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Contents (54)
  1. The Hour Before Dawn
  2. Table of Contents
  3. PROLOGUE
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. EPILOGUE
  49. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  50. About the Author
  51. THE HOUR BEFORE DAWN
  52. By the same author
  53. Copyright
  54. About the Publisher

‘You mean that if it was David Montrose’s lover, then mother and daughter will have to acknowledge that not only was the person they loved gay, but that he might have indirectly contributed to the death of one of his beloved daughters?’

‘Yes, Inspector, that is what I am saying. I believe this will break their hearts all over again. A future that was possible will become impossible. Nikki Montrose has an unborn child and a man who loves her and a new life in New Zealand. Mrs Campbell has suffered two tragedies. Do we give her another sorrow to take with her into old age and loneliness? Do we do that, Inspector? Do we show her the face of her husband’s lover and the man who killed her child? Do we let him destroy her one last time?

‘Oh, then we can close the case and go back to our homes and our wives and children and say to them, Ah, yes! After all this long time, we find the child’s killer? Is this not good? Is this what we do, Inspector Blythe?’

Mohktar got out of the car without waiting for an answer. He shut the door and leant against it, his face to the sea so that the inspector could not see his anger and confusion.

Blythe sat very still as the car warmed up. Damn! Damn! Damn! He was a policeman, for God’s sake! He was a goddamned policeman…not a psychiatrist…not a bloody priest or a therapist or a…bleeding-heart leftie social worker. It was his job to protect society, to solve crimes and to bring to justice those who broke the law of the land and transgressed against the vulnerable and innocent…

He erupted out of the car and slammed the door. ‘So, Sergeant Mohktar…’ Inspector Blythe was building up his own righteous anger. ‘I’d be interested to know the answer to this, given that you’re a policeman, and from what I hear a good one. How come you can’t see that what you’ve just suggested is totally immoral? It’s a policeman’s job to put perpetrators of crime behind bars, not to go into the ethics of it one way or another, or delve into the emotional ramifications of either the victim or the villain. That is not our job. It is for others: a judge, the Samaritans…God.’

Mohktar faced him. ‘You think I am unprincipled? I am sorry, Inspector. Do you think it dishonourable to speak my mind or to have an opinion? If being a policeman means that I must cease to care for those I am trying to help, then maybe you are right, it is time I gave up being a policeman.’

He locked the car and both men turned in silence and began to walk over the sand to the house. Blythe hated to be left-footed. He was an old-fashioned, dedicated policeman who was good at his job but certainly no high-flyer. He hadn’t been to university like all the young did now and he had occasionally been called unimaginative, but that did not mean he was uncaring. The young always thought they had the moral high-ground and it pissed him off. Right was right and wrong was wrong, and it was no good blurring boundaries or getting too involved. You did your job and you moved on to the next. That’s all you could do.