From the chapter Inside the Barking Spider:
It’s a strange preternatural feeling closing the car doors and sauntering towards a date with destiny armed with nothing but memory. I’m dreading that the meeting is going to devolve into half an hour of politically correct small talk.
I do have Lisa. Perhaps between the two of us we’ll find our way to meaningful answers and insights. Will we forget any questions? Will we miss vital clues? If we’re simply ourselves and in the moment we’ll be fine, I finally decide.
Just then Barry Steenkamp pulls up in battered beige Subaru 2000 station wagon. Mud has splattered around the wheels. I’m the sort of spontaneous person who would approach Barry at his door, and greet him, but Barry seems not to have noticed us even though we’re standing a few metres away.
Hello from the other side
Through a steel gate we see June sitting in a shaded courtyard with another woman, a sparkly eyed brunette – their legal counsel, Tania Koen. Lisa and I approach and they stand to embrace us. There’s a warm introduction. Hugs and kisses. Barry arrives shortly afterward and insists on sitting at a separate table; holding up a pack of Camel cigarettes to indicate why there needs to be some distance between us.
I immediately pick up a slight distance from June that’s hard to fathom. She’s there but not there, if that makes any sense.
Hello, can you hear me
Although I have my antennae switched on I’m not picking up a signal. Whatever I am picking up is fuzzy. I immediately feel very out of sorts. I am not sure if it is fatigue, or instinct, but I have a bad feeling, a feeling of conflictedness I can’t explain…
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