To celebrate the release of The Wattle Tree in August, author John Bell and I will be doing a series of creative exercises over the next week or so. Each day, we spend half an hour responding to a theme.
Today’s theme is “The Hideaway”. Here is my response.

And here is John’s response:

THE HIDEAWAY

HIDEAWAY
A WIDE HAY
AID A WHEY

“I give up,” said Jay. “I don’t think there’s anything there.”

“Hang on, hang on, hang on,” said his partner. “There must be a clue in it somewhere.”

They leaned over the dead man’s kitchen table, like a couple of old guys disputing a crossword. Buck prodded the scrunched-up paper with one finger.

“Now,” Buck said, “lemme see.”

HIDEAWAY
I WADE HAY
HEY I A WAD

“It makes no sense,” he said, pushing himself away from the table.

“Then why did we find it in the dead man’s pocket?” Jay asked.

“Hideaway,” Buck said, testing the word’s syllables on his tongue.

“Maybe,” Jay said eagerly, “maybe there’s something hidden in the apartment. Like in a cupboard somewhere.”

“Too obvious,” Buck replied. “Fuller was a devious man – a master criminal. This is a riddle, make no mistake about it.”

Jay looked around the room for inspiration. There was a framed photo on one wall of a tropical island, cabanas amongst the palm trees and the sea a light, light blue. “I sure could use a holiday,” he sighed.

Then he looked at the picture again. There – amongst the trees – was that a …

“Buck,” he said, “I think I’ve found our hideaway.”

Jay pulled his gun from its holster. He held it close to his face, its barrel pointing up; it trembled in his hands like a water diviner. The two men advanced towards the photograph.