Burnington Gaol

T W E N T Y - O N E | Adeline

"Addie," Billy said, flopping down in the row in front of me. "You'll never guess what I found out from the great aunt."

"I failed my semester one exams."

Billy's head jerked up. I lowered my eyes.

"You?" He said. "Failed school?"

"Not school. My semester one exams."

"God. What's Dad going to say?"

"He's not going to find out," I said. "Teacher said that I could pass if I organised and ran the annual school chess tournament. You know, for extra credit."

"Isn't that bribery?"

"Probably, but I don't care as long as I pass. What did you find out at the great aunt's?"

"She's a bit of nutcase," he said. "But she's convinced that both of the parents are dead and buried together in the town cemetery."

"What do you mean? The father's body was never found."

"Well, that's what I said, but she told me that he was dead as a doornail next to the wife."

I leaned back against the window, trying to make sense of the information.

"Kind of puts a hole in my awesome coming-back-from-the-dead-to-get-revenge theory, doesn't it?"

"If he's dead and buried, why does the report say otherwise?"

"I don't know. Like I said, she was a bit of a nutcase. She could've been lying."

"Only one way to know for sure," I said, the bus pulling up outside the Gaol. "We'll have to ask the man who killed them."

***

"Oh, well if it isn't for young Adeline," Frank snarled, sitting behind the glass. "What brings you here this time? Are you still deciding if I'm worth being saved?"

I sank onto the cold metal stool, feeling the weight of Frank's unflinching stare. Billy, seemingly unfazed, leaned against the divider.

"Susie's biological parents," I began softly. "You... you killed them, right?"

Frank, with a little smirk, glanced to his left, as if trying to look behind him without moving. Tony stood there, eyeing him closely.

"Hypothetically," he said, "I might have done some things I regret."

"So you, uh, hypothetically shot both of them in the head?"

"Hypothetically, yes."

"And they both hypothetically died."

"Yes."

"Did you hypothetically move either of the bodies?"

"What's this about, Adeline?" Frank asked. "Why are you asking about some dead psychopaths that nobody has seen in twelve years?"

"The father, Vincent. According to the reports, his body was never discovered. We thought that maybe he survived."

"No, absolutely not."

"Are you sure?"

"Believe me, he's dead. Nobody survives a hypothetical bullet through the brain – not in the way I hypothetically do it."

"Then do you know where his body is? Why somebody might've moved it?"

"Nobody moved it. I keep track of my hypothetical kills. Both bodies were there, both discovered, both buried."

"Just like the great aunt said," Billy added.

"Oh, he speaks," Frank grinned, looking up at Billy. "Does he roll over, too?"