Burnington Gaol

F O R T Y - F I V E | Adeline

"What do you mean, 'it was Tony'?"

"Think about it. He's been with us from the start. He had control over every file, every report we had about the case. He was the one who changed them, to throw us off. He made us think that Vincent survived. Had us on a wild goose chase. No wonder he was so surprised that we found out there was a blond hair left at the scene – he didn't know he'd left it there, and that's why he gave us that file first. He didn't think he had to change anything on it. And how he suggested looking into Susie's boyfriend. He knew it would lead us to Seth, and that we'd think he was guilty."

"And the fire," Billy continued. "It would've had to have been started from the inside."

"And it's no coincidence that the rest of the files were destroyed. He must have panicked. We were getting too close. He was going to kill Frank and destroy the files in one move."

"But then you saved him," Billy paused. "But it doesn't make any sense. Why would he let us even see Frank if he knew we were investigating the crime that he committed?"

I fell silent for a long moment, thinking back to those early days.

"I told him that if he didn't help me, I'd keep digging, that I'd keep searching for the truth no matter what. He believed me. So he stalled. All he had to do was keep us chasing our tails just long enough for Frank was hanged. And every time we got too close, he'd rip our lead away. And we got really close..."

"The fire."

I nodded.

"But why?" Billy asked. "Why would he do this? How did he even know Susie?"

Susie and I did everything together, from sports to class to laughing about our creepy gym teacher, Mr Grayson.

"He was her gym teacher," I realised, thinking back to Lucy's words. "That's where he met her. His last name is Grayson, isn't it?"

"I think so," Billy said. "But that still doesn't explain why he did it."

He was a scrawny little thing. Tall as the Empire State Building. Blond hair. Blue eyes. First name was something like Timothy or Terry.

"He did it because Jimmy killed his sister, and Frank covered it up. He took away the only thing they cared about and then he had the justice system sentence them to death for a crime they didn't commit."

I looked at Billy, eyes wide.

"We have to warn him – have to save him."

"But there's no proof," Billy said. "It's all theory."

"No," I said. "If we can get them to compare a sample of Tony's hair with the hair found at the crime scene, we can prove it. Get the records that proved he worked at the school. We just need more time."

"We have a day. We might just have enough time to scrape the evidence together."

"But we need to warn Frank. He can't be left in the dark on this."

"But how? Every time we see Frank, Tony is there. Unless you want to sneak out again."

"Dad took his keys," I sighed. "But tomorrow, when the suspension is lifted, I can convince Tony to take us in to see Frank."

"What are you talking about? We can't go anywhere near him."

"He doesn't know that we know about him. We have the upper-hand. We need to use it."

"And how exactly are we going to tell Frank that Tony is the killer with Tony in the room?"

I bit my lip, lowered my eyes for a brief second. I looked up at Billy, my smile wide.

"I know just what to do."

© A.G. Travers 2018