Riddle Gully Secrets (16 page)

Mayor Bullock pointed to Twig. ‘Nonsense! Twaddle! I refuse to believe I'm related to this scruff!'

Twig's eyes twinkled. He held out his arms towards Mayor Bullock. ‘Hey, cousin! Welcome to the family!'

Pollo jumped in. ‘When Diamond Jack and the rest of the gang were rounded up, Fergus must have got away using the second entrance to the gang's hideout – the one the troopers never found.'

‘Wallaby Cave!' said Dan. ‘Ash only found it by chance – didn't you, Ash? Only when she saw the wallaby disappear into it.'

‘Fergus vanished as though by magic,' said Pollo.

‘No portal then?' said Twig, looking downcast.

Ash shook her head and rubbed her nose. ‘Sorry.'

‘Fergus could have hung out in the caves for ages,' said Dan. ‘We saw all those crates of supplies down there.'

‘Then days, maybe weeks, later,' said Pollo, ‘he pockets his mother's photo and resurfaces.'

‘As Mister Smith,' said Will. ‘Even I could have come up with a better name than that.'

Curly scratched his head. ‘Yeah, but he left all the goodies behind in the cave. The guy was bananas!'

‘He made a map of where it was, though,' said Dan.

‘A map that was forgotten about,' said Pollo, ‘till Mayor Bullock saw it in Sherri's shop.'

‘I reckon Fergus probably chose to forget it,' said Will. ‘All that stuff in his mum's letter about curses. Think of it – the ring arrives and then his brother and bushranger mates get shot to pieces. Fergus probably didn't want anything to do with the treasure or the ring.'

‘Well, that's all very well for him,' said Mayor Bullock, perspiration beading on his forehead, ‘but I do.' He leaned over and began packing up the treasure himself.

‘Fergus Bullock … Fergus Smith …' said Dan. ‘No wonder the stories about his disappearing act are vague. He was trying to keep his past a secret.'

‘People didn't like the colonial government much
back then,' said Will. ‘The locals probably sheltered him and helped him back onto the straight and narrow.'

‘I know that our Fergus Smith married a girl from around these parts,' said Twig.

Pollo suddenly jumped up. ‘And became a farmer and a hero!
That's
where I've seen the name! Fergus Smith! He saved two kids from a runaway horse! His story's engraved on the fountain in the Rotary Gardens – the one you washed at, Dan, when you first came into town!'

‘No way!' said Dan. He beamed at his father. ‘Gee willakers, Dad! We've got a hero in the family!'

‘A hero
and
a mayor,' said Twig with a wink.

‘Fergus Bullock the escapee became Fergus Smith the honourable man,' said Pollo. ‘And so began the secret line of the Bullock family that goes all the way down to Twig and Dan.'

Aah-va-va-chee-yew!
Ash looked at the others, a finger sideways under her nose. ‘To Twig and Dan and me.'

Hanging out for a shower and a lie-down, HB returned home from Two Wells to find Ellie Swift pacing up and down in the hot sun on the footpath outside his house. He pulled up, keeping the engine of his police van running.

‘Hello, Ellie,' said HB, lowering the window. ‘Ash gone AWOL again?'

Ellie gripped the van door. ‘I'm so sorry, Harry,' she said. ‘I've been awake all night going over and over it in my head. I was going to tell Ash first thing this morning but she ran off! Harry, he's an evil man, not to be trusted! He's not dead like he's supposed to be!'

She swung into the passenger seat. ‘We can talk while we find him … her … them,' she added breathlessly.

‘Slow down, Ellie,' said HB. ‘Who's not dead? Who
the devil are you talking about?'

Ellie's face twisted. ‘My husband. Vince Whittle. People call him Twig.'

‘Twig? The skinny fellow? Evil? He looks like he wouldn't hurt a fly!'

‘That's what I thought,' said Ellie, ‘until he stole my son.'

HB swung his vehicle onto the road.

HB, in his police van with Ellie Swift beside him, bumped along the firebreak with a heavy heart. He didn't want the old goanna Mayor Bullock to be right about Twig Whittle. Twig was a bit different, sure, but HB had liked him right off. It dealt a blow to a bloke's confidence when his instincts were wide of the mark, especially when he was a copper who relied on them more than he liked to admit.

And right now his instincts were telling him to keep mum about the lad, Dan, who called Twig his father. He'd come to the house before the play last night to scrub up. Dan could be Ellie's missing son – he fitted the bill – but he could also have a different mother. It would be cruel to get Ellie's hopes up wrongly. The
truth would be out soon enough.

Ellie explained as they drove. ‘Vince and I were doing the back-to-nature thing – you know, living simply on a bush block up in the hills. We had twins – just toddlers – a son and a daughter. You know Natasha.'

‘I do?' said HB.

‘Sorry,' said Ellie. ‘I mean Ash. Natasha's her proper name. She only shortened it to Ash when she was older, long after Vince took off.'

‘I see,' said HB. ‘Go on.'

‘We were patching the roof when our little boy gashed his leg on a sheet of iron. Blood everywhere – I'll never forget it. So Vince set off with him for Green Hills hospital. And that was the last I saw of my son or his father … until last night at the play, that is.'

‘Did you contact the police?'

‘Oh, they were involved alright,' said Ellie. ‘They checked all the usual places.' She gave a wry huff. ‘But you see, Vince and I had gone completely off the grid. We were young and idealistic. My parents would say idiotic.' She looked down, embarrassed. ‘The twins had been a home birth and … well … we'd never got around to registering them. Officially my missing son didn't exist.'

HB nodded. ‘I've seen it before.'

‘To tell the truth,' said Ellie, ‘part of me wanted the
search to stop. I couldn't bear being reminded that this person I'd adored had shot through – and been low enough to take our son with him.'

HB swerved around a ditch. ‘Wasn't there anyone else who knew where Twig might have gone?'

‘Oh, there were alternative types like us dotted through the forest who tried to help,' said Ellie. ‘People just assumed he'd had some kind of meltdown. I guess, deep down, we all thought he'd reappear in time. But then the fire came through.'

‘The fire?'

‘It ripped through the forest like a hurricane. Absolutely horrific. We only just got out. I had Ash on my hip and nothing but the clothes I was standing in. I had to go back and live with my parents.'

‘They helped you search for Twig, I presume,' said HB.

‘Huh!' Ellie's face contorted. ‘They saw to it that the door on him was firmly shut. They'd never understood him or the life we'd led. And I was powerless, you see – no money, no nothing. But the worst was that they acted like my little boy had never existed. It was better, quicker, to forget, they said.' Ellie cupped her face in her hands. ‘As if that were possible.'

‘It sounds like a nightmare, Ellie,' said HB. ‘I'm a bit
puzzled, though. Why wait till now? Why not confront Twig last night at the play? What if he'd taken off?'

‘I couldn't trust myself, Harry,' sighed Ellie. ‘Remember, Ash doesn't know about her father being here in Riddle Gully. And the Town Hall wasn't the place to find out. What if it had turned into a nasty scene? I didn't even dare face Ash – she'd have sensed something was wrong. I just ran home and shut myself away. I'd been going to tell her everything this morning and make some kind of plan. But, like I said, she ran off before I had a chance.'

They reached the end of the firebreak. HB opened the door. ‘Let's go see what Twig Whittle has to say for himself.'

‘Praise the heavens! Praise the Earth! My beautiful girls are alive! My daughter, my wife – they're alive! They're alive, they're alive, they're alive!'

Twig was leaping about the campsite on his skinny legs, yelping and hooting and whooping so much that no one noticed Ellie and HB arrive.

Ellie shoved past Curly and ran up to Twig. Twig stopped leaping and looked at Ellie, breathless. Ellie slapped Twig hard, first on one cheek, then the other.

Twig looked momentarily surprised. Then he hugged Ellie to his chest. ‘Ellie! My angel!' he cried. He held her by the shoulders and leaned back to look at her, hand-shapes pulsing on each cheek. ‘Ash told me! I can't believe it's true!'

Twig pulled Ellie to him again, embracing her.
Ellie fought back with a bop to his back – the one spot she could reach. Twig began dancing Ellie around the clearing, his ponytail swinging, tears streaming down his cheeks into his beard. ‘They're alive!' he sang. ‘They're alive! They're alive! They're alive!'

As Ellie's arms thrashed against Twig's back, Pooky jigged up and down, boxing the air. ‘That's right, lady! Get in there! Give him another one!'

‘Mum, stop it!' pleaded Ash.

‘No way! Give him what he deserves –' yelled Pooky, ‘– whatever it is!'

HB hurried across the clearing and prised Twig and Ellie apart. For the second time that morning Twig found himself at the end of an arm beneath a big hand. He blew a kiss to Ellie, who was at the other end of HB's wingspan. She looked away sharply.

It was then she noticed Dan by the tent, wringing his hands and smiling nervously.

Ellie went limp beneath HB's hand. She looked to Ash.

‘Yes, Mum,' said Ash. ‘It's our Dan.'

Ellie stood motionless, trying to breathe, her mouth moving silently.

Ash spoke. ‘I'd felt something for a while. And the accident you told me about – he showed me the scar on his leg just now.'

Ellie suddenly rushed at Dan, moaning like a wounded animal, her arms outstretched. She enfolded Dan and Dan let her, though he remained as stiff as a tree trunk. This wasn't the lady in his father's old photo. She was a stranger – and a bit scary at that. He hoped she couldn't sense his guilty urge to push her away.

‘You caught the wrong bus?' Ellie's disbelieving cry rang through the forest.

HB had them seated in a circle, listening to Twig's side of the story. Pooky was filing her nails, her bad ankle cradled in Curly's lap; Curly was leaning in, dabbing his eyes every now and then with his shirt sleeve; Mayor Bullock sat on a stump, sucking on a humbug.

‘You know I never had much sense of direction,' said Twig. ‘I thought I was on the right side of the road to go to Green Hills, but we ended up in Mugga Mugga.'

‘Mugga Mugga?' squawked Ellie. ‘That's two hundred k's away – in the opposite direction! None of us looked for you there!'

‘I was on the bus trying to settle Dan, and next thing I know we're on the freeway heading south.' Twig looked at Ellie anxiously. ‘Everything went pear-shaped
when I got off the bus.'

‘You mean it wasn't already?'

Twig's voice was barely a whisper. ‘I only put him on the footpath for a minute, Ellie, I swear – nice and safe against the wall.'

Ellie opened her mouth but HB laid a quieting hand on her arm.

‘What happened?' asked Ash.

‘That's what I'd like to know,' said Dan. ‘Dad, you never told me any of this!'

‘I'd never seen one of those big floating advertising blimps before,' said Twig. ‘I thought it was a UFO hovering up there.' There was a loud puff of air from Dan. ‘I was looking up and tripped onto the road in front of a Mr Whippy van. And that was the last I saw of Mugga Mugga for a while.'

‘And of Dan?' said Ash.

Twig nodded, his lips tight. ‘It knocked me out cold. I was carted off to hospital and didn't know who I was for a couple of weeks. After I'd gone, someone noticed Dan on the footpath, poor little tyke, his leg all bandaged up. But no one knew who he belonged to.'