Free Cry of the Taniwha by Des Hunt

he get anything?’
    Burty laughed. ‘He might get a letter of thanks.’
    Matt shrugged. It wasn’t worth getting upset over. Yet he would have liked to have had something as a memento of his find—something more than a letter. ‘Can I go back there now?’ he asked.
    ‘Yes,’ replied Lew. ‘We’ve finished with the scene and the tapu’s been lifted. However, you might find the place a bit different. We had to rearrange a few things to make sure we got everything.’
    ‘And if you find anything else,’ added Burty, ‘just give us a call.’
    With that, he grabbed another chunk of cake and he and Lew departed.
    Jackson came over as soon as the police left, wanting to know what had happened. Matt gave him a quick version. When he got to the part about the gold coins, Jackson gave a jeering laugh. ‘Yeah, trust them to steal the things,’ he said, as if the two policemen were personally responsible. However, he didn’t seem too upset about it. His main interest was whether the body was Maori or not. After he found it was European, he relaxed visibly, and suggested that they go and visit the scene.
    When they got to the track heading into the clearing, they found that it had been widened by a vehicle with caterpillar tracks. That should’ve prepared them for what they might find, yet when they stepped into the clearing, all they could do was stop and stare. Lew had said things would be ‘a bit different’. This was more than different; this was a disaster scene. The pine tree had been cut down and now flattened the surrounding scrub. The stump and roots had been hauled out of the ground and dragged some distance away. There was a large, trampled hole left where the tree had once stood. Around it were smaller spade holes, which Matt assumed was where they had dug up pieces of gold. He sighed. If he’d started scanning the other side of the tree, he would have found the gold before the body and might’ve been able to keep one or two.
    ‘Old Tani won’t like this,’ said Jackson. ‘Those feds have gone and messed things up good.’
    Matt walked into the scrub, searching the tree for thenest. It still lay on a branch, just short of the top. One of the pale-blue eggs remained in the twigs. The other two were on the ground—one was cracked. He picked it up and pulled chunks off the shell. The chick was well developed and must’ve been near to hatching. Already it was starting to stink.
    He looked around for the adults and found them in a pine tree further around the side of the pool. Old Tani was near the top with his mate a few branches below. She was fiddling with a few sticks, already working on a replacement nest. The male was staring at Matt, twisting his head to check what he was doing. ‘No,’ Matt said to himself, ‘Old Tani is not at all pleased’
    ‘What’re we gunna do now?’ asked Jackson.
    Matt gazed around the area, wondering whether it was worth doing anything. The place was wrecked. Clearly the police had used a metal detector to find all the coins. More than likely there was nothing else to find.
    ‘I dunno. What do you think?’
    Jackson looked at the pit and the hole where the tree had been. ‘If he was sitting on there when it blew, then it must’ve been a big explosion. Maybe it threw stuff sideways.’
    That made sense to Matt. The mud pit, the locket and the body formed a line. Perhaps they should follow another line like that. ‘How about we try at another angle to the pit? He could’ve put something on the ground and it got blasted sideways.’
    ‘Yeah, OK.’
    They went back to the pit and began scanning at an angle to the earlier line. For a while all they found was rubbish. Then after crossing a small stream, their path tookthem under the new heron tree, where the detector started screaming again.
    ‘Oh no!’ complained Jackson with a smile. ‘Not under another tree.’
    Matt looked up at Old Tani, who was stretching forward to keep them in view. He turned to