Summerabbacat

AC Barrett is scum, and if those who have hushed up his indiscretions in the past knew of his real proclivities, they should be charged with enabling his criminal behaviour. It has a familiar ring to it, the protection of child rapists within the Catholic Church. Casey could prove very useful to the police case against not only Jarvis, but also hopefully an investigation into and the prosecution of AC Barrett, Azzopardi and Ryan at least. This of course makes him very dangerous to them and a wanted boy, a target for a hit. I just hope he will not become another victim like Greg Walls @Mark Ponyboy Peters. Rick once again showed his acute observations and quick thinking by recognising Casey's reactions in the courtroom and then following him. Before this story concludes I hope it is recognised what an asset he is. The stench of corruption was very present in this chapter @Mark Ponyboy Peters. My favourite non-emotional scene was Judge Price's very polite "fuck you" to Roderick Carlton QC.

He may not have been given the opportunity to reveal this yet @refueling835; @Josh Aterovis may be waiting to reveal this juicy tidbit of information only after he has had a good laugh at all the speculations of we readers. I don't really think it is Fenton Black though as that would be too good to be true. I also want to see him suffer the indignity of being arrested and scorned, reviled in the court of public opinion. Given his Argentinian background, who knows what government sanctioned criminal behaviour he may have been involved in whilst resident in Argentina, remembering @Josh Aterovis wrote this story in about 2000 and Neal/Fenton Black was in his mid 40's plus.

True @drsawzall, but Killian has been feeling guilty, unnecessarily so I believe, and it is this guilt which was the primary motivation for his irrational behaviour to rescue/save Jake. I think Killian's guilt about Jake is very deep seated, it goes back to the events which led up to and culminated in Todd's butchering of Jake's entire family. I think to some extent Jake has played on Killian's feelings of guilt too, whether intentionally or not. I think after this chapter those red herrings have darkened further, they are now pomegranate in colour, the colour of blood, the blood Killian stepped into on the floor.

"When he still didn't move, I took another. And then another, until I was within a few feet of him. My feet stuck unpleasantly to the floor, as if something had been spilled. I moved around beside him and felt the air rush out of me as I began to tremble. A perfectly round hole the size of a dime punctuated his forehead, dribbling a tiny trickle of blood down his face. If it was a mob-style hit we were looking for, I had just found it." Could the dead man in Fenton's kitchen be the "death" Judy has felt was imminent, the one she felt would endanger the lives of Killian and possibly Jake (if I remember correctly)? If it is so, could the dead man be Fenton Black? Could Killian and Jake be so lucky for it to be Fenton Black? It if is Fenton, what danger could Killian and Jake be in? Might the police think either one or the other or both had the perfect motive to murder Fenton? Who is the dead man? If it is Fenton, the murderer could be anyone as I daresay a man like Fenton would have earned many enemies, people he has wronged over the course of his life? If Fenton is the murder victim I think it is possible Razi murdered him? If the murder victim is Razi then I think Fenton is the most likely killer. I think however, the most likely murder victim is someone in the corruption Fenton is embroiled in with any number of public officials. @drsawzall summed up Killian's actions well in his comments above, although like @refueling835, I understand his foolhardy behaviour as he hopes to rescue/save Jake from a fate unknown. Given how clever @Josh Aterovis is, the murder victim could be Elvis or Roger Ackroyd for all I know.

I'm sure we will enjoy it anyway. Not Just Another Summer took its time to warm up and look how beloved it became. I's sure she will be a "right cow".

I have just re-read the precis of this story again @Robert Hugill and I look forward to the introduction of Tom, the burnt-out ex-boyfriend, the grumpy gay policeman and the toxic aunt. I wonder if the latter will be as ghastly as venomous Venetia Murray, the spawn of Mary Whitehouse or Margaret Hilda. I wonder if, and it is a very big if at this stage of their friendship, Louis' perceptions of Charlie's relationship with Kelsey are at all accurate. If so, it appears Charlie is treated as an afterthought or taken for granted in the relationship, not unlike how Tom apparently treated Louis in their relationship. I wonder if this shared indifference might forge a bond between the two, leading to something more than just friendship. Or perhaps the old battle-axe might take a fancy to Louis and encourage a relationship between the two (mmmm maybe not). Another Hugill, another treat. In just over two years you have favoured we readers with 11 stories @Robert Hugill, including the 3 still 'In process'. As Eileen Garner would quite possibly say "and none of it is shit". Well done.

Sometimes the polished to perfection takes away the thrill of the original, warts and all. I think this is true of music too @Robert Hugill.

Maybe they could come and stay with you and hubby over the Christmas break @chris191070. They could help look after the 13 cats. Do you get snow at Christmas time in Oldham? You could expose them to Slade's Christmas anthem which I understand charts almost every year in the UK (and is much better than Mariah's bloody awful Christmas song). Personally, I love Wham's Last Christmas and Boney M's Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord, both of which were massive hits in your homeland, and substantial hits here in Australia too. And I hate White Christmas by Bing Crosby.

St Vincents has a public and private hospital @weinerdog. I assume Nick works at the public hospital. Depending on the nature and severity of your "illness" you may have to go on the waiting list.

I drink oat milk (only in smoothies though, filtered water on my cereal) and eat soy yoghurt and soy ice cream @Altimexis (ice cream is a weakness). I do buy some processed vegan vegie burgers and plant based chicken schnitzels (made from pea and soy protein) and eat tofu, plus regularly eat cashews, pecans, pepitas, black chia seeds and LSA meal. My processed burgers are essentially various mixed vegetables with chick peas and spices. It is not practical in a single-person household to buy all the ingredients to make such things (and I am way too lazy and hate making too much of a mess, which I then have to clean up). I don' t recall ever buying eggs since I left home at the age of 18. I ate them as a child, but now they repulse me. They smell horrible and the sight of the yolk as it oozes on a plate is revolting. I ate 1/2 an organic BBQ chicken about 6 years, only because I had bought it for my 1 of my 6 cats as she had a stomach upset and was refusing to eat. My vet recommended it because everyone knows cats love BBQ chicken. I was skeptical as I did not think any of mine would eat it, including Zelda (she is my profile picture) and unfortunately I was right. Zelda licked it, but refused to eat it, and not 1 of the other 5 would eat it either. I felt obliged to eat it as the bird had been killed and not to eat it seemed "sinful". I paid for it the next day. I reacted like you, it was like I had gastroenteritis (which I had as a 2 year old, but cannot remember) and vomiting. NEVER AGAIN.

I am the only vegetarian in my family @SorcererImp and the only one amongst my friends. I have been fortunate that no one gives me any "grief" for it.

Superintendent Weinerdog has spoken @Mark Ponyboy Peters so I think it best the Inspector takes on board his sage advice. You may not realise this, but Superintendent Weinerdog is also the 'Soothsayer of San Diego' and has an uncanny ability to foretell the future. Some might refer to him as an empath or a sensitive, whilst others a clairvoyant or a fraud. My immediate response to the uneasy feeling in the pit of Rick's stomach was the same as you @weinerdog, has Jimmy Tan become the latest victim of the Mardi Gras murderer? I hope we are both wrong and Rick's gut is merely having a reaction to a dodgy kebab he ate the night before. If so, let us hope it makes its presence felt before the road trip north to Beth and Tom's home, otherwise Rick's fellow passengers may be in for an unpleasant journey. Nick work's at St Vincents Hospital in Darlinghurst, right near "The Wall", a location where boys like Jimmy and Shane ply their trade on any given night. I lived near there from late 1992 to early 1995, and it was a great place to live. It may be presumptuous of me to say this, but so far I think most of we readers have not given any thought to a link between the activities of Jarvis and his treatment of his stable of boys and the murder of Martin and Alexis. I have to wonder if there is. You were right about those tissues @Mark Ponyboy Peters, the conversation between Rick and Tom proved the beginning of my "undoing" in this chapter. In my defence, I have heavy hay fever at the moment so my eyes were already watering, red and puffy.

Perhaps the green-eyed monster, jealousy, may rear its ugly head @Davide; Dean witnessing what appears to be an intimate moment between Kris and Ethan. Or maybe Leah will tell him to take a hike until he sorts himself out. I think she is aware he has inner demons and I don't think (or at least I hope) she is desperate enough to continue to allow him to treat her in the manner he is. She is not stupid, she will realise, if she has not already, that what her friend Tina saw was not a figment of her imagination. Or maybe, as speculated by @Philippe, Marcus will realise his brother is not all he pretends to be, and will read him the riot act about allowing their dead father to continue to control his life.

Colombia and Columbia, and Colombo and Columbo, seem to get mixed up all the time @LittleBuddhaTW. Americans I imagine are more familiar with Columbia and Columbo than Colombia and Colombo.

Even skipping eating meat or fish once a week can make a big difference to the number of animals slaughtered and to destruction to the environment from factory farming. I am vegan about 50% of the time, but have not been able to find a tasty substitute for cheese. I know the dairy industry is cruel too, so I am a hypocrite.

I think you are right @grinningdog.

Brilliant @CincyKris. I hope you are correct as then Adam may wake up from his coma and Jamie may still be alive.

I know several vegetarians who have admitted that on occasion they crave bacon @Altimexis. This is bewildering to me as I find the smell of pork and lamb being cooked truly repulsive, and the smell of bacon when cooked with eggs (which I also do not eat) has me dry retching. I live in an apartment block and sometimes someone will have a barbecue on their balcony. If it is just beef I can tolerate the smell, but if it is lamb and/or pork I have to shut all my doors as the stench is overpowering. I stopped eating red meat 40 years ago and had no difficulty doing so as I never liked the taste, and the cruelty of raising and then killing these animals is something I find abhorrent. I gave up eating chicken about 15 years ago, but for a short time thereafter I would pass the barbecue chicken counter in my local supermarket and stand there and inhale as I still liked the smell. If I did that now I would be dry retching again. As for seafood, I gave that up when I saw a TV programme about how toxic salmon farming is for the environment, which is a large industry here in Australia. I thought I would crave salmon and flathead, but I had no craving for either as soon as I stopped eating them. I do occasionally think I would like some prawns and/or oysters though, but quickly put it from my mind by acknowledging the cruelty aspect again. I have not however, and never will force my cats to be vegetarian.

I suspected early on in this story death was what would part Adam and Jamie, but as it meandered along I was hoping I was wrong. What remains to be answered without reservation is this: was Adam in a real relationship with Jamie, one in which each disclosed his true feelings, and was Adam in the car in which Jamie was killed if so, then Adam's love for Jamie was not a secret, it was out in the open and many people witnessed it if not, then EVERYTHING Adam has reminisced about is a figment of his imagination and he is truly delusional Of course, Adam could be having a Pam Ewing-like dream and he and Jamie are happy together and attending college in 2025. I think I like this speculation best @CincyKris and @VBlew.

You have obviously been eating your carrots @drsawzall. Like @Philippe, I was very concerned Killian may have handed over all the documents without having a copy, particularly if Evans is on Fenton Black's "payroll". No surprises Fenton is involved in the corruption being investigated by Micah, and that he has murdered more than just Paul. I hope he does not add TJ or Jake to that list of murder victims before the story concludes. The suspense is palpable @Josh Aterovis. I have not forgotten Judy's dire premonition that death is on its way. I hope it is not Jake, TJ or Micah to whom the Reaper will come a calling.

It makes you someone who is capable of rational and independent thought @pvtguy, not a sheeple. I loathe fireworks and get very "strident" about it on New Year's Eve which makes me bah humbug too. And your comment has taught me something, I did not know the bah was spelt as such (I have never read anything by Charles Dickens).

"Russ smiled. “I don’t know, it’s had its moments. And tonight was…” He paused and considered. “Illuminating.” Russ clearly did not wish to upset either Con or Lisa when he made this restrained and somewhat cryptic remark. Initially Russ was physically assaulted by a brain-dead leprechaun in the form of Conn O'Neill and his goons, and now friends of said goons, one of whom is distantly related to Lisa, verbally assault him and state he brought it on himself by "hitting on" poor Conn. Clearly another delusional heterosexual male who has not looked at himself in the mirror, one who believes he is far more attractive than what he is. Yobbos the world over "suffer" from this affliction, many of whom believe they are God's gift to women too. Fortunately Russ' trip has had many positives, including a much improved relationship with his brother, and a fledgling friendship with Jamie and Cathal. Non-pareils aka hundreds and thousands were very popular in Australia in my formative years in the 1970's. We had them on white bread as sandwiches known as "fairy bread". When I think of it now I think how disgusting. They were always sprinkled on icing on cakes too. I am not sure if they are even manufactured now. Of course Bronski Beat released a remix album entitled Hundreds & Thousands shortly after the success of The Age Of Consent. Did you play any part in its recording @Robert Hugill? Another delightful chapter Robert, apart from the appearance of the knuckle-draggers.

If Theodore is not prepared to listen to either Vince or Jack because they are mere humans, then maybe he should listen to the "wisdom" of Samantha Fox, or will he believe she is inferior to him too because she is only a fox and not a wolf. Many Aussies were captivated by Samantha's "wisdom" in 1986 when this song was a massive hit (# 3 for the year). I kept misreading Vince's reading of the "runes" as reading of the "prunes". Reading the prunes may have produced quite a different rhyming message I should imagine. Your imagination is a thing to behold @Laura S. Fox, but can you "sing" like your fellow "vixen" Samantha?

An enjoyable and "easy" read @Lee Wilson, with only a hint of nastiness and an emotionally challenging moment for Darren. Thus far I would refer to this story as Lee Wilson lite, which in no way is a criticism. It demonstrates your versatility in story telling.

Manual labour where "payment" is received immediately upon completion of the task at hand (or mouth or ............). The payment may be tax-free i.e. "cash" in hand (or mouth or .......), or may attract taxes if the manual labour is provided by a professional with "qualifications" in the field of the enterprise. In this instance I assume it was a tax-free transaction @weinerdog.