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Back The Last Guests Save as PDF
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART ONE
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. DEADLY SAS RAID IN AFGHANISTAN UNDER SCRUTINY
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. PART TWO
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. DANIEL MOORE: ‘A SINGLE BLOKE, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, A BIT OF A DUNCE BUT WITH A GOOD HEART,’ BEST FRIEND SAYS.
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. THIRTY-TWO
  41. THIRTY-THREE
  42. THIRTY-FOUR
  43. THIRTY-FIVE
  44. BREAKING: POLICE CONFIRM DANIEL MOORE ACTED ALONE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. SECOND ARREST MADE IN WESTAY HIDDEN CAMERAS CASE
  50. EPILOGUE
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. Discover More
  53. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  54. Also by J. P. Pomare

I’m somehow a hero, but Daniel’s friends and family still want answers, even now. Where did he get the gun, why did he do it, why was there so much ketamine in his body as detailed in the coroner’s report? There’s more evidence still out there, on that video that has continued to circulate. Of course, the terror in my eyes was real. Daniel stepping into the hall was real. But I’ve watched it a few times and now I can see moments when ‘Daniel’ exhibits signs of weakness in his right leg. Anyone who points any of this out is labelled a conspiracy theorist, something I’m grateful for.

•

Scotty’s new partner reported him when he almost sideswiped a cyclist, and he tested positive for fentanyl. It’s justice, but I didn’t need to take my job back. Without the high Auckland rent we can survive just fine. My paid leave carried through until my due date and then I had maternity leave. Cain’s new gym in Rotorua is providing more than enough income for us now.

Cain carries Esther along the lake’s edge. Her pigtails bounce and her lilac cotton dress presses against his side as he points out the ducks floating by.

‘That’s the mummy and those are the babies,’ he says.

She turns to me as I stride across the lawn with her sunhat in my hand.

‘She’ll get burnt,’ I say. I see that grin, the two white nibs beginning to punch through her bottom gums, and those eyes and I feel the stirring inside. The feeling only a mother knows. These are my people, this is my family and my home.

It feels good to build something new, build it from scratch. We start again and leave old bones in the ground, never to surface again. We move on. Silent but knowing. That’s the key, I think now, to a long and happy marriage. That’s the grease that keeps family life turning smoothly. Our secrets are as quiet and as deep as Esther’s beautiful green eyes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I’M BEGINNING TO realise that the author does not decide how long a story will take to write. If you’re lucky and pay close attention, if you stick with a story long enough, it might one day reveal itself to you. The Last Guests took about eighteen months longer than I anticipated to complete. I worked harder and spent more time with it than any other project I’ve commenced but I never lost faith in the premise of the story, and the incredible people I’ve managed to surround myself with never lost faith in me.