Pi’s father makes circles over his chest with both hands. ‘She’ll grow. Meanwhile, she can look after your son while you work—she’s good with children.’
Niran’s mother runs her hand across her chin as she thinks. Pi’s mother looks down at her from the house, holding hard onto the veranda rail.
‘Say hello to Pi, Niran,’ Niran’s mother finally says. ‘This girl is to be your big sister.’
Pi’s mother lets out her breath and claps her hands with joy.
Pi is still crying.
Niran bows to Pi as he has been taught. He has to tell his feet to stand still and not jump all over the place. He has always wanted a big sister. He hopes the girl will stop crying soon and play with him.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There are several people I’d like to thank for helping me to get this novel to print. Firstly, three of my harshest but most valuable critics: Carole Sutton, Trish O’Neill and Christine Nagel. Also my daughter, Pippa Young (RN), for updating me on nursing practice in the noughties; my agent Sheila Drummond; Wendy Jenkins for her advice and assistance; and Georgia Richter, my talented editor from Fremantle Press. Last but not least I’d like to thank my mother, Angela Wilmot—Mum, you know why.
OTHER STEVIE HOOPER TITLES AN EASEFUL DEATH
She was naked, her body was hairless and she’d been sprayed with bronze paint. She was posed in a provocative manner with her legs open, her chin resting in her hand and her elbow on the stone table in front of her. I think the intention was to make her look like she was some kind of nude supermodel or a mannequin even.
The woman’s face was an expressionless mask... Easeful Death was printed down the length of her right thigh in black marker pen.
Someone is killing beautiful young women and taking extraordinary risks to carefully pose their painted bodies in public places. The first is bronze, then silver—who will be gold?
Detective Sergeant Stevie Hooper, young, hard-edged and newly seconded to the Serious Crime Squad, finds herself haunted by disturbing flashbacks as the bizarre case unfolds. As she closes in on the killer, the carefully drawn line between her professional and personal life becomes increasingly blurred until Hooper no longer knows who she can trust.
Available from www.fremantlepress.com.au
HARUM SCARUM
Bianca thought of Katy Enigma... would Katy go with this man? He had soft brown eyes and, despite his strange nose, his face looked kind. He smiled. Bianca placed her hand in his and felt him shiver. She didn’t know why, it wasn’t cold at all.
When the body of eleven-year-old Bianca Webster is found dumped, it is soon clear to DS Stevie Hooper that the murder is connected to paedophile Internet site, the Dream Team. Another murder leads her to suspect that she might have a vigilante on her hands.
Cyber technology spins at the heart of this thriller: Katy Enigma, Lolita, Harum Scarum—just who or what lies beneath these Internet nicknames? Stevie Hooper finds herself racing against time to discover the identities before another child is taken.
Available from www.fremantlepress.com.au