Chapters (61)
- Cover
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Acknowledgements
- About the author
Midnight and Cardilini was asleep. Paul had returned from the drive-in and he, too, slept. The boy slept, his small frame even smaller under the sheet. He would wake on occasion with a start, sweating, believing he was late, and then he would sink back into his mattress thankful he would never be required again. Sheppard sat on the back verandah, his eyes blurred by tears. Masters sat alone in his study, his features distorted, his hands aimlessly shifting as he stared at a photo of himself, his wife and their son. Mrs Doney sat in her lounge in the darkness looking out to the night sky, a pain in her chest as if a heavy rock had been implanted there. Mrs Lockheed, tea towel and dish in hand, stood at her son’s bedroom door and listened to his whispering breath. Mr and Mrs Harper slept side by side. Mrs Harper would wake alarmed, thinking her youngest son was staring at her with unseeing eyes, then she would breathe deeply and whisper, ‘Thank you,’ to her sleeping husband.
Acknowledgements
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Without my wife Rosalba’s encouragement, editing, and endless support I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to put in the hours required to write a novel. I am very thankful to Helen Budge, a fellow writer and poet, who worked with me on the initial drafts and spoke so positively of them, and to the readers Debbie Hedley, Margaret Pass, Tim Pass, Nadia Verrucci, and Imogen Woodward, whose encouraging comments gave me the belief in the novel to submit it to publishers.
I will be forever grateful to Angela Meyer of Echo Publishing for reading the unsolicited pages from an unknown writer and providing such positive feedback.
About the author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Jeffreys has worked as an actor, teacher, builder, labourer, cleaner, real estate agent, personal security agent and playwright of the professionally produced stage plays Cox Four, Covert, The Simple Truth, and The Messenger. ABC Radio National featured his radio plays, Covert, which received an AWGIE award, and Bodily Harm. He has also published a poetry anthology, Frame of Mind. Robert’s debut novel, Man at the Window, is the first in the Detective Cardilini series, set in 1960s Western Australia.
