Arthur Upfield: Death of a Lake

At that time the men’s quarters were occupied by Lester, MacLennon , Carney and George Barby. The quarters consisted of a bungalow having three bedrooms either side of the living-room. Lester occupied one room andMacLennon another. Carney occupied the same room with Gillen, and Barby had a room to himself.

November came in very hot and the men often descended the steps cut into the face of the bluff and bathed in the lake, which at this date was twelve feet five inches deep. Neither Lester norMacLennon could swim. Barby could, but never ventured far from the shore. Of about the same age… twenty-five… both Gillen and Carney were strong swimmers, especially the former, who boasted that, with a little training, he would swim across the lake and back.

On the night of November 7th the moon was almost at full. The day had been very hot, and the night warm and still. The men played poker, using matches, until a quarter to eleven, when they went to bed. Carney stated that shortly after he and Gillen got to bed, Gillen announced his intention of going for a swim. Carney, on the verge of sleeping, declined Gillen’s invitation to accompany him. He stated that it wasn’t until he awoke the following morning that he discovered Gillen hadn’t returned.

The last Carney saw of Gillen was when he put out the light on leaving the room. Gillen then was wearing only his pyjama trousers. A quick check of Gillen’s clothes proved that he could not have returned from the lake, slept, awakened early and dressed and gone out. It was after breakfast, when Martyr appeared to give his orders for theday, that Gillen was reported missing.

For SergeantMansell a routine job. He examined Gillen’s clothes, his swag of blankets, and the contents of his suitcase, the suitcase being of good quality. There was no clue to Gillen’s people. He examined the man’s motor-bike, a powerful machine in good condition, noted its registration and engine numbers, and went back to his office.

Wallace and his overseer organized the hands. Aborigines were brought from the River, and meanwhile Lester and Carney andMacLennon scoured the country about the Lake in the extremely unlikely event that Gillen had wandered away and become lost.

On the third day, and subsequently, all hands patrolled the shores to await the coming in of the body. The wind direction and the currents set up by the wind were carefully calculated. But the body did not come ashore, and it was ultimately assumed that it had been trapped by a wire fence crossing the lake which was, of course, submerged when the depression filled with water.

Among Gillen’s effects was neither a driver’s licence nor a registration certificate for the machine he rode. It was learned that the registered owner of the motor-cycle was a timber worker in Southern Queensland. He was traced to Toowoomba, where he was living at a good hotel and spending freely. He said he sold the bike to a man named Gillen, and described Gillen. He said that his present state of affluence was due to having a half-share with Gillen in a lottery ticket which won?25,000.

Asked how the money was divided, the timber worker told of an agreement to draw the full amount in cash from the bank into which the cheque for the prize had been paid. Inan hotel room they had portioned out each share in Treasury notes. They wanted to look at a lot of money, and Gillen had left the next morning on his bike, saying he intended to tour Australia.

And the extraordinary facet of this tale of luck and division of so large a sum in notes of low denomination was that it was true. Gillen had left Toowoomba with something like?12,500 in his possession.

When his effects were examined first by Martyr in the presence of Lester andMacLennon, there was no money.

All the banks in the Commonwealth were asked if an account in Gillen’s name had been opened. Result negative. Gillen’s journey south into New South Wales and still farther south was traced. Here and there people remembered him. Debonair, handsome, a man seeking adventure. Plenty of money? Well, no, he didn’t give that impression. What had the timber worker said of Gillen?“Money! Ray never cared a hoot for money. Twelve thousand odd in his kip wouldn’t worry him.”

Questions: Had he arrived at Lake Otway to accept a job when he possessed twelve thousand pounds? Again according to the timber worker, it was likely. Significantly, the timber worker added: “Ray would take a job anywhere where there was a ‘good sort’ around.”

There was a ‘good sort’ at Lake Otway. That?12,000 could not be traced. Gillen was known to be an excellent swimmer. The statements of four men tallied in that they all played poker with Gillen and always with matches. Fifteen months after Gillen was thought to be drowned, Inspector Bonaparte happened to peruse the case file.

There were several angles which, although unusual, were by no means psychologically improbable. Firstly, the personality of the man Gillen. He had been born and educated in Tasmania. On leaving school he worked on an uncle’s farm, but the farm, apparently, was too cramped, and the boy crossed to the mainland, where he passed from job to job until, as a stockman in Northern Queensland, he had volunteered for service in Korea, where he had completed his term of service. Returning to Queensland, he joined two men in a timber contract.

After leaving the Tasmanian farm, there had never been lack of money in Gillen’s life. The sudden acquisition of a large sum of money did not cause Gillen to rush to the fleshpots, as it had done to his partner in the lottery ticket. That lucky ticket provided Gillen with additional means to freedom, and many a man wants just that.

Therefore, that Ray Gillen had stuffed about?12,000 into his kip and set off on a motor cycle to see Australia was in keeping with the psychology of many young men in Bony’s experience. Again, in accordance with the known personality of the missing man, Bony was confident that Gillen had asked for a job at Lake Otway after and not before he had met the ‘good sort’. It had been the girl and not the job which decided Gillen to seek work at Lake Otway.

There arose the inevitable doubt when a strong swimmer takes a swim shortly before midnight and is drowned, and has among his possessions a large sum of easily spendable cash. A telegram to the senior officer of police at Menindee produced a result which could be looked at from several points. The Sergeant replied that none of the people employed at Lake Otway left after Gillen was drowned. Then no one of those employed with Gillen could have stolen his money, for surely had one done so he wouldn’t stay on, but leave to enjoy the spending of it. But the fact that not one personhad left was also decidedly odd, for all of them save the overseer could be typed as members of the great floating population who seldom stay in one place for more than a year.

And so, fifteen months after Gillen was assumed drowned, Inspector Bonaparte climbed into the cabin of a three-ton truck in the guise of a horse-breaker, SergeantMansell and Mr Wallace, the owner-manager ofPorchester Station, being the only persons aware of his identity.

The horse-breaker was smoothly dressed in brown twill shirt and trousers, well worn elastic-sided riding boots, and an old broad-brimmed felt. And on the load was his neatly rolled swag of blankets and normal equipment. The truck driver wore a patched pair of greasy grey trousers, a blue denim shirt, whiskers seven days old and no boots. He was twice Bony’s weight and one inch shorter. The Boss had referred to him as RedDraffin.

Once clear of the homestead paddocks and the obstructing gates, Bony rolled a cigarette and settled for the long run. The sun this day of late January was hot and the air was clear. Bony was home, and the simple people like RedDraffin are at home here, too. Red trailed a shower of sparks from his pipe by knocking it against the outside of the door, and said: