Page Title

Synopsis

Everybody has secrets - some more disturbing than others.

Take Jason Calvey for example. He's cruel, antisocial and deranged. He is a murderer who operates a small business in Sydney.

He is Dr. Jason Calvey, a fully qualified medical practitioner, yet the worst kind of person to be placed in such a high standing

position of trust.

Then there is Andrea Agerton, Calvey's attractive nineteen-year old, but incompetent assistant. Why is she impacting so heavily on

the doctor's life? Is she just the detestable and gullible 'half-wit' he gives her credit for, or is there far more to this raven-haired girl than

her high-spirited personality would suggest?

Finally there is the patient, Leon Sarcini. At seventeen years of age he is probably the youngest undetected serial killer in Australian

history.

Life in Sydney at the height of summer is changing - becoming far too hot (becoming far too precarious!) Both Doctor and Patient

are soon to cross path, and Leon's determination to settle a score will mirror his homicidal cunning to do what he loves to do best,

to extract revenge on some especially hateful individuals. Dr. Jason Calvey will be set firmly in his sites, and so to are others. Leon has

work to do, and the consequences of so many despicable actions will be explosive.

But Jason Calvey isn't one for taking aggression lightly either...

Excerpt from Chapter 27

"So Jason, tell me about you're family," said Andrea as she settled, cat-like onto the couch.

"You're an inquisitive one," Dr. Calvey replied.

"I'm entitled to be Jason. I am a woman after all!" She smiled.

"Ok Andrea. Tell me about your family first."

She detected a slight edge to his comment, but felt this time that she wasn't going to back down. She was growing accustomed to the walls he kept putting up. Andrea crossed her legs, and caught the sea breeze from outside. She could just make out the dark horizon of the Pacific Ocean beyond the balcony, and the distant glow of a shipping vessel heading far out and to some unknown destination.

There were times when she felt like shipping herself off to sea.

"My mum lives in Parramatta, and was originally from Byron bay. She's now separated from my dad who's a pharmacist, and living in West Ryde."

There was regret in her voice as she spoke of her disappointment concerning the marital status of her parents; the sense of which was lost on her employer, because he pushed on to what she could only assume, was a more urgent question of more pressing concerns.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked clinically, as if he had suddenly switched back into doctor-mode.

"No," she replied without hesitation and with the clarity of a decision that was finalized a long time ago.

She detected the hint of a smile on her employer's lips, and a definite spark of life in his eyes. His hand lying on top of the couch crept nearer to her shoulder like a great spider (albeit a welcome one) and she felt all light-headed. Her skin gleamed with a sense of sudden sexual arousal. Andrea felt that it was about to happen. She looked him hard in the eye. She looked trying hard to make that deep earth-shattering connection with him. She felt she was living a fairytale dream in the living room - the beating heart of a house open only to a chosen few, and surrounded by antiquities, paintings - the symbols of fabulous wealth - fabulous attributes of a handsome man who had brought her here for one night of long steamy passion.

She puckered up her lips in anticipation of a kiss and gave him a yearning look that was full of such innocent and puppy-like affection. Calvey returned her silent gaze as if he had never seen such a sex-hungry look from a nineteen-year-old girl before. Her desires were calling for him to lean over and kiss her - to finally get the ball rolling, and claim his oh so willing prize that he had worked so hard for.

Make your move Jason, she thought. Go on. Don't be shy. It's ok.

The couch groaned slightly as he moved closer to her, and she closed her eyes expecting to lock lips in what would be the sweetest of all kisses…

"So you want to know about family then?" he asked, sounding almost like a lollipop man expressing his fondness for spotting trains from a rail-side bench, while sipping homemade lemon drink from his grandmother's thermos flask.

"Sure," Andrea huffed without further comment. And then maybe you can show me your stamp collection, she thought with a furrowed brow.

She felt as if she had been slighted. Andrea refilled her glass knowing full well she would have ample time to consume it. Her patients for a change, was now getting impoverished.

"I was an only child like yourself. I grew up in a village about thirty miles outside of London-"

He was looking elsewhere, and missed Andrea looking absent-mindedly at her silver and diamond encrusted wristwatch - a present from her mother from three years ago. It was a peace offering during that awful period of guilt and despair when she hugged her dad good-bye, and he hugged her back while brushing away her tears and trying to be merry about the whole tragic affair.

It's not the end of the world, he had said to her.

He even tickled her to try and make her laugh, and he hadn't tickled her in all those years since she was a small child.

We're still a family, and I'll still be able to pick you up after school, as always.

He was smiling that day for her sake alone, but the hurt was still shining from his eyes and it tore her apart.

She took the watch from her mother without a word of thanks, and locked herself in the bedroom for the rest of the day. The same day her dad was forced to leave home forever…

"My mum is still at home living alone, and my dad's dead," said Calvey.

That last part registered.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, while refocusing her throughs and trying to look especially sympathetic.

"Why is that Andrea? Because you think he was a tender loving man?" Calvey asked with a mild taste of amusement from his lips.

"No I just assumed-" she began, before he cut her short.

"He's been dead a long time, and my old man was a fruitcake. I didn't shed any tears at his funeral so I don't expect you, or anyone else to. The stupid bastard got what he deserved, to be honest."

"How did he die?"

"Cracked his head in the shower after a nasty fall."

Andrea could have sworn that he smiled just then. He raised his champagne in an effort to shield his mouth, but that smirk was still there and as crystal clear as the glass between his lips.

Andrea wanted now, more than ever, a change of subject.

"It must be hard been so far away from home," she ventured.

"Not really. The only person I miss is my best friend Sami. He's like the brother I never had, and there's a bond between us we've no desire to break."

Calvey was draining the last of the champagne into their glasses. They were drinking the stuff down like thirsty athletes knocking back spring water.

"Do you still talk to him?"

"It's difficult to keep in touch, but he contacts me from time to time. He's with the British SAS and on tour in Iraq."

"He's a soldier then? I can't say I envy his line of work. But lets hope he makes it home without a scratch."

"Every job has inherent dangers Andrea, and some are more obvious than others. He's been soldiering since he was fifteen."

"Fifteen! Isn't that a little young Jason?"

"Sixteen is the legal age to enlist in the British armed forces. But he lied, and now he's a living legend." He raised his glass. "And I'll drink to that."

They gulped back the remainder of the champagne. Andrea could see a visual change in Calvey as he spoke of his friend with such deeply rooted admiration and sense of loyalty. Talking seemed to easy the tension she had felt when he spoke poison of his father for the unspoken sins he had committed. She shook her head feeling sudden pity for her employer. Andrea couldn't imagine what would warrant such malice towards a parent. She had been through difficult times with her own mother and father and she despised their disregard for their sacred, marital vows that meant so much to her. Their petty squabbling hurt her deeply, and she often lashed back at them in her own way by emotionally blackmailing them, and making it perfectly clear that she would never be used as a referee to help keep mother against father, or vice-versa. Andrea accepted their lavish gifts though: the Barina, the watch, the expensive dresses and the laptop computer. But she hated the motivation behind it all. Often they would try, but always fail to score points from her. Never the less, Andrea loved them both, and hoped against overwhelming odds that they would one day reunite and be a real family again.

"I'm going for some more booze," said Calvey standing up.

"You mean there's more?" she asked, looking at her empty glass as if it was an oddity that had the ability to drain liquid as if by magic.

"There's heaps of the stuff downstairs in the wine cellar. I'll only be a second."

He brushed her exposed knee with his hand as he stood up and she spasmed with the ecstasy of it. That was the cue she was waiting for: he had touched her - invaded her private space in the privacy of his own home, and Andrea lavished the sensation of it.

"This party is just getting warmed up." He winked back at her and left the room.

I couldn't agree more Jason, she thought, as her cheeks lit up pink with pleasure.