Page 86 of Stockman's Showdown

That left him holding a box of dynamite.

Under a moonless sky, just after midnight, he headed for the dark buildings that stood on the far side of the stables.

He’d only peeked at these rooms once, when they’d first inspected the property. Like his brothers, he wasn’t very interested in the dwellings, just the land and what they could do with it.

Behind him came the sound of someone running towards him.

‘That’d better be you, Bree.’

‘No, it’s the billabong bunyip practising his line dancing techniques.’

‘Smart-arse.’ Even if she was cute.

‘Do you know where you’re going?’

‘No.’

Her white teeth showed off her smile. ‘I don’t mind playing tour guide, just this once.’

‘If I knew that, I would’ve dug up some dynamite sticks a long time ago.’

Her giggle was light, defusing the heavy mood as she opened a door. ‘There is nothing in this room, and it’s the coolest one.’

‘Good.’ The temperature in the dark room dropped considerably, as he carefully placed the box on the patchy linoleum floor, then closed the door. ‘No lock?’

‘No. But we can slide this pallet piece through.’ She slid the board across the handle, successfully locking it. Then she waved her hand over the door like an interior decorator. ‘It needs a sign that says:Open and die!’

‘You have the weirdest sense of humour.’ He slung his arm over her shoulders.

But then she sobered as they headed for the shed’s lights. ‘Charlie said earlier today that Jack Price oversaw the dynamite.’

‘I was there, remember?’

‘But you weren’t at dinner when Charlie told me that they haven’t had dynamite out here, not since they finished excavation for Starvation Dam.’

‘When was that again?’

‘They started at the tail end of 1961, but they had to stop from the wet season, turning it into a massive mud pit, and they then finished it late in 1962.’

The year of Price’s murder, and Harry’s disappearance.

Deep in thought they walked side by side towards the lights coming from the boardroom and their outdoor bar.

‘Do you think the cave-in, where we found Harry and Penelope, could have been deliberately set off with dynamite?’

Ryder gave a slow nod. ‘It’s possible, but we’ll need blasting experts to confirm that.’

‘If we tell the police we’ve found that dynamite, it might motivate them to steer their investigation in a new direction. Think about it, Harry and Penelope were trapped in that mine together. You saw that cave. It was so well reinforced, it’s still holding up after two landslides.’ She held up two fingers. ‘First one was the original landslide that trapped Harry and Penelope inside. And the second landslide exposing the cave from the—’

‘Stampede.’ Again, he hooked his arm around her shoulders and neck to give her a comforting squeeze, hating how she’d been in danger then. ‘Shall we look at the rest of the drums and see what we can find?’

‘I’m in.’

Using the pitchfork, he stirred the goo inside the drums, a lot slower than before, hoping for no more nasty surprises. He dropped the tines of the pitchfork into each drum, where it disappeared in the sump oil soup of the dirty old 44-gallon drum. Rust and sludgy grease had formed on the bottom in thick clumps that he stirred like a witch over a cauldron, and chuckled.

‘What?’

‘If Dex were here, he’d be saying something about witches, cauldrons and midnight sacrifices.’

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