Cry of the Taniwha (11 page)

Matt was woken Saturday morning by someone bashing on his window. At first he thought it was Jackson and decided to ignore it. But the bashing continued and he woke enough to see that it was mid-morning. ‘Wake up, Matt!’ called a voice. He pulled back the curtain and there was Eve, looking far from happy. ‘We need to talk.’

Matt nodded, put some clothes on, and staggered to the kitchen. The stove clock read ten-sixteen. A note on the table said that Hone had gone to work, Nan had gone to croquet, and there was plenty of food in the fridge.

It took him a while to work all this out, and by then Eve was bashing on the glass of the back door.

‘You lied to me, Matt,’ she said quietly as she came inside. ‘Why?’

Matt sighed loudly. He knew this was about the candleholder. But he wasn’t awake enough to face an argument with her. ‘Can I have a shower first?’ he asked, leaving the room before she had a chance to comment.

He half-expected her to be gone when he returned to the kitchen. She wasn’t. Instead, she had made him breakfast and set the table, and was sitting at it waiting for him.

He ate his breakfast while Eve watched in silence. Only when he was drinking his hot chocolate did she speak.

‘Where’s the piece of fern wood, Matt?’

‘In the bedroom.’

‘Go and get it. And bring the metal detector as well.’

Matt nodded, but slowly finished his drink before doing so.

When he returned, he placed the piece on the table in front of her. ‘There! Are you happy now?’

She picked it up and turned it around in her hands. ‘You do realize what this is?’

‘Yes! It is a piece of the trunk from a tree fern called ponga which has been polished and turned into a candleholder.’

‘Oh, it’s much more than that,’ said Eve, smugly.

Matt waited.

‘It’s a jewel case.’

‘What!’

Eve’s face split into a big smile. ‘A jewel case, Matt. You know. The sort of thing you keep diamonds in.’

He picked the thing up. ‘So where’re the jewels?’ he asked, his voice full of doubt.

‘In there somewhere. Use the metal detector on it.’

Matt sighed, before leaning over to turn on the device.

Neither of them spoke during the time it took for the thing to warm up. When it was ready, Matt put the headphones on the table, turned the volume to high, and wiped the sensor over the ponga piece.

There was nothing.

‘Is that thing working?’ Eve demanded.

In answer, Matt passed it over a knife on the table. The scream from the headphones almost deafened them. ‘It’s working,’ he said, putting the detector back on the floor. ‘There’s nothing metal in that candle.’

Eve pouted. ‘They’re in there. I know they are. Otherwise why would Edward give the thing to her?’

‘Because he loved her?’ suggested Matt.

She snorted. ‘Doubt it! You don’t give someone you love a great big metal box. You give them diamonds.’

They sat staring at the candle for a while.

‘They’re in there somewhere,’ said Eve. ‘I just know it. Pull the candle out.’

Matt got a sharp knife out of the drawer. ‘Which end?’

She thought for a moment. ‘Try the bottom.’

He turned the piece over and slid the knife between the wax and the wood. It was a narrow fit, but with some jiggling it went in a few millimetres. He levered the knife sideways and the bottom of the candle slipped out a fraction. He then checked the other end and found that it hadn’t moved.

‘See,’ said Eve, excitedly, ‘it’s not all one candle at all.’

Bit by bit he managed to lever it out without destroying the wax too much. Soon it was far enough out to grasp it with his hand. But instead of doing it himself, he handed it over to Eve. ‘You do it!’

‘I don’t know that I can—I’m shaking so much.’ Despite that, she grabbed the piece of candle and twisted. It slid out easily, and Eve placed it on the table before looking down the hole to see what was inside. The smile on her face got wider. She pushed it over to Matt. ‘Look what we’ve found,’ she whispered.

Matt looked and saw a black cloth bag, tied at the top with gold braid. He put in his hand and removed it. There was a rattle from inside when he placed it on the table.

They looked at it for a while before Eve leaned forward and undid the braid. Then she tilted the bag and dribbled the contents onto the tablecloth. About forty clear crystals twinkled and sparkled before them.

For a while, they just looked at them. It didn’t seem real: that these stones, stolen from a bank vault in London all that time ago, were now sitting on a kitchen table half a
world away. People had argued over these in the courts of England; the top policemen in the world had searched for them; and now they had been found stuck in the middle of a candleholder. It was the sort of thing people wrote books about, made into movies, filled newspapers with. It was not the sort of thing that happened to a couple of kids during their summer holiday.

Matt was the first to speak. ‘So that’s what millions of dollars of diamonds look like.’

‘They look wonderful!’ said Eve.

Matt picked up the biggest which was about the size of a hazelnut. ‘This is too small to be the Rothery Stone. That can’t be one of these.’

‘I don’t care. There’s more than enough for me,’ said Eve, gathering them into a pile.

‘You know you can’t keep them.’

‘I know that,’ she said quietly. ‘But it’s good to hold them, and we
were
the ones who found them, weren’t we?’

Matt nodded. He knew what she was talking about. The thrill he felt was not the thrill of becoming rich. It was the thrill of discovery; of doing something that others had tried and failed to do. The fact that they were worth a lot of money only added to the excitement.

‘Maybe we’ll get a reward,’ said Eve, hopefully.

Matt laughed. ‘That’s if anybody can sort out who owns them.’

‘We could keep one and nobody would know,’ she said, softly.

Yes,
thought Matt,
we could. We could even keep two! Or three! Or the whole lot!
Nobody would ever know. Eve and he were the only ones who knew the things still existed.

But what would they do with them? They couldn’t sell them or people would very quickly start asking questions. They weren’t the sort of thing you took into a bank to get cashed. Perhaps they could get some of them made into jewellery. Then a thought caused him to chuckle.

‘What?’ asked Eve.

‘You could have one made up into a ring,’ he replied.

‘Oh Matt,’ she said sweetly, putting her hand on his. ‘Are you asking me to marry you?’

‘No!’ he said, quickly. ‘That’s not what I meant at all.’

Eve giggled. ‘But I do like the idea of having a big diamond ring to show people. I bet I’d have the biggest in—’

She was interrupted by a loud knocking on the door. Matt jumped, and felt a surge of guilt as if he’d already stolen something.

He looked up and saw that there was a girl standing on the back step, staring in at them. ‘What is it?’ he asked, opening the door in a way that he hoped would block her view into the kitchen.

The girl looked as if she might’ve been ten, yet she was wearing clothes more like those of a teenager. A narrow boob tube and a skimpy skirt revealed more flesh than was normal for a kid. Also revealed were bruises down both arms and on one thigh. Another bruise on her face had been badly covered with makeup.

‘Jackson wants you,’ she said.

‘Why? What’s happened?’

‘Nuttin. He just wants you to come. He says to bring that machine.’

‘The metal detector. Why?’

The girl then started crying. ‘Please!’ she said. ‘Stop asking questions and come.’

Eve came to the door. She gently touched the girl’s arm. ‘Do you have a name?’ she asked.

‘Ana,’ the girl replied, looking at the ground.

Matt nodded. She would be Ana Walker, the girl who had broken into the dairy for the gang. His suspicions rose.

‘Well, Ana,’ said Eve, ‘you need to tell us more. Why does Jackson need us?’

‘He just said to come. It’s sumtin about some jools.’

Matt thought for a while. ‘OK. You wait in the yard and we’ll come out in a moment.’ He and Eve went inside shutting the door behind them. They waited until Ana had climbed down off the step.

‘Do you think she saw?’ whispered Eve.

‘I don’t know,’ he whispered back. ‘But we need to get these things hidden. You do it while I go and see what Jackson wants.’

‘No! I’m coming, too,’ said Eve, gathering up the diamonds. ‘C’mon, give me a hand.’

Soon the diamonds were all back in the ponga with the candle holding them firmly in place. Matt took it to his room. He thought of putting it under his bed, but in the end he placed it back on the dresser where it had been previously. It had been safe there for more than a week and he could think of no reason why it wouldn’t be safe there for longer. Often the best way of hiding something was to leave it out in the open where people least expected it to be.

After locking the house, they followed Ana down the driveway, assuming she’d turn towards Jackson’s house.
Instead, she headed across the road. ‘This way,’ she said. ‘He’s not at his house.’

‘Where is he?’ asked Matt.

‘You’ll find out,’ replied Ana.

Matt stopped walking. ‘No! I’m not going unless I know where.’

‘Stop asking questions. He’s hiding. He doesn’t want the gang to know where he is.’

Still Matt was undecided.

‘Please!’ cried Ana. ‘He needs you.’

‘C’mon, Matt,’ said Eve. ‘We’ve got to help him.’

Reluctantly, Matt started walking again. He wasn’t happy with the situation, but if Jackson needed help then he should at least find out what it was he wanted. Now was not the time to start deserting him.

Apparently, Jackson was hiding in some bushes near Whakarewarewa. As Ana led them towards the start of the track, Matt began to wonder if they might be walking into a trap. Ten seconds later he knew for sure, because by then Diz and Croke had somehow joined the group from behind.

Eve, who had not met the gang members before, gave a little cry of alarm.

‘Just keep going,’ said Croke. ‘Nobody’s gunna get hurt if you do as we say.’

A few steps further on and they met Skulla waiting with another gang member whom Matt had not seen before. Jackson was with them. He wasn’t being held or anything, which caused Matt to think that the boy might’ve organized the meeting. Then their eyes met and he knew it was not true. Jackson’s face said he was both scared and sorry much better than any words could have. Matt gave a little nod to show that he wasn’t blaming him for what was happening.

Skulla greeted their arrival with a sneer, but said nothing. He nodded thanks to Ana, who turned and walked away. A moment later the unknown gang member followed her, giving her a clip around the ears for no apparent reason other than for walking in front of him. She dropped behind and the two were soon lost behind the bushes.

Only then did Skulla speak. ‘Bogan,’ he said. ‘About time you and me met again.’

Matt said nothing.

Skulla turned to Eve. ‘And you must be Mrs Bogan.’

Croke and Diz found this comment hilarious.

‘The name’s Eve,’ she said, defiantly.

Skulla’s eyebrows rose a little at her attitude. Matt expected further reaction, yet Skulla only gave a small, sneering smile before turning back and addressing Matt again. ‘You bin causing problems, I hear. Bringing in the feds. Getting Juzza in trouble. Bros never call the feds, no matter what. Juzza didn’t call the feds. Yet he says you talk to them all the time. Like you’re one of them. Are you one of them, Bogan?’

Matt stood without moving, trying to hide his rising fear.

‘Nah, you’re too young,’ Skulla continued. ‘But I bet you wish they were here at the moment. Scared, are you? You need to be. And Mrs Bogan, she needs to be scared, too. Because if you don’t deliver what we want, bad things are gonna start coming down. Real bad things.’

‘What do you want?’ asked Eve.

Skulla studied her for a while before saying, ‘We want that big diamond you found. The one Zirk saw.’ He bent over and picked up a spade from the ground. ‘Bogan is gunna dig up where you buried it. And if he doesn’t find it there, he’s gonna dig up the whole freakin forest until he does. But he’s only got one hour. One hour to find the diamond: that’s one hour to save you, Mrs Bogan. Just one hour.’ He then turned and headed up the path. Croke and Diz herded the youngsters together, forcing them to follow.

‘There’s no diamond,’ Eve said to Skulla’s back.

He stopped and turned around, looking menacing. ‘You calling Zirk a liar?’

‘It was a joke!’ cried Eve.

‘A joke,’ Skulla replied, taking a step towards her. ‘I don’t see anybody laughing.’ He prodded Matt in the stomach with the spade handle. ‘Are you laughing, Bogan?’

‘It was just a piece of glass,’ he said.

‘Then you’d better use that machine and find us the real diamond. That’s if you want to get out of here in one piece.’ With that, he spun around and continued up the path. Croke and Diz pushed at the youngsters until they followed.

When they got to the bridge, Skulla had stopped and was staring at a barricade built across the opening. A cardboard sign was nailed to it:

No Entry—Keep Out Dangerous Ground Unsafe Thermal Activity

Skulla turned and looked at Jackson. ‘What’s this? How long’s this been here?’

Jackson shrugged. ‘Since yesterday. This doctor fella says things gunna explode round here.’

‘You know anytin about that?’ Skulla asked Matt.

Matt nodded, seeing the first ray of hope. ‘Dr Ian McMillan is the geologist. He thinks there’s going to be a steam explosion soon. He put tape up first. Now he’s fenced it off. The explosion must be going to happen real soon.’

Skulla studied him for a while. Then in one movement he turned back to the barrier and slashed down with the spade. The sign went flying into the stream. Four more blows and all the pieces of wood had shattered, giving enough room for them to pass.

He turned back to the others. ‘They’re always saying
crap like that round here. There’s nuttin to worry about. Let’s go.’

Matt’s first impression when they arrived in the thermal field was that Skulla was probably right: everything seemed pretty quiet. Then he remembered that Ian had said that the explosions happened because steam was
not
being released, and his fears returned.

Halfway across the flat there was a scuffle from behind Matt. Then Eve started screaming: ‘Get your hands off me!’

Matt spun around to see Diz grasping Eve’s outstretched arm. Her hand was wrapped over her phone as if it was a lifeline.

‘She was using it,’ Diz explained to Skulla as he approached.

Skulla prised open her fingers and extracted the phone. He glanced at the screen for a moment before turning back to Eve. ‘Texting the feds, I see. You people are all the same. Hiding behind the feds all the time.’ For a moment he gazed around the thermal area before spotting what he wanted—a bubbling hot spring. He took aim and lobbed the phone into it. ‘There you go,’ he said smiling. ‘Now you’ve got a hot-line to them.’

Croke and Diz broke into raucous laughter as if it was the funniest comment ever. Jackson tried to join in, but Matt could see that he was really more scared than ever.

They were about to move on when Skulla looked at Matt. ‘You got a phone, Bogan?’

For a moment Matt considered lying, and then thought better of it. Things were already bad enough without making them worse. He nodded.

Skulla put out his hand. Matt gave him the phone and a moment later it, too, was in the hot pool. The rising bubbles supported it on the surface for a while before letting it slowly sink into the depths of the clear, green water.

As they continued on their way, Matt tried to weigh up his options. He would be all right for a while, so long as he kept scanning with the metal detector. After that, he was in trouble. Or, more likely, Eve would be. Skulla had pretty well said that she would suffer first. Matt had to make sure that that didn’t happen. He could probably postpone it by pretending that he knew where the diamond was, but that wasn’t going to last long. One hour, Skulla had said. Matt needed something else, and yet nothing came to mind.

The scrub at the edge of the forest was surrounded by orange netting, with a label every few metres declaring it unsafe. Skulla stopped and studied it for a while, before turning to the others. ‘Good thing, this,’ he said. ‘It’ll keep people away while we do the business.’ Then he smiled. ‘But not us.’ He slashed down at the netting with the spade, slicing it through so they could continue along the path. ‘C’mon,’ he growled. ‘Let’s do it.’

It was on the path that Matt finally came up with a plan. He realized that he had a huge bargaining tool. One that would ensure that no one got hurt. It was the diamonds. They would be more than enough to keep the gang happy. He might only have to offer them a few. He didn’t want to give them anything, but he’d willingly hand over all the diamonds if it would protect Eve. He’d do anything to stop her getting a beating.

Maybe the best thing was to make the offer as soon as they reached the clearing. Skulla might take some
convincing, yet he would be greedy enough to want to make sure, and the only way he could do that would be to go back to the house. That had the advantage of leaving the thermal area, which would be good—Matt didn’t like the feel of the place at all.

His unease increased as they went past the mud pool. It was now bubbling and steaming more than ever. Ian might consider that to be a good sign, but to Matt it was proof that things were hotting up. He looked back at Eve and saw that she, too, was concerned. He gave her a smile and flicked his eyebrows, hoping that she would recognize it as a sign that he had a plan.

Their entrance into the clearing was greeted by a raucous outburst from Old Tani.
‘Craarrk! Craarrk! Craarrk! Craarrk!’
he went on and on. Skulla stopped and looked up at the bird. For the first time, Matt saw uncertainty cloud the gang leader’s face. A glance at Diz and Croke showed that the heron had got to them as well. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it would make them want to leave the area and be more receptive to his offer of diamonds. Perhaps now was the time to do it.

He was about to speak when Skulla started shouting. ‘You! Come here!’

Matt looked up and saw that Cecil The Gawk was cowering at the edge of the scrub on the other side of the clearing. He stood like a statue, frozen in place with fear.

Skulla indicated to Croke to go and get him. Croke had only taken a couple of steps, when Cecil came alive, ducking into the bushes and taking off. Croke moved to follow him before being called back by Skulla. ‘Leave him. We’ve more important things to do.’

Matt had an instant change of mind. Now was not the time to start bargaining. If Cecil was about the place, then other people might be, too. Cecil might even have enough sense to go for help. It was a long shot, but Matt figured it was worth the risk. He wasn’t giving anything to the gang until he really had to.