When Cicadas Sing by John A Burgess

Author:John A Burgess [Burgess, John A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781664107472
Publisher: Xlibris NZ
Published: 2022-01-31T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Manawaora

Greg looked serious. After his early morning climb up the track to telephone the Russell police station, Alex was eager for information.

‘What did they say, Dad?’ Alex prompted.

He hesitated before answering. ‘Well, it looks like it was someone off a foreign fishing vessel, most likely Korean. Definitely Asian.’

‘The poor fellow,’ Fionna said. ‘Coming all this way and then drowning so far from home. How dreadful for his family.’

Greg hesitated again. ‘They don’t think he drowned.’

There was silence while everyone considered the options. Alex fought the shiver forming between her shoulder blades.

‘What happened, then?’ she asked.

‘They can’t be sure until the pathologist reports back, but they think he was deliberately killed.’

‘Did he have a knife in his back, or was his throat cut or something?’ Samuel probed, keen to learn any gory details.

‘There were signs of injury consistent with serious assault,’ Greg replied, hoping a formal explanation would satisfy. It was a forlorn hope.

‘So he was really bashed up. Was he tortured too?’ Without waiting for an answer, he began rehearsing a few scenarios complete with actions. ‘He could have done something he shouldn’t have, or he knew a secret and they tried to get it out of him. Or maybe there was a fight on the boat. Yeah, everyone was against him and he got badly hurt, but he knocked out some of them, ’cause he’s such a good kung fu fighter, but there were too many of them so he dived overboard and he drowned.’

‘Yep. I reckon that just about covers it.’ Greg smiled and looked across at Fionna. ‘So what’s for breakfast?’

‘I don’t know. It’s your turn.’

‘I’ll make it,’ Alex offered. ‘What about scrambled eggs and fried tomatoes?’

Greg looked grateful. ‘Thanks, Princess. I have a couple of things I really must do that shouldn’t take too long, so that would be great if you don’t mind. All right with you, Mum?’

Fionna smiled, Greg left, Samuel continued building a Star Wars model, and Alex busied herself toasting bread, frying tomatoes, and scrambling eggs. Fionna watched with guarded pride from a distance.

With encouragement from Samuel, who was ravenous, Alex was taking steaming plates to the table when Greg returned.

‘That looks excellent. Hasn’t she done well?’ he said, and with a quick thank you to Alex, and God, they began eating.

‘What I don’t understand’, said Alex as Greg cleared the table later, ‘is how that body got to where it did. Those overseas fishing boats aren’t allowed to come in close, are they?’

‘If they have a licence from the government, they can fish inside our three hundred and seventy kilometres zone, but it’s illegal to fish inside about twenty from shore, so basically you’re right.’

‘Did the police say how long he had been in the water?’

‘Three days maybe. They can tell by the condition of the skin.’ In anticipation of the question forming on Samuel’s lips, he added, ‘And no, I don’t know what it looks like, so don’t ask.’

Samuel returned to playing Star Wars.

‘So his boat must have been

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