Missing Pieces, page 11
‘Oh!’ said Cass. ‘I thought we were the only ones who knew about it!’ Leah and Zak laughed.
‘Sadly not!’ Leah said.
It’s really just a stretch of sand, Zak had explained to Cass the first day he’d taken her out to the Reef, that’s completely uncovered at low tide and just under water at high tide, so it’s always possible to stand there. They found it years ago, when he was at school. The numbers are the latitude and longitude, abbreviated. They never gave it a proper name.
‘We’ll go there tomorrow—there’s good snorkelling around there,’ Zak said now, spreading out plates and cutlery so they could serve themselves.
‘Ironic, isn’t it?’ Leah reflected, ‘Clarkson Todd taking the Premier out to see the Reef he’s so keen to destroy with his bloody great coal mine. That Xerxes monstrosity. And most of it foreign-owned. As for Todd, he’s got problems with his own company, I hear. The construction business. I’d say he’s keen to see the mine go ahead ASAP, so he can bid for the building of it.’
Cass looked up. ‘That’s interesting. I’ve only really been looking at the story of the little girl’s disappearance. But what I’ve seen in the media this week is that if the girl is found—and it’s a big if—she’ll inherit some large part of the estate. Todd junior can’t be very happy about that.’
‘No,’ said Leah. ‘What happens to the money if the girl doesn’t turn up? Does it all go to Clarkson—and I suppose to Jenyfer?’
‘I don’t know,’ answered Cass. ‘We haven’t been told anything yet. The wife must have changed her name after she married him. In the newspaper reports from after his fiancée went missing, his first fiancée—Chloe Campion—she was simply Jennifer. Two n’s, no y.’
‘Ah, yes!’ exclaimed Leah. ‘That’s right, his fiancée disappeared from a party in Brisbane, didn’t she?’
‘Yes, and her body has never been found,’ Cass replied. ‘And less than two years later he married Jennifer Cowles and Yasmin Munoz disappeared that same year, although it doesn’t seem that the two things were at all related. That’s according to Leslie who was here in Cairns then.’
‘Except it seems a member of the Todd family was involved in both,’ said Leah thoughtfully.
‘Yep,’ said Cass. ‘And Jennifer with two n’s became Jenyfer with one and a y.’
‘She’s changed more than her name,’ Leah responded. ‘I’ve seen her a couple of times and she’s had more cosmetic surgery than you could poke a stick at. Her nose has been lifted so far that her nostrils point forwards. Goes with the territory, I guess.’
‘The kids are completely different,’ said Zak. ‘The son was arrested at a demo in Brisbane least year. Against the mine.’
‘I remember that,’ Leah said. ‘His Grandpa tried to pay his fines and the grandson wouldn’t let him do it. I remember reading that. Andrew was always known as a supporter of the environment when he was on the Council. Clarkson’s the complete opposite. Thinks climate change doesn’t exist and we need to dig up more coal and burn it!’
Zak stood up and began to collect the dirty plates.
As Cass got up to help, she said, ‘Oh, guys, I’ve got some sad news! About dessert! I tried to make an orange cake. The recipe’s supposed to be simple but it wasn’t simple for me. I started off boiling the oranges in syrup like the recipe said, and then the whole thing exploded. It was a catastrophe!’
‘Luckily, we have a very nice substitute!’ Zak said, pointing to the Swiss Cottage Cafe’s chocolate mousse cake sitting on the bench.
***
The afternoon passed with Zak and Cass lazing on the veranda with the weekend papers. At seven o’clock Leah turned on the TV news. Queensland first. In Brisbane a big demonstration against the impending Xerxes mine approval. Crowds pouring down Ann Street into King George Square, more crowds outside Parliament House.
‘More than two thousand people have joined the protest today,’ said the reporter, standing in the street in Brisbane, surrounded by banners.
There’d also been a protest in Cairns. The protesters had fanned out along the Esplanade after a public meeting and formed themselves into letters reading SAVE THE REEF. A news helicopter flew low overhead filming the message, then turned out to sea and very quickly reached the edge of the Inner Reef. There were turquoise waters studded with sandy cays and tiny islets of coral, a ring of white foam around each where the waves broke.
‘If that footage goes international it won’t need much commentary,’ remarked Leah. ‘The rest of the world must think we’re flipping mad to let anything happen to the Reef.’
The camera turned back to Brisbane where a Greens senator was addressing the crowd:
‘We cannot wait. The Reef is dying with every day that passes. Global warming and pollution bleach the coral. Coral is fragile life—any increase in sea temperatures and it dies. This mine is the biggest ever proposed for Queensland. All the coal must pass through passages in the reef to travel overseas. Pollution from construction and dredging to make the huge port needed will contaminate the Reef and kill the coral. This is already happening with other mines along the coast...’
The camera then panned in to the reporter talking to a young man.
‘Oh, that’s him!’ exclaimed Leah. ‘Andrew Todd’s grandson.’
‘Tyson Todd is the son of millionaire businessman Clarkson Todd, whose company stands to reap enormous profits from a go-ahead of the Xerxes mine,’ said the TV woman into her microphone. ‘But here’s Tyson taking part in the protests today. And I think we’ve seen you here before, Tyson.’
‘I’m here because I don’t think this project should happen,’ said Tyson, looking directly into the camera. ‘Whether it’s my father’s company or not has nothing to do with it. We don’t need to dig up fossil fuels and burn them. We should be developing renewables and living more simply. The Xerxes mine will add enormously to the carbon dioxide we emit even though it won’t be counted in our emissions. It just makes sense to try to keep the planet habitable for future generations.’
The reporter continued: ‘Tyson Todd has stated that he receives no income from his father or his father’s group of companies. He’s currently studying town planning here in Brisbane, lives in a shared house with other students’—there was a brief shot of a shabby two-storey Queenslander somewhere in north Brisbane, ‘and works part-time repairing old rocking horses to support himself’. A shot of a façade in south Brisbane showed A. and A. Bateson Rocking Horse and Toy Repairs and a beautiful grey rocking horse in the window.
‘Good on him!’ said Cass.
‘Clarkson Todd declined to comment on his son’s participation in the march today,’ said the newsreader back at the studio. ‘However, he has previously been reported as saying that he supports the views of climate change sceptics that “coral reefs are important markers of ecological life through time; they come and they go and they get wiped out.”
‘Clarkson Todd,’ continued the newsreader, ‘is chairman of the consortium seeking to build the infrastructure for the Xerxes mine’. A photo of Clarkson Todd, walking into his high-rise offices in Brisbane, appeared on the screen.
‘Mr Todd lives in Cairns,’ said the reader, as an aerial photo appeared of a large beachside house. The camera then moved to show the extensive palm-fringed beach adjacent to the Todd mansion, and the pristine Coral Sea. ‘He also has properties in Brisbane and Sydney.’
‘Hmm,’ said Cass. ‘I wonder what Andrew Todd thought about his grandson’s politics.’
21
Cairns
Sunday 5th August 2012
Zak woke Cass early on Sunday with coffee. She kissed him and sat up in bed to drink it while Zak drew back the curtains. The sun was just above the horizon and the sea beyond the veranda was golden. Gulls soared and swooped outside their windows.
‘Oh, it’s so beautiful! Worth getting up for at six o’clock on a Sunday!’
‘Yes,’ Zak agreed, ‘that’s why Mum likes to go early. As well as making sure we get our spot out there, of course.’
Wearing swimmers and shorts, the three of them descended the steps to the Argo, armed with a basket containing a picnic breakfast.
‘We’ll use the engine going out and sail back,’ Leah said. This was her usual trip. It meant they got to their atoll quickly and could explore the coral before the day got too hot. Coming back, the breeze would keep them cool.
The tide was high and the coral of the atoll about two metres below the surface when they arrived. Water completely covered the sand of the cay. They would have a couple of hours to snorkel until the water over the coral would be too shallow and the sand uncovered.
Cass and Zak pulled on masks, snorkels and flippers and jumped over the side, Leah taking first turn to stay holding the boat in place. Zak held Cass’s hand as they swam towards the coral. A few weeks earlier Leah had noticed signs of bleaching here. She was hoping that it hadn’t got worse.
Beneath them the coral bank was alive with flowers, a huge undersea garden of hydrangeas and roses, peonies and lilac, maidenhair ferns and baby’s breath, moving constantly as the trailing tentacles of the tiny coral animals sought out algae in the water around them. All of this formed a backdrop to the constant flickering and darting of hundreds of fishes of every possible size and colour—striped and spotted, fish with frills and tucks and bows, rainbow fish and fish that were mirror images of each other.
Immediately in front of them Cass could identify yellow butterfly fish and multi-coloured parrotfish. There were huge schools of tiny orange damselfish swimming together, and a solitary groper with navy spots and a cross face. On the sandy bottom lit by filtered sunlight a giant clam was open, and several bright blue starfish lay contentedly beside the huge shell.
Cass felt the same exhilaration visiting the Reef that had hit her when she’d first been taken by Alice and Mo at the age of twelve to hear a symphony orchestra in Newcastle. It hit her again when a friend from the Police Academy in Sydney got tickets for the Bangarra dancers, and they went along together. All these experiences were very different, but they were all characterised by beauty and a harmonious team working seamlessly together to create a kind of perfection.
She stopped for a moment. Gently kicking her flippers to stay afloat, she pulled her mask off her face to tip out seawater that had leaked in. Zak stopped, too. He waved to Leah. She was pointing to their left, further away from the boat.
‘The coral Mum wants to look at is further along this bank,’ he said.
‘Okay, let’s go and check it out!’
Zak led the way, swimming strongly. Cass waited a moment then followed, well out of reach of his flippers. Then he stopped and under the water she could see him pointing down to his right. She looked down and could see what he saw. There was coral, it had to be coral, but the colour was gone—instead, it was a dirty grey, like washing-up water. Twigs, whole stems, had snapped off and fallen onto the sand below in disordered piles. It looked like photos Cass had once seen of catacombs in Paris. There was nothing left but skeletons. On the bank itself what had once been brightly coloured blossoms were now heads of wilted cauliflower. This coral was dead.
***
They spent much of the morning around the atoll finding more banks of intact coral but also more areas of bleaching. Leah took turns with Cass and Zak, the remaining one staying with the Argo. By mid morning they were ready for a leisurely breakfast of coffee and homemade rolls that Leah had baked the previous day. The boat floated gently near the cay which was slowly emerging from the tide. Late morning they began the unhurried voyage back to the island. The sea was opalescent with only occasional waves big enough to show a fringe of white water, but the breeze was strong enough to give a gentle movement to the sails. Overhead, gulls called, otherwise there were few sounds and not many other boats had yet appeared. All three were content to sit back, occasionally rejigging the sails at Leah’s direction, and enjoy the warm peace of a glorious Sunday morning.
Late in the afternoon Cass and Zak went with Leah down to the jetty. There’d been a lot more boats out during the afternoon, both sailing vessels and motorboats, and there’d been numerous viewings through the telescope, but there’d been no further sign of the Jenyfer. Zak and Cass were driving back to Cairns together; Leah would take herself into work in town the following day.
As they came into the suburbs on the northern outskirts of the town Zak turned to Cass.
‘Want to go and walk along the Kewarra beach before we head home?’ It was one of their favourite spots. ‘Or have you had enough of the sea for one day? We’ve got time before it gets dark if you’d like to.’
‘Sure,’ said Cass, ‘that’d be good. My feet can take a bit more sand!”
He turned off to the left onto the road leading to the beachfront. It was approaching dusk and overhead, hundreds of bats were silhouetted against a blood-orange sky, making their way to the big Moreton Bay fig trees in the town’s centre where they roosted at night. There were playing fields and shops along this road, and smaller houses, but once it turned along the beach road the houses grew larger, mansions really, surrounded by landscaped tropical gardens and high walls screened by palms. Most houses had CCTV.
‘The Todd son lives somewhere along here,’ Zak remarked. ‘In fact, that’s his house right there, I think.’ The house was Spanish mission with a touch of neo-Gothic; much of it hidden from the road by walls and trees.
‘Hmm,’ said Cass, craning her neck to get a better view. ‘Imposing! And it must lead straight onto the beach at the back. But I don’t think I’d care to live somewhere like that.’
‘No, me neither.’
Zak turned into the car park close to the beach at the end of the road. Few people were around. To their left was rainforest screening a large resort hotel, to their right the walled back gardens of the houses along the beach road. The beach was a wide strip of sand that led to small creeks at either end. Cass kicked off her shoes again and leaving them by the car, began to walk along the sand. There was no surf on the beach, protected as it was by the Reef, but gentle waves broke on the shore. A couple of people were walking dogs and two kids were still paddling with their father in the shallows.
Just then Zak’s mobile rang. He answered it and Cass stopped, looking inquiringly.
‘Work,’ he mouthed at her, with a shrug, pointing at the phone. ‘You go on a bit if you like. I’ll catch you up in a minute.’
She wandered on. It would be nice to live this close to the beach and still be in Cairns. But pricey. Of course, the island was even better. Three beaches almost always to yourself. She looked back. Zak was talking animatedly, something to do with the rosters.
I must be almost behind the Todd house now, Cass thought. She could see the outline of a tower behind some palm trees. There was a double wire-mesh fence between the property and the beach which must have rather spoiled the view. At one side was a fenced laneway that seemed to lead back to the main beach road. A CCTV camera was mounted at the corner where the mesh met the wooden fence. Cass looked back. Zak was still on the phone. She strolled into the laneway and peered to her left but could see no sign of life on the property at all. The house on the other side of the laneway was also fenced and hidden behind palms.
Suddenly Cass heard a thump behind her and felt someone grabbing her in a Full Nelson. A man much larger than herself had his arms under her shoulders and his hands joined behind her neck.
She stood very still and silent, remembering the Master’s instructions: get ready, then move fast. The man who gripped her now hadn’t said a word either, but she could hear him panting with the exertion. She took a deep breath, concentrating hard, then a ‘Ki-yup’ exploded out of her as she threw her hands into the air and dropped down so that her head slipped easily from his clasped hands and she was free. Straight away she kicked back hard with her right foot, making a solid impact on his lower abdomen. He screamed and backed away from her, doubling up with pain. Cass immediately grabbed both his hands in a wristlock behind his back.
‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ she yelled. He was dressed in black, with an embroidered corporate logo, overweight, a zero haircut. These security guys were all clones, she thought. She could see now that he’d come out of a gate in the fence close to the beach. At the same moment another guard, also in black, emerged, and then Zak appeared at the beach end of the laneway and ran towards her.
‘What’s going on?’ asked the second guard, eyeing his mate with surprise. Then he made as if to grab Zak, who stepped back, parrying the man with his right hand while holding his phone out of the way with his left.
‘I’m a police officer,’ Cass now said. ‘Lucky for you I’m off duty or I could have you for assault and battery.’
‘This is private property,’ said the second guard. The first one was still too shocked to speak.
‘I don’t think so,’ said Cass. ‘It’s the right of way to the beach from the road. Who do you work for?’
‘Mr Todd,’ said the second guard, before thinking better of this and adding, ‘It’s none of your business’.
‘You okay, Cass?’ Zak reached out and put his arm around her. ‘Are you hurt?’
‘No,’ she said, ‘he hasn’t hurt me. I’m fine, but I’m not sure he is, although that’s his problem.’
She let go of the man’s wrists and stepped back out of range.
‘So, Mr Todd’s scared of demonstrators showing up at his luxury hideaway, is he?’ The look on the face of the second guard showed she was right on target.
Still with an arm around Cass, Zak tucked the phone into his pocket.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘we might say goodnight to you two gentlemen and continue our walk. Perhaps in the other direction.’
Cass added, pointing to the CCTV camera: ‘You’ll have it all there, guys. You can show Mr Todd how you defend his realm!’
The first guard was standing up by now. He looked up at the camera and seemed about to cry. Cass and Zak walked around the corner, back onto the beach and a couple of hundred metres away before they both burst out laughing.
