Murder in Paradise (The Thornton Mysteries Book 4) by Ellen Read

Author:Ellen Read [Read, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Easy Reads Publishing
Published: 2023-11-24T16:00:00+00:00

Alexandra dressed early for dinner. She’d persuaded her family to do the same. Although they wore their evening attire, she suggested putting on their walking shoes.

‘Where on earth are we going, my darling?’ her father asked, once they stood at the front entrance to Government House.

‘I want to go down to the ruins of the convict settlement.’

‘Golly,’ Edith cried. ‘I’m not going there in the dark.’

‘It’s not too dark, darling. It’s only twilight. It will be an adventure.’ Alexandra tucked her arm through Edith’s. ‘Come on now.’

They took the easiest route, walking out of the Government House driveway, turning left into Quality Row and then left again into Bounty Street, which led to the penal colony ruins.

As they drew close, Alexandra felt a chill enter her bones, as if ice had been injected into her veins. Edith hugged her arm as if it was a lifeline. They picked their way into the first compound, and then into the next, where the footings of the convict buildings were still visible in the approaching darkness.

Alexandra gazed up at the stone walls, some broken, but she could also see Slaughter Bay beyond through the square archway. On the perimeter of the bay, surf crashed onto the reef. Scrimshaw had told them that in 1790, HMS Sirius, flagship of the First Fleet, was wrecked off the reefs. On its last voyage, it had sailed with the Supply, and they had carried two hundred convicts and provisions to Norfolk Island, offloading at Cascade Bay where Scrimshaw had shown them the whaling station. The two ships were driven out to sea by a storm. The smaller Supply got out of the bay, but the Sirius had been driven backwards onto the reef. At least the convicts had been offloaded, only to die later at the hands of their harsh jailers.

‘There.’ Alexandra’s head shot round. ‘Do you hear it? The howling, mournful song of the ghost bird.’

‘I do,’ Benedict said.

‘Gosh, it’s eerie,’ Edith murmured.

‘Look through the arch.’ Alexandra said. ‘They’re gathering over the ocean.’

‘They look like one creature moving around,’ her father said.

‘Like a whale,’ Edith said.

They watched as darkness settled over Slaughter Bay and the ruins of the Penal Colony. Then the birds swooped in silence to the towering cliffs to settle in their burrows. Scrimshaw had said the birds returned annually throughout their lifetimes to the same burrows.

Alexandra turned back and looked at the crumbling walls. She heard another cry. It filled her head and shuddered through her. She couldn’t help shivering.

‘What is it, my love?’ Benedict asked.

‘Did you hear it?’

‘I didn’t hear anything else?’

‘I did,’ Edith said, and hugged Alexandra’s arm. ‘What is it, Lexy?’

‘I think it’s the ghosts of the convicts, Edie.’

‘Gosh. I’m not coming back here again.’

‘Not at night,’ Alexandra agreed. ‘Not here standing amongst where so many people were tortured and killed.’

‘Gosh, Lexy. You’re making me feel worse.’

They went back to Government House for dinner. Even much later, lying in her bed in husband’s arm, Alexandra could hear the tormented shrieks resounding in her mind.

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