The Silent Country (37 page)

Veronica watched the father and son and their easy but respectful camaraderie and couldn’t help comparing Jamie’s family with the chaotic life of her sister. Billy produced bowls of ice-cream sprinkled with hundreds and thousands and slices of banana.

‘Perfect,’ announced Veronica. ‘But I insist on washing up.’

‘Thanks,’ said Billy. ‘But we have a machine.’

After the dishes were in the dishwasher, Jamie made coffee while Billy went to his room. As they finished their coffee he emerged in his pyjamas with a book.

‘I’m going to bed. Goodnight, Veronica.’ He unself-consciously gave her a kiss and hugged his father.

‘Teeth?’ asked Jamie. When Billy had left he said, ‘It’s been a big day, he’s tired. And school tomorrow.’

‘Jamie, I have to say, he’s extraordinary,’ said Veronica. Billy seemed too good to be true.

‘Ah, we have our moments. But he has so many women keeping him in line. Makes my job easy.’

‘He hasn’t watched TV or been near a computer. Does he have one in his room?’

‘God, no. We share the computer, I like to monitor that.’

‘Well, he’s a credit to you.’

‘Thanks, Veronica. He’s a good little mate. I enjoy him. It’s just a shame that his mother can’t see him.’

‘It’s very sad about her. What happened?’ Veronica hadn’t liked to ask about Jamie’s wife, but now that the subject was raised, she felt she could.

‘Janine was killed in a car accident, not long after we arrived in the Territory. She was coming back from the shops and another car ran into her. We were both so excited when I got the job up here. Darwin seemed such an adventure after growing up in Melbourne and working in Canberra. We met at uni and we were both passionate about the environment, so this seemed a wonderful way to do something practical. Her parents were pretty cut up about her death, naturally enough, but they understood that I wanted to stay here. They visit as often as they can to see Billy. They are great people and love Darwin. They’re of Greek heritage, so they fit right into this multicultural city.’

‘It’s great that Billy has such wonderful family around him,’ said Veronica. ‘Jamie, I’ve had an unforgettable day but I have to say I’m weary too. I’m not used to climbing up gorges. Thanks so much. Call me a taxi and I’ll head home.’

‘Nonsense. I’ve only had two wines, I’ll drive you. I’ll just ring Mum and ask her to pop in as I’ll be gone a short while, in case Billy needs anything.’

When they pulled up at the Mantra Jamie jumped from the four-wheel drive, still muddy from their trek into the Lost City and opened Veronica’s car door for her before she could open it herself.

‘Thank you, thank you,’ said Veronica.

‘Sleep well. Let me know how you get on and if you need me to arrange anything if you’re going to Arnhem Land and when.’

‘I will. Thanks, Jamie.’

He gave a smile and small wave and leapt back in the car but he didn’t pull away until she was inside the lobby.

The next morning Veronica called Andy and discussed the row she’d had with Eddie.

‘Oh dear, Veronica. That’s too bad. I hoped Eddie might have matured or calmed down since being up there. I guess he just resents your authority, but he is a good cameraman.’

‘Y’ know, Andy, I’m the boss, this story’s my responsibility and if Eddie can’t cope with that, then blow him. I can use young Dougie. I was happy with what he shot.’

‘You’d better talk to Murphy. Now, I’ve been on the case tracking down Marta.’

‘Go Andy!’

‘Don’t get too excited. She did a bit of modelling in Sydney as well as acting. I’ve put out feelers among the old casting agents who’re still around. And you remember my pal Alec Blair. You met him at the Pioneers’ Reunion?’

‘Ah, yes. TV director. Advertising?’

‘Right. I’m having lunch with him today so I’ll take along the picture of Marta you sent me. Alec has a memory like an elephant, especially for pretty girls. He might give me some leads on other people or agencies to chase up.’

‘Okay, let me know. Doris would love to make contact with her.’

‘So how is little Doris?’

‘A feisty, smart and amazing woman. A terrific family. I loved them.’

Andy caught a wistful note in her voice. ‘And? She remembered Marta?’

‘Oh yes. I thought it was strange enough that Jamie McIntosh is Doris’s son, but that Doris has kept the bracelet Marta gave her all those years ago is touching.’

‘Women never part with jewellery,’ said Andy.

‘C’mon, it was one of three very special things she owned.’

‘Well, keep me in the loop. Where to next?’

‘I’m going back to the library for a bit more trawling and maybe back to the archives, too. You never know, something useful might turn up.’

‘Anything else?’

‘I’m interviewing Doris on camera in a day or so.’

It was an uncomfortable meeting with Murphy, the chief-of-staff, but he allowed Veronica to use Dougie again as her cameraman.

‘It’s no reflection on Eddie’s work,’ Veronica reassured Murphy. ‘It’s just that it’s been a difficult personal relationship.’

‘If I’d known the history I might have avoided teaming you up. I thought you’d worked together before, not been in a relationship.’

‘These things happen,’ said Veronica.

‘Yeah, tell me about it,’ he said.

Back at the library and having exhausted the entertainment pages and finding no more references to Marta, Veronica decided to continue looking in the general section of the papers of 1955 to see if she could find anything else relevant. In the hushed atmosphere Veronica hunched over the microfilm reader. As she scrolled through, she saw a banner headline that stilled her hand and made her gasp out loud:

‘FOREIGN FILMMAKER KILLED BY CROC
!’

Quickly she took in the gist of the story, her heart beating.

European film producer Maxim Topov, who has been making a documentary on outback Australia, was taken by a crocodile in Arnhem Land near the South Alligator River. Mr Topov, who is believed to be Russian, had left his companions to film at sunset and did not return. His possessions were found but his body was not recovered. Professional crocodile shooter Len Buchanan said there had been reports from Aborigines in the area of a rogue croc. Police are investigating. Said District Officer Sergeant O’Hara, ‘Travellers, especially foreigners, need to be better educated about the threats to their safety from crocodiles and not camp near their known habitats.’ Mr Topov’s companions have returned to Darwin. The authorities plan to notify Mr Topov’s friends and family in Sydney. A hunting party has been dispatched from Darwin to locate the croc.

My God, when John Cardwell said things fell apart in Darwin he wasn’t joking, thought Veronica. She couldn’t believe it. She looked at the date of the story. It had happened only a couple of weeks after Marta’s performance had finished. Poor Topov. She thought of the photo she’d seen of him, with his wild hair and rotund figure. From Colin’s description, he’d seemed so much larger than life. What a terrible thing to have happened.

Veronica hurried outside, her finger on Andy’s number in her mobile phone.

E
MERGING INTO BRIGHT SUNSHINE
on the manicured lawn outside Parliament House, Veronica headed for the shade of a tree as she told Andy the shocking news about Topov’s death.

He let out a low whistle. ‘That puts a different slant on things, doesn’t it?’

‘Do we still have a story to tell?’ asked Veronica.

‘I think so. We never expected to find Topov living after all this time, anyway. I wonder why Colin didn’t tell us about this right away?’ mused Andy. ‘Is there something odd about the secrecy?’

‘I don’t know, Andy. Perhaps he wanted to surprise me. I’m so tempted to go back to Colin and try again,’ said Veronica.

‘You might not have to, I’ve had a bit of luck with Alec.
I took the picture of Marta to lunch and he recognised her. Couldn’t remember her name but he always remembers a pretty face. She was in a couple of ads he did.’

‘Really! Does he know what happened to her?’

‘The last he knew she was still around in Australia in the late fifties and she’d been doing some acting – stage mainly as her accent was a handicap for film – but he remembers that there was a bit of a write-up in the paper about her going to Hollywood to play a foreign spy in some war film.’

‘Yes, I’ve found a reference to that, too. Did he know any more?’

‘No. But Alec said we should contact SAG – the Screen Actors’ Guild – in the US as she’d have to have been a member.’

‘Good one. Doris would adore to see her again if we can find her.’

‘I’ll see what I can find out from SAG. What’s your next move?’

‘I’m going to see what we can dig up in the files about Topov’s death. There must be a report on it somewhere.’

‘Let’s hope. Good luck, Veronica. Talk to you later.’

It was Collette at the archives who suggested Veronica look at the death files.

‘Here are the files for 1953 to 1959,’ said Collette as Veronica settled herself at a table in the archives’ reading room. ‘You could expect to find police findings and reports, witness accounts. There could also be correspondence exchanged with the family of the victim,’ she added helpfully.

‘Okay. I’ll see what’s in here. Thanks, Collette.’

‘I’ll get you a coffee before you start looking, if you like,’ offered Collette with a smile.

‘You’ve been so helpful, I’m very grateful,’ said Veronica.

‘I’m as interested as you are, now, to find out what happened,’ said Collette.

Two hours later Veronica rang Dougie. ‘Can you come over to the archives and shoot a sequence with Collette and myself please, Dougie? We’re looking at old police records.’

‘How are we going to make that look interesting for TV?’ he asked.

‘Collette can be the star of this segment,’ she answered.

So Dougie filmed Collette reading and discussing the file she’d found on the death of Maxim Topov with Veronica.

According to the police report, the authorities in Darwin had been notified by the group of travellers that one of their party, Mr Maxim Topov, had gone missing after going out late one afternoon and had not returned that evening or the following morning. The group were filmmakers and Topov had been making small forays from their camp to film the area. Others in the group had been helping Mr Len Buchanan, a well-known crocodile hunter, to hunt the crocodiles known to frequent that part of the South Alligator River. The party had been camped above Wild Man’s Crossing, a small stone weir used by horses and cars to cross the river and some of Mr Topov’s possessions, a knapsack and food, were found near it.

During the wet season, the flow from the river covers the crossing making it dangerous or impossible to cross, but at the time of year Mr Topov disappeared, the water was shallow, making it easy to cross on foot, but also providing easy access for crocodiles. Next to the crossing was a clearing used by locals to launch small boats. It was regarded as a dangerous place to stop because crocodiles were known to wait along the banks.

‘So the police theory was that when Topov was filming either along the bank or as he went over the crossing he was nabbed by a croc,’ said Veronica.

Collette nodded. ‘Even today the crossing is a well known croc habitat, although it’s become a popular tourist spot and the local Aborigines run indigenous river cruises from there.’

‘Is there anything else you can tell me? Was there any follow-up? Was anyone else in the area? What happened to his possessions? Were there any other investigations?’ asked Veronica.

Collette scanned the notes. ‘A policeman visited the scene some time later, but no remains of Topov were ever found. Brief statements were taken from his party when they arrived back in Darwin, all corroborating the details. They’re attached here. Basically they told the police when he hadn’t returned late the next morning and they went looking for him. They found his personal effects and also croc mudslides along the bank. The policeman found evidence that someone had been on the opposite side of the crossing, but that was several days later so it might not have been Topov at all.’ She looked at Veronica. ‘It’s a beautiful but treacherous place. It is named after an old prospector who ran cattle and was a buffalo shooter and a friend of the local Aborigines. We’ve got a file on Wild Man Johnson in here.’