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DARK HOUSES a gripping detective thriller full of suspense

Page 19

by Helen H. Durrant


  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

  http://www.amazon.co.uk/MURDER-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B0163DVHC2/

  http://www.amazon.com/MURDER-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B0163DVHC2/

  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:

  http://www.amazon.co.uk/WRONG-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B010Y7641M/

  http://www.amazon.com/WRONG-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B010Y7641M/

  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.

  DS Jed Quickenden

  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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