Exiles

This chapter picks up where Chapter 6 left off with Falk and Gemma in Melbourne. After drinks at the bar, they have dinner and talk about the festival, which Gemma runs. Based on a previous trauma of being in a fire, Falk doesn’t like the waiter lighting a candle at their table, and Gemma gently blows it out. They talk about her career in computer programming and his career at the police. Work messages start coming into Falk’s phone, but he ignores them. Gemma tells him that when she was in London she reconnected with an old friend named Dean, who was Joel’s father. They eventually married, and she became Joel’s stepmother, but Gemma’s husband died in a car accident. Falk talks about visiting Marralee someday with Raco and seeing the festival. After they leave the restaurant, they kiss under an awning in the rain.

As Dwyer gets on stage, a picture of Kim is projected on the backdrop with the words “Have you seen me?” and a phone number (83). Dwyer asks the audience to share any information they have about Kim. Raco talks to Naomi Kerr, Henry’s future godmother.