At the mouth of his street he disembarked. He saw the circus still down there at the far end, the vehicles of police and media still parked at all angles on his neighbour’s nature strip. There were more of them now, spilling out on to the road, skewed across other driveways and halfway up kerbs, installed presumptuously on well-maintained lawns. Was it really only a day, a mere thirteen hours, since he had seen them arriving in the cleaver-grey dawn?
Now, approaching them through the dusk, he fell victim to a strange optical illusion. All of the vehicles appeared to have moved along by one house – as though they were now centred on his nature strip instead of Jack Durack’s. He closed and reopened his heavy eyelids. He warily drew nearer.
All of the vehicles had moved along by one house. They were centred on his nature strip instead of Jack Durack’s.
A helicopter, moreover, was hovering low over his roof, and aiming a brilliant white spotlight into his backyard.
At the foot of his driveway, a small crowd had gathered behind a navel-high barrier of police tape. The low chopper tousled their clothing and hair. He joined them, and followed their gaze down his side path. His backyard was bathed in quivering light. A smallish bulldozer was back there, digging deep brown trenches in the floodlit grass. Men in bright orange overalls were climbing in and out of the trenches, carrying shovels in one hand and dark heavy garbage bags in the other. Over in the yard’s back corner stood a large khaki tent, an army-style affair with a flat roof, in which further sources of light harshly burned. Busy figures moved around inside it, sifting through materials on waist-high benches, their shadows stretching hugely up the canvas walls.
Soon the crowd’s attention turned to the street. A further police vehicle was pulling up to the kerb, circulating blue light. The driver got out and came round to the vehicle’s rear. He brought out a leashed and lion-sized dog. A goatee of slobber hung from its black gumboot lips. A lady near Fenton said it looked like a cadaver dog. It and the cop moved up the side path in no great hurry, coupled by the loose arc of the leash.
These things all had to mean something. Fenton felt far too tired, however, to work out what it was. No one in the crowd seemed to have registered his presence yet. A strange and rather unpleasant feeling was coming over him. He was starting to suspect that he was dead, that he’d died a long time ago, that any minute now he would see his own covered remains being wheeled out towards them on a gurney.
He left before anything of the kind could happen. He caught a bus back to campus, using up his last ticket. He could think of nowhere else to go. On a bench in front of the library a rugged-up vagrant was asleep. The next bench along was free. Fenton stretched out on it, and within a minute was blessedly unconscious.
He went to a public telephone. He rang Gus. Gus said the delivery of the piece had gone down smoothly. Gus said he saw no reason why the elimination of Robert Browning should not go down tonight. Gus said, I’ll pick you up at twenty-two hundred.
Gus said: tonight, we ride.
From the same public telephone he called her, and asked her to meet him at two o’clock in the coffee shop, and hung up before she could say no.
He bought a morning newspaper. A large photograph of his house occupied the front page.
NET CLOSING ON AGGOT
Police have made a startling breakthrough in the manhunt for Neville Claude Aggot, prompting hopes that recapture of the elusive multiple murderer may be only days away.
The sensational development came mid-morning yesterday, with investigators sealing off a two-bedroom fibro house in the Northside suburb of ———. Forensic experts and members of the Aggot Task Force spent much of yesterday afternoon at the property, with crime-scene analysis continuing well into the night.
At a press conference late last night, Superintendent Mick Middleton, Head of the Aggot Task Force, confirmed that the home is believed to have been used as a safe house by Aggot in the days since his dramatic escape eleven days ago.
"The premises display every quality of a deviate’s lair," Superintendent Middleton said.
Preliminary investigations suggest that Aggot may have been present in the home as recently as yesterday morning, a matter of hours before police discovered the alleged lair.
Asked whether the breakthrough may signal an imminent end to the manhunt, Superintendent Middleton said, "In a law-enforcement-rich environment, the odds of this individual remaining at large for much longer would appear at this time to be very limited indeed."
Durack link
In a bizarre co-incidence, the suspected lair is located next-door to the home of Jack Durack, the 67-year-old former bus driver who made headlines after a purported encounter with Aggot in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Mystery continues to surround the Durack incident, which left a 4-year-old Rottweiler with fatal gunshot wounds. While police had initially refused to treat the incident as a genuine Aggot sighting, yesterday’s developments forced an about-face from Superintendent Middleton, who conceded last night that Aggot is now believed "more than likely" to have played a part in Wednesday night’s events.
Mr Durack still faces firearms and animal mayhem charges over the incident.
“Rotting organic matter”
It was during investigations into the Durack matter that police stumbled on to Aggot’s suspected hideout, which reporters have already dubbed the "House of Darkness."
"I can confirm that while conducting a routine doorknock of the original crime scene area, an investigating officer attended an adjacent property and perceived a strong odour of rotting organic matter to be emanating from the interior of the premises," Superintendent Middleton said last night.
"Upon forcing entry to the dwelling, a deceased feline animal was ascertained to be lying on the floor.
"Upon searching other rooms of the property the officer detected further suspicious items, at which time the premises were quarantined and forensic professionals called in."
“Grave fears”
Police attempts to locate the home’s tenants yesterday proved unsuccessful, and sources close to the Task Force confirm that "grave fears" are now held for their safety.
The lease is held by a 20-year-old man enrolled at the nearby University of ———, whose name has not been released. Neighbours report that the man shared the home with at least two other students, and that the household was known to be a locus of "odd and undesirable" behaviour.
According to one police source, investigators theorise that the missing students may have disappeared from the property as early as the weekend of Aggot’s escape, eleven days ago.
The Sun understands that several utilities payments which fell due within this period were not met by the students, and that the home’s electricity supply was terminated six days ago, following non-payment of an outstanding account.
The students had made no subsequent attempt to have the service reconnected.
The unusual length of the property’s lawns was another factor suggesting that the students had been missing for some considerable time, a source said.
Heavy earth-moving equipment was brought in last night to excavate areas of the property’s back yard, with digging expected to continue throughout today.
However, Superintendent Middleton last night refused to link the digging operation with the fate of the missing students, stressing that it was "nothing more than a precautionary excavation at this stage."
“Timely”
The discovery of the “House of Darkness” could not have come at a better time for the beleaguered Aggot Task Force, with public and media concern mounting over perceived inadequacies in the manhunt to date.
The Task Force had been under increasing pressure to produce a result in the case, with polls showing over 90 per-cent of the public in favour of Aggot’s swift recapture.
While Superintendent Middleton conceded last night that the discovery of the hideout was "timely," the veteran investigator quashed suggestions that he had displayed undue haste in revealing the breakthrough to the media.
"This is a highly significant development and the community has every right to be fully appraised of it," he said.
Superintendent Middleton was also swift to reject claims that the decision to commence immediate excavation work in the property’s back-yard had been "premature."
"This is a routine enforcement action in cases of this kind," he said.
However, Superintendent Middleton declined to reveal what evidence, if any, has so far been recovered by the dig.
“Items of interest”
In an unusual move, selected media representatives were yesterday "walked through" areas of the crime scene and permitted to view "items of major interest" so far recovered from the home.
Among the more sensational finds is a collection of obscene letters and documents written in a hand already positively identified as Aggot’s.
Also recovered from the scene was an apparent "Death List" on which Aggot had written the names of several potential murder victims.
Other disturbing discoveries include: items of terrorist literature; sticks of incense; an apparent "voodoo doll" with exaggerated sexual features; and a large collection of sexually explicit magazines containing illustrated articles on sodomy, frottism, body piercing, and female masturbation.
The magazines also contained "sealed sections" relating to celebrity penises and detailing so-called "hot tips" for better oral sex.
The sealed sections had reportedly been opened.
A senior police officer last night described the scene inside the house as one of "squalor," with surface areas coated in dust and cluttered with household waste, and bench areas strewn with unwashed plates and utensils, empty cartons and food scraps.
"The toilet bowl is as bad as any I have seen in thirty years of law enforcement," the officer said.
Back rooms vital
Forensic investigations were last night focussing on two rooms at the rear of the property, one of which is believed to have been used as sleeping quarters by Aggot during his time in the house.
Late last night several heavily stained items of bedclothing, already dubbed the "Sheets of Shame," were removed from the scene for forensic analysis.
A second room, which had evidently been used as a macabre shrine or "trophy room" by the 30-year-old fugitive, had been crudely set up to resemble a young woman’s bedroom.
The room contained wardrobes from which numerous items of female clothing were recovered, including panties and brassieres. Also recovered from the room were several items of jewellery, and items which a spokesperson would only describe as "intimate feminine articles."
A separate cache of female underclothing, reportedly in soiled condition, was found concealed in a wicker basket in the home’s bathroom.
Also seized from the bathroom were oils and lotions commonly used as lubricants in massage activities, together with several packages of sanitary napkins.
One package had reportedly been opened, and several napkins had been removed from it.
Agitator among missing
The grisly discoveries so far revealed to the press are understood to represent only a small fraction of the total evidence so far recovered from the scene, with certain key finds being withheld for possible use in future legal proceedings.
According to information obtained by the Sun, these items include a hat and suitcase positively identified as belonging to the missing student activist Pamela Scratch, also enrolled at the University of ———.
Ms Scratch, 20, had been a vocal campaigner for Aggot’s release before disappearing from her inner-city apartment on the night of the fugitive’s escape. Fingerprints and genetic material found in Ms Scratch’s ransacked apartment have since been positively identified as Aggot’s.
The Scratch break-in remains the only authenticated indication of Aggot’s movements since his escape, although unconfirmed sightings of the killer have been rife.
Ms Scratch was initially understood to be under police protection in the wake of the break-in. However, police have since conceded that they are no longer in contact with the besieged agitator, and have no knowledge of her present whereabouts.
During last night’s press conference, Superintendent Middleton refused to comment on speculation that Ms Scratch may be among the possible victims being sought by excavation teams in the home’s backyard.
However, in a discovery which is certain to fuel that speculation, the Sun has learnt that a section of carpet removed from the "House of Darkness" for laboratory analysis contains traces of vomit which preliminary tests indicate to be consistent with Ms Scratch’s rare blood type.
SNARBY connection probed
Last night Superintendent Middleton would not rule out the possibility of a connection between Ms Scratch and the missing students, revealing that police are "looking into" the possibility that the students may have been members of SNARBY, the now-notorious student group formed by Ms Scratch to campaign for Aggot’s release.
"One possible scenario is that the students have supplied their address to the fugitive in a misguided attempt to give him shelter, with tragic consequences," Superintendent Middleton said.
Pubic hairs hoarded
Among other "House of Darkness" items so far withheld from the press, the Sun has learned of a chilling discovery in the home’s bathtub, where searchers located a macabre collection of pubic hairs, apparently hoarded by Aggot for his private gratification.
According to one source, the gruesome cache of hairs appeared to have originated from the genital areas of "at least three" different persons.
An expert in criminal psychology contacted by the Sun last night confirmed that such "grisly keepsakes" are a typical feature of the lairs of multiple killers.
"These objects would tend to possess a souvenir or ‘trophy’ value in the mind of these individuals," the expert said.
"The same would apply to the hoarded items of victim clothing, which the subject may have removed prior to body dumping or on subsequent revisits to the body dump site."
Although mystery still surrounds the discovery of the dead cat, the expert speculated that it may have featured in "fetishistic rites" conducted by Aggot during his time in the house.
While police are now confident of an arrest within the next forty-eight hours, persons who have any information as to Aggot’s whereabouts are still being urged to contact the Aggot Task Force hotline on 0 800 652 ----.
Attendance was thin. Only four students were present: Fenton himself, with his mind comprehensively on other things; a pale guy with a shaving rash who just sat there taking notes; and two perennially silent girls, one good-looking and one not, whom one never saw outside of each other’s company.
A pretty poor roll-up, Fenton felt, for what was going to be – although nobody else knew it yet – Browning’s last hurrah.
Browning himself arrived ten minutes late. He looked the way Fenton felt. The weight of the semester seemed to be crushing him slowly from above, making him sag progressively towards the earth. Increasingly he resembled the bums and squatters among whom he kept his office space, down there in the former Chancellery. He had the air of a novel on its last legs, all the essential business done now, slowly losing heat as the right-hand pages petered out.
He read out a form-letter of rejection he had received earlier in the day. It said:
Dear Mr Browning,
Poetry Today thanks you for the enclosed poems, but regrets to inform you that we cannot accept them for publication at this time.
As a valued member of the Poetry Today family, we wish to inform you of some important recent developments at the magazine.
As you will no doubt be aware, the recent appearance of Ivan Lego’s Empty Pages has inaugurated a crisis in the publishing industry, and Poetry Today is currently in the process of reprioritising its editorial goals in light of the important issues raised by Lego’s book.
As is well known, Professor Lego’s discovery that language is founded at its very root in an act of oppression (the oppression of silence by the word) bears the troubling suggestion that any use of speech or language is inherently an oppressive act, and therefore raises the question of whether language-use can continue to be considered acceptable in any humane and pluralist discourse.
Given that it is the task of “serious” literature to overturn existing modes of oppression and correct historical injustice(s), the literary community now faces an important conversation as to whether literature’s aims can any longer be achieved through the contaminated medium of language, or whether desirable outcomes might better be achieved by silence.
This question is taken with the utmost seriousness by Poetry Today, which has long been concerned to celebrate gender, ethnic and cultural diversit(ies), and to provide a forum for hitherto marginalised voices.
Given this commitment to equity and diversity, Poetry Today has decided to suspend all further use of language (and consequently all further publication) until consensus has been reached in the literary community about the full implications of Professor Lego’s theories.
This hiatus may also, we hope, be of benefit to our contributors, as poets and fictionists explore new strategies for “writing silence.”
The editors of Poetry Today wish to apologize sincerely to any readers, particularly those of minority or subaltern background, who may have been caused offence by our past use of the printed word. We can only assure such readers that this was not our intention, and that Poetry Today will not resume publication unless and until we are able to do so in a format which will be sensitive to the concerns of all readers.
Yours sincerely,
The Editors
Poetry Today
After reading this out, Browning gave a long speech about the death of literary art and the rise in its stead of tepid therapeutic dishonest feel-good right-thinking theory-driven committee-pleasing garbage. Spittle flew. He ran out of puff well before the hour was done. He let the class go early.
He caught Fenton’s sleeve as he tried to depart. “That matter we discussed last time, Bland. It’s under control, I take it?”
Fenton assured him, with considerable want of candour, that it was.