The Search (7 page)

‘Okay, mate, you’ve had a shock. Just sit down for a minute and I’ll make you a nice hot cup of tea loaded up with sugar.’

‘I don’t want a nith cup of tea loaded up with thugar. I want to go back to Melbourne where therth no thnakth.’

‘I’ll go up and see if it’s still there,’ said Kay, grabbing the broom off Flick. ‘And if it is I’ll give it what-for!’

‘Are you going to kill it?’ asked Angela, her eyes almost bugging out of her head.

‘No, I’m going to tickle it. What do you think?’

‘But ith illegal to kill thnakth, ithn’t it?’ lisped Braden, as Liz brought his cup of tea over to him.

‘Not if they sit on the road near
my
Elgas bottles trying to bite
my
staff,’ snapped Kay, marching out the door wielding the broom like a medieval lance at a jousting competition.

The others rushed out behind her, leaving Nathan in the back room happily pounding at his pizza dough.

‘It wath right there!’ Braden pointed with a shaking finger.

‘Well, it’s not there now,’ said Kay, bending down and peering under the tank stand. ‘It might have crawled under the building.’

‘Like, you mean it’s under the store?’ Angela went even whiter. ‘What if it comes out at night and one of us steps on it?’

‘That’s highly unlikely,’ said Kay. ‘If it’s going to come out it’ll be when everything’s quiet. And snakes like the sun. Now, if it was mating time, that would be a different thing. That’s when they get really aggro. Anyway, it’ll probably slither off into the reeds when it’s dark, so don’t panic.’

‘Can’t we thet a trap for it or thomething?’

‘I can call the snake-catcher but it’d be like trying to find a needle in a haystack,’ said Kay. ‘I’m afraid snakes are part of the environment, Braden, so stay away from the river and don’t go wandering round the bush tracks, okay?’

‘I wathn’t, I wath juth walking down the road.’

‘I know. I know. But from now on keep your eyes peeled and be alert.’

Kay strode back into the store and put the broom behind the door as the others straggled in behind her.

‘Right. There’re customers coming. No mouthing
off about snakes, understand? I don’t want my customers getting panicky and clearing off.’

Liz wasn’t overly worried. She’d seen heaps of snakes and in her experience they were usually keen to avoid people and get out of the way. The problem was, if you weren’t looking where you were going and stepped on one, their natural instinct was to sink in their fangs. She’d had a narrow squeak when she’d been picking blackberries along the river and a large tiger snake had been dozing in the blackberry bushes. It had reared up and frightened the daylights out of her.

Flick didn’t know much about snakes, but she’d figured the camping ground couldn’t be crawling with them or no one would come and stay there, and if Kay was right and snakes didn’t like human company, she should be safe in her bus.

Angela was petrified because she was terrified of snakes. And spiders. And mice. She didn’t even like the possums when they came at night banging around in the rubbish bins.

Braden had decided he didn’t like the bush at all. His grandparents had a holiday house near the road where the scrub had been cleared and smooth lawns covered most of the block. He wasn’t an outdoors person, and he didn’t like surfing or bushwalking, but
every year his parents dragged him down to Coolini Beach from their nice safe house in Balwyn to stay with Grandpa and Grandma. It was a family tradition. He missed the city, going to his private boys’ college, drinking caffe lattes at sidewalk cafes with his friends and going to the theatre, museums and art galleries. There was no culture here at Coolini Beach, and he’d taken the job at the store because it kept him occupied and allowed him access to gossip, which he loved. He knew that nearly stepping on that terrifying tiger snake with it rearing up to strike him would give him nightmares for weeks.

‘Where did you lot go?’ Nathan was standing in the doorway of the back kitchen, arms akimbo and glaring at them all.

‘Braden nearly trod on a snake,’ said Kay matter-of-factly. ‘I was going to kill it, but it’s gone, probably under the building, so don’t go poking about outside or taking trips to the shed for anything after sunset unless you put on the light.’

‘It won’t come in through the gap under the door, will it?’ Nathan looked scared.

‘I doubt that it’s going to be that eager to try one of your pizzas, Nathan, even if they are good,’ said Kay drily. ‘Now, we’ve got customers wanting to order food, so let’s get to work and forget about snakes.’

The rest of the evening went past in a blur. Nathan was making pizza dough and rolling it out like there was no tomorrow, with Braden putting on the toppings and flipping them around in the oven. On this warm, balmy night the whole world seemed to want pizzas with their beer or soft drinks, and ice-creams to follow. Of course the store didn’t sell alcohol but most of the campers and holiday house residents had brought in their own supplies, and the nearest pub was only a fifteen-minute drive away. Icy cold beer and tasty slices of pizza were just perfect for dinner!

At last Liz was finished. She decided to go to the beach party, so she phoned her parents to tell them where she’d be.

‘How will you get home?’ asked her dad.

‘I guess someone will walk up with me, or maybe you could drive down and get me,’ said Liz into the phone.

‘I’ll walk up with you,’ said Flick, who was still helping Kay clean up although she should have knocked off two hours ago.

‘But then you’ll have to walk down to the bus by yourself.’

‘So? I’m not scared of the dark.’

‘You can borrow these torches,’ said Kay, who’d
overheard the conversation, ‘so long as you bring them back in the morning.’

‘Don’t you want to come too?’

‘No, I’ve got to count the takings, lock up and then go home. I haven’t seen Cam for two nights. Mind you, he’ll be sound asleep when I rock on in, but at least I’ll be there when he wakes up. Anyway, I’m far too tired to party.’

‘Will you be okay on your own?’ Flick felt uneasy. ‘You took in a lot of money today. Are you sure you don’t want us to wait while you lock up?’

‘No, I’ll be fine. Go ahead. Have fun. Nothing’s going to happen to me. After all, this is Coolini Beach and not Chicago.’

Braden, who’d decided to go to the party and walk up the hill with the girls afterwards, Flick, Nathan and Liz walked together through the camping ground and across the road to take part in the action. Nathan tried to pull Flick into a dark corner but she pushed him off with a sexy glance and wiggled her hips as she walked away.

The beach party was easy to find. They could hear the music and noisy laughter, and smell the tantalising aroma of barbecued sausages wafting through the air. They’d found out from Nathan that the surf club had purchased the sausages from Kay that morning and were selling them as a fundraiser. Angela hadn’t mentioned
that
! She’d made it sound as though she
was in charge and she was going to toss half-a-dozen snags on the barbie!

There was quite a crowd gathered round the bonfire. Someone had a ghetto-blaster pumping out techno, and a few people were dancing round on the fringe of the bonfire with cans in their hands. Angela was one of them. She was gyrating about like a sinuous python on heat and many of the guys couldn’t take their eyes off her, including Josh. Jessica was sulking next to him.

‘Men are so stupid,’ muttered Flick as she saw the agonised look on Liz’s face. ‘Forget him. If he can be mesmerised by that little witch, he’s not worth knowing.’

Randy was there with Cyril, supervising the whole thing. They had two firefighting backpacks in case the fire got out of control, and Cyril had lugged along the first-aid kit just in case it was needed. The two men were sitting apart from the others on a log with plates of food balanced on their knees and a can of beer in their hands.

Braden had gone off to talk to a group of teenagers and was deep in conversation with one of the girls. Nathan had gone over to his mates and was busy posturing and swigging bourbon from a bottle they were passing around. The two girls sat down on the sand together and stared into the flames.

‘Do you want something to eat?’ Flick asked Liz.

‘I haven’t got any money.’

‘That’s okay. My shout.’

Flick went over to the makeshift table where the lifeguards were selling food. Two sausages, a piece of bread, a potato in foil and a dollop of coleslaw for three dollars was a good price for a good feed. She bought two platefuls and carried them carefully back to Liz.

‘So much for a romantic evening, eh?’ She passed a plate to her friend with a plastic knife and fork and nodded toward Nathan.

‘You weren’t really gunna pash on with him, were you?’ Liz took a bite of her sausage. ‘Erk. It’s burnt on the outside and raw in the middle.’

‘Just the way barbecued snags should be. Eat up. It won’t kill you.’

‘You. And Nathan,’ Liz persisted.

Flick shrugged. ‘I haven’t finished with him yet. Catching a guy is like fishing. You throw out the bait then wait. The fish bites. You play it for a while, reel it in, let it out, reel it in a bit further. Then when you’ve finally caught it, you have a choice. Keep it. Or throw it back.’

‘What are you going to do with Nathan?’

‘What do
you
think?’

Flick forked up some coleslaw. ‘Yum. This is good. I wonder who made it?’

‘One of the lifeguards’ or their wives, I suppose. Or, maybe their mothers.’

Liz was watching Josh watching Angela. His tongue was practically dragging in the sand. Jessica had snuggled up to him and he was absent-mindedly stroking her hair. She had her hands on his shirt, rubbing his chest. It was
sickening
.

‘Wanna dance, Flick?’

Nathan was all hot eagerness. He’d skulled a tinnie and grabbed another from his mate’s cooler.

‘Okay.’

Flick stood up gracefully and moved to the edge of the sand where the others were dancing. The techno beat thumped out, primitive and wild as she moved her body in time to it. Nathan lunged at her, tripped and fell head first into the sand, spilling his drink. He looked so ridiculous sprawled in a heap at her feet that she couldn’t help laughing.

‘Here.’ She offered him her hand and he staggered to his feet. He seemed a bit tipsy. In fact, now he was on his feet and staggering slightly, Flick realised he was more than tipsy. He was drunk.

‘Have you had anything to eat?’

‘Who wants to eat? It’s party time.’

A sweet smell wafted through the air. Marijuana. Flick stiffened. Had Cyril and Randy smelt it too? If they had they were ignoring it. The smell was coming from the other side of the bonfire where Nathan’s mates were hanging out. Nathan sniffed the air and gave her a lopsided grin.

‘Wanna come over and do some dope? It’s choice.’

‘No thanks, I don’t do that stuff.’

‘Yeah? You must be the only chick on the planet who doesn’t. Come on, have a pull, it’ll relax you.’

He put a clumsy arm round her shoulders.

‘Forget it!’ Flick twisted away and marched across the sand to where Liz was sitting.

Angela was now necking a bottle and leaning against some guy they’d never seen before, giggling inanely. As they watched she unpeeled herself and went over to Josh, who was busy kissing Jessica.

‘Hey, Josh. Wanna dance?’

Josh jerked up his head as she bent over him.

‘Um, I’m kinda busy right now,’ Liz heard him say.

By now, all Liz wanted to do was throw up. The sausage tasted sour in her mouth and she wanted to march over and yank Jessica’s long dark hair from her head and push Angela’s stupid smiling face into the sand. And belt Josh across the mouth. He was acting like a total jerk. She’d thought he was a nice guy and
he was being a real idiot! She hadn’t known she could feel so furious!

‘I’ve had enough,’ she said. ‘I wanna go home.’

‘Yeah. I know how you feel.’

As the two girls stood up to leave, Nathan loomed in front of them, barring their way.

‘You’re not going, are you? The night’s still young.’

‘We’ve got to start in the store early tomorrow,’ said Flick, smiling serenely at him. ‘Sorry, Nathan. Another time.’

Her voice was full of promise. Nathan wavered. Should he offer to walk the girls home, which meant going up the hill to Liz’s place then being alone with Flick? It was very tempting. But he was enjoying the booze, dope, admiration of the other girls in his group of friends, and the mateship of getting drunk round the bonfire. She could wait.

‘Okay.’ He gave her a pat on the butt and staggered away.

‘Phew. What would you have said if he’d wanted to come with us?’ said Liz.

‘I knew he wouldn’t.’

‘What are we going to do about Braden? Shouldn’t we tell him we’re leaving?’

‘Yeah. I guess so. If he’s got to walk home in the dark he’ll be a gibbering wreck,’ sighed Flick.

They walked over to where Braden was braying away at some joke one of the guys had just told.

‘Braden, we’re going now. Do you want to stay or come with us?’

He blinked. ‘Oh, I’ll come with you. I don’t fancy crashing about on my own.’

‘See you tomorrow, Braden,’ trilled one of the girls, giggling behind her hands.

They set off walking across the sand.

‘Let’s take our shoes off and paddle,’ suggested Flick, as Liz tried to see what the Josh-Angela-Jessica trio were doing beyond the flames of the bonfire. Unbelievable. Angela was now dancing with Josh! She almost felt sorry for Jessica, who was leaning back against a log looking mutinous.

‘What if we thtand on a jellyfith or thomething?’ Braden bleated nervously. His lisp had reappeared, indicating that he was scared.

Liz sighed. ‘It’s the wrong time of the year for them, silly. Anyway, it’s a full moon. Come on, it’ll be fun to walk in the moonlight at the edge of the waves. We can go up to the river then cut across to the store and up the hill.’

‘But thnakth are —’

‘Not the river track, mate. We’ll cut through the sand dunes, okay?’

Flick was being very patient.

‘All right.’

So they took off their shoes and, dangling them from their hands, they walked along the shore with the cool waves whispering round their feet and the moon turning the sea to silver. The salty tang of the ocean mingled with the acrid smell of the bonfire, and far out at sea, glowing like UFOs from outer space were six luminous green lights.

‘What’s that?’ asked Flick, puzzled, as she pointed.

‘Squid boats.’

‘From Japan?’

‘No, they’re Aussie boats. They move around from place to place and at the moment they’re based at the Bay.’

‘I suppose they’re catching everything that swims,’ said Flick in a tired voice. ‘There won’t be a fish for kilometres now.’

‘Now, they’re only set up to catch squid. The lights attract them to the surface and they’re scooped up and taken to the co-op for processing.’

‘Those lights look so beautiful,’ said Flick softly. ‘Such a luminous green. No wonder the squid are attracted to them. I’m almost attracted myself.’

‘Well, don’t thtart thwimming, girl,’ said Braden sternly. ‘Those boath are a hell of a long way out.
You’d think they were jutht off the point but they’re actually about fifteen kilometreth away.’

‘I’m really gunna fling myself in the ocean and start swimming! Lighten up, will you?’

They walked up the smooth white stretch of beach to the dunes and with the aid of the torches, found the path through the tussocky grass that led to the main road and the store.

‘Are you thure there’s no thakth?’

‘Can you
see
any?’

‘No.’

‘Then stop panicking and hurry up.’

They trudged along the narrow path with Braden bringing up the rear. Pausing at the side of the road, they put on their shoes.

‘I hate thand in my thoeth,’ Braden complained. ‘Oh, erk. It feels
dithguthting
.’

‘You’ll live.’ Flick was getting tired of his whining. It was starting to get on her nerves.

They walked across the Great Ocean Road and down the side road that led to the store.

‘That’s strange,’ said Liz as they neared the building. ‘The door’s not locked and Kay’s car’s still there.’

Flick looked at Braden. She had a horrible feeling that something was wrong.

‘I think we’d better take a look,’ she said quickly.

‘What if thomeone’th in there robbing the plathe? Thouldn’t we call the copth?’

‘We don’t know what’s happened till we have a look. Kay might have slipped and hit her head, or fallen asleep at the till or something.’

‘No, let’th go back to the beach and get Randy.’ Braden scuffed his sneaker in the gravel and the girls could smell his fear.

‘Oh, come on. Don’t be such a wimp!’

Flick marched into the store.

‘Kay? Are you here?’

There was a muffled noise from the office, a sort of drumming sound.

Flick looked at Liz. She practically flew into the office.

Kay was sitting on the floor drumming her feet up and down. She was gagged with a tea towel and her hands and feet were tied up with rope which was looped around the heavy desk so she couldn’t move anywhere and get help.

‘Omigod.
Omigod
!’ All Liz could do was stare.

‘Help me get her untied. Braden, get a knife. And try not to touch anything if you can help it. There may be fingerprints.’ Flick, practical as always, was undoing the gag. ‘Are you all right, Kay? You didn’t get hit or anything?’

‘He gave me a belt across the head but I’m okay,’ Kay said, as Braden began sawing at the ropes with the carving knife. ‘I’m all right, though. I’ve got a hard head.’

‘Phone the police, Liz,’ said Flick, gently rubbing the circulation back into Kay’s hands and feet as the ropes fell away in strands.

‘The bastard got my takings,’ said Kay. ‘Thirty thousand dollars.’

‘Omigod,’ said Liz again as she tried to dial the police with trembling fingers. ‘
Omigod
. That’s
terrible
!’

Flick thought that if Liz said
Omigod
one more time she’d grab the tea towel and gag
her
! Braden was fussing about making clucking noises like a broody chook.

‘Do you know who did it?’ asked Flick. ‘Did you get a look at his face?’

‘He was wearing a balaclava and there won’t be any fingerprints because he was wearing gloves,’ said Kay. ‘But I know who it was, even though he disguised his voice. I could tell those huge feet and those grotty sneakers anywhere. It was Billy Weezy!’

‘Billy Weezy? Are you sure? I thought he’d cleared off to Queensland.’ Braden blinked and frowned, his lisp miraculously vanishing with his fear now he was
away from dangerous creatures like snakes and jellyfish.

‘I told you, it was Billy Weezy. Liz, give me that phone.’

Kay started telling the police person at the other end what had happened. ‘It definitely was Billy Weezy. No, I didn’t see his face. No, he’d disguised his voice. No there won’t be any fingerprints because he was wearing gloves. No, I didn’t see what car he was driving because I was tied up in the office. How could I get a rego number if I didn’t see the car? How do I know it was Billy? Because he has huge feet like paddles and he wears filthy Nike sneakers. What? Not enough evidence? Well, go up to his place quick smart and you’ll find the bloody evidence. My money! What? I know it’s a thirty-minute drive. What? That’s bloody fantastic!’

Kay slammed down the phone.

‘They’re understaffed and seeing as there’s no evidence and I’m not hurt they’ll send someone round in the morning!’

‘
What
?’ Flick stared at Kay as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

‘That’s disgusting!’ Liz gaped at Kay in horror.

‘I thought by law they had to come straight round to the scene of a crime!’ said Braden, clearly agitated.

‘They
are
the law. By the time they’ve stuffed about, Billy Weezy will have shot through. Right. That’s it. I’m going round to his place to front him!’

‘You can’t do that!’ Flick was aghast.

‘You just watch me.’

Kay stomped through the store looking grim. ‘Everybody out. I’ve got to lock up or some other bastard will be in nicking the cigarettes.’

‘If you’re determined to do this, we’re coming with you. You’re not going round there on your own, and that’s final.’