Greco was stunned. “I couldn’t possibly take it on. My head’s all over the place. They’ll have to look for someone else.”
“I know now is not a good time. I’ve told them upstairs and no one is pushing you. You’ve been through a nightmare. I can’t begin to imagine the horror you must have felt in that room. There is counselling available, you know. You should consider it.”
Greco dipped his eyes. He didn’t want sympathy, it made him weep, and he didn’t want counselling. He’d had enough of that with his OCD.
“I wouldn’t have broached the new job at all, but the super insisted that I should. He sees it as a great opportunity. At any other time in your life I would agree with him. But I have stressed that you must not be hurried into this.”
“So I can think about it?”
“Take as much time as you need,” Green said kindly.
“It’s a far bigger job,” Greco shook his head. The doubts were already there. “The sacrifice might be too much,” he looked at Green. “I’m thinking of Matilda. I’d end up seeing even less of her.”
“A father drowning under the weight of tragedy is no good for her either. I know it’s small consolation but ultimately it might be good for both of you. You are ambitious, Stephen, I know that.”
“My team here?”
“You don’t have to think about the details now. But you will have a say in the make-up of the new team. Some of the officers here might be happy to transfer with you.”
“Okay, I’ll give it some thought.”
“That’s all I ask, Stephen. But wait a few weeks until this is less raw. The decision on how to move forward is yours alone. Personally, I wouldn’t want the force to lose you. But, given what’s happened I understand the difficulties you face.”
Greco walked back to the main office in a daze. Did he want this? What should he tell his colleagues? More to the point, who would he want to take with him?
“Give you a hard time, sir?”
“No, Speedy. Quite the reverse. I think he might have just thrown me a lifeline.”
THE END
GET THE FIRST DI GRECO BOOK NOW!
DARK MURDER
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A woman is found dead by a canal . . . why have her eyes have been viciously poked out?
Detective Stephen Greco has just started a new job at Oldston CID and now he faces a series of murders with seemingly no connection but the brutal disfigurement of the victims. Greco’s team is falling apart under the pressure and he doesn't know who he can trust. Then they discover a link to a local drug dealer, but maybe it’s not all that it seems.
Can Greco get control of his chaotic team and stop the murders?
THE FOUR CALLADINE AND BAYLISS MYSTERIES (book 3 features DI GRECO)
BOOK 1 DEAD WRONG:
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First a shooting, then a grisly discovery on the common . . .
Police partners, D.I. Calladine and D.S. Ruth Bayliss race against time to track down a killer before the whole area erupts in violence. Their boss thinks it’s all down to drug lord Ray Fallon, but Calladine’s instincts say something far nastier is happening on the Hobfield housing estate.
Can this duo track down the murderer before anyone else dies and before the press publicize the gruesome crimes? Detectives Calladine and Bayliss are led on a trail which gets dangerously close to home. In a thrilling finale they race against time to rescue someone very close to Calladine’s heart.
BOOK 2: DEAD SILENT
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A body is found in a car crash, but the victim was already dead . . .
BOOK 3: DEAD LIST
This book is the first to feature D.I Greco
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An unlikely serial killer with a bucket list of victims . . .
BOOK 4: DEAD LOST
An abandoned cotton mill holds horrific secrets
Police partners, D.I. Calladine and D.S. Ruth Bayliss face one of their toughest challenges yet. A group of homeless people have set up camp in the grounds of a disused cotton mill belonging to local businessman Damien Chase.
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CHARACTER LIST (contains minor spoilers)
DI Stephen Greco
Greco is a dedicated policeman who can’t imagine ever doing anything else. He is in his mid-thirties, tall, blonde, strait-laced, and meticulous in his approach to work. Greco is the first to admit that he is ‘faulty.’ He has mild OCD and is not a people person. He finds making friends difficult.
He is based in Oldston, an industrial town in the north of England. He recently moved there from East Anglia, after his divorce. He followed his ex-wife north so that he could be near to his five-year-old daughter, Matilda. Life in Oldston is very different from what he was used to. He finds Oldston raw and doesn’t like the poverty prevalent in the town. In DARK MURDER he reconciled with his ex-wife and they started living together again.
Known as ‘Speedy’ to his mates. Quickenden is disillusioned with his job. He was born and bred in Oldston, everyone he knows lives there. Most of his friends from school are wasters who have turned to gambling or crime to make ends meet. Speedy is tall and thin, he towers over most of his colleagues. He is frequently untidy in appearance.
DC Grace Harper
She likes to know the gossip. She is ambitious and wishes she could give all to her job and win promotion. But she has small child, Holly, and she’s a single parent. Her partner did a runner while Grace was pregnant and has nothing to do with Holly. She feels guilty about going back to work, leaving Holly in nursery or cared for by her mother. She is torn between the job and her daughter. Given the chance she could be a good detective. She is bright, intuitive and popular.
Grace Harper is in her early twenties. She is slim — a figure that is straight up and down — boyish, with long blonde hair that she tends to wear back in ponytail. She is pretty, but the trials and tribulations of life have hardened her features. She looks like the sort of woman who’d stand no nonsense. She doesn’t eat much and Greco deduces that is why she is so thin. She was bullied for being fat when she was a schoolgirl.
DC Craig Merrick
Early promise was compromised by Craig falling foul of a local gang member. He was accused of taking a bribe, and although nothing was proved, it has hampered his career. He idolises Quickenden, definitely the wrong choice. Craig is young, takes care over his appearance and is more fashionable than either Greco or Quickenden.
Georgina Booth
Known as ‘George’ to the team. She works as the information officer for the station. She is good at the job and gets results because she is a plodder and takes it seriously. She is very much in Grace’s shadow. Grace is the pretty one, the one the men notice — they pay little attention to George. She is short, overweight and has dark hair worn in a style that does her no favours. She is in her late twenties and lives alone.
DCI Colin Green
Greco’s boss at Oldston police station.
Suzy Greco
Stephen Greco’s ex-wife. She is blonde, attractive and appears to be a person who copes. However Greco comes to realise that this is far from the t
ruth.
Glossary of English Slang for US readers
A & E: Accident and emergency department in a hospital
Aggro: Violent behaviour, aggression
A Level: exams taken between 16 and 18
Barm: bread roll
Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids
Benefits: social security
Bent: corrupt
Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)
Bloke: guy
Blow: cocaine
Bob: money
Burger bar: hamburger fast-food restaurant
Buy-to-let: Buying a house/apartment to rent it out for profit
Charity Shop: thrift store
Carrier bag: plastic bag from supermarket
Care Home: an institution where old people are cared for
Car park: parking lot
Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments
Chemist: pharmacy
Chinwag: conversation
CID: Criminal Investigation Department
Clock: punch
Cock up: mess up, make a mistake
Common: an area of park land/ or lower class
Comprehensive School (Comp.): High school
Cop hold of: grab
Copper: police officer
Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit
CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, decide whether police cases go forward
Childminder: someone who looks after children for money
Council: local government
Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block
DI: detective inspector
Do a runner: disappear
Do one: go away
Doc Martens: Heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole
DS: detective sergeant
ED: accident and emergency department of hospital
Early dart: to leave work early
Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)
Estate agent: realtor (US)
Fag: cigarette
Garden Centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold
GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community
Graft: hard work
Hard nut: tough person
HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents
Home: care home for elderly or sick people
Inne: isn’t he
Into care: a child taken away from their family by the social services
Lad: young man
Lass: young woman
Lift: elevator
Lorry: a truck
Mobile phone: cell phone
MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area
Naff: lame, not good
Net curtains: a type of semi-transparent curtain
NHS: National Health Service, public health service of UK
Nick: police station (as verb: to arrest)
Nowt: nothing
Nutter: insane person
Nursery: a place which grows plants, shrubs and trees for sale (often wholesale)
Owt: anything
Pay-as-you-go: a cell phone you pay for calls in advance
PC: police constable
Petrol: gasoline
Piss off: as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.
Pissing down: raining
Pleb: ordinary person (often insulting)
Portakabin: portable building used as temporary office etc.
Planning Department: the local authority department which issues licences to build and develop property
Premier League: top English soccer division
Querent: person for whom the tarot card reading is done
Rag: newspaper
Ram-raiding: robbery where a vehicle is rammed through a shop window
Randy: horny
Right state: messy
Ring: telephone (verb)
Roadworks: repairs done to roads
Scroat: low life
Semi: Semi-detached house, house with another house joined to it on one side only
Shedload: a large amount
Shout the odds: talk in a loud bossy way
Sixth-form college: school for high school students in final two years.
SIO: senior investigating officer
Skip: a large open container used for building waste
Slapper: slag
Sod: an annoying person
Sort: to do or make
Solicitor: lawyer
Stunner: beautiful woman
Super: superintendent (police rank)
Sweeting: endearment, like sweetheart
Tabloid: newspaper
Tea: Dinner (Northern English)
Till: cash register
Tipsy: a bit drunk
Torch: flashlight
Tutor: university teacher
Tower block: tall building containing apartments (usually social housing)
Upmarket: affluent or fancy
Wash: the washing machine
Water board: company supplying water to an area
White van man: typical working-class man who drives a small truck
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