They were on a broad plateau above a wide, semi-cleared gully. Nurse Mitchell and Bonfiglio struggled to remove the slip-rails which would block their descent, while Queenie and Mrs Milward brought out the corpse. Queenie stayed at the car on lookout while the others lumbered down into the gully. At the bottom, they laid the body on the leafy ground and unwrapped the shroud. Nurse Mitchell grabbed handfuls of forest debris to cover it - large, dead, brown fern fronds and grey masses of gum leaves. Then she dragged a large plank of wood and laid it over the area to keep the weather away. She dusted off her hands and said, 'She will be eaten by some animal in a few days, and it will not be known who she is if they find her.' They climbed back to the car in silence. The horizon was beginning to glow; it was almost five.

They drove back to 4 Burnley Street. Mrs Spicer was in the kitchen having breakfast with Mr Solly. Nurse Mitchell went into the newly empty bedroom to remove all traces of the girl. 'What have you done with the clothes?' she asked Queenie. 'I burnt them under the copper.' 'Good girl.'

Nurse and Queenie collected two small poison-bottles that Bertha had brought with her.²⁴ Before incinerating the girl's effects, Queenie had removed a brooch made from a war medal, and a ring set with a small diamond. Now she showed these to her mother.

There was someone at the door. Nurse went and there found Mrs Mueller expecting to see 'the young girl from the country'. Nurse Mitchell smiled at her.

'She's gone home,' she lied. 'She left yesterday. Didn't she go to your place?' Mrs Mueller was mystified. Nurse Mitchell said, 'Well, she left here to go there.' Mrs Mueller could only respond, 'But she could not go to my place because there is nobody at my place that knows her, only me! I don't even really know the girl. Her people are anxious about her; she hasn't written to them.' ²⁵ Nurse Mitchell continued friendly and ignorant: 'She has probably gone to stay with friends. Of course, there are many girls here and they are encouraged to come and go as they please. I've been at the races lately.' ²⁶ This was not an explanation, but Mrs Mueller was not, after all, responsible for the girl. She allowed Nurse Mitchell to distract her with talk of the races.

13 January 1923
Frank Bonfiglio was cooperating with the police, from the extreme discomfort of a hospital bed in St Vincent's. Senior Detective Fred Piggott and Detective Ed Ethell were standing over his bed with notebooks and earnest expressions.

Det. Piggott: Hulloa, Bonfiglio! What has happened to you this time?

Bonfiglio: I have been shot.

Det. Piggott: Who shot you?

Bonfiglio: Nurse Mitchell.

Before Bonfiglio left for Western Australia, he and Nurse Mitchell had come to an understanding. They were going to start afresh. He was going to start a business. They were going to move interstate and forget about 4 Burnley Street and the dead girl. On the Saturday after they buried her, Nurse Mitchell had begged him to marry her 'this afternoon!' He promised he would, but only after he had re-established himself in Perth. She sulked, but let him go. He left his young son at her house while he was to be away - a gesture of his commitment. Their understanding included Nurse Mitchell's promise of £40 up front and more to follow. From Perth, he sent her a telegram requesting £30. She wrote back, astonished and suspicious: why did he need £30 a mere fortnight after her generous gift? She had reason to be cautious; as long as she and Bonfiglio remained unmarried and at large he might be tempted to divulge the affair to police. The two of them had not shared the most peaceful of personal histories, she recalled. Soon after she had sent her reply her fears were realised. Bonfiglio now requested £500 in exchange for his silence about Bertha's death. Nurse Mitchell took a risk; she did not send him any more money. Besides, there were many other parties apart from Bonfiglio to consider - stories to straighten, useful people to thank - and her racing fortunes could only fund so much silence.²⁷

Without Nurse Mitchell's extra contributions, Bonfiglio was unable to set up his business as a marble mason. Disheartened, he returned to Melbourne on 12 January, and called at 4 Burnley Street. He was unprepared for the nest of tensions he encountered. 'Nurse opened the door, and was speechless to see him.' He went upstairs to her bedroom and took off his coat. She came up behind him and finally said, 'I got a shock to see you.' She kissed him, less to renew her affections than to remind him of his loyalty. Then she said with bitterness, 'It was nice letters you sent me; you can do what you like, you can tell a policeman if you want to. The body has been shifted and burnt under the copper.' She was lying; she hadn't burnt the girl.²⁸

On his way out, Bonfiglio met Queenie. They had never liked one another. She hissed a warning, 'If you do any harm to my mother I will shoot you, and I will shoot your son.'

When Bonfiglio came back that evening, Queenie answered the door. She directed him upstairs, hinting that her mother was emotional and 'might do something to herself'. He climbed the stairs with trepidation. Nurse Mitchell was in her bed, and invited him to join her. He complied.

At 9.30 the next morning, Bonfiglio awoke; he shaved and dressed to go out. When he went downstairs, he noticed Nurse's car out front.

Bonfiglio: What is the car for?

Nurse: We are going for a drive.

Bonfiglio: Where? I cannot go out. I have an appointment; where are you going?

Nurse: We are going for a drive in the country.

Bonfiglio: No, I have to meet a friend of mine at one o'clock.

Nurse Mitchell became suspicious of his 'appointment'. She grabbed at his coat and pulled it off him. She rushed into an empty bedroom and thrust it in the closet. He was thumping behind her, irritated at her larks.

'Where's the coat?' he snapped, at which she laughed affectedly and said, 'I have a bad memory. As soon as I remember where I put it, I will give it to you!' Then she became grave and dangerous. She stared at him. 'I do not want you to have anything on me your whole life.' Then she began to shoot...

Det. Piggott: Are you in pain?

Bonfiglio: Yes.

Det. Piggott: Have you suffered much?

Bonfiglio: A good deal.

Bonfiglio had every reason to feel vindictive. He told the detectives the truth: Nurse Mitchell had killed the girl, and hidden the body at Coldstream. 'She missed me first,' he said. 'I rushed at her, and held her by the wrist.' She fired another two shots. The fourth hit his arm. He fell heavily on the floor in front of the wardrobe, gasping, wounded. She shot him three more times. He was helpless at close range. He could only writhe and crawl on the carpet. One bullet hit his back. One hit high on his front, and another buried itself in the flesh beneath his waistcoat. Nurse said, 'Frank, I am sorry but I have got to do it,' and fired her last shot. Then she left, locking the door behind her.

Bonfiglio concentrated on breathing. He was probably dying. He slithered to the window and hauled himself up, leaving smears on the floor and the window ledge.²⁹ He walked wretchedly to Nurse Gidley's next door. She patched him up, before calling an ambulance.

7 March 1923
Detectives Piggott and Ethell were subpoenaed to appear in the Coroner's court. Bonfiglio's shooting investigation had, thanks to his damning statement in St Vincent's Hospital, brought about Bertha's inquest. But though Bonfiglio had spoken specifically and at length about the mound of dead fronds which had formed Bertha's first grave, this was not the detail which cracked the case.

Piggott's statement to Robert Cole was laconic. In the last phase of the inquest, he told the Coroner and the court of witnesses, suspects and others:

I was told that the body had been removed twice. I was told that when it would be found, it would be found in a bag, and that the head would be in one portion of the bag and the body in the other, and that it was under water, and in that bag I would find ferns. I could not tell you from whom I found out this. I never tell you where my information comes from. I will go so far as to tell you that it is not one of the witnesses in this court, and it is someone who is not connected to the case in any way. I did not know that a body was under the Anderson Street Bridge. I suggest that the finding of the body ... was a complete fluke.

Postscript
After the inquest, Nurse Mitchell, Bonfiglio and Mrs Milward were all arrested and released on bail while the police investigated Nurse Mitchell's vast network of extortion and bribery. In April 1923 'Nurse' Hannah Elizabeth Mitchell was tried for the 'willful murder' of Bertha Coughlan. She told Crown Prosecutor HCG Macindoe that in her professional opinion, Bertha had

asked me if she could stay for about a week as she did not want to go to her friends on account of her sickness as she was so ill and very often vomiting. From the signs and what she told me, I came to the conclusion that she was suffering a little bit from kidney trouble, and I advised her to see a doctor.

Nurse Mitchell was never prosecuted.