Death in Younghusband

By Drew Lindsay

Witches.... Prostitutes...!! Why would Ben Hood be sent to offer his professional VIP services to women like that...especially when one of the women is accused of killing a man and hanging his body from a tree branch near the town of Younghusband, on the Murray River in South Australia. This rather weird assignment turns very deadly as Ben is drawn into a web of deceit, hatred and bitter revenge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Drew Lindsay
• Release date: Nov 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463645659

Drew Lindsay

Drew Lindsay is a dynamic Australian Novelist and Writer. He has travelled extensively throughout Australia and the world. His background includes working as a Policeman and detective, then managing his own private investigation business as well as working in Fraud Investigation Management positions within the insurance industry.Drew is a PADI Divemaster and holds a private pilot's license. He has a great love of entertaining others with his vivid imagination. His novels allow the reader to escape into worlds of romance, excitement, humour and fast paced adventure. Drew lives in northern New South Wales with his wife.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Arthur Smith stopped abruptly. He was an Aboriginal tracker and a man who had lived in the Murray Bridge area of South Australia all his life which by his own calculation was close on 57 years. Arthur Smith wasn’t his real name. That was the name given to him by the white family who had reluctantly brought him up when he wandered into their home at the age of 6, having been beaten almost to within an inch of his life by his real Aboriginal father, a horrible drunk, and thrown into the Murray River.

Arthur had deep brown skin and a broad nose. He had brown eyes but it was difficult to ever see his eyes clearly as he had a perpetual squint…developed perhaps from many years in the bright Australian outback sun. His hair was grey and reasonably short but still covered most of each ear. He wore a battered black Akubra hat with a bright blue band around the rim. Two large white Cockatoo feathers rose above the top of the hat from the rim band into which they were firmly stuck. He had a wide smile which hardly ever left his face and he took pride in a fairly new set of false teeth which he claimed gave him much character. Arthur was particular about remaining clean shaven.

As he stopped, he looked up into the huge Blackbutt tree directly in his path. The tree had a trunk so large in circumference at its base that it would have taken three men with rather long arms to stand and hold hands around the girth. The height of the Blackbutt was probably close to 500 feet and its lowest massive branches were at least 40 feet from the ground. The body was tied to the lowest branch stomach down over the branch. It seemed to be a young male…perhaps in his early teens. Dead eye sockets indicated that the body was in a reasonably advanced state of decay. The stench of death reached Arthur but he didn’t flinch.

Detective Sergeant Patrick Cheng stopped abruptly as well but as he looked up into the Blackbutt tree, he took two steps backward, colliding heavily with the shapely body of Detective Senior Constable Jackie Fox. She fell backwards, letting out a solid groan as she hit the ground. The groan was followed with ‘Bloody hell Pat…! What is wrong with you?’ Then Jackie Fox could see the body hanging over the tree branch way above her and she scrambled to her feet, brushing dead leaves and bush undergrowth from her tight-fitting blue jeans. ‘Holy shit…!’

‘I tried to warn you Miss Jackie,’ said Arthur. ‘I told you the boy was hanging out here in the bush.’

‘You’ve told a few whoppers in your time Arthur,’ said Jackie Fox, checking to see that her Glock pistol was still firmly nestled in her pancake hip holster. ‘Who is he?’

‘I don’t know Miss. He’s one of yours I think.’

‘His face is black,’ said Jackie Fox.

‘Dead people often turn black,’ Patrick Cheng said firmly. ‘I’m sorry for knocking you over.’

‘It’s okay,’ said Fox softly. ‘You got a fright.’

‘He’s right you know. Most dead blokes go black in the face and then go black in the rest of their body a while after they are dead,’ said Arthur. ‘He’s been up in that tree for quite a while I reckon.’

‘Do you know who he is Arthur?’ asked Cheng.

‘No boss. Not the way he looks up there in that bloody tree. When you pull him down and we get a closer look I might know who he is if he’s a local boy.’

‘I’m not going to pull him down,’ said Cheng. ‘How did he get up there anyway? Perhaps he climbed up there and had an accident?’

‘I think someone put him up there,’ said Arthur. ‘Might have killed him first and then put him over that branch, or just put him there when he was alive. He’s got a rope tied over his back and around the branch.’

‘Yes,’ said Cheng. ‘I can see the rope. The thing is…if he climbed up there himself, he would need ropes I suppose and there are no other ropes.’

‘He’d need to be part Goanna to get up that old Blackbutt boss,’ said Arthur. ‘Only someone who knew what they were doing could throw a rope up to that branch.’

‘Well no one brought a cherry picker in here to put him up there,’ said Cheng. ‘The track was hard enough for us to walk through let alone bring in some mechanical device.’

‘Our Search and Rescue guy back at Murray Bridge should be able to sort it out,’ said Jackie Fox as she brushed a few dead gum leaves from her long blond hair. ‘He’s always climbing trees and going over cliffs and whatever.’

‘We had better get a message to the OIC,’ said Cheng. ‘Get back to base on your two way.’

‘I think we’re well out of range,’ said Fox.

‘Your mobile phone will work,’ said Arthur Smith. ‘Not the best reception along the Murray River in these parts but not too bad.’

‘I didn’t bring my phone,’ said Fox, glancing at Patrick Cheng.

‘I left mine back in the car,’ said Cheng, glancing once more up at the body in the tree.

‘You can use mine,’ said Arthur. ‘Not a fancy phone but gets the job done eh?’

‘You said you found him yourself,’ said Cheng as Arthur handed his battered mobile phone to Jackie Fox.

‘Yes and no,’ said Arthur. ‘Someone told me where to find the body and then I just came out here and looked for myself.’

‘Who told you?’ asked Cheng.

Arthur Smith didn’t reply. He rubbed the side of his face with a wrinkled right hand. ‘Might need some advice before I tell you that boss. It’s kind of a family matter and a bit personal.’

‘Personal my arse,’ said Cheng. ‘I need a name Arthur.’

‘I’ll have a chat with someone and tell you later. The person will have to agree to me giving their name.’

‘The person has no choice,’ said Cheng. ‘This looks very much like murder to me. This death is extremely odd to say the least and I want the name today or there will be hell to pay.’

‘Yes boss. Mind you…we’re on private property here and the owners probably don’t know about this and they probably don’t know we are on their land. They might order us off.’

‘The hell they will! Who are the owners Arthur?’

‘Clarence Todd and her daughter Willow.’ Arthur glanced up at the body in the tree. ‘Can’t say those two would have put him up there although some swear that Clarence can fly and Willow is a bit of a climber.’ Arthur chuckled. ‘They both claim to be witches and can fly like birds. If they are true witches, they probably know about this dead bloke and probably know we’re on their property. Can you believe that boss?’

‘I thought the Government owned all this land for miles either side of the Murray River,’ said Cheng.

‘Not this bit,’ said Arthur. ‘Clarence inherited it from her late father who ran lots of sheep and cattle up here.’ Arthur swatted flies off his face. ‘Lots of cattle up here, big and fat and the bloke was rich and the Government couldn’t take his land off him even though they tried. He was a cunning old bloke that Sean Todd fella and he was well connected with the Younghusband family…mark my words. All this land belonged to Bill Younghusband because he was good with the Steamboat Company and their work along the Murray River when my ancestors were here. My ancestors owned all this land then but the Government took it and chased our people away and they gave the land to Bill Younghusband and he gave lots of it to the Todd family.’

Jackie Fox handed the mobile phone back to Arthur. ‘Crime Scene guys and Adrian Glover from Search and Rescue are heading this way by the river. They know where to stop and how to find us.’

Cheng nodded. ‘I don’t like the smell around here and I hate the bush.’

‘You get used to all of that over time boss,’ said Arthur. ‘Lots of people have died out here in the bush over the years. Snake bite for lots of them. Some got on the piss and drowned in the river.’ He looked at Jackie Fox. ‘Sorry Miss.’

‘There is nothing you could say that I haven’t heard,’ said Jackie. ‘No need to be sorry.’

‘Thank you Miss.’

‘You can call me Jackie,’

‘That wouldn’t be right Miss.’

‘Well neither is Miss.’

‘Alright Miss Jackie.’

‘How long will it take them to get here by river?’ asked Cheng.

‘The way Adrian drives that search boat; I’d say about 40 minutes.’ said Arthur with a grin. It’s only about 30 clicks from Murray Bridge and we’re only a five minute walk from the river.’

‘So why didn’t we come here by river?’ asked Cheng.

‘You wanted to drive here boss,’ said Arthur, keeping his face straight.

‘And that took us, together with walking through miles of bloody thick scrub, over 2 hours!’

‘Yes Boss.’

Cheng glanced at Jackie Fox. ‘What?’

‘I didn’t say anything,’ Fox replied.

‘And just as well.’ Cheng looked at Arthur. ‘Clarence Todd lives in Adelaide with her whacko daughter so I’ve heard.’

‘Yes Boss. They’re rich. They’ve got the best houseboat on the river. They also have a little place on the river not far from here but it’s empty most of the time other then when they come up here with spooky friends and light fires and dance around naked…so I’m told mind you. I’ve never seen them dancing naked around fires or dancing even with clothes on or anything. They have a bloke checking on the place every day so I’m told. Wally from the Younghusband general store. Wally’s an arsehole in my opinion Boss but I’d never repeat that other than to you and Miss…Miss…Jackie.’

‘What’s wrong with Wally?’ asked Cheng.

‘Bad drunk Boss. He’s got problems that boy.’

‘So why does someone like Clarence Todd employ him?’

Arthur pulled at the brim of his hat for a moment and looked at the ground. ‘Can’t say I know the answer to that Boss.’

‘Yes you do,’ Cheng replied bluntly.

‘Maybe I do,’ said Arthur. ‘Maybe I do.’

****

CHAPTER TWO

Rodney Reid opened the front door of his Castle Hill home in the outer Western Suburbs of Sydney. He looked past Ben Hood who was standing in front of him, to the Austin Martin sports car parked in his driveway. ‘Bloody thing needs a wash and polish if you ask me.’

‘I didn’t ask you,’ Ben replied.

‘It’s against the nature of the universe to leave a car like that in a dishevelled condition.’

Ben turned and looked at his car. ‘It’s not dishevelled. What are you talking about?’

‘It’s bloody dishevelled and so are you,’ said Rodney, leaning against his single crutch.

‘Rose asked me here for brunch so get out of the way,’ said Ben.

‘Rose invited you here for breakfast. You are late old son and you and your car look dishevelled.’

‘I rang and left a message,’ said Ben, looking slightly awkward.

‘Not good enough.’

‘You are up to something Rodney.’

‘That’s no way to talk to a disabled person.’

‘Disabled my arse,’ said Ben pushing past Rodney and striding into the hallway. He met Rose as he entered the kitchen. She wiped her hands on her apron and hugged him. ‘Do I look dishevelled Rose?’

‘No darling,’ she replied. ‘Just a little tired…that’s all. Come through to the dining room and make yourself comfortable while I fetch the girls.’

‘Rodney says I look dishevelled.’

‘Don’t pay him no mind Ben. He’s been out of sorts lately. I think it’s his time of the month.’

‘I heard that!’ Rodney exclaimed as he limped into the kitchen on his single crutch. ‘That’s very unfair Rose.’

‘Just go and chat nicely with Ben,’ Rose replied. ‘I’ll be back in a moment. I’ve got eggs and bacon on thick toast dripping with real butter.’

‘Perfect,’ said Ben. He looked at Rodney. ‘Come on old bloke. Make me some coffee and let’s have a chat.’

‘How about you make the damn coffee!’

‘It’s your house and you must wait on the guest,’ Ben replied.

‘Guest my arse.’

‘Get the man some coffee Rod dear,’ said Rose. ‘Be a good boy now.’

Rodney opened his mouth to reply but thought the better of it.

‘I like full cream milk stirred well through my coffee Rodney,’ said Ben as he walked into the adjoining dining room and took a seat at the table. ‘One level teaspoon of coffee sugar as well. I’m cutting down on my sugar.’

‘Would you like bloody fries with that order sir?’

‘No,’ Ben replied, smiling. ‘I’m off fries as well.’

‘If you’ve made up your mind to use this visit to poke fun at me…you had better think twice buddy.’

‘And if you think that my invitation to have late breakfast with you was so that you could talk me into accepting another one of your hair brained assignments…you had better think twice buddy,’ said Ben.

Rae Miller rushed into the room with her long black hair flying in all directions. She threw her arms around Ben’s neck and kissed him on the top of his head. ‘You’re thinning up there,’ she said softly as she kissed him on the side of his face.

‘Bugger off,’ said Ben.

‘I get older and you get older,’ said Rae. ‘It’s the law of the jungle.’

‘The thing is that you get to look better and I get to look…’

‘There’s nothing wrong with the way you look Ben Hood,’ said Rae as she plonked herself onto the chair beside him. ‘You grow sexier with age and I’ve got pimples and other things to deal with.’

‘You haven’t got pimples,’ said Ben, staring at her face. ‘You’ve got freckles on both cheeks. Very sexy freckles.’

‘Bullshit…they’re horrible.’

‘Lots of men who are yet to come into your life may not think so.’

‘I went out with a guy last week and he told me that my freckles would fade with time. What kind of shit talk is that?’

‘I wouldn’t worry about what that guy said. I think you look extremely beautiful. If I was a hundred years younger, I’d marry you.’

Rae laughed. Hunter Taylor, 18 years of age, also with long black hair and electric blue eyes joined them. She kissed Ben and walked around to the other side of the table and sat down. ‘I want to look at you Ben and I can’t look at you if I’m sitting beside you.’

‘I’m sitting beside him and can turn my head any time I please to look at him,’ said Rae a little sarcastically.

‘I’d rather look at him face on,’ said Hunter.

‘She’s picked up a boyfriend,’ said Rae.

‘He’s just a casual thing,’ Hunter replied.

‘He’ll be sleeping with you in the spare room next we know,’ said Rae.

‘Rodney would never allow it,’ said Ben.

‘Rose would,’ Rae replied. ‘It’s already been discussed. We’re old enough to have boys staying over.’

‘Any boy you want to sleep with…I need to meet first,’ said Ben.

‘Oh shit!’ said Hunter.

Rae laughed.

‘Same goes for you young lady,’ said Ben, glancing at Rae.

‘Here’s your damn coffee,’ said Rodney, setting a large mug of steaming coffee before Ben. He looked at both girls in turn and then back to Ben. ‘See what I have to put up with around here?’

‘They’ll be fine,’ said Ben.

‘Three eggs and lots of bacon and thick buttered toast coming up!’ yelled Rose from the kitchen. ‘For Ben I mean. The rest of you can get your own breakfast.’

‘She’s kidding,’ said Ben, looking up at Rodney.

‘No she’s bloody well not mate!’

‘He’s in the dog house,’ said Rae.

‘That’s not entirely true,’ Rodney replied. ‘I may have slipped up on one or two matters recently and I have apologised very sincerely.’

‘He nearly got us killed,’ said Hunter. (RAPTOR)

‘I’m coming to help with breakfast,’ said Rae as she jumped up and headed for the kitchen.

Hunter stood slowly. She looked into Ben’s blue eyes. ‘You can always say no you know.’

‘Off you go now,’ said Rodney.

‘I’ve already told him no,’ said Ben.

‘Then it’s settled then,’ Hunter replied. ‘You can continue with your wish to be an elderly retired man.’ She walked into the kitchen.

Ben looked at Rodney. ‘I’m not elderly.’

‘In comparison to them you are.’

‘I’m in the prime of my bloody life!’

Rodney shrugged his shoulders. ‘Mid fifties have gone past your door old mate.’

‘This is a bloody set up,’ said Ben. ‘You’ve damn well set them up so that I won’t knock back your next fucking assignment.’

Rodney raised both arms in the air. ‘I’m as innocent as the driven snow.’

‘The hell you are!’

‘Breakfast is served,’ said Rose