Dave couldn’t help it, he groaned out loud. ‘You gave him all the information he needed to extort money from you, Tim!’
Tim continued to talk as if he hadn’t heard. ‘And three hundred dollars turned into three hundred every fortnight. You’ve got to understand I needed to know…I had to know what happened to her. He would send back photos of a woman who looked like Mari—the first photo, I couldn’t hold it I was shaking so much. I have it at the hut. She was in a garden, cutting back some rose bushes. It wasn’t a very clear photo, but it was enough for me to believe—hope—it was her. She was old and her hair was tied up in a bun, just like she used to do after she had the kids.’ He gave a mirthless harrumph. ‘Looking back now, I was stupid. The woman looked nothing like my Mari would’ve at seventy-eight. I saw what I wanted to see. A black and white photo taken from a distance. He could have put a blonde woman in the picture and I probably would’ve believe it was my wife.’ He pounded his fist lightly on the bar.
‘When the request came for another three hundred, I paid it without thinking.’
‘How long did this go on for?’ Spencer asked.
‘Five months.’
‘And then he turned up here?’
‘Yes.’
‘What happened then?’
‘He came out and saw me, introduced himself. He was such a nice bloke. Friendly, interested in me. Asked me loads of questions. I felt comfortable with him. And Chief liked him. That was the big thing for me. After we’d spent a bit of time talking, he told me he was here to show me where Marianne was. For another ten thousand dollars.
‘Money doesn’t matter to me,’ Tim explained. ‘I’ve got more than I need and no one to leave it to. I wrote him a cheque on the spot, thinking he must have brought her over with him and she was waiting in Barrabine. I told him if he took me to her now, I’d give him the three small nuggets I’d found earlier that day. I had them in my pocket. I would have given him my fortune if I’d thought I was going to see her again.’ Tim shook his head. ‘When you want something so badly, you’ll do anything for it. Anything.
‘But when I followed him in my ute, he took me to a clearing and pointed to an old grave. Of course, I knew it was there—I know this country like the back of my hand and I’d heard the story of the nameless woman who’d been buried here.’ He sighed. ‘Maybe I was naive, but I never once entertained the idea of her being my Mari. Like I said, she needed to get away from me, not life. I thought he was joking.’ He looked down at the bar mat and started to rub it between his fingers. ‘He wasn’t.’
China was staring incredulously at his friend and Dee just looked sad.
‘He told me how his father had buried a woman with long black hair. He told me about an ivory and gold locket around her neck. His father hadn’t seen it at first because her neck was…swollen.’ Tim bit out the word. ‘Apparently it caught his eye as he was burying her. It had to be her. No one else would have had a necklace like that.’ His voice trailed off. ‘She’d been here all the time.’ Pause. ‘Close to me.’ Pause. ‘Within reach.’ His head snapped up. ‘I couldn’t believe how angry I was. I’d never felt anything like it in all my life. I suddenly knew I wanted to kill him.’ He shrugged. ‘I told him there was something I wanted him to have and got him to jump in my ute. I drove him back to the mine shaft. I think he thought I was going to give him more gold nuggets to thank him. I led him over to the shaft, my shovel in my hand. When he was nearly there, I hit him hard and he fell. And that was it.’
The silence was only broken by Dee, crying again. China looked ill.
‘Where’s the cheque you wrote him, Tim?’ Spencer asked quietly.
‘He’d put it in the glove box of his car and I took it out.’
‘Your fingerprints aren’t in there.’
‘Gloves.’
‘So you went back out there?’
‘Yes. I cleaned it of anything that would lead to me. There wasn’t much, just the cheque.’
‘And a newspaper with the ad in it,’ Dave said softly.
Tim looked up at him in surprise, then he shrugged with a half-smile. ‘Well then,’ he said, resigned.
Spencer looked sad as he stood up. ‘I wish you’d talked to me, old friend,’ he said. ‘Tim Tucker, I’m arresting you for the murder of Glen Bartlett.’
‘No!’ Dee cried out.
‘Mate.’ China looked stricken.
‘I did it,’ Tim said quietly. ‘You gotta let me go.’
Chapter 32
‘I’ve finally got the bastard!’ Spencer let out a whoop.
Dave looked up, surprised. ‘What are you working on?’ he asked. ‘I thought everything was wrapped up.’
‘Come with me,’ was all Spencer said.
They pulled up in front of Jaffa’s and walked into the hotel reception. ‘I need to see Ross Pollard, please.’
‘I’ll ring through to his room.’
Dave took Spencer aside. ‘What’s this all about?’
‘Just watch.’
Ross came through the door, a large smile on his face. ‘Detectives! Great to see you again. To what do I owe the pleasure?’
Spencer reached out and yanked his hands behind his back.
‘Ross Pollard, I’m arresting you for harassing lease owners, damage to the Oakamanda Pub and for causing fear with intent.’
The girl behind reception screamed and stumbled back into the office,
