Death in The Dandenongs

Death in The Dandenongs A Dusty Kent Mystery ByBrigid George Published by Potoroo Press 2023 Middle Park, Victoria, Australia, 3206 Copyright © 2023 by Brigid George Death in The Dandenongs is book #7 in the Dusty Kent Mysteries following Murder in Murloo, A Devious Mind, Rippling Red, Disguising Demons, Tooting Moon and Murder on a Melbourne Tram. Two of the Dusty Kent Murder Mysteries have been long listed for the prestigious Davitt Award – Adult Crime Novel Category. This is a work of fiction. Apart from historical references, place names and some existing businesses, the names, characters and incidents used in the book are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to real events is entirely coincidental. One exception is the disappearance of Willi Koeppen which is an actual event that occurred in 1976. Please note: This eBook uses British English spelling. Readers who are used to American English might notice a difference in the spelling of some words. For example: centre (instead of center), colour (instead of color), realise (instead of realize), travelled (instead of traveled). Kindle Edition This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Dedication The Dusty Kent series is dedicated to my father, George Rowley; a good man who died too young. Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Chapter 01 Chapter 02 Chapter 03 Chapter 04 Chapter 05 Chapter 06 Chapter 07 Chapter 08 Chapter 09 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 About the Author Glossary Author’s Note Acknowledgements Chapter 01 Queenie Forsyth knew she was going to be murdered. Behind the wheel of her car ascending the rolling hills of the Dandenong Ranges, Dusty Kent reflected on this possibility. Three months ago, Queenie had asked her to investigate a ‘murder of the worst kind’. Dusty had assumed she was referring to a cold case. Now Queenie was dead. Her lifeless body had been found in her bed on a cold Monday morning in the autumn of 2022. When the sixty-nine-year-old widow missed a regular Sunday evening phone hook up, her friend Genevieve became concerned. The following morning, she and her husband had gone to Queenie’s home. Receiving no answer to her knock on the front door, Genevieve used her spare key. It would have been more natural for her to walk along the side of the house to the back door. On this day, for reasons she could not explain, she went immediately to the ‘formal’ entry. Her intuition told her something was not right as soon as she stepped across the threshold. She called out to her friend. The silence of an empty house was the only response. Genevieve’s husband went ahead, urging his wife to stay where she was. He returned within minutes, ashen faced. Dusty regretted dismissing the retired socialite’s concerns. Queenie had been talking about a murder yet to be committed. Her own murder. The cold case investigator was on her way to the small village of Olinda where Queenie had lived after leaving her busy social life in a Melbourne bayside suburb. Dusty’s lips tightened in concentration as she navigated the hairpin bends of Mount Dandenong Tourist Road known as the Devil’s Elbows. Along the winding road, mountain ash towered over verdant gullies of tree ferns, a deceptive beauty that had proved deadly for some motorists. This was one trip she’d gladly have handed over the responsibility of driving to Sean while she sat back and relaxed in the passenger seat. But Sean was on the other side of the world. The road straightened out allowing the cars behind Dusty to overtake her, travelling at a speed that suggested the drivers knew the road and were not afraid of the occasional tight bend. Dusty observed the ominous presence of steel guard railing along the edge of steep escarpments on her left. When Queenie had first called her, Dusty had not discussed details. Knowing she was too busy to take on Queenie’s case, she had not pressed the older woman for more information. There would be time enough for that when she was ready to investigate. She had placed Queenie’s request on her long waiting list. Doubt now unsettled her. Had something specific prompted Queenie to seek her help? According to the media reports of her death, the glamorous Olinda resident had suffered a heart attack. Most newspaper articles carried the same photo of her; a head and shoulders shot of a mature woman whose beauty had not yet faded, with tousled blonde hair, a broad smile showing even white teeth and blue-grey eyes that shone with an invitation to get to know her. Suspicious circumstances had not been mentioned. Nevertheless, Dusty needed to satisfy herself that Queenie Forsyth’s death was due to natural causes. ‘Time is running out’ were the words Queenie used when she had followed up on her initial contact two months later, imparting a sense of urgency. Dusty understood the desperation that might have inspired those words. Families that had waited a long time to find out who had murdered a loved one often expressed the sense that the clock was ticking—sometimes because a person close to the victim was nearing the end of their life, sometimes for other reasons. When Dusty took on a cold case, her fierce determination came to the fore