Black Mountain by Kate Loveday Read Free Book Online

telling me exactly where.’
    â€˜And you didn’t think to query him?’
    â€˜Well, no, I never thought to. After all, Rob knew where it was, that was his side of the business, and I never thought I’d need to know.’ She thought for a moment. ‘Possibly it’s within a day’s drive from here, because most of his trips were day trips. Although sometimes he camped out overnight, or even for a few days.’
    â€˜Then you’d better get busy looking for it, because that’s one helluva lot of forest to search.’
    â€˜And whoever has the book will be looking for it too,’ Elly added.
    â€˜Was there anything in the book to give an indication of the location?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Then it’ll be a race to see who finds it first,’ Mitchell remarked.
    Beth twisted her hands together. ‘We’ll never stand a chance on our own. Will you help us?’
    Again Mitchell shook his head. ‘I don’t think you have much hope of finding it anyway, to be honest.’
    â€˜I mean I want to hire you, if you’ll try. And I don’t expect it to come cheap.’
    â€˜Even trying could take weeks, perhaps months.’
    â€˜Could we try, for say, a month or two? After all, you grew up here and you know the area. With your help we’d have a chance.’
    Mitchell frowned. ‘I suppose I could, if you’re sure. But I don’t want to take your money under false pretences. I have to tell you I believe it has a slim chance of success.’
    â€˜I am sure,’ Beth replied with an emphatic nod.
    â€˜Then I’ll do my best. If we’re going to do it, we should start immediately. It’s already building up for the wet, and that’ll make it much more difficult.’
    â€˜So that’s arranged. Starting tomorrow, you and Elly will start looking for the plant.’
    Elly was dismayed. There was no way she wanted to spend the next few weeks with Mitchell Beaumont. But she knew there was not much hope of avoiding it.
    For the next few hours they pored over maps of the surrounding area. The fringe of the huge rainforest that stretched from south of Cairns for many kilometres north, as far as Cooktown and beyond, was not all that far from Wanagura . Although the forest was not all strictly the Daintree, as it encompassed several national parks, it was often referred to as a whole by that name.
    They decided they would concentrate on the area closer to home for a start. Mitchell drew an arc in what he estimated to be within a couple of hour’s drive, then they divided it into areas and decided to search each area thoroughly before moving on to the next, but elected to avoid any areas that attracted tourists, as Elly remembered Rob saying he had found the plant in a remote area.
    After they’d finished they decided to use Mitchell’s four-wheel drive Land Cruiser to take them to and from each search area, and resolved on an early start the next day.
    â€˜Well, do you think you’re up to this?’ Mitchell asked her as he was leaving. ‘It’ll be a hard slog, you know. On your feet all day. I hope you’ll be able to keep up.’
    Elly stiffened. ‘If you can manage, I’m sure I’ll be able to.’
    â€˜I hope so. This is costing your mother plenty. I’ll want to move along and cover as much territory as possible every day. There won’t be time to mollycoddle you.’
    â€˜You won’t need to,’ she snapped. ‘I assure you I can keep up with you. Any day and every day.’
    â€˜Good.’ He frowned down at her city shoes with their high heels. ‘Don’t wear those,’ he added.
    â€˜As if I would,’ she told him through a clenched jaw. But he had already moved off towards his car, parked next to hers in the shade.
    â€˜Self-opinionated pig,’ she muttered. ‘I don’t know why I ever thought he was