Part 35 (1/2)

Nick tried to sift objectively through the letter's information, looking for clues or some sign that might point him in the right direction, but he found himself personally affected by it. Beneath the expression of turmoil, the young man's love was palpable, as was his belief in the loyalty and support of the woman he loved. It was clear to Nick that Daniel gained his strength from Elizabeth. In fact, the letter said as much about the person to whom it was written as it did about the writer.

When he'd finished reading, Nick carefully put the pages down on the table. He felt a strange affinity with young Daniel.

'What do you think?' she said.

'About what?' he asked, hedging.

'Do you believe that's a man on the verge of suicide?'

'No. I don't.'

'Thank you. A colleague of mine in London said I wouldn't have a leg to stand on if I were to present it as evidence. He said they would interpret it as the writing of an unbalanced, disturbed mind.'

'He's right. They would.'

She was silent for a moment. 'So where do we start, Nick?'

'Where do you want to start?' He knew exactly what was coming next.

'With the threat of court martial,' she said. 'What was it the men saw? Why did Danny think Pete Mitch.e.l.l had been killed for speaking out?'

Nick had come prepared for this very moment, but strangely enough that didn't seem to make it any easier. He downed the remains of his Scotch and took a deep breath.

'An Aboriginal family was irradiated,' he said briskly. 'The parents and two children had camped in a bomb crater and their bodies were discovered some miles away several days later. The patrol officers who found them, and the members of the decontamination team who transported the bodies back to base for disposal, were threatened with court martial if they talked. I was the officer ordered to issue that threat. The episode was never mentioned again, even within the deepest confines of Maralinga. It was as if it had never happened.'

'How shocking,' Elizabeth said. 'How truly shocking.'

'The deaths were shocking, yes,' he agreed. 'The fact that we kept the matter a secret, however, was essential. For security reasons no other course of action could possibly have been taken.'

Nick felt restless. He contemplated another Scotch, decided against it, and sat drumming his fingers on the tabletop. Elizabeth barely noticed his restlessness. She was too distracted.

'But how could such a thing have happened? Reports were issued stating the local Aboriginal people had been removed from the area,' she said.

'That's a load of bulls.h.i.+t. The situation's impossible to police so they ignore it. There might well be other bodies lying out there undiscovered, who knows?'

He wanted to shock her. He felt like being brutal. He was irritated and edgy. Didn't she realise the magnitude of what he'd just done? But his shock tactics didn't work. Elizabeth had moved on from shock as her mind busily added up the facts.

'Pete Mitch.e.l.l was the government-appointed Aboriginal liaison officer,' she said, 'and Danny wrote that he was a ”tormented man”. Was this why?'

'It was certainly one of the reasons.'

Nick resigned himself to the fact that she was too busy playing detective to encompa.s.s anything else, so he poured himself another Scotch and downed a quick belt before continuing.

'Pete was deeply distressed about the lack of consideration given to the Aboriginal people's predicament. A number of the patrol officers were too. They still are.'

'Understandably so.' She paused before asking the question uppermost in her mind. 'Do you think this terrible incident of the family's irradiation has any direct bearing on Danny's death, Nick?'

'No, I don't. But you said yourself, it's a starting point, remember?' She nodded. 'Well, I agree with you there.' He looked down at the letter still open on the table. 'It all started that drunken night when Pete told Dan about the Aboriginal deaths and the threat of court martial. Pete's subsequent murder led Dan on a trail of investigation, and that's where we have to start ourselves. Who did he speak to? What wheels did he set in motion?'

Elizabeth studied him shrewdly. 'You no longer believe this is a case of human error, do you?'

'I didn't say that.' Nick was wary. The letter had certainly given him a fresh perspective, but he wasn't at all sure what he believed and he wasn't about to encourage any fanciful notions on Elizabeth's part. 'I just said that we should start our investigation where Dan did. And that means the fettlers. I'll pay a visit to Watson tomorrow.'

'Do you think they'll be willing to help? They sound like a pretty tough bunch to me.'

'They'll do anything if the price is right. Do you have any spare cash lying around?'

'About twenty pounds, but I can get more out of the bank tomorrow.'

'No, that'll be fine. We'll pool our resources fifty quid should do it.'

She jumped to her feet and crossed to the dresser where she took a pile of notes from the top drawer.

'Clever,' he said. 'No burglar would think to look there.'

She ignored the comment, thrusting the notes at him. 'And we need to find out who was the last person to see Danny alive, Nick.' Elizabeth was excited now. With Nick's help she was finally making progress. 'If you could discover who it was, and the circ.u.mstances under which they '

'Oh, I know all that.'

'What?' She came to an immediate halt.

'Everyone at Maralinga knows that.'

Very quietly, she sat. 'Who was it? Tell me. Tell me everything.'

'A bloke by the name of Gideon Melbray was the last person to see Dan alive. Gideon's the senior requisitions officer with the British Department of Supply, and he and Dan worked together quite a lot. They were probably good mates, I really wouldn't know, but on the night of Dan's death Gideon called around to his barracks and discovered him crying drunk. Dan was evidently carrying on about a plot to kill Pete Mitch.e.l.l and making no sense at all '

'But Danny didn't drink,' Elizabeth intervened sharply. 'Apart from the occasional beer, that is. I never once saw him drunk.'

She was suspicious already, Nick could tell, but then she was so keen to hold someone responsible he supposed it was only natural.

'Yes, so Gideon said. He was surprised himself. It was out of character, he said, Dan wasn't a big drinker.'

'So what happened? What did Gideon do?'

'He told him to go to bed and sleep it off. What else could he do?'

'What else indeed?' Elizabeth's tone was arch.

'Gideon was apparently horrified the next morning when Dan was discovered dead. He said he'd had no idea that '

'So this Gideon Melbray was the sole witness to Danny's anguished mental state!' Elizabeth was unable to contain herself any longer. 'Isn't that just a little too pat?'

'Take it easy, Elizabeth, take it easy.' Nick once again held up his hand in a bid to halt her. 'Of course there would have been reports other than Gideon's the police made a thorough investigation but Gideon's story was the one that got around the base at the time. He was the last person to see Dan alive, he's the sort of bloke who chats to all and sundry, and naturally his story became the talk of Maralinga '

'I'll just bet it did!'

'Which, let's face it, is perfectly normal under the circ.u.mstances!' In his exasperation, Nick raised his voice, overriding her interruption and finally shutting her up. He gave her a second or so to calm down. 'I'll check out the other reports with the military police, I can promise you. Rest a.s.sured, Elizabeth, I won't let you down.'

'I'm sorry,' she said sheepishly. 'I got carried away.'