Cry of the Taniwha by Des Hunt

Author:Des Hunt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Chapter 15

Eve was right. Hone did say the same thing, and with a lot more force. He was angry. Angry at the gang; angry at Jackson for getting involved; angry at Matt for not speaking up sooner; and angry at himself for initiating the friendship that had led to the contact with the gang.

‘You can’t let them control you like this, Matt,’ he said. ‘They’ll take over your life, and soon you’ll be as bad as they are.’

Matt nodded. ‘They’ve already taken over Jackson,’ he said miserably.

‘Not if I have any say in it, they haven’t,’ replied Hone, forcefully. Then, more quietly, he added, ‘That Skulla has got a lot to answer for.’

Lots more was said along this theme before the patrol car pulled into the drive. It was Burty and Lew, looking much more serious than they had on each of their other visits. However, that didn’t stop Burty mounting an attack on Nan’s restocked cake tins.

Lew took Matt through his statement, recording the information in his notebook. When they’d finished, he looked at Matt and asked, ‘Did they hit you at any stage?’

‘No! But I know they’ve attacked Jackson.’ Matt then described what he’d seen on the first morning.

‘That’s typical of the gangs,’ said Lew. ‘They start with intimidation and then offer gang membership for doing a job. Once the first job is done, they’ve got them.’

‘Then we’ve got to stop Jackson doing this job,’ said Hone.

‘Yes,’ replied Lew. ‘We’ll have a chat to Jackson, but that’s unlikely to change things. The important thing is to keep an eye on Skulla and his mates. If we can make it hot enough for them, then Jackson should be OK.’

‘What about the theft of Matt’s metal detector?’ asked Hone.

‘You’d better give us a description of this guy,’ Lew replied.

Matt gave him the details, which were duly written down.

‘Sounds real gawky to me,’ said Burty, picking at his teeth.

‘He is,’ said Matt.

‘Then we’ll keep a lookout for gawks. We can’t have you losing your machine when there’s still treasure to be found.’

‘What about that metal box you mentioned?’ asked Lew.

Matt went and got the strongbox minus the candleholder. As they studied the locket and notebook, he explained how he’d taken the rocks and water to Ian McMillan.

‘That’s fine,’ said Lew. ‘You did the right thing there. Tell you what: you hold on to all of this and take it to the museum within the next couple of days. I’m sure the curator would want to talk to you about it all.’

Matt agreed.

‘All right,’ said Lew getting to his feet. ‘We’ll go pick up Jackson and have a talk with him.’

‘He’s real scared,’ said Matt. ‘He thinks they’ll kill him if he doesn’t do the job.’

Lew nodded. ‘We’ll keep that in mind.’

Burty asked, ‘Are you scared, too?’

Matt nodded.

‘Don’t be. We’ll be watching them. If they do anything wrong then we’ll lock them up, and with their records they’re likely to stay there for a long time.’

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