by Mark Dapin
The armed bar girl led Ginger Meggs into the drawing room, where floorboards had been torn up and burned in the fireplace. Bucky waited on the bureau chair in his cotton bathrobe, resting his feet on a carton of US Army paint. He did not rise to meet Ginger Meggs, who stared without envy at Bucky’s rings and bracelet and heavy gold watch.
Ginger Meggs stood on a wool rug proudly in his sandals, and handed Bucky a soft drawstring pouch.
Bucky opened it, and tipped Caution’s ears onto the leather-topped desk.
‘A gift from the revolution,’ said Ginger Meggs, ‘Mamasan.’
Thunder broke over the mountains, like artillery called in on the hills. The evening storm flooded the land beneath the dunes, and sent rivers coursing through the streets of Vung Tau, washing them clean of blood and dirt, and chasing garbage into the sea.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to all the Vietnam veterans who shared with me their stories of Vung Tau, particularly the provosts.
Thanks to Jimmy Thomson and Sandy MacGregor for showing me around town the first time, and, especially, to Walter Pearson, for helping me figure out where the bodies might be buried.
And thanks to ABCD: Arwen, Ben, Claire and Deb.
VIKING
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whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2015
Text copyright © Mark Dapin 2015
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Cover design and illustration by Design by Committee © Penguin Group (Australia)
Text design by Samantha Jayaweera © Penguin Group (Australia)
penguin.com.au
ISBN: 978-1-74348-561-3
THE BEGINNING
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