Now logged in as a prison administrator, Jax went back to the search bar and tried again. Soon he had all the details of both George and Elliott’s crimes and convictions. He had been right about the pair when he had summed them up as loners. They were both hardened criminals, and violent, had enough street cred to survive in prison without protection, but they were not affiliated with any gang. Perfect. Jax could take action without fear of a third-party reprisal. He would work out the details later. Tonight.

Next he went back to his search bar and typed in Daniel Marsh’s name. It took him fifteen minutes to read everything he could find, which included a confidential police file he pulled from behind a firewall. He then moved on to Grub, Bluey and the rest of the gang.

He also looked up a selection of other inmates in case there was a danger that was so far unseen. He hadn’t even realised he’d started a search on the Serpent until he found himself staring at a picture of Australia’s version of Hannibal Lecter. Just as he had crept into his head, so the Serpent had slithered onto his screen.

Jax was shocked by the Serpent’s full story. The snippets he had picked up along the way only hinted at the true horror. At his trial, his lawyers had claimed he suffered from a severe split-personality disorder, that he wasn’t one person but two: Professor Scott Wensley and the Serpent. Reports suggested the lawyers urged Wensley to contest the charges, but the Professor refused. While he claimed he couldn’t remember the murders and blamed it all on the Serpent, he wasn’t going to dispute the facts – he was a scientist after all.

Despite Wensley’s confirmed history of schizophrenia, the prosecution had claimed he was a cold-blooded killer. They said a spectacular academic failure had prompted a breakdown first, then the killing spree. One by one, he had hunted down his critics. Revenge. Then he’d gone after his academic rivals. Envy. Both the media and public were enthralled by talk of the thirty-three murders and especially the fact that each one was said to have involved a soul-devouring ritual and that all thirty-three identities had thereby been absorbed the Professor. They couldn’t wait to see who testified in court: Wensley, the Serpent or one of the thirty-three. So Wensley’s no-contest plea was a disappointment. He didn’t take the stand at all; in fact, he barely said a word throughout the entire trial. His silenced only fuelled further speculation.

Jax found his way into crime-scene files after reading a selection of news reports, features and commentary. He didn’t look at the victim photos, as he really didn’t want to be carrying images of dead people around in his head for the rest of his life. Not any more than he already had.