Extracts from The Diaries of 'Professor' Cornelius Crane
March 13th, 1969

The very next morning I spoke of it again.

“Dad?”

“Hmm,” he mumbled from behind the morning paper.

“If I can raise the other two thousand dollars in time, will you buy thatpiece of land?”

“What?” he asked lowering the top half of the Sedgefield Oracle.

“You heard me.”

“Yeah, sure. You do that and I’ll buy it.”

“Promise?”

“Yep,” he said flicking the paper upright again. “Promise.”

Now of course he had said this in a most cynical tone. After all, howcould a nine-year-old replace the same amount of money in a couple of weeks thatit had taken him probably years to accumulate? But, he had made a promise andone never breaks a promise to a child.

I had smiled at the paper. Not at my father hidden behind it, but at theheadline that would secure me the money I needed.

The main headline read:

Willow Creek Killer Strikes Again!!!

Beneath that:

Child found murdered. The body of 8-year-old James Norton, who wentmissing last Wednesday, has been found in a shallow grave in the woods nearWillow Creek. Evidence indicates that he was molested before being strangledwith a thin wire cord.

The Norton child is now the third to have been abducted in the past twoyears. The disappearances of Jenny Buchannan and Andrew Francis still remain amystery, but police are certain that all three have been the victims of asingle deranged serial killer. Detective Inspector Tallis has cordoned off thearea and called in a team of special dog squads to scour the rest of the woods.So far the search has proved unfruitful.

For twenty five years their searches and detective work provedunfruitful. Although several more children went missing, not another body wasfound. That is, not until Joaq Du Maille passed away from a serious stroke andthey found evidence of his dastardly deeds.

They found his wine cellar curiously soundproofed with special paddingand there were bizarre chains and manacles attached to the walls. But it wasnot until, under police supervision, a locksmith was brought in to open thelarge safe that was bolted to the floor in his bedroom closet, that the truenature of the man was revealed.

The family were hoping to replace a copy of his last will and testament;instead they found the writings of a perverted killer; the declarations of adepraved maniac who believed he could replace some form of redemption byconfessing his sins in a diary covered in pink embroidery.

Shortly thereafter, the remains of four children were discovered, buriedbeneath the soil in his fancy French-design greenhouse. Records showed that thehothouse was built soon after the discovery of little James Norton’s body. Joaqhad obviously considered it safer and more practical to conduct business fromhome.

Like Jimmy Hoffa, the bodies of the first two children were never found!

Du Maille had been a reasonably wealthy and prominent artist in the area.A genteel vegetarian who practically radiated kindness and moderation. Anexcellent painter and admirable gardener. Of course, no one would ever guessthe nature of the special fertilizer that he used to grow his award winningsquashes and marrows.

“Who would have guessed?” The people all said.

‘It’s always the quiet ones,’ became a popular expression soon afterthat.

Joaq Du Maille, a name that would be remembered long after his death; andyet, it had all somehow slipped my mind. Forgotten until this morning’sheadlines jogged it into crystal clear clarity.

My parents had always used the disappearances as a warning to me not totalk to strangers or travel alone through Willow Creek Wood and other secludedareas.

Memory of the fear I had once felt, as they sternly cautioned me in thisregard, came flooding back.

Joaq Du Maille had filled the nightmares of many of the youngsters of myday. He had also fulfilled the fears of an unfortunate few. But, now that Ihave the knowledge, I have the power; the power to make him feel the terrorthat he had once caused others. And that terror could easily wield…say…twothousand dollars…easy.