G'Day to Die: A Passport to Peril Mystery - By Maddy Hunter Page 0,40
go tramping around in.”
I glanced curiously left and right. “Where’s Nora?”
“She’s afraid of dark places, so Hinry’s looking after her for a spill. He mintioned taking her down to the creek to pan for gold. She’s fond of being in the sunshine. Be nice if she could strike it rich.”
Better still, it would be nice if she could avoid Jake for the rest of the afternoon. He’d been seriously ticked off when she hammered his spider. Considering what a nutcase he was, there was no telling how he’d get even, but I suspected he’d find a way. Poor Nora was probably in Jake’s crosshairs and didn’t even know it. I applauded Heath’s ability to entrust her to Henry’s care. If she were my mom, I’d be hard-pressed to let her out of my sight.
I sighed at my own frailties. I was so freaking neurotic.
“Would you like me to git a picture of you in front of the mine?” Heath asked, as we walked toward the entrance.
“How ’bout I get a picture of you? I bet you’re a lot more photogenic than I am. I can use it in the newsletter I write for our travel club. You’ll add a dash of local color.” Not to mention a ton of sex appeal. I’d entitle it, The Wonder Down Under.
We handed in our tickets, then lagged behind so I could set up my shot. “Right about there is good,” I said, as Heath leaned his shoulder against a vertical support beam.
“Don’t even think of taking a picture without me in it,” Lola cooed as she appeared out of nowhere and muckled onto his arm. She tousled her hair and pressed her cheek against his. “We’re riddy. Shoot.”
Oh, this was nice. I had a perfect shot highlighting half of Heath’s face and all of Lola’s silicone-enhanced chest, but I’d be damned if I’d allow her to ruin my idea. I clicked the shutter. “Great shot!” I’d entitle it, Australian Flotation Devices.
Lola ended the session by cradling Heath’s face and kissing him like a Power Vac intent on sucking the lips off his face. “C’mon, you luscious hunk of man,” she drawled, as she pulled him into the tunnel. “I’d feel terrible if you missed anything because of me.”
He stumbled after her, managing a wild gesture in my direction before being consumed by darkness. I glanced around the deserted grounds, looking from cliff top to forest, creeped out by the sudden quiet and feeling terribly exposed. Hearing a twig snap, I spun around, wondering if Jake could be out there someplace, spying on us.
For Lola’s sake, I hoped not.
Shifting the power switch on my camera to off, I hurried into the mine.
Chapter 9
“Don’t surprise me they can’t find them plants,” Nana reasoned late that night. “Your grampa could never find nothin’ neither. Menfolk are like that, dear. I think their ho-hos cause some kinda chronic visual impairment.”
Nana, Tilly, and I were gathered around a table in the hotel lounge, winding down after our big evening of Broadway entertainment at the Princess Theater. While Etienne and Duncan ordered drinks at the bar, I relayed the information I’d scavenged throughout the day.
“Is the university group going to continue searching?” Tilly asked.
I shrugged. “Conrad insisted they not give up, but I’m not sure the plant is even there anymore. I have a sneaking suspicion Diana Squires might be carrying it in her backpack.”
“No kiddin’?”
I regarded the other tour guests who’d stopped off for a nightcap. “Either that, or Roger Piccolo may have done something to camouflage it temporarily, with the intention of going back for it during his conference. He has a number plotted on his GPS unit that could very well be Nana’s angiosperms.”
Nana sucked thoughtfully on her dentures. “So you think one a them followed the Bellows woman outside, knocked her off without no one seein’, made it look like natural causes, grabbed my Polaroids, found the plant, and either stuffed it into a backpack or sent a beam into outer space that’d mark it for future reference?”
Why did my theories always sound more credible before someone repeated them out loud?
Nana gave a little nod. “I like it.”
“You do?”
“It’s completely implausible,” said Tilly. “Your time line is a farce. You flout the laws of nature and physics. Your explanation smacks of wizardry and lone gunman theories.” She nodded her approval. “I like it, too. Sounds like something straight out of the Warren Commission.”