BooksBarbecue
Back Man at the Window Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Three
  5. Four
  6. Five
  7. Six
  8. Seven
  9. Eight
  10. Nine
  11. Ten
  12. Eleven
  13. Twelve
  14. Thirteen
  15. Fourteen
  16. Fifteen
  17. Sixteen
  18. Seventeen
  19. Eighteen
  20. Nineteen
  21. Twenty
  22. Twenty-One
  23. Twenty-Two
  24. Twenty-Three
  25. Twenty-Four
  26. Twenty-Five
  27. Twenty-Six
  28. Twenty-Seven
  29. Twenty-Eight
  30. Twenty-Nine
  31. Thirty
  32. Thirty-One
  33. Thirty-Two
  34. Thirty-Three
  35. Thirty-Four
  36. Thirty-Five
  37. Thirty-Six
  38. Thirty-Seven
  39. Thirty-Eight
  40. Thirty-Nine
  41. Forty
  42. Forty-One
  43. Forty-Two
  44. Forty-Three
  45. Forty-Four
  46. Forty-Five
  47. Forty-Six
  48. Forty-Seven
  49. Forty-Eight
  50. Forty-Nine
  51. Fifty
  52. Fifty-One
  53. Fifty-Two
  54. Fifty-Three
  55. Fifty-Four
  56. Fifty-Five
  57. Fifty-Six
  58. Fifty-Seven
  59. Fifty-Eight
  60. Acknowledgements
  61. About the author

The Swan River snaked its way from the port of Fremantle to the limpid stretch that lay before St Nicholas. Cardilini pulled his car over to the river side of the road. One hundred yards of marshy land lay between his car and the riverbank. Thickets of 10-foot high bamboo penetrated the canopy of castor oil trees. The ground, black mud under the trees, was covered with sprouts of coarse grass that clumped in places suggesting more solid ground. Cardilini remembered when he was a constable he’d chased a criminal across such a riverbank. The mud sucked at his boots, sucked at his ankles, sucked the energy from his legs until he had only curses and threats that could keep up with his prey. Eventually they too failed and Cardilini spent considerable time extracting his legs so he could return to the road, only to find the sergeant he was with had taken the car in pursuit.

On the other side of the road there were blocks of land designated for housing. Three had buildings on them. The one closest to the school was the house Cardilini had observed when preparing his night-time visit a few days ago. In the evening it was shrouded by dark trees and looked deserted but in daylight the trees were alive with colour. Cardilini recognised jacaranda, grey myrtle and waratah trees, which all grew on Reabold Hill too. He wondered if someone like Betty lived there.

He locked his car and needlessly looked along the road before crossing. The conversation with Robinson had unsettled him. It had made him question his desire for a just and civil world as opposed to one based purely on self-interest. He hadn’t quite figured the logic that had him walking towards this house.