Read Online Cry of the Taniwha by Des Hunt - Free Book Online Page A

a mystery behind all of this. If the body was the owner of the locket, then why was she wearing handcuffs? And if it was a man, how come he had the locket? Maybe the mystery might never be solved, but he was certainly going to have a darn good try.
    The computer that Matt had used the night before was taken. A girl about his age was playing an arcade game. He sat at the other computer, only to find that it was dedicated to tourist information. As there were no other machines, he would just have to wait.
    To fill in time, he browsed through all the tourist thingsyou could do in Rotorua. There seemed to be hundreds of them. The helicopter trips looked interesting, especially those that went to the top of Mount Tarawera. However, one look at the price and he knew Hone wouldn’t be shouting him and Jackson one of those.
    He continued browsing, hoping that the girl would finish soon. Every few seconds she would groan when she got destroyed yet again. Maybe she’d finish the thing quicker if he helped her. He moved so that he could see the screen. It only took a moment to see that she had no idea what she was doing.
    ‘Move right!’ he suggested. She did. ‘More! Yeah! That’s it! Now push the space bar. And again! And again!’
    A pleasant chime came from the computer, indicating success.
    The girl turned to him. ‘You know how to play this?’
    Matt nodded. The way she said ‘this’ indicated an Australian heritage.
    ‘It’s stupid!’ she said.
    ‘Yeah, most web games are.’
    ‘I’m only playing because I’m bored.’ A pause. ‘Do you want to use the computer?’
    ‘Yes, please.’
    She shifted out of the way. Matt moved in and googled ‘Louise Miller’. There were thousands of hits.
    ‘Put double speech marks around it,’ suggested the girl.
    He did, and the number of hits dropped to hundreds. Still far too many to check them all.
    ‘What are you trying to find out?’
    Matt told her. This led to further questions, and before long he was telling her everything. She listened intently; asked sensible questions; made ‘yuk’ noises at the skeleton;smiled at the taniwha bits.
    When he’d finished, she said, ‘I could research that for you. I’m good at that sort of thing.’
    ‘Do you have the time?’
    She rolled her eyes. ‘Do I have the time? I’m stuck in this dumb hotel for the next two weeks.’ Then the whole of her story spilled out. She lived south of Perth, in a place called Margaret River. Her parents were involved in the tourist industry and were over here setting up a joint-marketing scheme. Her name was Eve Hastings, and she was an only child.
    As she spoke, Matt took the opportunity to check her over: fair complexion with a hint of freckles, on a face topped with stylishly cut, short blonde hair; physically developed to a stage which Matt found interesting; wearing clothes with prominent labels. Matt figured that if they were staying in the hotel for two weeks then they can’t have been poor, but nothing she’d done or said so far suggested she was a spoilt brat. She actually seemed a little lonely.
    ‘So, that’s it!’ she said, finishing her story. ‘I sit here in the hotel reading or watching TV. It’s dead boring.’ She gave him a big smile. ‘I’d love to be your research assistant.’
    Matt certainly had no problems with that idea, and so it was arranged: Matt would be the detective, and Eve would be his research team. Soon she had a few details of the case recorded in a hotel notepad, and each had a copy of the other’s email address and telephone number. After that, Matt walked home with a spring in his step, happy with the way that things were working out. He’d enjoyed talking with Eve, and he suspected that working with her was going to be a lot more satisfying than spending his days babysitting Jackson.

Chapter 10
    The police scene examination continued into the next day. Matt woke to the roar of a chainsaw coming from that direction, but when he went to take a