He followed Highway 1 for days, sleeping in his vehicle with the Southern Cross above him and Scorpio rising. In the morning the Hindi people’s oddly magical mannequins appeared from somewhere beside his car. Each morning with the pale moon on the horizon he left money in the pouches of the statues then got back in his car, and drove.
Just past nightfall on the fifth day he approached the junction of Highways 1 and 6, where there was a rest spot—a petrol station, a gift shop, and a bakery that smelled of fresh-cooked apple pies.
As he got out of the Jeep he saw a large white man blowing the Namibian dust off his hands with an air compressor used for filling tires.
The man looked up and saw Decker, and his large round face turned dark and stern. Then words came from his mouth. “Welcome to Solitaire, Mr. Roberts. I’ve waited a long time for your coming. I’m glad you finally found your path.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank my valued friend, talented director at the University of Cape Town and tour guide extraordinaire, Geoffrey Hyland, for insisting that I see Namibia. There are places of real magic in the world—Namibia is one of them—and I would never have discovered it without Geoff’s help. I’d also like to thank the teachers of Pro Actors Lab—Rae Ellen, Glen, Marvin, John and Bruce—who worked overtime at the studio while I banged away on my computer keyboard. As well the many talented acting students that it has been my privilege to teach over these now twenty-plus years. Finally, my attorney/agent Michael Levine who has been in my corner for a very long time; Alison Clarke from Simon & Schuster Canada whose tireless work on the manuscript helped me wrestle this one to the page; and Kevin Hanson of Simon & Schuster Canada whose belief in my writing has been so important to me.
DAVID ROTENBERG has published five Zhong Fong novels, police procedurals set in modern day Shanghai (Hua Shan Hospital Murders was short-listed for best Canadian mystery); an historical novel Shanghai, the Ivory Compact (that reached the best seller list); and the first of the novels in the Junction Chronicles series, The Placebo Effect, which received rave reviews. He has directed on Broadway, for regional theatres, and for television. He has run a major American regional theatre and adapted several famous novels for the stage—the latest an adaptation of The Great Gatsby that opened a new theatre in downtown Toronto. He has been a master acting teacher for more than twenty years. He is the founder and artistic director of Pro Actors Lab, which draws actors from all over the world; the list of his students reads like a who’s who of North American stars. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Susan Santiago.
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ALSO BY DAVID ROTENBERG
The Placebo Effect: First Book of the Junction Chronicles
Shanghai, the Ivory Compact
The Zhong Fong detective series
The Golden Mountain Murders
The Hamlet Murders
Hua Shan Hospital Murders
The Lake Ching Murders: A Mystery of Fire and Ice
The Shanghai Murders: A Mystery of Love and Ivory
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by David Rotenberg.
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First Touchstone trade paper edition February 2013
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ISBN 978-1-4391-7014-4
ISBN 978-1-4391-7265-0 (eBook)
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