Bessel, unconcerned, squinted out towards the paddock, and Benny gave a surprised laugh. It was just a little laugh—at the fast cows and the nonchalant dog and the beautiful look of the paddock and the bush in the rain.
Odette let out a sob.
It was so unexpected to Benny, that sob, but she understood it, and it didn’t last long at all, only a moment.
‘You have this way about you, Benny, like you think you’re responsible for it somehow, but you’re not,’ said Odette. ‘It’s not your fault that she left—or any of it. None of it’s your fault.’ She rocked in the chair and looked out at the paddock, at the sheets of rain coming down, and she didn’t speak again for a while, until her voice was composed and her body, the sturdy form of her, was at ease again. ‘I invited Betsy over for Christmas lunch last night. Arden’s coming too. Would you like to come? We could invite Frank, if you like. I don’t know if that’s something you’d want to do, but he’d be more than welcome.’
Benny Miller nodded and blinked. The rain was coming down in bucketfuls on the farmhouse, streaming over the tin roof, drenching the grass, soaking the quiet earth, and Benny blinked and nodded some more.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Annette Barlow, Ali Lavau, and to all at Allen & Unwin who helped to bring this book into the world.
Thank you to booksellers, for the wonderful work you do.
I am indebted to Professor Derek Abbott at the University of Adelaide and former SA police officer Gerry Feltus, whose extensive research on the Somerton Man was extremely helpful. For further reading, I would suggest Prof Abbott’s collection of online resource material and Gerry’s book, The Unknown Man: A suspicious death at Somerton Beach.
For advice on police procedure, thank you to former NSW Detective Sargeant Bob Wells; and to former Detective and Assistant Commissioner of the NSW police Clive Small. Any potential errors in this area are my own.
For inspiration on old houses next to the bush, thank you to Carlie Lopez; and thanks to my mum, Margaret Throsby, for advice on various matters.
Thank you always to my family: Zoë, Alvy and Jones.
Most of all I give thanks to my mentor and friend Richard Walsh for such generous, wise, and good-humoured counsel.
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