Arthur Upfield - The Mountains have a Secret

“When did you find the body here?” Bony asked.

“It was about a fortnight before you arrived at the saloon. I watched you mooching around the place. How did you know I was watching you?”

“No man walks in this country without leaving his tracks.”

“Tracks, eh! I didn’t think- I thought tracks were only on sandy or dusty-”

“It’s a gift. The gift of tracking others is a shade less than the gift of leaving no tracks for others to follow. I thought, on seeing you had been observing me, that you were in Simpson’s pay. My apology. The old man told me of O’Brien being discharged for being drunk in the spirit store, and I noted the significance of those cart tracks. Why do you think Simpson killed O’Brien?”

“I don’t know, unless O’Brien knew he had killed my girl and her pal.”

“What happened to cause you to leave the hotel at such speed?”

“So’sI wouldn’t be caught up with and have something framed to put me in jail. You get a chance to go into the room where Simpson’s organ is? No? I did. I unlocked the door with a bit of wire one night when Simpson and his sister were away at Dunkeld. I don’t know anything about organs, but I bet that one cost a few thousand bucks. The room’s always kept locked and, according to Ferris, no one’s ever allowed to go in excepting Simpson’s pals. There’s only one thing funny about that room, and that’s the telephone set on a perch at the side of the organ. There’s a fixture to itso’s the organist can wear it like radio head-phones and do his talking while he plays the organ to stop anyone hearing him using the telephone.

“Well, when Simpson told me I’d have to quit the next morning it was when we were finishing up dinner. After dinner Simpson went in to play the organ, and I had a hunch that he might be up to tricks with his pals over at Baden Park. Just what, I didn’t make out, but I wasn’t going to risk being stopped from looking for Mavis. Besides which, Simpson might have guessed I knew about this planting.

“So I decided to quit right then. I packed my gear and took it to the garage. Ferris saw me and wanted to know things. I told her about getting the push-off, and she said I was a wise guy to get going. We talked some more as we cleaned up after dinner, Simpson continuing to play on his organ. I said nothing about finding O’Brien and she said nothing about her brother. It wasn’t what she actually said at any time which counted, it was the way she said it and the look in her eye when she said it. I never told her about Mavis and why I’d come back to Australia.

“Anyway, it was dark when I finished up, and as I went to the garage to load the gear on the bike I saw the lights of a car coming over the range from Baden Park. I pushed the bike out of the garage, and there was Simpson waiting for me, wanting to know if I was going for a spin. I told him I was going for good, and he said O.K. and I’d better go in with him for my money.

“He delayed somewhat, telling me I needn’t leave till the morning, and when he did pay me the ranch car arrived and three of the boys came in for a drink. They wanted me to stay and drink with ’em, but I walked out on ’emand left. Didn’t ride fast, but I did want to get clear.”

“Do you know that you were followed as far as the road junction?” Bony asked.

“No. Was I?”

Bony related what he had seen and then asked another question:

“Where did you go that night?”

“To Dunkeld. Stayed at the hotel, and the next morning I bought a quart-pot and stores. Hung around that day and later left to come back to where I hid the bike in the scrub and set out on the war-path.”

“You don’t think it probable that Simpson might have telephoned to someone in Dunkeld to watch you and report what you did?”

“No. Do you?”

“Yes.”

Shannon chuckled and Bony was startled.

“Going to be a good war,” he drawled. “Wish Pa was here. Pity you’re a cop. You thinking of interfering?”

“Perhaps.”

“That’s off the target.” The American pondered, then said unsmilingly: “You’re a good guy, but you don’t know how to stick afella up properly. A character minds less being drilled through the heart than being shot in the stomach. Always keep your gun pointed at a man’s stomach. It sort of intimidates. If you ever come to thinking of arresting me, you hedge around the idea.”

In his turn Bony chuckled, and Shannon grinned and stood up.

“I’m having an hour or two of shut-eye,” he announced. “Oh! What about this cottontail?”

“How long have you had it?” asked Bony.

“How long! Shot him this morning.”

“Better bury it. The flies will have got to it.”

The American picked up the carcass, turned it to the fire glow.

“You’re right, and I’m sick of Simpson’s chickens.”

“Simpson’s chickens?”

“Yep. Visited his hen-housescoupla nights. Pa showed me how to wring a chickenso’s he don’t squawk. Must get me another, I suppose.”

“It might mean the pitcher going too often to the well.”

“I know that one. Pausta say: ‘Never mind the pitcher, it’s the water that counts.’ ”

Bony added the last of the wood to give light and, picking up his swag, carried it to the passage. Shannon joined him there and they made up their bunks together.

“Don’t much fancy camping too close to Ted O’Brien,” Shannon said casually. “Don’t fancy that place anyhow, after looking him over. I’d like to know for sure just why he was bumped off.”

“We will,” Bony said.

“You think so?”

“Yes. I always investigate a murder to the very end.”

“Always get your man!”

“Always.”

“You aim to copy the CanadianMounties, eh?”

“Not copy them, Shannon. I have always set the example which they try to copy. I shall establish who killed O’Brien and why, and who killed your sweetheart and her friend-if they were killed. You must realise that if you conduct a private war, as you name your proposed activities, and I discover you have killed someone, I shall be obliged to arrest you or have you arrested.”

“I’ll have to go careful, won’t I?”

There was mockery in Shannon’s voice and extraordinary good humour.

“Very careful,” and only with an effort did Bony keep his voice stern. “In view of your great personal interest, with the addition of other circumstances favourable to you, the best course to follow would be for me to call upon you, in the King’s name, to assist me in apprehending certain suspected persons-if in the plural. Not being unintelligent, you will appreciate how far I am willing to go when I add that if, during the process of apprehension, your pistol should be discharged with fatal effect, the results to yourself will be much less unpleasant.”

“What a guy!” murmured the American. “One hundred words!”

“Under those circumstances you will not use your pistol unless and until you receive my permission.”

“Sounds a bit tough to me. What about my throat-cutters?”

“They, too, are considered to be lethal weapons,”

“You’re telling me.” Shannon stretched and bumped a hole in the sand to take his hip. “I like freedom, and you sound too army-ish. What did we fight for? Search me, but the idea at the time was freedom. I’ve lots to think about when considering your proposition. There’s Pa, for one. He considers my girl one of the family. Igotta consider Pa’s principles and the family. I’m leaving the causes to you. You can do what you like with the causes behind the killing of my girl and her pal-assuming they were killed, which I am assuming. Them that killed my girl are mine to do to just what I like.”

Bony stretched. A freedom for which his feet ached was freedom from boots, but boots are necessary adjuncts in the bush. He said with a bite in his voice: