Free 3 A Basis for Murder by Morgana Best

everywhere. I set up my laptop on the desk by the window, and managed to retrieve a notepad and pen from under an uncooperative Diva.
    I made another coffee - I always have two to get me going, and then a third to enjoy - returned to my desk, and typed in the wireless key that Brandon had given me to connect to the net.
    Then I drew a sudden mental blank. Where to start? I googled Hillgrove massacres again - nothing. As I'd heard that the massacres consisted of the murdering of Aboriginal people by whites throwing them over the cliffs in the early 1900s, I googled "Aboriginal massacres." That led me to ten journal articles all of which stated that many massacres of Aboriginal people were covered up and not recorded. Even the Wiki entry entitled, List of massacres of Indigenous Australians , opened with the statement, "Massacres on Australia's frontier were often not recorded and generally tended to fall under a veil of secrecy due to fear of possible legal consequences, especially following the Myall Creek Massacre in 1838." Well, that explained it.
    Then I thought of Professor Bill Dolan, who was right here at the University of New England in Armidale. He had helped me only recently. The only problem with him was that he liked to spell out people's names to his thoroughly bored listeners.
    I called the switch board and was put through to his room. He picked up immediately.
    "Hi Professor Dolan, this is Misty Sales, that's s, a, l, e, s, not s, a, i, l, s." I suppressed a wicked giggle only with some difficulty. "We met recently when I asked you about voodoo spirits." I must say I took somewhat malicious delight in getting my own back.
    Unfortunately, Professor Dolan, as delighted as he was to hear from me, protested that he had no knowledge of Hillgrove and merely referred me to the local council.
    I called the local council and was put through to the Aboriginal Liaison Officer. I left a message there, as well as a message on his cell phone. I then called the council back and was transferred to the office of one of the city's historians. He too was out, so I left a message there. I then emailed an academic who had written widely on massacres and asked if he knew anything at all. I made a note to call the historian I'd met at Bakers Creek.
    By then it was late morning, and I was starving. I would have to drive down at some point through the day and stock up on food for my stay. I felt quite stiff after a day's traveling, so decided to walk to the center of town and buy lunch at a café. It wasn't far to walk, and I thought I'd enjoy it. As it turned out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
     
     
    * * *
     
    Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw -
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime – Macavity's not there!
(T. S. Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats)
    Chapter Eleven .
     
    I walked downtown and then through the mall. Cafés were everywhere. I had a vague feeling that I was being followed but shook it off. I finally settled on a café just up the street from the mall on the basis of a sign boasting that the café roasted its own coffee, and sat in a secluded corner. This was a good place to make notes; there was no view of the street from back here so I wouldn't be distracted.
    I sat there for about three minutes or so, before I realized that I needed to order from the counter; there was no table service. I ordered scrambled eggs with fetta and chives, served with a hash brown. I couldn't decide which coffee to have, but finally settled on my usual caramel soy latte.
    Just as I sat back down in the comfortable black seat, I had an incoming call on my iPhone. It was the Armidale city historian.
    "That's the first I've ever heard of massacres at Hillgrove or Bakers Creek," he said after I explained the information I was seeking. "It's an urban myth," he continued. "Anywhere you have