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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

Robinson looked back in amazement. ‘If we’re talking about the same deaths, I know some of those families. I went to school with two of the fathers. Only one death was a suicide: the boy hanged himself. The others were tragic accidents. Christ, Cardilini. You’re self-destructing. The internal investigation will go through this on Friday. Don’t try to lie to them, it would cost you your job. Now get out.’

Cardilini stood and stared at Robinson.

‘I’ve given you every bloody chance Cardilini,’ Robinson said staring back. Cardilini dropped his eyes and slowly nodded before turning and leaving.

Twenty-Five

TWENTY-FIVE

Day 7

East Perth Police Department

9.56 a.m. Saturday, 31st October 1965

‘Hey Cardilini, I’m checking your notes. Now which foreign country invaded to execute Edmund?’ Spry, the office comedian, asked as he thumbed pages in a file. Archer and a few other detectives laughed.

‘Very funny. So what are you going to do?’

‘We’ve done it already. “Accidental shooting.” Acorn confirmed the probability of an accidental shot from the other side of the river.’

‘What about the bullet disappearing?’

‘What about it? Some kid pinched it and is now too frightened to return it.’

‘Did Acorn tell you one of the rifles had been fired recently?’

‘He told us one had been “cleaned” recently, not “fired”.’

‘Did you speak to the principal?’

‘Yep. A deputy. A boarder. A house master.’

‘And?’

‘And? What?’ Spry asked palms up.

‘There’s no fooling you guys?’ Cardilini said.

‘We didn’t go in and accuse everyone of murder either.’

‘Yeah, Okay.’

‘Anyway, how’s the bullshit complaint going?’ Spry asked.

‘Internal hearing, Friday.’

‘You really pissed someone off at that school, didn’t you?’ Spry commiserated with a smile. Cardilini nodded mutely. ‘They’ll go through you like a bad case of the trots. Take a clean change of underwear.’

‘Thanks. Did you get an autopsy report?’

‘Not yet, but what difference would it make?’

Cardilini considered this, considered the faces that had led him to be convinced Edmund had been murdered: Carmody, Burnside, Mrs Lockheed. ‘Did you speak to a Bradley Williamson? I marked him in one of the files.’

All the other detectives had walked away by now. Spry pulled up a chair and lit a cigarette.

‘I saw the other boys’ files you marked, we read your notes on the deaths of the three old boys.’

‘Go on.’

‘I heard you had stopped drinking?’

‘Yeah. So what?’

‘Nothing. Just, maybe you’re not at your sharpest here while coping with that too.’

With a shake of his head Cardilini considered Spry and Archer. They were thorough, he’d worked with them both on occasion, and they were the types who always followed the dots. But if a dot was missing they weren’t opposed to slipping one in if it led to the right conclusion.