The Dry

Grant comes up to Gretchen and Falk's table. He advises Gretchen to stay clear of Falk, because “girls who hang around this bloke tend to end up dead” (127), and tells Falk he should leave town. Falk starts interrogating him, taking down notes for the investigation, which rattles Grant. Deciding Falk is not worth the fight, he and his friends leave the bar. 

When the bar has closed, Falk chats with the owner, David McMurdo. McMurdo has been in Kiewarra for 10 years but shares that he is still viewed as an outsider (133). He tells Falk that Luke and Grant constantly fought at the bar and could never leave the other alone. Grant was at the bar the last night Luke was, but it was busy, and McMurdo did not notice anything unusual. Rumor has it that Deacon is leaving the farm to Grant. Falk considers the fact that with the Hadlers' plot, the two parcels of land could be worth a lot of money. In bed, Falk listens to a voicemail from Gerry Hadler, telling him “there's something [he] should know” about the day Ellie died, and that Falk should meet him at Luke's farm tomorrow (137).

The next day, Falk arrives at the Hadlers' farm where Barb and Gerry are painfully sorting through Luke and Karen's belongings. Falk notices that the master bedroom looks well lived-in, reflecting on how empty his own apartment is now that he no longer has a partner. Barb thanks Falk for “[stirring] things up” and getting people to rethink what happened to her family. She shares that she is certain Luke was grateful to have him as a friend, and that Falk would have liked Karen. Falk admits he never visited because he was afraid he would not be welcome, but Barb assures him that he would always be accepted in her family. 

As they go out to meet Gerry in the barn, Falk momentarily indulges in a fantasy of what raising a family in Kiewarra would have looked like, but ultimately concludes that “there were too many lost chances for that vision to have played out” (144). As they share some coffee, they share that they will probably sell the land. He asks if they would collaborate with Deacon and Grant on the sale of the adjoining properties, but Barb assures him that after “thirty years of grief from that side of the fence,” they would never (146). Barb is certain Deacon ran over Luke's dog many years ago and has always suspected that he poisoned one of their fields after she expressed concern about Ellie's well-being. The only reason Deacon and Grant get away with their bullying is because people in Kiewarra are all interdependent, Gerry explains.

When Barb returns the house, Gerry asks for Falk's honest opinion of what happened, and Falk admits there is a possibility that Luke did not kill Karen and Billy. Gerry shares that when he saw Luke biking home from the direction of the river on the day Ellie died, he briefly saw a white truck in his rearview mirror. The driver might have also seen Luke, meaning someone other than Gerry might know that the boys' alibis were a lie. Gerry has always been nervous about that driver disclosing that they saw Luke there the day Ellie went missing and thinks there is a chance that person murdered the Hadlers.

After calling Raco to fill him in with the latest information, Falk meets Gretchen and Lachie at Centenary Park. Falk notices how nice the park is now, and Gretchen explains that they were able to build the playground with some charity money. She shares that the school tried to get money from the Crossley Education Trust, but they were not approved. As they watch Lachie on the slide, Gretchen explains that his dad is out of the picture. They chat about the isolation of living on a farm, and Gretchen shares that “it's feeling cut off” that bothers her the most (157). No one had personally informed her about the Hadler deaths, which she found particularly hurtful.

Mandy Vaser, a previous classmate of theirs, approaches them to ask Falk to leave, because she and the other mothers are not comfortable with him being near their children. When he refuses, Mandy threatens to call her husband on Falk and Social Services on Gretchen. As Mandy leaves, calling her husband, Falk apologizes to a flustered Gretchen for meeting her in such a public place. Gretchen reassures him, telling him tensions are high and “the heat makes everything worse” (161). Falk gets ready to leave and receives a text from Raco saying that Jamie lied.

In the station's interrogation room, Falk and Raco show Jamie a firefighter report filed on the day the Hadlers died. Firefighters arrived at Jamie's house at 5:47 p.m. that afternoon because his grandmother had panicked when the stove caught fire. They were not able to reach Jamie, and he only arrived home at 6:05 p.m. Jamie nervously tells Raco and Falk that he had gone for a drive after Luke left for “some space to think” (164). Knowing it would sound incriminating, he did not mention it earlier. Jamie is too young to have any connection to Ellie and insists that Luke was a good friend. Falk ventures to guess that Jamie is having an affair with someone, asking if there is anyone who can verify his alibi. Jamie says no, and the officers let him go, sure that he is hiding something. Falk heads to his car to return to the pub and discovers that someone has carved “WE WILL SKIN YOU KILLER SCUM” all over his car (167).

Back at the pub, Gretchen warns Falk to be even more careful, and Whitlam shows Falk a flier that has been put up around town. On it are photos of Falk and his father, asking for more information regarding Ellie’s drowning. Whitlam invites Falk over to his house, where Whitlam's wife, Sandra, makes them all coffee. Sandra unapologetically shares that she is not enjoying Kiewarra, and that she cannot understand why people are sympathizing with Luke. She confirms that Billy was scheduled to come over to play with Danielle the day he died, and that Karen cancelled, claiming he was sick. Sandra gets worked up remembering the phone call, feeling guilty that she did not try to make sure Karen was alright. In the privacy of his home office, which is filled with sports history books, Whitlam shares that the reason Sandra is having such a hard time is because she is “hypersensitive” to violence, and that they left Melbourne because Whitlam was involved in a mugging that resulted in someone dying.