CHAPTER 2: DUST NEVER SETTLES
Benson was giving some purchase requirements to his leading hand but couldn’t get it sorted in his head.
“No, make it ten boxes. Oh I don’t know, you decide. I’m going over to David’s place.” He turned and headed for the ute.
The foreman shrugged his shoulders and went to the office. At least he could get a couple of things done without the boss hovering about. William drove slowly as though with purpose, down the front drive to the town road then turned the opposite way towards his neighbours. At the big poplars that marked the front gate, he stopped on the grid and took stock of his thoughts. ‘I’m stupid’ he thought, ‘let it go’. But he eased off the brake and headed on. No one appeared at the front veranda and William got out and mounted the steps. He yelled David’s name out but got no reply. The door was shut so he went around the back of the building and saw the kitchen door was open. He yelled again then went inside. All was quiet. Where was the cook, Alice, or her husband, Hank? The small cottage where they lived was nearby, adjacent to the stables and store room. He headed there but no one answered his call. The carport at the back of the kitchen still had the Discovery parked in it. He looked in the window but it was empty. Then a voice caught his ear. It seemed to be around the side of the house, and he took some tentative steps in that direction. Suddenly a figure came around almost collecting him. It was Jack Grogan, the local police sergeant.
“Whoa,” he said then smiled when he saw William.
“Thought I would pop out and have a look or whatever. Any sign of Batten?” It took a few seconds to get his mind in gear, but William nodded his head.
“Nothing. No sign of the cook or the off sider, that’s Hank.”
Together they looked in most places together, the barn; the sheds; stable; the house rooms and even the cottage.
All deserted. There were dirty dishes in Batten’s sink which didn’t sound like Alice. She was pedantic about order, remembered William. The house was neat and nothing seemed to bed isturbed. On the front veranda, the policeman made a call on his mobile phone whilst William suddenly went back inside. He had seen something that didn’t register at first but came to mind when he saw the few cattle down dear the creek. The last time he came here, about a month ago, he remembered looking at a painting on the sitting room wall as he finished his whiskey. David told him it was a Turner. Cost him a fortune years ago. It was gone. In its place was a small
print that was in the hall. William looked in the hall at the blank space of which the hook still remained. Grogan came in.
“Called Command. A detective team will come up this afternoon to have a look around. Mobile phone service is a bit iffy. Kept dropping out but I got there. Anyway what are you looking at?” William told him. It may be nothing, or it could be something.
Bit of a mystery at the moment. They left at the same time. The policeman to get a bulletin out on the three missing people, and the property owner to go and check his, incase something was amiss. Back home, he quickly found his two hands and explained what had transpired. Buildings were checked and the employees asked to ride the boundary keeping their eyes open. Later, the school bus dropped off young Nancy, daughter of one of the hands, and she was told to keep near the house until her father was going home. Just after five, William saw her coming across the near paddock towards the house. ‘So much for staying near’ he thought. When she got to the back door, her father came out of the store room and noticed her holding something. He yelled for William and the two men looked at the battered hat Nancy was holding.
“Where did you get this?” asked William. His voice trembled for he had seen this green felt hat with a daisy motif before.
Alice usually wore it when she was going out anywhere.
“I just picked it up down near the creek. Where you have that hole for paddling and mucking about.” Benson quickly went inside and rang the police, then both men and the girl
walked quickly down to the creek and along to the pool.
Due to the lack of rain over the last few months, there was not much water and the pool was quite shallow. No sign of the missing cook, but there was a recent campfire remains nearby. They walked back and waited for the law. Jack arrived on his own. He thought it could be just circumstantial, like she lost it whilst walking. Though why here? The creek was on Benson’s land but that meant little amongst neighbours who were on good terms. Or it could have been carried here by someone else, or something else like an animal. That would be up to the detectives. Actually the sergeant had come with one of his PCs whom he had left at Batten’s place on the way. His uneasy feeling was now matching that of William Benson.
A search of the creek and pool revealed nothing new, so the police man went back to town to await the plain clothes men. William told the hands to go home and see what tomorrow brings. He then sat on his front veranda and chewed over his fears for his neighbour. Could a dream do this? He didn’t know.