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She asked, not waiting for an answer before wandering down the corridor to the kitchen. Unable to afford a separate office, Anya lived at the back of the terrace house. She slept in an attic bedroom and kept a smaller upstairs room for Ben’s visits. A functional lounge room, bathroom and kitchen became common property during business hours. At five past nine Elaine brought Anoub Deab from the waiting room into the main office. During a quick tidy up, Anya found under the lounge a Matchbox car, a LEGO block and a plastic road worker left from Ben’s last visit.

Before then we were tolerated. Now people despise us. The papers say we go around in gangs causing violence. Just because we are Lebanese the police pull us over, search and threaten us. ’ He ran a hand through his hair and stared at Anya. ’ The man had a point. Radio shock-jocks had vilified Islamic immigrants since the devastation of New York’s World Trade Center towers, and, closer to home, the suicide bomb-ings in Bali. ’ ‘That’s what I need to find out! This has brought great shame to my father and our family.

This is from the lung of a thirty-five-year-old female found at the base of the Gap a while back. ’ Peter slid his glasses above his forehead and focused the eyepieces. ’ Anya rolled a chair forward and peered into the lens. Stained with hematoxylin and eosin, multiple golden-brown, needle-shaped structures spread throughout the tissue. ’ Anya asked. Like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle, histology meant nothing without the full picture. ’ Peter adjusted his chair. ’ ‘True. After you called, I went over the reports again.