pain from her broken heart was not so easy to lose, and during the long months of her grief Elly vowed never to lay herself open to such heartache again.

And now, as she lay in bed remembering her anguish, she told herself she must never forget the lesson she'd learnt then. Never give anyone the chance to hurt her like that again.

After a restless night, Elly was woken by a distant roll of thunder. Looking through her window she saw clouds hanging in the sky, dark as a rage in heaven. The mornings had been threatening all week, with heavy skies and distant thunder, but each day had cleared over and the promised rain never materialised. The heat and humidity built up, and now everyone was longing for the weather to break, but the old-timers prophesised another month of this before the wet arrived. In light of the forthcoming trip, she hoped they were right.

Although she was excited about the coming expedition, with the prospect of finding the
stripling
beckoning her enticingly, she wished it was not with Mitchell that she was going. The sight of him again yesterday had caused her heart to sink. The memory of seeing Fancy Pants in the car with him, reaching up to kiss him, hadn't faded. However, she knew she couldn't attempt going on her own, and there was no-one else she could ask to take his place.

Besides, she would never tell anyone, not even her mother or Gai, how Mitchell's kiss had disturbed her, made her feel there might be something very special about to begin between them, only to find it had been Fancy Pants he cared about all this time.

Well, she'd already decided to keep their relationship impersonal. There was no way she'd lay herself open to heartbreak again. She'd made that decision once before and had stuck to it, until she came close to wavering when Jackson entered her life. And look how that had turned out! No, men were not to be trusted in matters of the heart—best to avoid intimacy, it was safer.

Chapter 23

Mitchell arrived early, whistling cheerfully as he got out of his Cruiser.

As Elly and Beth carried out the baskets of food Elly saw the roof rack was already packed with camping gear.

‘Good morning,' Mitchell called as he bent to pat Ben, who came bounding out to meet him. ‘A good day for travelling,' he added, straightening up and smiling at her.

‘Good morning,' Elly greeted him coolly as she carried a basket to the car.

Mitchell took the baskets and loaded them into the back, and was undoing the straps on the roof rack, already packed with his camping gear, while Elly went back inside for her tent, sleeping bag and duffle bag. When she returned he added them to the load on the roof rack and covered it all again before strapping it securely in place.

‘Is that the lot?' he asked.

Elly nodded. ‘Yes.'

Beth came and hugged her tightly. ‘Take care,' she said, stepping away and turning to Mitchell. ‘You will be careful, won't you?' she asked in a tight voice.

‘Yes, I promise you.' Mitchell took Beth's hand, and his voice softened. ‘And I'll take very good care of Elly.'

‘Thank you.' Beth managed a little smile. ‘I'm counting on you.'

‘I don't need taking care of, thank you,' Elly countered coldly, climbing into the passenger's seat and slamming the door.

Mitchell merely raised his brows and slid behind the wheel.

As they pulled away with Beth watching, Elly gave her a wave and settled back in her seat.

‘When we near Black Mountain we'll need to drive around outside the national park looking for a camp site,' Mitchell told her as they sped away.

‘Fine with me,' Elly replied, pulling a folder from her bag and beginning to read, immersing herself in her notes.

Mitchell shot her a curious look and then turned the radio to an easy listening music station and concentrated on his driving.

Their drive took them along the Mulligan Highway as they headed north and Elly continued to read as the car ate up the kilometres.

Mitchell broke the silence after they had been driving for a couple of hours.

‘Well, there it is.'

Elly looked up from her folder. The road was cut through bushland, with the only sign of civilisation being the telegraph poles that followed the road a few metres from its edge, and the occasional road sign. Looking ahead, she saw the mountain. Visible now, from some distance away, its top showed above the treetops ahead.

‘Black Mountain,' she said, feeling a spurt of excitement. ‘Is this going to be the end of our search? We've looked for so long, it's become almost like a mirage. The more we look the further it seems to move away, but I feel as if we're finally on the right track. Surely we'll find it soon. Now we know we're looking for a clump of
striplings
I feel it coming closer.'