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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

‘Yes.’ But he could feel a scratch from the timber boards on his knee.

Carmody knocked on the door and called. A woman replied to them. The boy saw a figure walking towards them, she was in light, smiling, then the light was behind her. She opened the door and said Carmody and Mohr’s names then let them walk past her down the corridor.

‘And who are you, sir?’ she asked.

‘Harper,’ the boy said. He saw Carmody looking back at him. He’d forgotten to ask Carmody why he was there.

‘You call me Mrs Leggett,’ Jean said, smiling. The boy felt her hand on his shoulder as he walked beside her. ‘Would you like some ginger beer, Harper?’

‘Yes please, Mrs Leggett.’

‘You follow me then.’ She walked ahead and pointed to a room on the right for the older boys. The boy glanced in the room as he passed. He could see an old man standing, all spindly, and on the couch was a big man with a very sad face sitting next to an older boy.

Fifty-Two

FIFTY-TWO

Day 20

Legget’s

8.10 p.m. Friday, 13th November 1965

Cardilini parked his car where he had that afternoon. Now blackness surrounded him. Light coming from Leggett’s house made it seem even darker.

‘Is the school up there?’ Paul asked, pointing beyond the house.

‘Yes.’

Cardilini and Paul walked to the house.

Jean Leggett let them in and showed them to the lounge where Leggett was waiting.

They had just sat when Cardilini heard the voice of Carmody call from the front door. Jean Leggett jumped from her seat. She called a greeting as she left the lounge. Leggett and Paul chatted like old friends while Cardilini sat moodily. Carmody and another boy entered and stood just inside the doorway. Jean walked past, followed by a very slight, younger boy who looked into the room. Cardilini made eye contact with him. The boy looked lost.

‘Who’s that?’ Cardilini asked before acknowledging Carmody and the other boy.

‘That’s Harper,’ Carmody said and gave a nod to Mohr, realising that it hadn’t been Harper who Cardilini had spoken to.

‘Why’s he here?’ Cardilini asked.

‘He has something you want, I think,’ Leggett said and received a nod from Carmody and Mohr.

Cardilini screwed up his face with questioning impatience.

Carmody turned to Cardilini and said tightly, ‘Captain Edmund had summoned him for some buggery. He must have gone in after Edmund was shot. He trod on the bullet and picked it up.’

‘Are you saying, that boy . . . he looks like a ten-year-old.’ Cardilini said incredulous.

Paul, white faced, looked at his father.

Leggett said, ‘This is Mohr. Mohr, this is Detective Cardilini and his son, Paul.’

Cardilini and Carmody eyed each other. Paul and Mohr shook hands.