The Dry Quotes
"Neighbours, determined but trying not to appear so, jostled each other for the advantage as the scrum trickled through the doors."
"The late afternoon heat draped itself around him like a blanket."
"Pale from birth with close-cropped white-blond hair and invisible eyelashes, he’d often felt during his thirty-six years that the Australian sun was trying to tell him something."
"Faces that at first had seemed unfamiliar came more sharply into focus and he felt an illogical rush of surprise."
"A younger version of himself stood with Luke, now both long-limbed and freckled with acne."
"The penny had dropped for him, Falk thought."
"How short was the road from that decision to this moment?"
"The last strains of music faded away and the final photos flashed up to an awkward silence."
"The weather that year had made the work harder for everyone."
"He’d spent enough time down memory lane for one night."
"Falk now stood on the porch of the Fleece with Raco."
"‘You should’ve told me earlier.’ Raco took a drag."
"He’s had a few and he’s not going to be happy if he has to come out here, right?"
"We’ve got nothing to do with them that lived here. Nothing to do with those freaks."
"Without Luke, I reckon the Clyde cops would have pinned that on you, no question."
"But you know how Luke was, he brazened it out."
"People don’t generally like feeling guilty."
"There never really was an explanation for that."
"Nostalgia was one thing, but after recent events, he didn’t want to leave temptation around for anyone to find."
"Enough. Falk thrust his hand in and scrabbled around until he got a firm hold."
"Only one other person knew about the gap in the rock tree and she had taken the knowledge with her into the river."
"It was covered in cobwebs and dirt, but he recognised it at once."
"He hit her once, then after a long while it happened again. Then again. And again."
"At home she wore tops that showed her bruises but her cousin Grant just turned on the TV."
"Ellie began to speak less and discover more what both her parents liked so much about bringing a bottle to their lips."
"She’d been on her own in Centenary Park on a Saturday night with a bottle in her bag and nowhere else to be."
"She got a part-time job and learned the hard way to hide her money from her cash-strapped dad and cousin."
"That was the day Ellie Deacon stopped drinking. Because that was the day she decided she would run."
"But soon. And for that, she would need a clear head. Before it was too late."
"In the morning light, she ran her finger over the dent in the wood and groggily scrubbed the spot of blood from the pink carpet."
"Her sneaking around. Keeping secrets. He’d missed them once before. Not again."
"He was wondering what he would do if it was already too late when he caught a glimpse and his heart jumped in his throat."
"She wouldn’t leave. She wouldn’t bloody leave this time."
"He’d had to promise the farm to Grant as they searched the bank in the dying light for stones to weigh her down."
"In the chaos, in the night, it was impossible to say which of the four had asked after Alice’s welfare."