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

“What happened to all that commandment talk? Seeing to my every need, not killing, stealing, or fiddling the neighbor’s husband?”


“Don’t worry, love. I intend to please you in the process, but for now we’d better get some sleep.”


“Did I say it was damned hot in here?”


Later, after an hour of twisting and turning and in that neither/nor state of being half-asleep, half-awake, Leslie drifted off. He dreamt of empty rooms, cracked ceilings, and damaged walls, of V-1 bombs buzzing through the night sky, and of his childhood—a jumble of snapshots, a life lived without his brother, a time he thought he’d left behind.


Chapter 20