Pearlie the Spy Read online

  AS Pearlie walked through the streets of Darwin, she noticed how quiet it was. Most of the women and all the children had been evacuated. Pearlie never thought a town could feel so sad and lost. Now she knew what people meant when they talked about a ghost town.

  Before knocking on Hazel’s door she hid the hatchet in her satchel and crept around the side of the hotel to peep in through the window. Luckily Beake wasn’t there.

  ‘Hazel, it’s me,’ Pearlie said through the closed door.

  ‘Come in, honey, it’s not locked,’ Hazel called out.

  Hazel was standing in front of the mirror, holding up a pretty blue dress. She smiled. ‘What do you think, Pearlie?’ she said. ‘Ron – that’s my boyfriend – bought it in Singapore. It’s made of real silk. Isn’t it lovely?’

  ‘It’s nice,’ Pearlie said to be polite. Even though the dress was pretty, anything to do with Beake made her shudder.

  ‘Pearlie, you look a mess!’ Hazel said, staring at Pearlie’s clothes.

  ‘I was mucking around in our yard and didn’t have time to change,’ Pearlie lied.

  Tinto climbed out of his pouch and jumped onto the windowsill. He picked up a small notebook and began flicking through the pages.

  Hazel laughed. ‘He looks like he’s reading!’ She reached across and tickled Tinto gently under the chin.

  ‘He’s started to like books, lately,’ Pearlie said. ‘I think he likes the smell of the paper. Come on, Tinto, give the book back.’ Pearlie put out her hand but Tinto ran under the bed with it.

  ‘Let him have it,’ said Hazel. ‘Ron gives them to me. I got plenty more.’ She cocked her head to one side ‘You look kinda sad today, hon. If you’re missing your mum and dad, I’m sure there’s a way to get you all back together –’

  ‘It’s not that,’ said Pearlie. She hesitated. She didn’t know how to begin. ‘Um . . . it’s about Ron . . . I mean Mr Beake.’

  ‘How’d you know his surname is Beake?’ Hazel said. ‘Oh, I must’ve said. Well, don’t worry about him. He won’t be round till tonight.’

  ‘It’s not that either.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘Well . . . it’s just that Mr Beake is . . . um . . . a spy for the Japanese.’ Pearlie blurted it out before she could stop herself.

  Hazel looked at her incredulously then threw back her head and laughed. ‘My Ron, a spy? That’s crazy, Pearlie. Where on earth did you come up with a thing like that? You do have the wildest imagination.’ She went over to her dressing table and opened the drawer. ‘He’s so sweet. Look at all the presents he’s given me. Why, just yesterday he gave me these silk stockings. You wouldn’t know cos you’re only a kid, but nobody can get silk stockings unless they’re important and have money. And this . . .’ She picked up a small pink bottle with a pale amber liquid inside. ‘This is real French perfume, the best in the world. Now really, Pearlie. Do you think a spy would have time for a girlfriend?’

  ‘It was Beake who did this to me,’ Pearlie said, pulling her hair back over her shoulder to show the bruises on her neck. ‘He tried to strangle me but Tinto saved my life by biting and scratching him. I’d be dead by now if . . .’ She shivered.

  ‘Ron did this? Are you sure we’re talking about the same man? Why would he want to hurt a little girl? It doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Because I saw all his spy equipment: miniature cameras, photos, everything. And he’s already married . . . to a Japanese lady.’

  Hazel pursed her lips and waved Pearlie away. ‘Married! Really, Pearlie. Enough talk about such a ridiculous story. How about I make you a glass of lemonade and we have some biscuits? You sound a bit feverish.’

  Pearlie frowned. No matter what Pearlie said, Hazel wasn’t going to believe her. But she still needed to find out where Beake lived. Pearlie pulled Tinto out from under the bed. He had ripped some of the pages of the notebook so she took it away from him and put it in her pocket.

  In the kitchen, Hazel brought down a tin of biscuits and gave one of the broken pieces to Tinto. The little monkey took it with both hands and sat on Hazel’s lap nibbling.

  ‘I feel bad about the things I said before,’ Pearlie said.

  ‘Don’t worry. You’re upset with your mum and dad gone. I would be too.’

  ‘If Mr Beake is rich he must live in a nice big house,’ Pearlie said innocently.

  ‘Oh yes,’ Hazel replied, her eyes lighting up. ‘He rents one of those grand houses on the Esplanade. It’s got such a pretty balcony, painted pale pink with a white trim. And out the front there’s a huge Poinciana tree. I’ve never seen a more beautiful house. I haven’t been inside yet but Ron said he’d have me round for dinner one night and we’ll eat out on the veranda. How romantic he is.’ Hazel smiled dreamily.

  ‘Tinto and me, we better be going,’ Pearlie said, standing up. ‘Thanks for the lemonade.’ Now that she’d found out where Beake lived, there was no time to sit around and chat. She whistled to Tinto and he snuggled down inside his pouch, still munching on his biscuit.

  After saying goodbye to Hazel, Pearlie headed towards the Esplanade. It didn’t take her long to find Beake’s house. The Poinciana tree out the front was bathed in sunlight. Pearlie hid in the bushes on the other side of the road. It was mid-morning. She wondered if Beake would still be at home or if he’d gone out to take photographs. There was no car parked outside but maybe Beake didn’t use a car any more. She decided to wait and see. She had a good clear view of the front door and was well hidden from the street behind a row of shrubs and palm trees. And she was in luck.

  She had only been there a couple of minutes before the door opened and Beake stepped outside carrying a bag.

  Pearlie shrank back. Even the sight of the spy made her heart pound. But she was not going to be afraid. She was going to get Beake once and for all. As soon as Tinto saw Beake he struggled in his pouch, wanting to get out. His eyes were wild and his little body trembled. Pearlie knew it was not in fear, but in anger.

  ‘Shh . . . it’s all right, Tinto. We’re safe,’ she whispered in a calming voice. Pearlie knew that from now on she would have to watch Tinto whenever they were close to Beake.

  Beake came down the steps and out the gate. He ambled along the road.

  Pearlie waited a moment. Then she stood up and followed.

  She kept on the opposite side, always hidden in the trees. When he stopped, Pearlie stopped. When Beake walked on, so did Pearlie.

  His first stop was the oil storage tanks on Stokes Hill. There were eleven tanks. Pearlie didn’t know what the oil inside was used for – maybe to fuel the aeroplanes, cars and trucks. But she knew they were important to Darwin.

  She watched Beake. He looked around first then dug into his bag and produced the miniature camera. After taking some photographs of the tanks from different angles, he took out a notebook and walked around the outside. Then he sat down and did some drawings.

  Pearlie kept very still. When Tinto grew restless, she gave him a piece of apple from her satchel. Beake unfolded a big map and made marks on it. After he’d finished he packed everything away and walked to the post office. Pearlie waited across the road while he went inside. When he came out he took a photograph of that building, too, and of Government House and the police station. He made more marks on his map.

  All the time Pearlie was spying, she was trying to think up a plan. Maybe I can steal his notebook or his camera and take them to the police. No, that would be too hard. I’d have to break into his house. I don’t want to risk that again.

  As she followed Beake around Darwin, Pearlie listed the places Beake visited – what he did there and how long he stayed – and noted down the time.

  By the end of the day Pearlie was exhausted, but Beake still didn’t head for home. Tinto was sound asleep in his pouch at her side and the sun was close to setting as the spy took the track down to Lameroo Beach.

  Pearlie followed, staying hidden in the trees. He reached the changing shed,
at the bottom of the path, close to the cliff-face. She came as near as she could and peered around the shed. She watched him squat down and take things out of his bag – a pair of binoculars, a map, a small notebook and then something black and square. He opened the notebook and read it intently before turning to the black thing.

  Then Pearlie heard the sound she knew only too well. The same sound she’d heard at Diamond Cave with Nao and Reddy. It was the beep bee bee beep of Morse code being sent from a radio transmitter!

  AS night fell, Beake walked down Cavenagh Street to the centre of town. Pearlie thought he was going to visit Hazel but he went right on past the Don Hotel in the direction of Pearlie’s place.

  Her body tensed. What is he doing?

  Beake stepped up to the window of her dad’s shop. He cupped his hands around his eyes, pressed his nose against the glass and peered in. Then he tried the door handle.

  Pearlie gasped when he used his elbow to break the window pane. He pushed his arm through the broken glass and reached in to unlock the door.

  Perspiration formed on Pearlie’s forehead and on her top lip as he disappeared inside. She snuck up to the window. A curtain divided the shop from the rest of her house, and through it she could see the soft glow from a moving torch. Beake was inside her house!

  Suddenly the curtain billowed and Beake came back into the shop.

  Pearlie ducked down, then she ran to hide in the alley. Catching her breath, she peeked back around the corner.

  Beake was outside the shop now, holding something in his hand. In the failing light it was hard to tell what it was. Then Pearlie recognised the material. It’s my green spotted dress, the one Dad made me for Christmas! A flash of anger coursed through her. Then the anger turned to fear. What does he want with my dress?

  Beake stuffed the dress into his bag and turned. As he passed the alley where Pearlie was hiding, she pressed her back flat against the wall.

  After a few minutes she came out and followed Beake to his house on the Esplanade.

  This is all so strange, she thought as she waited across the road. What does he want with my dress? At least it looks like he’s staying home for the night. I’ll come back tomorrow. Pearlie was just about to leave when she saw smoke. She hesitated. Is he burning something?

  She quickly crossed the road and pushed the gate open. Then she crept quietly up the side of the house. As she passed the front window she lifted herself up and peeked inside. In the hall there was a blue suitcase and the smaller bag Beake always carried around with him. And there, on the floor, was the Morse code radio transmitter.

  She lowered herself down and walked quickly towards the back garden, following the smell of smoke.

  Beake was standing in front of an incinerator, throwing papers and photographs and other objects into it.

  Like a witch at a cauldron, he hunched over the fire, stirring it with a long stick. Orange sparks fluttered into the air and were carried off by the wind.

  Oh no! He must be destroying all the proof, Pearlie thought with dismay. And that’s why his suitcase is by the front door. He’s leaving town! I have to think fast.

  Beake turned at that moment with two notebooks in his hand. Pearlie froze. His hair was filled with ashes from the fire and his eyes gleamed. Being so close to him made her body go cold.

  With relief she watched him go up the back steps and into the house.

  At least I’ll be safe tonight, Pearlie thought as she ran down the street towards home. Once inside, she let Tinto run free and then lit a fire in the wood-burning stove. While the rice was cooking, she opened a can of spaghetti with tomato sauce. She cut the mouldy sides off a block of cheese and ate the clean bits inside. When the rice was done, Pearlie stirred apricot jam through it. The meal was just about the most delicious thing she’d ever tasted; it was the first hot meal she’d eaten in days.

  That night she lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling. Spiders were already stringing webs from corner to corner. Like tiny silver streamers they swayed in the evening breeze. Once a week Mum used the long handled broom to sweep them away. But there was nobody to do it now. The house belonged to the spiders. Pearlie imagined her entire home wrapped in webs.

  She was in a web too, she thought, and Beake was like the spider. But she wouldn’t let him catch her.

  She draped the mosquito net around the bed and snuggled up with Tinto. Through the netting she could see Joey’s cot. She imagined him inside, snoring softly. Sweet little Joey. He was annoying sometimes, but oh how she missed him now. She imagined Mum and Dad in their bed on the other side of the partition. And for a few moments, Pearlie pretended that everything was as it used to be, that she’d be seeing Nao and Reddy at school the following day, that the streets of Darwin were still bustling with people.

  She stroked Tinto’s silky mane and began to cry. They were all gone now – Mum, Dad, Joey, Nao and Reddy, Mr Spiros, the Girls and Leonetta. All gone. She was the only one left.

  Pearlie slept fitfully, waking at every noise, thinking that Beake might come back.

  At last she gave in and got up. Her throat was dry and there was no water left in the kitchen. She took a billycan and went out to draw water from the well under the moonlight.

  The night insects sang noisily but she didn’t hear them. The events of that night were rustling through her mind.

  ‘If Beake didn’t burn those notebooks, he must be going to send another message,’ she said to Tinto who had followed her out and was sitting up in the mango tree, keeping watch.

  ‘If I could get the police to be there when Beake is messaging, they would have to believe me. But how do I get them to come? They won’t listen to me, just like the army didn’t listen. I’m just a little girl to them. I need someone who’s a grown-up, someone who trusts me.’ She turned the handle of the windlass and pulled the bucket of water up to the surface. And then it came to her. ‘That’s it! I’ll get Old Man Lizard to help.’

  At the sound of Old Man Lizard’s name, Tinto swung down from the tree and landed on her shoulder.

  ‘There’s no time to waste,’ she said, rubbing his small head. ‘Let’s go now before Beake wakes up.’

  PEARLIE smiled as she made her way to Old Man Lizard’s hut. Even though the moon hid behind streaky black clouds and the path was in total darkness, even though she was all alone and the bush insects were silent, she wasn’t afraid anymore. Nao would be so surprised to see this new brave Pearlie walking through the bush in the middle of the night.

  When she finally arrived at the hut, Titch stood up, wagging his tail. ‘Hello, boy,’ Pearlie said, patting him on the head. ‘You know my scent a mile away now.’

  Goliath and Rusty began barking from inside the hut. Then they came rushing through the hessian cloth.

  ‘My little boys!’ Pearlie cried and squatted down to greet them. The two dogs sniffed her excitedly. Then they leapt about, licking her face and hands. Tinto wriggled out of his pouch and jumped to the ground. He climbed onto Goliath’s back and rode him like a jockey as Goliath raced around in circles.

  ‘What’s all this commotion?’ Old Man Lizard bellowed, stepping out of the shack with a big shotgun in his hand.

  ‘It’s me . . . Pearlie.’

  Old Man Lizard lowered the rifle. ‘What are you doing here in the middle of the night? Is everything all right?’

  ‘Can I come in?’ Pearlie asked. ‘I have a lot to tell you.’

  Old Man Lizard went inside and lit the kerosene lamp.

  He indicated for Pearlie to sit down. Tinto and Goliath tumbled and rolled about them while Rusty lay down and began licking Pearlie’s bare feet. She looked up at Santa who was sitting on his perch with his head under his wing, trying to ignore the commotion.

  ‘So, Pearlie,’ Old Man Lizard said. ‘What’s so important that you have to come now?’

  ‘There’s a spy in Darwin . . .’ Pearlie began.

  Old Man Lizard was pouring tea for them both and stopped mid-st
ream. ‘A spy? What kind of spy?’

  ‘His name’s Ron Beake. He spies for the Japanese.’

  Old Man Lizard handed Pearlie a tin mug filled with herbal tea and pulled up an old fruit box to sit down on. ‘Go on,’ he said.

  ‘Beake came to Darwin last year. My best friend Nao and me, we snuck into his house and saw all his spying equipment. There were photographs and miniature cameras and a radio transmitter with Japanese writing all over it. We didn’t think he could be a spy because he’s not Japanese. But then we saw that he has a Japanese wife from the photographs on his wall, and there were weapons, too, like Japanese swords and things. Nao knew because she’s Japanese herself. But then I discovered that I’d dropped my bracelet with my name on it in his house –’

  ‘Slow down, Pearlie,’ Old Man Lizard said. ‘So this Japanese spy, did you tell anyone about him?’

  ‘We tried, Mr Hardy. We went to the army but they didn’t believe us. So we decided to follow him and get proof ourselves.’ Pearlie left out the part about Reddy driving the old truck. She didn’t want him to get into trouble. ‘We followed Beake to a cave on the beach which we call Diamond Cave. Not many people know about it. That’s why he went there. We heard him sending Morse code on his radio transmitter.’

  Old Man Lizard made ‘slow down’ movements with his hands.

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ said Pearlie. ‘Well, my friend Reddy knows all about radio transmitters. He’s really smart. We took photographs of Beake on Mr Ito’s camera. And then we saw the submarine he was sending messages to. Well, not the whole submarine, just its periscope in the water. Reddy knew about that too.’

  Old Man Lizard peered closely at Pearlie.

  ‘I’m not making it up, I promise.’

  ‘Go on,’ he said.

  ‘Well, the photographs didn’t turn out. They were all black. It was terrible. Nao was arrested and sent away to Internment Camp in South Australia and Reddy’s gone to Perth. I was all by myself after that. Because I dropped my bracelet and it’s got my name on it, I had to hide from Beake. Then Mum and Dad said we were leaving too. I was so relieved, until they wouldn’t let Tinto on board. So I ran here and it was because of Beake that I missed the ship. He tried to strangle me.’ Pearlie lifted her hair to show Old Man Lizard the bruises.