Read Hindsight (9781921997211) for Free Online

walked up the steps to the imposing front doors and pushed them open. The familiar smell of books greeted my nose and the hush embraced me as I started to make my way to the reference section.
    â€˜Can I help you, dear?’ It was the delightful Mrs Jones, senior librarian, professional busybody and advertisement against spinsterhood.
    I switched on the smile again and slowly turned around, bracing myself for the barrage I knew was coming.
    â€˜Mrs Jones, how nice to see you.’ I silently congratulated myself on my A-class acting skills.
    The woman turned and studied me over the top of her glasses.
    I sighed. ‘Cass, Cass Lehman. It’s been a while …’
    â€˜Of course, Cass, my dear, why, how lovely to see you again after such a very long time. What brings you into town? Are you feeling better?’ The wattles of skin on her neck quivered excitedly and her eyes gleamed behind the gold rims of her spectacles.
    I could imagine her mouth watering at the thought of spreading this bit of news around her gaggle of cronies. Cass Lehman, back in town! More than two years since the last time, agoraphobia you know, very unfortunate, not surprising, though, when you consider how unusual her mother and grandmother are, didn’t have a chance of being normal the poor child, needed a healthy environment to grow up in, not a house full of superstition and fancy. ‘I am very well thanks, Mrs Jones. Just here to do some research in the special reference section. I’ll see you later.’
    I turned and hurried away before she could pump me for more information. I could feel her gaze scorching the fabric on my retreating back. With a sigh of relief I reached the small reference section and slipped between two rows of books.
    I wanted to look up the history of the neighbouring town of Fairfield. I needed to look at its history from the time it was founded to the present and I was hoping that some of the local chronicles that were only available in hard copy would have the information I was looking for. Once I’d searched those, I planned to move on to the microfiche to look at the newspaper clippings from the local papers.
    What I hadn’t wanted to share with Mum and Gran was that I was making plans to venture further than Jewel Bay. I figured a good first step to finding my freedom might be to explore the bigger town and maybe eventually find a home of my own there. Before I could set foot in the place though, I needed to know where the psychic hotspots were.
    For me, that meant doing painstaking research into every murder or tragic death since the town was established and plotting them onto a street map. Hopefully I could work out some safe paths and navigate my way around the town without having any unexpected episodes. The only danger was unknown or unrecorded deaths that I could inadvertently stumble over.
    I was willing to take the risk. I’d come to realise that I desperately needed to get out and make my own life. I couldn’t keep going the way I was — I would go crazy and end up as a mad old lady with a dozen cats. I’d die without anyone realising for weeks and end up as kitty chow.
    I was soon immersed in my research and before I knew it, I had only an hour left before I was due to meet Mum. Gathering up my notes I decided to move to the newspaper archives and start some work there. Two hours of trawling through dusty tomes of local history written in quaint language describing the ebb and flow of rural life in a small town was enough for the moment. For a change of pace I decided to start in the present and work backwards. I sat down at one of the computers and pulled up the Local Tribune from the previous month and started browsing.
    Forty-five minutes of mostly uneventful skimming passed until an article popped up that caught my attention: Local Girl Found Murdered.
    I remembered the case well. Back in 2001, Louise Anderson, a pretty young girl who was born in