CITY OF SHADOWS - PART II
(read Part I)
And I'm glad he did, cause this room was the best of the lot. It had guns, tons
of them. And other weapons too. I was trying to think of a way to get one, but
Ellis watched me like I was a magpie trying to steal something shiny.
 
 
The next room wasn't as much fun, but it didn't freak me out like the cell,
courthouses never did. I wondered if they held the really tough crooks in the
cage with spikes, when they were up for trial.
 
 Another
room was all about crime and punishment, and I saw this key that got me
thinking, wondering how to pick a lock like that.
I took a trip to the toilet with Ellis waiting for me outside, telling me to
hurry up and all, like I was going to make a run for it. He gets paranoid like
that sometimes. I mean, when I don't see him, I go to work and everything just
like normal people.
After I did my business, Ellis took his turn on the loo, and I saw the funniest
thing in the whole museum. A dog. Her name was Tess, and she was the first
trained police dog in Australia. It was actually her, Tess. They'd stuffed her
and put her in a glass box. Some Wonder Dog she was now.
 
 When
it was time to go, Ellis proved he was a good bloke. He got me this book called
The Devil's Jump, it's this crime story set in the 40s. Ellis thought I'd learn
something from it, but it's all about robberies and murder, so it's not like I'd
learn anything good.
Still, it got me thinking, maybe I could write a story like that. That's an
honest way to make a buck, and people'd probably buy it cause they thought a
real crook wrote it.
But I'm just a pickpocket, that's all.
All photographs of exhibition materials are copyright Historic Houses
Trust
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