Death on Dangar Island

A Suspicious Bunch

There was a pause as Gary’s face fell. ‘That’s so sad,’ he said quietly.

Israel’s face reflected Gary’s expression. ‘Yes, very sad, my friend. Very sad indeed. It gets worse though. She had enough heroin in her blood for an overdose.’

Gary just shook his head. ‘Bloody hell,’ he said. And then again with emphasis. ‘Bloody hell. So they reckon it was an OD then?’

‘I’m afraid it’s not quite as simple as that. The forensic pathologist discovered our unlucky young lady had brown snake venom in her body as well. This leaves us in a difficult situation. The preliminary verdict was death by snakebite, but I can’t see that it will stand up to too much scrutiny.’

Gary recovered himself enough to start stirring the food again. ‘So she had dope in her as well as venom? Did she have old track marks on her? Was she a user?’

‘Yes, the same question occurred to me. The pathologist found that Roxanne did have some previous injection sites but she obviously wasn’t a long-term user or there would have been other signs such as damaged or collapsed veins.’

Gary nodded knowingly as Israel pressed on. ‘It looks to me like a murder has been committed. The presence of the venom is very significant in that regard. If I’m correct, then this has been a calculated crime, designed to evade the obvious conclusion that there has been foul play.’

Gary grimaced, and his brow furrowed. ‘You know what, mate? I’m starting to come around to your way of thinking. This whole thing stinks. There’s no way that girl died by accident. She was pregnant, and that’s pretty suss in itself, but when you throw in the heroin and a whack of snake venom, it just bloody stinks. You’re right. I think someone knocked her off. But why? And who?’

Israel peered into the pan Gary was stirring. ‘That looks delicious, but I hope the chicken is free range.’

Gary puffed his cheeks. ‘You know I wouldn’t serve up a bird that had suffered, Israel! I know how you feel about all that. This one is certified free range and organic. It was kept indoors at night where its owners read it bedtime stories and comforted it if it had nightmares. Satisfied? Anyway, you love birds so much, how come you’re happy to eat them?’

Israel gave him a quick sideways glance. ‘Life can be complicated.’ His tone was sharper than he intended and he consciously moderated his voice before continuing. ‘Every day I thank my lucky stars I have enough to eat, and I appreciate the sacrifice of any living creature that becomes my food.’ Israel watched his friend’s face fall. He moved closer and gently touched him on the shoulder. ‘I’m sorry Gary, I was simply asking about the bird in case you may have overlooked the matter. I can see now that I was wrong.

‘I’m also glad that you can see now why I’ve been calling the death of this girl a murder from the time we discovered her body. There are too many little questions. Too many little frayed edges that when you pull them …’ He made a gesture with his palms coming away from each other. ‘The story of the snakebite falls apart. So we come to those questions you ask, the “why” and the “who”. These are difficult questions, but if we know the “why”, then we will almost certainly know where to look for “who”.’

‘So who would fake a snakebite in order to kill a pregnant young woman? Quite a number of the people we have met on the island so far have been acting suspiciously. Our good friend and neighbour Dorothy, for instance, omitted to tell us she was awake and squawking at the very time this murder was taking place. Then, the following night, a person or persons unknown released a large snake into her house in order to frighten her.’