‘No car,’ he yelled back to Spencer.
‘That’s probably a good thing. If there was he might’ve been in it and that would’ve blown our theory. Cars at the bottom of mine shafts are a bit like bodies. Not supposed to be there.’
Dave sniggered. ‘That’s stating the obvious!’
They walked around a bit more, Dave going back into the humpy and opening drawers and cupboards. Everything, even the crockery and cutlery inside the cupboards, were layered with dust. In the second drawer he found some old papers and a diary. He drew them out and blew on them. He leaned against the wall, flicking through each of the fragile, yellowing pages. It told of days working the mines in unrelenting heat, of breakdowns and lack of gold. There wasn’t anything helpful there. Finally he put the diary away and looked through the other documents, finding nothing useful to his investigation.
Spencer came into the house, puffing. ‘I really wish people would die in winter when it’s cooler. Come on, time to head back and get some search teams out here. And forensics. I doubt if Glen ever came inside here by the look of the dust. There haven’t been any dust storms recently. It’d be easy to see if he’d shifted something ’cause it would leave a mark. I’m convinced the camp must be his. We know he left the Federal Hotel with a carful of camping equipment and all this is new. Now all we gotta find is his car.’
Chapter 19
‘Little Maddie has been having trouble feeding,’ Melinda said to Patti. ‘Last week I recommended Janelle apply lanoline to her nipples after feeding and make sure the baby’s latching on properly. She’s in the waiting room now—have you got anything else I should suggest?’
‘Why don’t you ask her to try to feed her in front of you and then you can help her get Maddie into the right position and make sure she’s latching on properly. Sometimes mums think they are, but the bub isn’t quite in the right spot.’
‘Oh yeah, good idea. I’ll do that.’
‘How’s Janelle coping otherwise? She’s very young and I don’t think she has much support at home.’
‘Seventeen, poor love. The father didn’t stick around and her mother has told her she’s on her own in looking after the baby. She’s still living at home, but certainly without other support from any adults. I’ll check again today but I’m sure there are some problems. I’ve had her coming in every week for the last three weeks.’
‘Righto, sounds like you’ve got it all under control so I’ll leave you to it.’
Out in the waiting room, Melinda smiled and called Janelle and Maddie into her office.
She liked her office now. After the first week she had added a few of her own touches to the room—some bright soft toys, a CD player which played nursery rhymes for the older children coming in, and a jigsaw puzzle she’d seen in the toy store. It was in the shape of a dump truck and she reasoned, this being a mining town, the toddlers and young children would relate to it.
‘How are you today, Janelle?’ she asked once they were settled. ‘Had a good week?’
‘Nah, it’s been shit. She’s still not feeding properly and I’m really sore.’
Melinda assessed the mother and saw she had dark rings under her eyes and looked extremely tired. ‘How often are you getting up to her?’ she asked.
‘Probably every hour.’
Melinda took Maddie out of the pram and walked over to the scales with her. ‘Well, let’s pop her on here and see what she’s done over the week. Is she taking a bottle?’
Janelle shook her head and stayed where she was. ‘I can’t get her to suck a dummy or a bottle. I even put honey on her dummy to try to get her to take it. And on my nipples. I remember Mum told me ages ago that’s what she used to do with me, but that didn’t work either. Why do they do this? I thought feeding them would be the easy part. They’re only supposed to sleep, eat and shit, aren’t they?’ Her voice broke and tears streamed down her face.
‘Oh, sweetheart,’ Melinda said and put one hand on her arm while holding a fussing Maddie with the other. ‘It’s not as easy as that, unfortunately. I wish it was. Have you been to see the doctor? Got her all checked out? Got yourself checked out?’
‘Yeah, we went last week. She was crying all the time and I didn’t know what to do. He said it was nothing to worry about. Just settling into her skin.’
‘Who’s your doctor?’
Janelle named one of the local GPs and Melinda jotted it down. ‘Did he ask about you?’
‘Nah. Didn’t need to.’
Melinda thought otherwise. Maybe there were indications Janelle was experiencing postnatal depression, or maybe she was just struggling with the adjustment of having a difficult baby. Either way, she needed a bit of extra help and support.
Melinda stripped off the jumpsuit and Maddie started to scream loudly as if she were in pain.
‘Hey, hey,’ she cooed, but doubted that Maddie would have even heard her over the crying. ‘What’s up, little one?’ Gently, she laid her on the scales and watched as the numbers changed until they came to a stop. She frowned and took her off the scales, made sure they were on zero and checked the record book. It looked like the baby had lost two hundred grams. That couldn’t be right. Placing her back down, Melinda saw the result was the same.
‘Do you think you still have any milk?’
Janelle shrugged. ‘How do you tell?’
‘Are your breasts firm and tight? Do you leak milk? Have you tried to express and not had anything come out?’
Janelle glanced down at her chest. ‘They feel a bit soft and soggy to me.’
‘Maybe we’ll try a bottle. I’m going to grab one from the kitchen and see if
