The House on Hill Street Read Online Free Page A

…’
    ‘And you asked him where he’d buried the rest of the body?’ Luke gently steered the professor back on track.
    ‘I did indeed. He told me in great detail. Would you believe, he actually boasted about it. “A cemetery ,” he said, “isn’t that apt? Where else should one bury the dead?” Those were his exact words and that was his exact tone. He was extraordinarily arrogant. Apparently the pebbles made it easy to disguise the fact that the plot had recently been dug up. At least that’s what he told me. “They won’t find her in a million years,” he said. He was very boastful, very proud of himself.’ The professor gave a moue of disapproval. ‘Evil, you see. Evil or insane, either or, take your pick. Or perhaps both, or perhaps even neither, all a matter of perception …’
    Curry had stopped typing and the look in his eyes was murderous. Any moment he’d roar where are the fucking bones, Luke thought. He interrupted the professor’s rambling as delicately as he could.
    ‘Was Bad Bradley in any way specific about the location, Professor? We wouldn’t want to find ourselves digging up every one of the older plots in the cemetery, would we?’
    ‘Oh good heavens above no, Sergeant, there’ll be no need for that. Bad Bradley was most precise.’ Producing a neatly folded sheet of notepaper from the breast pocket of his shirt, the professor laid it out with great care on the table. ‘He drew me a map. There, you see. Fourth plot from the end, second last row, X marks the spot.’
    Luke gazed down at the pencil-drawn map. It was meticulous in every detail, even to the name on the tombstone, which was clearly printed beside the circled ‘X’.
    ‘I presume that more or less concludes these interviews,’ the professor said, folding the map up and handing it to him. ‘There really isn’t much purpose in their continuance, is there? I shall miss our chats, Sergeant.’
    As their eyes met, Luke found himself unable to look away.
    ‘You’re a very bright young man. Oh yes, yes. A very bright young man indeed.’
    He’s congratulating me , Luke thought. Why ?
    ‘Perhaps in another place, another time, you and I could have become friends.’
    The approval in the grey eyes suddenly changed to mockery. Or perhaps it was triumph. Luke couldn’t be sure.
    ‘Good Bradley would have liked that,’ the professor said.
     
    Three months later, Bradley John Jameson was found not guilty of murder on the grounds of insanity. The findings were read out to the court. He was to be remanded in custody under psychiatric observation at the Governor’s pleasure until such time as he was deemed mentally fit to rejoin society.
    As the findings were read out, the professor looked across the sea of faces to Luke. Then, just as he was about to be led from the dock, he winked.

AUTHOR’S FOOTNOTE:
    This short story is fictional, but was inspired by the true story of Rory Jack Thompson who murdered and dismembered his wife in Hobart in 1983 and was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity.

Bonus Sample Chapter
Tiger Men by Judy Nunn

V an Diemen’s Land was a place of profound contradiction. The sheer beauty of the island could stir a man’s soul, yet the savagery of life on its shores could rob him of all faith. This alarming paradox continued to disturb Silas Stanford, even after ten long years in the colony. He did not doubt that many a poor creature had lost sight of God in the midst of this glorious wilderness where His hand was so evident. Fifty years on, the history of Van Diemen’s Land remained, to Silas, a shocking condemnation.
    The British had decided, in 1803, to extend their occupation of the Australian continent to include Van Diemen’s Land, roughly 150 miles off the south-east coast, and they had done so purely in order to prevent the French laying claim to it. A penal colony had quickly been established for the provision of labour, and a thriving new port had been created at Sullivan’s