Forty-eight The Crown Court is where the serious cases end up, so those who go carry more fear in their eyes, that the view they have through the huge windows could be the last one for a few years that isn’t through thin metal bars. They edge around nervously, bite fingernails, receive words of c...
‘Four deaths, and two missing persons, plus Sarah,’ I said. I waved a piece of paper, a print-out of an old newspaper report. ‘April Mather. Jumped naked from the top of Blacko Tower ten years ago. Thirty years old.’ I glanced at the press picture of a smiling woman with long blonde hair, her hea...
I had been lying in bed, thinking about how I would get Claude’s story moving, when Laura gave a shout. I jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs. When she turned to look at me, I saw anger in her eyes. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, and then I followed her gaze as she turned to...
For Joe, the hearing had been about getting it finished. His client had paid Joe to defend an assault allegation, expected some fight, some enthusiasm. Instead, Joe had bullied his client into pleading guilty on a promise that he would avoid prison. It was a promise Joe couldn’t keep, it was out ...
“Why you hang out with them leopards?” Link asked. “You gonna catch that shit!” “I thought you wanted to catch it,” I said. “I do, but I gotta figure out how to make some cash ’til I get that shit.” Link looked at me and smiled. “Teach me how you stole money from them banks!” “What kind of relati...
Sheldon hadn’t said much since he had been into the police station in Penwortham, but he was in a rush, screeching his car around the tights bends lined by stone walls, the long slope towards Oulton visible ahead as a long line of orange lights. ‘Do you know what is the hardest thing about losing...
Her faded perfume, along with that musky smell all of her own, heady and warm, so his mind was flooded with memories. Her laugh, joy-filled, exuberant, different from how she was when he first met her, when she seemed quiet, almost flat, as if she had forgotten how to enjoy herself.
There was a policeman by the door, taking a cigarette break. He almost stopped Sam from going in. The glare from Sam made him give way. The police activity was less than Sam expected. There was a female officer in uniform in the kitchen, making drinks. Helena was lying dow...
Ben Grant was in the room ahead. He remembered his instructions. Let Grant do the talking and don’t give anything away. Grant wanted Sam, but Sam didn’t want to fuel his fantasies. Let Grant masturbate over someone else’s words.It had been the trial when Sam had last seen Grant, with Sam as a pol...
The spasms had ended now, but she felt drained and sweaty, her shirt sticking to her chest. Her head had hit the floor, so she reached behind gingerly, and then winced when her hand came into contact with damp hair. She knew that the stickiness on her fingers was blood. Th...