The Crocodile Nest (13 page)

He beamed around at the others as if expecting applause. Instead they all turned their backs, unable to understand such bloodthirsty behaviour.

Andy started the motor and pushed the throttles forward in anger, creating a noise that made it impossible to talk.

Not that Luke wanted to talk. He looked at the black water rushing by, feeling as shocked as the others. It wasn’t so much that the egret had died, as the efficient way the crocodile had attacked its meal. It made Luke realize just how dangerous crocodiles were. If the egret had been somebody swimming in the water, then they would never have known the crocodile was near. Not until it was much, much too late.

Luke woke the next morning feeling on top of the world. There was the memory of the dinner the night before, along with the promise of more to come that night. Plus he had the feeling that, in between times, the matter of Chizza and his scams would be resolved. By the time he met with Lora in the evening, everything would be well and truly sorted.

Last night’s dinner had been an impromptu affair, and was probably the more enjoyable because of that. Beth had been dropped off at the resort, saying she’d eat in her room and have an early night; Andy wanted to get home to his new partner; then Chizza just disappeared, possibly because nobody had spoken to him since the shooting. That left Ham, Lora and Luke.

As soon as they entered The Nest, Ellie greeted them from the office. ‘What a day!’ she moaned. ‘No Internet, then a group cancelled, and now the owners in Brisbane say they’re coming up next week for an inspection.’

‘You’ll be OK, Ellie,’ said Ham. ‘Nobody can criticize the way you run this place. It’s the best in Cape Trib.’

She put a hand on his arm. ‘Why thank you, Ham. That is the nicest thing I’ve heard all day.’

Ham gave her a shy smile. ‘If you join us for dinner, you might hear some more nice things.’

And that’s how it happened. The four of them having a cosy dinner on the deck of The Nest, overlooking the tropical jungle with the night sounds providing the background music. It was almost like two couples having a double date.

Ellie was the star. She was originally from Singapore, but had worked in places all over the world. Her stories about the happenings in hotels were entertaining and enlightening. Some of them were also more than a little naughty, although told with such charm that no one could be offended.

However, the nicest part of the evening, for Luke, was after dinner when he walked Lora back to the resort. For the first hundred metres or so they had walked side by side, unsure of what was required. Then without words they each reached for the other’s hand, and after that it was easy.

When they got to her room, Lora said, ‘Thank you, Luke. That was a lovely evening.’

Luke nodded, and then surprised himself by asking, ‘Would you like to do it again? Tomorrow night?’

Lora looked at him sideways. ‘Just the two of us? Like a date?’

Again Luke nodded, although he hadn’t really thought of it like that.

And so it was arranged: they would meet for dinner at the
resort at eight. Before Lora went inside, she gave Luke a hug, followed by a shy peck on the cheek. He walked home floating on air, replaying the last image of the evening: the look that Lora had given him as she closed the door—a look that suggested the little kiss might just be starters for the following night.

His first visit of the morning was to the bush chooks’ nest. When he’d first seen it, he had mistaken it for a crocodile nest. Now he knew that was not such a stupid mistake. The two nests were remarkably similar. Maybe this had once been the most common way of nesting? Perhaps the dinosaurs had nested this way as well? He found it easy to imagine dinosaurs living in the jungle and tending a nest just like this.

Unfortunately, that morning there were no animals tending the nest. When he looked closely, Luke could see nothing to indicate they’d been there since the morning before. Perhaps the listening he’d observed was the birds checking on whether the eggs were still alive? Maybe they weren’t and the nest had now been abandoned? It was saddening to think that all the effort to create such a large structure had been wasted. No eggs would hatch from this nest.

His second visit was to Kirk’s cage. He realized that the dog hadn’t been exercised since the pig hunt three days before. It was time to remedy that with a walk to the beach.

If Kirk was still mourning the loss of his friend, it wasn’t apparent as he rushed around the place, dribbling urine on
almost every tree and post. His exuberance was catching, and Luke couldn’t help but run with him. Soon they were at Reef Sands Resort. He would have liked to have gone in to see if Lora was up, except Kirk would not be welcome. Instead, he just gazed at her room from outside the wire-netting fence, disappointed that there was no sign of life.

The beach was empty, apart from a worker raking the sand in front of the resort. They ran towards the little creek that had the crocodile sign. Luke kept Kirk well away from the water—he now knew how quickly things could go wrong where crocodiles were involved. The thought of Kirk suffering the same fate as the egret was terrifying.

Their path back to The Crocodile Nest took them past another resort on the main road. Luke was almost past it when he recognized Chizza’s truck parked near the entrance. Wondering what was so important that the man had to be at work so early, he decided to investigate.

‘Down, Kirk!’ he ordered. The dog obeyed. ‘Stay! I’ll be back shortly.’

No one was in the foyer; in fact, the only sign of life was the clanging of dishes from the kitchen. It took just a minute to locate the computer space at the back of a vacant bar. Chizza was seated at the middle of five computers. The two on the left had a screensaver which showed animated reef fish. The other two had the Cape Tribulation photos that were the basis of Chizza’s phishing scam.

Luke hung back in the shadows watching the man work. After a time, he finished with the computer and moved on
to the next—one with the scam images showing. Shortly afterwards, the screen on the one he’d left changed to the fish animation. Luke smiled to himself: Chizza was covering his tracks, replacing his phish with fish.

He was about to leave when he noticed the large mirror along the back of the bar. In it he could see Chizza’s face set with determination as he worked on the keyboard—the man did not look at all happy. Then, as Luke watched, he saw Chizza’s eyes lift to the mirror. Their eyes didn’t meet, yet Luke got the impression that Chizza had sensed he was being watched.

Had Chizza seen him?

Luke didn’t think so. Still, he wasn’t going to hang around to find out. He slipped out of the hotel feeling that the day was no longer as wonderful as it had been just a short time before. Some serious things had to happen before he met with Lora that night. Chizza was rapidly removing all evidence of his scams. If the police weren’t brought in soon, then there would be nothing left to find. It was time to have another serious conversation with his father.

Luke found Ham in the restaurant having breakfast with Ellie. It was clear that things between them had advanced overnight. The touching, the eye contact, the little knowing smiles…

After exchanging greetings, Ham got straight to the point. ‘I’ve told Ellie everything,’ he said.

Luke was unsure of what ‘everything’ might include, so he
gave a little nod and waited for more.

‘We think you should get the name of that policeman as soon as possible,’ said Ellie.

So she knew about Chizza’s scams. But what about the fake diploma?

‘Then bring it to me,’ she continued, ‘and I’ll contact him. We think it will be better if The Crocodile Nest lays the complaint. It is likely to get faster action, and we want this over very quickly, before too many more customers get scammed.’

‘I’ve already emailed Brian at the bank asking for the name,’ said Luke. ‘Do you want me to check now?’

Ellie smiled. ‘No, enjoy your breakfast first. I don’t think Chizza’s going anywhere in the meantime.’

There was silence for a while, before Ellie turned to Ham and said, ‘You’d better tell him the rest.’

Ham finished his mouthful before pointing to the desk. ‘Did you notice my diploma’s gone?’

Luke looked over and was shocked to see just the outline of where the framed document had once hung.

‘I took it down this morning.’

‘Does that mean you can’t work here anymore?’

‘It depends,’ said Ham, looking to Ellie.

‘I’m going to ask for a dispensation,’ she said. ‘We should get it for a week or two.’

‘Then I’m going back to school,’ said Ham, with a crooked smile. ‘Just like you.’

Ellie leant over and took his hand. ‘Not for long, we hope. The TAFE has a system of recognizing prior learning, so Ham
might only need to do a block course for a few weeks and then sit the exams.’

‘We hope,’ said Ham, uncertainly.

‘I’ll make sure they do,’ Ellie said forcefully. ‘This place needs you. We’ll get by for a few weeks, but more than that and the restaurant will start falling apart. You’re an important part of the team. We need you here.’

Luke smiled. It sounded like not only would The Crocodile Nest find it difficult doing without Ham, so too would its delightful manager.

After breakfast, Luke went straight to the computers to check his emails. He was disappointed to find that Brian had not replied—surely he’d had more than enough time? Luke glanced at his watch and confirmed that it was almost midday in Auckland. If Brian messed around much longer, the reply wouldn’t come that day.

To fill in time he took Kirk for another walk, hoping to make up for the days of neglect. He went to a different beach, one where a cassowary had been seen recently, but there was nothing there except sunbathers.

Back at The Nest, he went to check his emails again, only to find Chizza working there. Luke backed away, hoping he hadn’t been seen. When Chizza didn’t react, he sneaked forward until he could peep into the room. Apart from Chizza, two others were using computers. The remaining three all had screensavers on: one with the reef animation, and the other two with the old Cape Trib views.

Chizza finished what he was doing and logged out. A minute later the reef animation came on, and he nodded with satisfaction before moving to the next machine. Luke was willing to bet that all traces of phishing and skimming were being removed. In a few minutes all the evidence would be gone. It would then be much harder to prove the scams.

Luke withdrew and rushed to a hidden corner of the bar. A moment later, he was talking to Lora on his phone.

‘Luke,’ she said, ‘how nice of you to call.’

His heart skipped a couple of beats at the sound of her voice. ‘Are you still in bed?’

‘Why? Do you want me to be?’ she said sweetly.

‘No!’ replied Luke. Now was not the time for flirting. ‘I want you to be in the bar where the computers are.’

There was a sigh from the other end. ‘Oh,’ said Lora. ‘It’s about computers again, is it?’

‘Yes! I need you to pull the LAN plug out of the wall socket. Not all the way, just enough to break the connection. Do it on all the computers.’

‘Why?’

‘So you can complain about them not working. Then they’ll call Chizza and he’ll have to come over.’ He then explained what Chizza was up to.

‘Right!’ said Lora. ‘It will be done. I’ll make such a stink that they’ll call him just to get rid of me.’

‘Thanks, Lora,’ said Luke. Then, more quietly: ‘See you tonight.’

He moved back to his spying position. Almost immediately,
Chizza finished with the computer he’d been working on and moved to the last of them.

‘Hurry up, Lora,’ Luke whispered. ‘Hurry up!’

Chizza’s mobile rang. He pushed a button and grunted a welcome. After listening for a while, he said, ‘Yes! Yes! I’ll come!’ He broke the connection and swore loudly enough for the others in the room to turn and glare.

Luke rushed back to the bar where he could keep an eye on the door to the games room.

A minute passed and Chizza still hadn’t left. Luke began to panic. Maybe the man was going to finish the job first. If he did, the evidence would be lost forever. Then suddenly he appeared, storming off towards the car park. Immediately, Luke was back in the games room. He’d had in mind removing the computer and hiding it somewhere. However, one look at the screen and he knew that wouldn’t be needed. The computer was still on, with a sign resting on the keyboard.

DO NOT USE!

Chizza was still logged on as administrator! It was just what Luke needed—absolute access to everything.

He ran to the office. ‘Do you have blank CDs?’ he asked Ellie.

‘CDs and DVDs. Which do you want?’

Luke opted for two DVDs.

‘Why do you need them?’

He explained.

Ellie looked at him for a moment before saying, ‘Be careful,
Luke. If he finds out, he will become very nasty.’

Luke nodded and left.

Back in the games room, he removed the sign from the keyboard and sat down. The woman working beside him turned and said, ‘He told us not to touch it! He’s making them so that we don’t have to pay anymore.’

Luke scanned around the computers. All the card readers had been removed and stacked in a box beside Chizza’s briefcase.

‘Just want to check something,’ said Luke. ‘He knows me. He won’t mind.’

The woman shrugged and turned back to her screen.

For a moment Luke once again considered taking the computer away. In the end he decided it would be too obvious. The software would be enough to show that skimming and phishing had occurred. He slotted a DVD in the drive and set to work copying everything that looked suspicious. There was more than could fit on one DVD. He would just have to take as much as he could.

The first DVD took eight minutes, which was pretty quick. The question was how long would it take Chizza to find out that somebody had fiddled with the plugs? Was it long enough to burn another disk? Luke decided to give it a go.

He was about halfway through the second one when his phone rang.

It was Lora. ‘He’s just finished and is back in his truck,’ she said. ‘Have you done it?’

‘Not all of it! Can you stall him?’

‘No! He’s pulling out now.’

Luke looked at the screen. Four minutes to go. Maybe he had just enough time.

‘Thanks, Lora.’

‘Don’t let him catch you.’

‘I won’t,’ he said with more confidence than he felt.

While the DVD continued to burn, he closed every other program he’d used so that it would be just as Chizza had left it. After that, all he could do was watch the timer count down ever so slowly.

Three minutes to go.

‘C’mon, c’mon,’ he complained.

Two minutes…

Then he heard footsteps clumping down the corridor. Chizza was coming—he’d run out of time.

Next, a voice called out. ‘Chizza!’ It was Ellie. The footsteps stopped. Luke froze.

‘What?’ came the reply, seemingly from just outside the door.

‘Could you have a look at my computer, please? It is doing some strange things.’

There was a grunt, followed by heavy footsteps heading away.

‘Thank you,’ said Ellie. ‘I appreciate it.’

One minute…

Now it was counting down in seconds. When it reached ten, the drive whirled noisily for a moment, before opening and ejecting the disk. Luke grabbed it along with the other DVD, put the sign back into position, and hurried from the room using the quickest way out of the building.

Back at his place, he sat on the bed breathing deeply. That
had been close—far, far too close. Slowly his breathing calmed, but he didn’t relax. Chizza might still find out what he’d done, and he half-expected the man to bash angrily at his door at any moment.

However, when after twenty minutes nothing had happened, Luke decided that he’d got away with it. Chizza would have finished clearing the computer by then. He’d probably already left to go to the next place.

Yet, just in case the man had discovered something, Luke decided to hide the disks. He couldn’t keep them in his room: that would be the first place Chizza would look. The second would be Ham’s room. Andy’s workshop had lots of suitable places, but was also a bit obvious. Then Luke thought of the perfect place: the bush chooks’ nest. They didn’t seem to need it anymore, and nobody would ever think of looking there.

A short while later, it was done. The DVDs were sealed in their cases and hidden beneath half a metre of jungle rubbish. The evidence was secure. Now all that he needed was a reply from Brian. He’d check for that again as soon as he’d confirmed that Chizza had left.

There was no reply from Brian before or after lunch. By then it was two o’clock—four o’clock in New Zealand. Probably only an hour before Brian finished work.

Luke considered sending another email, before thinking of a better idea. He’d get Ellie to do it. Then she’d have the information as soon as it came in. He printed out Brian’s last
email from almost a month ago. On it were Brian’s email address and direct dial-in telephone number. If Ellie wanted, she could give Brian a ring.

Ellie was busy, but agreed to get onto it as soon as she could. She said that she’d probably email first, and if that didn’t work then she’d use the DDI number.

That was fine by Luke: now that he had the disks, some of the earlier urgency had gone. Even if Chizza had cleared all the computers he serviced, the evidence that would convict him still existed. If the police didn’t come today, then it was no big deal. While Luke wanted the situation over and done with, he wasn’t going to let it, or anything else, wreck his big night out with Lora.

Luke woke to a soft knocking on the door. He’d lain down on his bed hoping to waste a bit of time, and had ended up sleeping.

Still half-asleep, he got up and opened the door, expecting it to be Ellie or—even better—Lora. Instead, it was Chizza.

‘Hi,’ said Chizza. ‘I came to apologize for my behaviour last night.’

Luke stepped back in surprise. Chizza’s face reflected his words—the man looked truly remorseful.

‘It was stupid what I did,’ he continued. ‘I get carried away sometimes.’

Before he could stop himself, Luke was accepting the apology with a nod. He was more surprised than anything else. ‘That is good,’ Chizza said. ‘We are friends again?’

Luke didn’t know what to say, so once again he nodded.

Chizza nodded in return. ‘Good! Good! Now I would like to do something to make it right. I will take you to see Crazy Hazel’s nest. You will come?’

This was even more of a shock. The chance to see Crazy Hazel! But something inside told Luke to be cautious. ‘Do you think we should?’ he said. ‘Andy said we shouldn’t go near her.’

Chizza smiled. ‘That was at night-time. If we go quickly, it will still be daylight. Andy said it was OK at this time of day.’

Luke was in two minds: he didn’t want to go with this man, but he
did
want to see Crazy Hazel’s nest. It could be the highlight of his holiday. And if Andy said it was OK, then maybe it was. ‘All right,’ he eventually agreed. ‘But I’d better go and tell Ham.’

‘I have told Ham we are going. He is working now.’

Luke looked at his watch. It was four-oh-five. Ham would’ve been working for two hours. ‘Will we be back by eight o’clock?’

Chizza nodded vigorously. ‘If we go quickly, we will be back before it is dark. Get something warm and let us go.’

Luke grabbed his sweatshirt and cellphone before following Chizza out to the front of the workshop where the vehicle and boat were parked. He had a look in the workshop, hoping to check with Andy that it was truly OK, but the place was empty.

Next thing, he was in Chizza’s vehicle travelling the same road as the night before. This time he sat in the comfort of the front passenger seat. Still, it didn’t make him feel any more comfortable inside—the hollow feeling in his stomach suggested he was doing the wrong thing.