The Valley's Secret

By JJ Somers

In the remote Australian High Country, a serial killer thought dormant for over thirty years is suddenly exposed when a freak biking accident reveals his dumping ground: a densely wooded valley holding a graveyard of bones.

The injured cyclist fights for survival, using all his wits and stamina to escape the valley’s overgrown trails back to civilization. Little does he know his traumatic discovery will reopen decades-old murder cases that have long gone cold.

In this gripping thriller, the killer’s deep pathological need for validation and pleasure has driven him to strike again and again since 1982. But advancements in forensic science and his own carelessness will finally bring his buried secrets to light. As detectives race to stop another killing spree, they uncover the shocking truth about the sadistic murderer who has been hiding in plain sight.

Tense and propulsive, The Valley’s Secret will plunge you into the darkness of this serial killer’s double life and the relentless pursuit to unmask him before more innocent lives are taken.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: May 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9781035856916

JJ Somers

Jeff Somers is an Australian retired schoolteacher and principal. His career commenced in secondary schools but turned full circle when he became principal of a primary school. Jeff also worked extensively in the private sector in training and project management roles. Following retirement from full-time work, Jeff initially taught in the vocational training sector but now works as an instructional designer and assessor. Jeff is a passionate member of his local Rotary Club and also devotes time as a board member of his local golf club. He has been recognised for his contribution to his local community.

Book preview

Chapter 1

2012

Gareth loved his recently purchased carbon fibre Giant Mountain Bike and looked forward to every opportunity to explore new trails in various parts of the country. He had ridden on his previous bike with friends, and sometimes alone, along various trails in Tasmania, Western Victoria and the snow fields of New South Wales during the summer months. Today his challenge was the climb from Valleyview at the base of the Victorian High Country to the small hamlet at the top of the range appropriately called Mount View. He had ridden this trail a few years ago with a group of friends and had three great memories of the day. The first was the fantastic meal they had at the Mount View Hotel and the second was the visit to Camp Tooliburn. It had a giant flying fox that started high up the hill in the dense forest and travelled down the slope and over the large dam before ending abruptly on the far side bank of the dam. The final memory was the exhilarating free-wheeling ride after lunch back down the hill without having to hardly turn the pedals as the slope of the mountain provided sufficient gradient to cruise nearly all the way back to where their vehicles were parked in the vacant community car park next to the Valleyview Police Station.

He unloaded his new bike from the rear of his Volkswagen Golf hatchback and assembled the front wheel which had to be removed to allow him to carry the bike in this car. The air temperature was just starting to rise and he was looking forward to a great day of riding. Locking his car, placing his phone in the back pocket of his riding jersey and attaching his small backpack he was ready to go as a police car pulled into the car park beside him.

He was confident he hadn’t been speeding on the way and did not remember seeing any police cars whilst travelling, so was curious, and a little worried, when the young officer signalled through his window for Gareth to wait.

‘Where are you off to today young man,’ he heard the officer say as he alighted from the vehicle.

‘I’m riding up to Mount View and back again, Officer,’ he replied.

Officer Jamie Smithers walked over to Gareth, extended his hand and introduced himself. Gareth accepted his handshake and told him his name.

‘You’ve got a great day for it,’ Officer Jamie added.

‘I’ve done this ride before with some friends about two years ago and am really looking forward to today’s challenge. My fitness level is much stronger than last time so I am hoping to complete the journey in a very competitive time.’

‘Have you logged a travel plan at the police station?’ Officer Jamie enquired.

Slightly embarrassed, Gareth indicated that it had never occurred to him to do that. However, he agreed it was a very good idea. Officer Jamie explained to him it was a procedure that had been introduced just over twelve months ago when a small group of cyclists failed to arrive at their destination. The police had no idea whether they were climbing the mountain or exploring the lowlands and much valuable police time was wasted until they were found camped just off the main road in a vacant paddock about fifty kilometres from Valleyview.

‘Are you going anywhere else after your mountain climb?’ Officer Jamie asked.

‘I was hoping to explore some of the lowland areas for a couple of days after conquering the mountain today,’ replied Gareth.

Officer Jamie said, ‘Can I suggest you pop into the station for a couple of minutes and we will complete a proposed travel plan for you? You can leave your bike in the foyer.’

Gareth obliged and in no time he had mapped out a travel schedule with approximate times of arrival in various places and provided both Sally’s and his dad’s emergency contact numbers.

‘Enjoy your day and good luck with your time challenge,’ said Officer Jamie as Gareth wheeled his bike out of the police station and set about his challenge for the day.

Chapter 2

Leaving at nine o’clock in the morning, he estimated it would take a little over four hours to reach his destination, some seventy kilometres up the mountain with no settlement on the way apart from a few old huts that were used by timber cutters in the heyday of logging in the area. A few of them still worked the forest extracting the last of the logs available on the mountain after the government banned full-scale logging two years previously. This followed a sustained protest from a very active conservation group that had also fought to save the heavily timbered Franklin River area in Tasmania. They wanted to prevent it from becoming a large lake as the result of a dam being built to increase the capacity of Tasmania to generate electricity using hydro power.

He rang the local pub the night before to check if they would be open for lunch. Relieved that the answer was positive, he told them he would be there a little after one o’clock. The woman at the other end of the phone said, ‘Don’t be late because the kitchen closes at 1:30 p.m.’

As he slowly climbed one of the steepest and narrowest parts of the road, he could hear the roar of motorbikes in the forest. The area was well known to the many dirt bike riders who frequented the area. The myriad of trails amongst the trees that were constructed in a rough fashion during the peak of the logging era provided many and varied challenges to the riders. Some paths were somewhat maintained as they were used as fire tracks in the summer months when bushfires started by lightning were fairly common. Other tracks were much rougher, having been carved out by bulldozers as they fought to retrieve logs from some of the most geographically challenging areas of the mountain. In particular, the riders loved the feel of the wind on their faces as they raced back down the mountain on the main road to the car park below at the end of the day. The vegetation was very thick on either side of the road that had been carved into the escarpment with steep walls of dirt and trees on one side and a deep densely vegetated ravine on the other where the bottom of the ravine was completely obscured from the edge of the roadway.

The last time Gareth had ridden this road, he marvelled at how steeply the edge of the track fell away into the dense and dark vegetation below. Apart from sparsely spaced white posts to mark the path of the roadway there was no protection provided should a bike or car be forced off the road either by a collision with an oncoming vehicle or lack of attention of the driver. He thought it must have been very challenging work building this road in the early part of the last century when most of the work would have been done by hand.

He was enjoying the feel of the cool mountain air as it rushed past his face and today he seemed to be riding with less effort than usual. His legs had slipped into a nice cadence that made the riding seem effortless compared to his last attempt at this mountain. Perhaps the ultra-light carbon fibre frame and wheels of this new bike also contributed to the way he was reeling in each kilometre. He also recalled how he had stepped up his time in the gymnasium at home in order to boost his fitness and aerobic capacity with particular emphasis on the power his legs needed to generate. Mountain climbing on a bicycle requires the calf and hamstring muscles to carry most of the load.

Once again he heard the dirt bikes that seemed to be a little closer than previously. He also heard a spluttering engine noise drawing closer to him as he continued to push forward. On rounding the next bend he could see an old grey Massey Ferguson tractor approaching. The elderly grey-haired man at the steering wheel waved to Gareth as he drew even closer. Stopping the clattering machine in the middle of the road he jumped down onto the roadway and waved Gareth to stop. His heart rate became slightly accelerated as his mind processed a hundred possibilities as to why the old man wanted to speak to him.

However, his breathing slowly steadied when the old man warned Gareth about the landslip on the valley side of the road ahead about two kilometres further on. He said, ‘Watch out for the landslip as it is just around a blind corner. It must have been caused by the heavy rain we had a few days ago. The ground is so soft it is a wonder one of them old fella trees on the other side of the road didn’t fall.’

Gareth said, ‘Thank you for the warning. What are you doing in this isolated part of the forest?’

‘Just chopping some firewood laddie,’ he replied. ‘I’ll bring me old Ford truck up tomorrow to cut up the old fallen logs I dragged into the clearing today. I gotta small business selling firewood just behind the pub in Valleyview.’

‘Do you live in Valleyview?’ Gareth enquired.

‘Na! I prefer to be on me own. I got a shack in the bush about thirty minutes out of town. Name’s Jock McSwain laddie,’ he said as he extended his arm towards Gareth.

‘Name’s Gareth Thompson. Pleased to meet you, Jock. I best be on my way as I have a lunch booking at the Mount View Hotel. Don’t want to be late as I will miss my meal warned the person I spoke to when I booked last night.’

‘The grub’s good at the Mount View Pub. I shout meself a meal there once or twice a year as well as on Christmas Day. They get about fifty people there for Christmas, but there’ll be only a handful today I think.’

‘Thank you again for your warning,’ said Gareth as he mounted his bike to ensure he didn’t miss out on the lunch to which he was very much looking forward. He thought he would be there all day talking to old Jock if he didn’t make a quick move and be on his way. He heard the Fergie splutter into life and rattle its way down the hill.

Gareth pondered the life that Jock lived where he preferred to be on his own and wondered what events in his earlier life had made solo living attractive for him. Clearly, he relied on the Mount View Hotel for some company on Christmas Day. This was very sad he thought, remembering the wonderful time he still had with his family on this special day. Gareth liked his moments of solitude on the bike as he ground out the kilometres, but could not imagine returning to isolation and little or no contact with family or friends at the conclusion of the ride.

His mind turned to Sally Watson, his current girlfriend. He liked the time he spent with her very much but was also disappointed he could not convince her to ride with him, even around the bike tracks nearer the city. Sally worked out at the gym on an exercise bicycle but had no inclination to ride a bike outside the gym. Gareth even contemplated purchasing a tandem bicycle to encourage her to ride with him, but she was not interested in staring at his back if they rode together with her obviously on the rear seat.

He and Sally had been dating for the past two years after they met at a twenty-first birthday party organised for one of his best mates. Sally was there as the daughter of a family friend and Gareth was drawn to her when they were first introduced. He enjoyed going to restaurants and movies with her and they had been away camping together with a group of friends. He really enjoyed these weekends in the bush beside a mountain stream with the prospect of catching a fish or two for dinner being a challenge that was more often won by the fish.

As his legs drove him higher up the mountain, he thought about a permanent life with Sally but knew he was not ready even though Sally had dropped many hints that marriage was on her radar. There was so much he wanted to do and places he wanted to visit and ride that he was not sure he could give all this up and make a commitment to Sally. However, he acknowledged that a permanent relationship with her would come with some compromises, but he was not ready to draw up the list of things that may disappear from his current lifestyle. He was pleased that Sally still encouraged him to ride alone or with the peloton of riders on Sunday morning along Beach Road in the city.

Having ridden for about ten minutes up a very steep section of the road, the warning message from Jock flicked back into his mind. It can’t be far from here, he thought. His brain suddenly flicked from one warning to another as he heard the noise of the dirt bikes yet again but this time not very far away at all.

He slowed a little as he approached the blind corner ahead with both Jock’s warning and the increasing noise of the dirt bikes the focus of his decision-making processes. The landslide was clearly visible as he got a glimpse of the road around the corner. About a third of the road had slid into the valley below making it a single-lane road for sure. Gareth could see there was a second blind corner about thirty metres after the hazard and was startled as two dirt bikes rounded the corner at speed as he reached the start of the single-lane section. Stopping as close to the edge of the road as he could, and unclicking his cleats from the pedals, he stood frozen on the spot holding his bike, he felt the thud as one of the bright green bikes catapulted him into the air still holding his bike. His last memory before awakening several hours later was the thud of his helmet hitting a tree. He awoke amongst incredibly thick vegetation somewhere in the ravine below. He felt his back resting against something hard and the acute pain in his right leg pushed all the way through to his brain. His head throbbed as if he had been hit by a sledge hammer so he carefully removed his battered helmet. The pain relief was immediate as he focussed his eyes more clearly on his new surroundings.

Chapter 3

1982

Sean and Maureen sat in the bar of the Valleyview Hotel at the base of the rugged highlands of Victoria’s High Country discussing their next destination. They had been friends from their primary school years when Sean had a crush on Maureen in their final year. He remembered well being caught in class by the head nun as he passed a love note to Maureen. Being hauled up in front of the class and berated about appropriate and inappropriate behaviour was not one of Sean’s favourite memories of school. The situation was made worse when Maureen claimed she was about to faint so she was sent outside to get a drink of water from one