Unlikely Barons by Murray Hall

Author:Murray Hall [Hall, Murray]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781922670915
Published: 2022-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Saturday Courthouse Market Day

It was a nightmare trying to find a car park space anywhere near the Courthouse on Market Day as there were thousands of additional tourists in town. We finally found a spot a couple of hundred metres away behind the post office and walked up.

The market was full of families and tourists walking around buying three-dollar sunglasses, cheap and nasty Broome T-shirts and manhandling some of the locally made artefacts. Well, locally made if the ‘Made in China’ sticker had been removed.

It was a pleasant enough atmosphere with a female singer and her guitarist boyfriend knocking out a few tunes in the courtyard and all the kids in front of them showing off their dance routines. A change of aroma in the air as we walked past the tents and food stalls selling coffee, satay sticks, hamburgers and fresh bread reminded me I hadn’t had breakfast.

We stopped to buy a coffee and a donut, lingering, chatting to a couple of people we knew from around the place. A warm, casual, social environment.

We had a shop awning to measure up and replace in China Town but had agreed to make use of a lazy Saturday morning to walk through the markets on our way, looking like the honourable citizens we were.

As per our normal weekend routine we had no drugs on us, none in the car, none in our residences, no one looking for us.

Cleanskins.

One of the first people we ran into at the coffee van was flowerpot man Ben, trying to juggle three cups of coffee. “What are you doing here?” asked Dodger.

“Ah, we often run a stall here. Over there.” Pointing with his head so he didn’t lose the coffees. “Come on over. The dragons usually man it so we can keep the shop open, but we decided to open late today and crank it here with all the fucking tourists in town. We usually do okay out of it and move a bit of your gear while we’re here.”

We all laughed and I wondered if they called their wives ‘dragons’ to their face. I knew the women. I doubted it.

“But listen, I’ve been thinking about you blokes,” he continued.

“This’ll be good,” Dodger said with a smirk, “Go on.”

“You know anyone in the jewellery trade?”

It was my turn. “Why? What the fuck you into now?”

“You read about those pearl panels that got pinched, write up in the local newspaper?”

“You mean those things that hang in the water with pockets of pearl shells in them?” Dodger asked.

“Yeah,” Ben nodded. “So do you know about them?”

Dodger shook his head, but I said, “Actually, I know a bit about it.”

“For fuck’s sake, Kat. Don’t tell me you were in on it?” Ben’s eyes widened and I thought he was going to drop his coffee.

“Not quite. I was snorkelling off Gantheaume Point a month back and found about a dozen panels off the reef. All empty. Had to have been stolen. I pulled the tags off them and gave them to one of the pearl divers that lives next door.

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