My regular order of pizza does not agree with your theory . <| sep |> You ' re trying to hard . <| sep |> You didn ' t specify college ! <| sep |> PART THREE I was too upset to cook or eat , so I stayed sitting in my chair in the living room until past suppertime . Listening to the work crew constructing the new electric tram in the town below was an eerily soothing soundtrack to my thoughts . The crew was a part of one of the many new efforts to revitalize the West ' s economy . Perth may have been hit a year late by the Depression , but it was hit just as hard as the rest of the world . Whole generations became unemployed and widespread famine was ravaging the West . I was standing up to go to bed when I heard the sharp , rhythmic knock pattern I so deeply associated with Noah that I almost saw him in my head when it echoed through the house . The first emotion I experienced was pure , unbridled happiness , which promptly metamorphosed into a sinking , crushing feeling . My heart dropped into my stomach . Behind that door stands my son , I thought , but is he the one I raised ? The one who dedicated most of his life to stopping murderers ? The Noah I know would never become what he most despised . I couldn ' t help but feel a twinge of nervousness as I opened the door . Dad ! Thank God ! There ' s been a murder ! The excited gleam in his eyes had rejuvenated fully . His expression was exponentially more genuine than any I had witnessed on the evening before . In fact , I had not seen him look so lively since before Elijah died . This is a sign ! He must take a sick pleasure in murdering the innocent ! Spoke a horrible voice from the back of my mind , Call Sweeney ! You must call Sweeney and turn him in ! I quelled the waves of nausea I felt and silenced the voice . Noah , I tried to say I already Listen to me Dad ! It ' s the same as before ! No signs of injury or poison , a look of hysterical fright frozen on the victim ' s face . Even the round bruise is there ! Noah was caught in a frenzy of passion not unlike a religious fervor . The words spilled out of his mouth one after another , each sentence seeming to accelerate the pace of his ramble . I returned home to retrieve some things from my house extremely early this morning , and I discovered that one of my windows was broken ! I was furious ! I rushed inside and found that nothing was missing , but all of my waste bins had been upturned and trash was spread throughout the house . I lost myself trying to find a pattern in it all . At some point during this time I heard a strange commotion in front of the house , but paid no attention to it and kept searching for a sign of a message , signal , anything . I had planned to only be at my house for around ten minutes , but four hours had passed fruitlessly . I gave up and walked out the front door . It was around eight in the morning and I knew I had to be home soon . Then I saw the body . There was a girl lying face down in the street . I ran up and began examining her , already knowing that she would have the same telling marks as the victims from so long ago . Once again , I was lost beyond time in the work , and another hour slipped by . I was shaken from my trance by a piercing scream . A woman at the end of the street had fainted at the sight of the body . Confident now that she or someone else would call the constable , I took a carriage to the library and started researching . And I think I ' m finally on to something ! You ' d be surprised at how much the library has expanded in five years ! I ' m so close to cracking the case this time Dad , I can taste it . I looked upon him with a meek smile that must not have seemed very enthusiastic . Noah ' s ecstasy turned to venom What ' s the matter with you ! ? This is the most important thing that ' s ever happened to me ! I can catch the monster that killed Elijah ! Don ' t you think I can do it ? I sighed . Noah Detective Sweeney came by this morning at around ten Noah was confused , then his smile beamed again . He must have been looking for me ! I left the magnifying glass he gave me when I turned eleven on the ground next to the body to show him that I was alive and back to work on the case . You know , he may be a copper but I ' ll be damned if he isn ' t one of the best detectives in Australia ! Can you arrange a meeting with him so we can compare notes ? I hesitated , and in my hesitation the suspicious , cruel little voice spoke again . This is perfect . Call Sweeney now and he ' ll arrest the crazy bastard ! His story will never hold up in court . He isn ' t your son anymore , he ' s a murderer . After a brief struggle , I forced the disturbingly reasonable speaker back into its place and told Noah the truth . His eyes seemed to turn black as I told him about Sweeney and his men , and I grew more and more fearful . When I had finished recounting the morning , there was a roaring , pregnant silence that seemed to last an eternity . Noah ' s eyes bored into my skull . He turned , slowly , and looked down at the town . With his back to me , I couldn ' t read the expression on his face . A choked sound escaped his throat . You couldn ' t possibly you don ' t think that He looked back and his tears glittered in the candle light pouring out from the door . I reached out for him , but I was too late . Noah tore off into the night . The next day I woke up at seven and went through the normal routine to get ready for church . That morning I felt no great spiritual inspiration , nor did I long to surround myself with members of the congregation , but making the fifteenminutepilgrimage into town was something to do that wasn ' t sitting inside wasting away like an unwatered pepper plant . I pulled on my clothes and stared at the wall . I was stoic , complacent , and content on the outside , but internally everything had changed . Guilt , anger , fear , and love were locked in a bloody battle to determine my emotional state of mind , but until one vanquished all the others my face was fated to stay as placid as a baptism pool on a Friday night . Sundays in Perth had always been quiet . Our community was very committed to its religion , which was overwhelmingly Catholic . The Sabbath was treated with reverence . Even so , there was something immediately peculiar about the quiet of that morning . Everyone I passed on the street , even acquaintances , refused to make eye contact with me . Some strangers saw me coming and crossed to the other side of the road , speaking in hushed tones and periodically shooting suspicious sidelong glances my way . I ignored the strange atmosphere of the morning , chalking it up to tourism or ignorance . When I made it to the door of the church one of the ushers stepped forward and held out a hand . Eric , he said , I really don ' t think it ' s a good idea for you to come to church today . Anger won over complacency . I have only missed one service here in the past seven years . Let me into my church . I said , struggling to keep my voice from shaking and feeling my face fill with hot blood . It ' s not my decision Eric . Then whose is it ? ! I roared , Give me an explanation or let me into my church ! Inside , I could see heads turn around and terrified eyes staring from the rows of pews . Read a paper , mate . Service is starting now . The big doors slammed shut behind him . I moved as quickly as I could to one of the stands selling the Sunday papers and was only a bit surprised when I saw the headline . Beloved Child Detective Turned Soulless Serial Killer ? , the words screamed from the page and I had to bite back one in response . I paid for a copy and noticed another bolded title on the front page . Father Conceals Fiendish Fugitive Should Eric be Arrested for Protecting Noah ? Skimming the article , I noticed in shock that there had been another murder in the night and a scrap of paper somehow identifying Noah had been found at the scene . Before I saw the name of the journalist , I knew it was John Turner . His hatred for Noah and love for sensationalist headlines had both increased significantly over the thirty years since he was falsely accused of murder . I could ' ve confronted him but knew that nothing would come from it but more shouts about freedoms of the press and threats of lawsuits . I trudged back to my house with my head down . Overnight , I had become an alien in my town , the town I grew up in . The town I loved despite all its flaws . People feared me , I ' m sure some even hated me . But I was an old man and I was tired of fighting for myself and my family , so I went home , made myself some tea , and wondered where my son was .