I’d made the move to get to know his mum, to win over her trust and allow Clancy to pop over whenever he wanted. It wasn’t that difficult, his mother having turned her attention to the bottle, not unlike so many others that were struggling with daily life during those years. I doubt she ever really missed her child completely, maybe even glad to have him out from under her feet.
2.
I didn’t really want to make this a running commentary of the murders that we committed, James. I just wanted to explain why we did it. The why is much more important to me than the how. The why is what drove us all those years.
But I also wanted to give you an indication of the who as well. Those we did kill and made disappear. Those that were never part of the original list you and the rest of the world assumed were it. Because your puny list of 14 wasn’t even the half of it.
To help you with getting the records straight and maybe give a few folks a bit of closure, add the following to your list.
Maxwell Templeton. As I already stated, we killed him at the gravel pit. He’s located at the bottom of a shaft maybe 300 yards in from the outer edge of the tree line, with his car at the bottom of the sludge pit.
Jean Thornberry. She was one of the girls from my school. That bitch threw a rock at me once that hit me in the nose, breaking it and sending streams of blood down my shirt. Quite a few others found the scene funny to watch, but my father wasn’t one of them. He closed my right eye with a punch when I came home that night with a bloodstained shirt. We dropped her down another shaft somewhere near Maxwell.
Norman Hanks. A friend of Royce who had a crack at my arse a couple of times before moving to Bendigo. Clancy and I tracked him down and found him drunk outside his home one night. Although Loui wanted to finish him, I convinced him otherwise. We smashed his head in a couple of times, then dragged him to some nearby railroad tracks. The next train to come along decapitated both his head and feet as we watched from the roof of our nearby hideaway. We didn’t need to hide him as the authorities considered him a suicide.
The Jersey Sisters. These girls were part of the whole rock throwing incident with Jean. They would repeatedly point and laugh at us as we passed them at school. One of them had also spat on the back of my head one afternoon as we were walking out through the school gate. They’d moved to nearby Ballarat and I went and paid them a visit without Clancy. You’ll find them in the roof cavity of 24 Porter Avenue. The top half of Nancy is at the opposite end of the house, near the chimney.
Wilma Friedrickson. This old battle-ax was a friend of the now-deceased Mavis Toomey. She’d worked alongside the woman, often staring at me with contemptuous expressions. There was one occasion where she scolded me in front of the class for smelling. It was embarrassing and not something I could forgive. The only problem was, the bitch had a heart attack before Loui began, dropping dead at our feet in her living room.
Brian Riggs. Another schoolyard bully that made my life hell. Thought it was funny to throw a jar of glue at my head. The glass cut my scalp deep enough to need stitches, while the glue had to be cut from my hair. My father ended up shaving my head, leaving me to walk around bald for several weeks. I tore that cunt to pieces, James. I scattered his body around Cider Hill. You might find his bits in several of the shafts, but his head I dropped into the outhouse hole at the footy oval.
Pamela Turner and Harvey Blight. She was Brian’s closest friend, rumour saying the pair had seen each other naked a few times. I don’t know how true that was, but I can tell you she didn’t enjoy being nude with Loui. We found Pamela and Harvey skinny-dipping at old Roy Henderson’s dam one afternoon as I crossed the paddock on my way home. I’m pretty sure both of them are still at the bottom of that old watering hole.
John Killen. Killed that prick because he just annoyed me on a train ride to Ballarat. He was sitting in the seat behind me, constantly trying to chat up young girls. He “fell” between the carriages as we rode through a tunnel after wanting to get some fresh air.
Sam Wong. That guy worked at the mill and constantly gave me grief about how bad my father was. I ignored his comments for as long as possible, but he persisted, often telling me that I reminded him of my father because of how useless I was. He somehow lost his balance and fell into the chipper at the mill. I doubt there was enough of his body left to fill the coffin they buried him in.
Evelyn Newman. Unfortunately, she saw me leave Susan Heidenberg’s home after I took care of that bitch. I was sorry for killing Evelyn, but needed to silence her. I did that one myself, keeping Loui away as I ended her life quickly and as painlessly as possible. While we’re on the subject of Heidenberg, do you know why I killed that woman? While the press purported her as a sweet and innocent young lady, no-one knew that she was a bully who lived next to my mum in Carlton for many years. She would often throw eggs at my mum’s house with her friends, at one point dropping a pile of dog shit on her porch. I was glad to end her, Loui taking his time with that one.
And while I’m on
