Peter Temple: An Iron Rose

Three CFA firemen with a ladder went to the scene and shone a spotlight down the shaft.

‘The shaft goes almost straight down and then branches off parallel to the surface,’ said CFA fireman Derek Scholte. ‘The dog was fine and I was about to go down when I saw the skull. We called in the police.’

A police spokesman said the remains were human and had been taken to Melbourne for forensic examination.

I turned to Tuesday’s paper. The follow-up story was also on the front page, under the headline: Mine Body Is Young Woman.

It began:

The remains of a body found in an old mine shaft near Rippon yesterday have been identified as those of a young woman.

Melbourne forensic scientist James LaPalma said yesterday the skeleton was that of a woman, probably under twenty. It was at least ten years old. The cause of death had not been positively ascertained but an initial examination suggested that her neck had been broken.

A spokesman for the Victoria Police said the discovery was being treated as a murder. An inquiry was underway.

The third paper, published on a Thursday in June, didn’t have a front-page story on the skeleton in the mine. The story was on page three, under a photograph of a chain with a broken catch. On the chain was a small silver star.

Man’s Chain Find Near Deat h Mine A man fossicking for gold with a metal detector near the mine shaft where the remains of a young woman’s body were discovered last month yesterday found a silver ankle chain police say may belong to the woman.

The man, who does not wish to be identified, found the broken chain about one hundred metres from the entrance to the mine shaft and two hundred metres from the track through the State forest near Rippon.

The story went on to repeat the information in the two previous ones. The police asked anyone who recognised the chain to come forward. I read all three stories again, finished my beer and went home.

I rang the newspaper and asked for Kate Fegan, the name on the stories about the skeleton.

‘Kate, my name’s Milton, Geoff Milton. Canberra Times. I wonder if you can get me up to date on a story you handled about six weeks ago?’

Lying comes easily when you’ve lived my kind of life.

‘Well, sure. If I can.’ She was young, probably just out of her cadetship.

‘The body in the mine shaft. Has that been identified?’

‘No. The teeth are really all they’ve got to go on and they’re no help. She had all her teeth, no fillings. She probably never saw a dentist, so there wouldn’t be any dental records. They’re pretty sure it isn’t someone local. That’s about all.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘There’s no-one missing from around that time. No-one that age.’

‘They’ve put a time on it?’

‘Within a year, they reckon. Around 1985.’

‘How’d they do that?

‘The shire put a track in there in late 1984. Before that you had to walk about five kilometres through dense bush to reach the mine. Then there’s the decomposition. There’s a scientist in Sydney who specialises in that. Reckons no later than 1985 to ’86. Firm on that.’

‘And her age?’

‘Around sixteen. They can tell from the wrist bones.’

I said, ‘So there’s nothing with the remains? Clothes, stuff like that?’

‘Nothing. No trace of clothes or shoes, no jewellery. She was probably naked when she was thrown down.’

‘And the cause of death?’

‘Difficult to say. Her neck was broken. But that might have happened after death. That was in another story I wrote. Are you doing a story?’

‘Just a general piece on missing girls,’ I said. ‘So they don’t hold out much hope of identifying her?’

‘It would be pure luck, they say. I could fax you the clippings.’

‘Thanks, but I think I’ve got everything I need. You’ve been a big help.’

As I put the phone down, Lew came in, tracksuit and runners, hair wet with rain, sallow skin shining.

‘You play in this?’ I said.

‘Just the short game. He made me hit about a million.’

‘He’s a hard man. Hope it’s worthwhile. Listen, I want to talk to you about school.’

Lew had dropped out of school at the beginning of the year. I knew Ned had tried everything to prevent it happening but the boy became withdrawn and Ned gave up. I think his fear was that Lew would end up running away, as his mother had.

‘School.’ Lew took on a wary look. ‘I’ve got to shower.’

‘Hold on, mate,’ I said. ‘Ned asked me to look after you. That doesn’t give me any rights. But I want you to know what I think, okay?’

He didn’t look at me. ‘Okay.’

‘Leaving school at sixteen is for people who for some reason don’t have any choice. That’s not you. I want you to think about going back.’

He screwed up his face. ‘Mick says I could be a pro.’

‘Millions of kids want to do that, Lew. Maybe it’ll happen. But give yourself some other options.’

He looked at me for a moment, in his dark eyes something I couldn’t read. ‘Got to shower,’ he said and left the room.

I’d done my duty. Ned would have wanted me to try, but pushing it wouldn’t work. I wasn’t much and I wasn’t family but I was all Lew had now and he was at the age when the testosterone and the self-doubt turn some boys into unpredictable explosive devices. I couldn’t be a parent to him. The best I could hope for was that he would value my friendship, trust me. I had always been comfortable with him, liked the dry sense of humour he’d got from his grandfather’s genes and example. From the moment he came into my house to stay on that grim early morning, he’d fitted into the routines of the place. He helped out without being asked, washed clothes, vacuumed, made fires, cooked. By Ned’s account, Lew’s life with his mother had been anything but easy. You could read some of that in his self-contained manner, but he was still just a boy in most ways.

I started work on supper: beef and vegetable stew. Open freezer door, take out two portions of beef and vegetable stew, made two weeks before. Place in microwave to defrost. Open bottle of beer. All the while I was trying to recall myself at Lew’s age. But I couldn’t remember where I’d been then, the places came and went so quickly.

I took the beer to the sitting room, lit the fire and switched on the early television news. A man with a face immobilised by cosmetic surgery said: Heading tonight’s bulletin: Victoria goes to the polls in five weeks. The Premier, Mr Nash, today called a snap election fourteen months before the end of the government’s term.

James Nash appeared on the screen seated next to his deputy, the Attorney General, Anthony Crewe, who was the MP for these parts. Nash was short and balding, with a worried expression. His suits had an inherited look. Crewe, on the other hand, looked like the advocate you want to plead your case to an all-female heterosexual jury: sharp features, smooth hair, dimpled chin. He had a wry, knowing smile and his suits lay on him like a benediction.

‘The Nash government hasn’t been afraid to take the hard decisions,’ the Premier said. ‘We’re confident that the people of Victoria value that and want us back for a third term of office.’ He didn’t look at all confident.

‘Premier,’ said a male voice, ‘how do you react to allegations within your own party that this election is designed to stave off a leadership challenge from Mr Crewe, the Attorney General?’

Crewe smiled his wry smile and said, ‘I’ll answer that if I may, Premier. Mr Nash has my complete support and loyalty. There is no leadership challenge, election or no election. I’m happy to repeat that as many times as you want me to.’