Prologue
Don't stress it if it makes no sense. It won't totally tie together until you reach the conclusion having read the Epilogue to Book 3. The last in the Trilogy. It was almost auto written at 3am in bed. Only two people besides me know the ending - my wife and daughter. But wait got a little wasted with my brother- in-law so now three people know.

Chapters 1 to 5
Here we are introduced to the main Protagonists from the After Dark television current affairs program. The Male Host: Carter Cheval Ryder
Female Host: Carrie Fisher

Carter is lured into a meeting with Ken who tells a strange after death experience tale. There is an allusion to child abuse involving the parish priest Father Dan.

Carter and Ken are killed in what appears to be cross fire from a bikie gang war.

The story continues with Carter's after death experience, his funeral, and the appearance of a sinister mourner at the funeral chapel.

Father Dan consoles Carter's family, girlfriend Layla and best friend Mal Shoebridge.
Layla vows to avenge Carter's death.

Carter finds himself in an after life place that is neither heaven nor hell but has elements of both, lorded over by a shadowy figure, in white, he comes to call Teacher

Chapters 6 to 10

Father Peter Margate reminisces about the lost love of his life. She was one of the Cheval twins... Amelia. His mind wanders to a happier time when he discovered young love and also when a turn of events led to his fall from grace with the Chevals and his eventual exile to Melbourne to join the priesthood.

His memory is jogged by the news of the death of Carter Cheval Ryder back in Australia. He had enjoyed watching the After Dark current affairs program and catching up on things in Australia. At least it was in English and hosted by the son of Amelia's twin sister Amanda.

Peter's long standing obsession with Amelia is revealed.

Meanwhile Carter comes to accept his demise. He leaves the HereAfter and decides to make the most of a bad thing and look up his old friends.

He follows his friends to the races in Sydney and helps
them win an extraordinary amount of money. He sees that Father Dan is at the races as well. He is meeting with some people called SPECTRE.

The friends celebrate their good fortune and invite Layla to join them. A plan is hatched to use the money to investigate the murder of their friend Carter.

On his return to the HereAfter Carter is taken to the Movies to see his life story unfold. He is guided by Teacher
to review his life..the good, the bad and the ugly.

Chapters 11 to 15
Meanwhile
In Carter's "Movie" ..
Amelia's uncle Tony a cop, stumbles upon Peter and Amelia's love affair. Family intrigue, rape allegations and a surprise illness very nearly take Amelia's life.

A jealous uncle takes a set against Peter resulting in the Chevals returning early from a holiday due to Amelia's serious illness.
Tony convinces them to blame Peter and prepares to press charges.

Peter's father Don, a doctor, saves Amelia but Father Dan has to intervene to save Peter from jail by offering a place in the priesthood in Melbourne.

Chapters 16 to 20
Layla and Amanda decide to investigate the suspicious aspects surrounding Carter's grizzly death. Ed, their editor at work, steps in and tells them if they want to investigate it has to be on their own time and money. The case is officially closed is the edict from higher up.

Don saves Amelia's life after a life-threatening medical complication. The Chevals are clearly in his debt.
Carter is shown by Teacher what happened by viewing the "movie" of things past. .

Tony wants Peter charged with Amelia's rape and drug trafficking. Don discovers Amelia is pregnant. The Chevals grapple with the morality of a possible legal abortion. Father Dan is asked the Church's stance. They decide to let Amelia have the baby but not tell her she is pregnant just yet.
Tony wants to send Peter to jail.

Carter is introduced to his real "heavenly" mother Amelia.
The Chevals and Margates come up with a compromise to save Peter going to jail. Peter goes to Melbourne to train for the priesthood and Amelia goes to Paris to stay with Aunty Margot and have the baby possibly to be adopted there.
The Margates will move to Melbourne to support Peter's transition.

Tony reluctantly agrees to drop the charges if Peter is sent to Melbourne and has no further contact with the family.

Chapters 21 to 25
Mal and his mates take Layla to dinner to celebrate winning big at the races. Mal tells Layla how he thinks Carter helped him to back winners and get the quaddie and trifecta. Layla tells the boys that she and Amanda are investigating Carter's death and after speaking to the paramedic they think something is fishy with the priest at the scene who wasn't Father Dan.

They want to look at the CCTV footage but Ed won't pay for any further investigation. Mal offers to pay with the winnings.

Carter watches his "movie" of events and discovers that Amelia is pregnant with Peter's child. Teacher tries to convince him that Amelia was his mother not Amanda and therefore Peter is his father.

Don wakes Amelia from her induced coma. She is told she has been in a coma for nearly a month. They won't let her see Peter. They tell her he has gone back to Melbourne to be with a girl in his music class and that he has now made her pregnant and is staying in Melbourne and in fact the whole Margate family are moving to Melbourne.

Amelia feels broken and betrayed and so agrees to go to Paris and have the baby there.

She meets Collette at music school and they become fast friends and confidants.

Amelia has the baby and calls him Peter after his father

It is Collette who takes Amelia and her visiting sister Amanda to Le Balajo to celebrate their graduation. She unwittingly introduces Amelia to her killer, Andre.

Amelia comments on Andre's gold skull ring. A photo of Andre with his arms around Amelia and Collette is taken by the venue photographer in the VIP lounge.

Andre spikes Amelia's drink and takes her to a deserted part of the disco under renovation. He gives her a hot shot and arranges for the disposal of her body out a side entrance and out into the rear lane after the venue closes.

Amanda and Collette frantically search for Amelia but give up. Her body is discovered the next morning in the alley where Andre had it placed.

Author's note:
It's Halloween so running out of time for NaNo so I'll speed you to the conclusion...if you want more detail you'll have to read either of the two Book 1s.

The Chevals, Layla and Mal think there is something fishy about the priest who was actually the assassin Andre.

Carter was killed at the behest of the Vatican but why?

Mal and Layla investigate and are becoming a problem for Graz the Keeper of Secrets in the Vatican who is grooming Peter to take over when he is promoted to Guardian of Secrets also known as the Pope's Guardian Angel

Ed sends them to cover a story in Syria to interview a terrorist leader Jihad Yazzi.

Meanwhile, Father Dan takes Peter to Rome to prepare him for elevation. Peter starts to waver about becoming a priest. He is still obsessed with Amelia and the thought of marrying her.

The Vatican arranges for him to be implicated in a young call girl's murder on the way to Rome with Father Dan.

Amanda adopts her dead twin sister's baby Peter and, at the insistence of her parents changes his name to Carter to hide his existence from his father, Peter.....she marries, and Carter becomes Carter Cheval Ryder who grows up to become the anchor of the After Dark program who was assassinated in Chapter 1.

The Vatican (Graz) tries to tie up loose ends and sends Andre, the assassin, to kill Layla and Mal in Syria.

Carter's ghost warns them and he thwarts the sniper attempt.

Margot is clairvoyant and brings Carter in on a ouija board. Carter tries to warn the family of impending doom.

A bomb attempt on their lives is avoided.

Monique goes to Rome and confronts Peter....goes back to Paris where Peter with Anton, Andre's son arrange for her murder in the same tunnel that Lady Di died in and at the very same location so media attention is diverted

Carter finds out the whole story by watching his "movie" in the HereAfter. He devises, against the advice of Teacher, a cunning plan to thwart the latest attempt to kill the entire Cheval family and Mal and Layla.

Graz wants to kill any further investigation into Amelia's, Carter's, and finally Monique's deaths.

Carter helped by Teacher
infiltrates the planning meeting with the terrorist leader Jihad Yazzi to blow-up the Chevals' plane.

However there is a young girl at the meeting. The star child who can actually see both Carter's ghost and Teacher in the room.

Their cover blown Carter takes things into his own hands.

Carter fights for control over Peter's body and wins.

The possessed Peter shoots Enrico, the Black Pope, and shoots Andre, Amelia's killer out of revenge. The Swiss Guard stabs Peter while he is still possessed by Carter.

Peter's body containing both soul essences is taken to the Vatican hospital.

As surgeons try to save him an epic spirit battle ensues between Carter's ghost and Peter's soul.

Teacher warns Carter he could get stuck in Peter's body and that would be very bad. Carter "wins" and indeed gets stuck.

The surgeon, after saving Peter, chews the orderly out for putting the wrong colour eyes on the admission form because Peter's brown eyes have changed now to Carter's blue eyes.

Epilogue has Carter's spirit in, his father, Peter's body being whisked away to intensive care to recover. Peter's spirit is left languishing behind in a darkened operating theatre. He hears a voice. "Is something troubling you Peter Margate."
It makes him start.

Book 2 HereAfter Dawn© takes up here with the Prologue similar to the Book 1 Epilogue