Read Hindsight (9781921997211) for Free Online Page A

Fairfield but was studying in Adelaide, went missing mid term. A campaign to find her followed and ended with the tragic discovery of her body somewhere in the city. I scanned the article. It was written before she was found and the police were appealing for information. There was some uncertainty about where she went missing from. The Fairfield police were working with the Major Crime Investigation Branch in Adelaide. The article included a picture of one of the local detectives investigating the case, Detective Ed Dyson.
    The photograph showed a man weighed down by his job. He looked like he hadn’t slept or eaten anything for weeks. The article quoted him calling for anyone who might have seen Louise on the day of her disappearance to come forward and assist police with their investigations. The request smacked of desperation.
    I scanned further down the microfiche looking for related articles. I soon found what I was looking for. The front page article described how her mutilated body was found in the Adelaide Parklands. The autopsy results confirmed that she’d been tortured and dumped while she was still alive. No useful evidence was found on the body. From what I remembered they never caught the killer.
    Without really knowing why, I printed out the articles. The case wasn’t relevant to my research but for some reason it bothered me intensely. I picked up the pages from the printer and sat there looking at the picture of Ed Dyson. There was something about him that appealed to me. I wondered if he was still a cop. I sat back and stared into space. Maybe I was going about this the wrong way. Maybe I should be confronting my demons instead of running away from them.
    A glimmer of an idea started to burn in the recesses of my brain. If Ed was still a detective maybe he could use some help. A nervous knot formed in the pit of my stomach. What if I offered to help him solve the case? I could visit the place where they found her. If I could pick up on her last moments I might be able to see her killer through her eyes. The thought made me shudder. The word ‘tortured’ leapt out of the page at me. If she died from the torture that meant I would feel what she felt.
    I was still sitting there staring at the page when a hand descended on my shoulder.
    â€˜Jesus, Mum,’ I gasped. ‘You just scared ten years off my life.’
    â€˜Sorry, darling, I thought you must have heard me coming — I made quite a racket walking across the floorboards in my heels. What’s that you’re reading so intently?’
    â€˜Just an article I came across about the Louise Anderson murder while I was doing some research. It bothers me for some reason.’
    â€˜I remember that one. Turned out it was one of the security guards on her campus, which was why it took so long to figure it out. The guy gave the police false information about a possible suspect that turned out to be a complete fabrication.’
    â€˜Oh, I didn’t realise they caught the guy.’ I felt a weird mix of relief and disappointment as I said it.
    â€˜Yes, it took them a long time, if I remember. Anyway, are you ready for lunch? I’ve been waiting for you at Mrs McCredie’s for the last twenty minutes.’
    I glanced up at the clock and groaned. ‘Shit! I’m sorry. I completely lost track of time. Yes, let’s go. I need to settle up with Mrs Jones for my printing and photocopying and then we can eat. Looks like I’d better shout you lunch, not just cake, to make up for keeping you waiting.’
    â€˜Well, if you insist, Cass. It’s not often I get taken out to lunch these days. By the way, you might as well hear it from me because the town’s all abuzz with it — someone was killed last night. Her name was Janet something or other. I didn’t know her. She’d only been in town for about eighteen months. Have you heard of her?’
    â€˜Me? Not likely. How did she