Back in her office, there was no time to reflect on concealed doors as the second client required her undivided attention. A former police officer, compelled to leave the force due to an accident, the sixty-five-year-old presented as resigned to his fate and retained the same disposition throughout the interview. Before crossing into the grey corridor, he thanked her profusely for the prison warder position in distant Gippsland, as though she alone, and not a machine incapable of human compassion, had determined his future employment.
Over the lunchbreak, a sudden downpour kept Emma in the staffroom, a disappointment given she had intended to meet Jean by the river. Seated in their separate staffrooms, the two friends exchanged messages promising to get together later in the week, weather
