In the summer of 1944, Leslie Atwater -- feeling abandoned by his lover Edward -- rushes to London to enlist in the armed services. After failing the physical, he retreats to the sanctuary of St. Michael’s rectory and to the love and support of his brother Robert.<br><br>When a bomb explodes near St. Andrew’s Home for Boys, it unearths a skeleton of an adolescent. As Leslie, Edward, and Robert set about identifying the remains, the shocking discovery stirs up an old antagonism between the two brothers and brings to light a string of repressed memories for Leslie.<br><br>With the truth obscured by the passage of years, can Leslie and Edward sift through the lies and subterfuge to track down the coldhearted killer of a kindred spirit?

Kindred Spirit

“I certainly hope so.” Edward laughed as he watched his lover run through a very s-l-o-w striptease.


“Howja like being ‘married’ so far?” Leslie asked. “I mean, as married as we can be in these days and times under the cover of secrecy.” He was now down to his undershorts.


“Under the cover of something. Get in here! Enough fooling around out there. Let’s fool around in here.” Edward moved over, lifted up the blankets. “Get in, for chrissakes.”


“You mean command,” Edward said, correcting him. “Commandment’s another thing. We’ll surely be breaking one or two of those in a moment.”


Leslie crossed his hands over his bare chest. “I’m waiting for an answer to my question. Marriage. What do you think of it now, two years post our secret ceremony in the garden?” He went to switch off the bedside lamp.


Edward told him not to. “I want to look at you.”


“Now that’s nice. Can I have more talk like that, please?”


Chapter 4