Wanted (Flick Carter Book 1)

by Arnot, Tim

  There was someone else in the room. A woman. She had long blonde hair.

  Rosie? No, it couldn’t be, she was too old.

  ‘What happened?’ Flick managed to say.

  ‘You’ve been in surgery, but you should recover fully. The effects of the anaesthetic will make you woozy for a while, but it’ll soon wear off.’

  ‘Surgery?’

  ‘You were shot. You lost a lot of blood.’

  ‘Shot… I remember.’

  She looked at the other woman in the room, the red-haired one lurking by the door. ‘It was you. You shot me.’

  ’Not guilty I’m afraid. I shot the man you were attacking.’

  ‘But… I felt…’

  ‘You had already been shot before, and the effort of the attack, not to mention the kicking you had just received was enough to rupture your wound.’

  ‘Griffin?’

  ‘Is dead. I shot him. But you stabbed him. Both wounds were equally fatal, so I shall award the kill to you.’ She smiled graciously.

  Flick relaxed. Griffin was dead.

  ‘Lieutenant Dixon.’ The woman introduced herself. She nodded at the nurse, who left the room. ‘We have met before, but under equally… trying circumstances.’

  ‘Shea? Adam?’ Flick muttered.

  ‘Shea is outside. He is hurt like you, but he will also make a full recovery. Adam…’ her voice trailed off. ‘I’m sorry. One of Griffin’s henchmen managed to hide a gun.’ She took Flick’s hand and held it. Flick just stared blankly, not taking it in.

  ‘We do have one or two formalities,’ Lieutenant Dixon told Flick a few days later. ‘Technically you are under arrest, and for practical purposes that means you may not leave the hospital. There will have to be a new trial, but that should just be a formality.’

  There was a knock on the door, and the nurse entered. She whispered something to the lieutenant, who nodded.

  ‘It seems even the threat of death can’t keep him away. I’ll leave you two alone.’

  As the lieutenant left the room she called out, ‘Only a few minutes now, she still needs her rest.’

  Shea sat down beside Flick and took hold of her hand. She smiled up at him.

  ‘Hey,’ he said.

  Lieutenant Dixon banged her gavel on the desk and brought the courtroom to order. They were back in the upper room of the tiny town hall-come-jail in the middle of Faringdon, and Flick was back in the dock. Only this time she was not chained, nor in rags. It was a month now since the events in Bristol, and most of her injuries had healed, although she still had bandages around her ribs under the white blouse she was wearing. Her new supple tan leather fitted suit was a gift from the people of the town, many of whom were crammed into the two small benches of the gallery, or standing outside in the square. They would have filled the room and the stairs if Lieutenant Dixon hadn’t put her foot down and ordered them out.

  She recognised Fred and Stanley and Maggie sitting in the front row of the gallery and waved. Maggie patted the noticeable bulge in her belly as she waved back. Flick gave her a little grin and a thumbs up.

  Lieutenant Dixon banged her gavel again, dragging Flick’s attention back to the proceedings. ‘Defendant will rise!’ she commanded, although her voice was not harsh.

  Flick stood.

  ‘On the charges that the you did, on the night of the eighth of May, in the year of our lord twenty-three eighty-three set fire to the Crown inn and thereby cause the death of Nicholas Carter and Rosie Carter, how do you plead?’

  ‘Not guilty,’ Flick replied.

  Dixon made a note. ‘The plea is so entered,’ she said.

  Then, turning to the Kingsman seated to her right, she said, ‘The prosecution will now bring its case.’

  The Kingsman stood and announced ‘The prosecution brings no evidence.’

  There was cheering from the gallery, and Lieutenant Dixon had to bang her gavel several times to restore order.

  ‘Very well. The defence will now bring its case,’ she said.

  The Kingsman seated to her left stood.

  ‘Ma’am, the defence calls Corporal Daniel Barnes.’

  Corporal Barnes came and took the stand. After he had been sworn in, the defence lawyer began his questioning. ‘Tell me, in your own words how you came to be involved.’

  ‘I was part of a squad of Kingsmen that had been dispatched here from Oxford after the initial trial. We were suspicious that coercion had been applied to witnesses, forcing them to give false testimony. After the prisoner had… escaped, myself and Socko–Kingsman Garrett–were tasked with getting to the bottom of what had happened.’

  ‘Tasked by whom?’

  ‘Lieutenant Dixon, ma’am.’

  ‘I confirm that I gave that order,’ Dixon broke in. ‘Continue.’

  ‘And how did you propose to get to the bottom of what had happened?’ the defence lawyer asked.

  ‘By examining the scene of the crime and interviewing witnesses,’ Barnes replied.

  ‘Is it true that you were able to determine how and where the fire started?’

  ‘Yes. By looking at the pattern of the burn marks on the floor and walls, we were able to determine that the fire started on the first floor landing, close to the staircase to the upper floors and bedrooms. It was started by setting fire to a pile of rags placed on the woollen carpet. Both the rags and the carpet had been soaked in some form of accelerant, probably petrol.’

  ‘Could the defendant have started the fire herself?’

  ‘We don’t believe so. For one thing, she did not have access to the accelerant, and there was no trace of petrol or a petrol container anywhere else on the premises. Secondly, whoever started the fire had to have taken the can they’d brought the accelerant in, away with them, since it wasn’t found at the scene, and thirdly, if the defendant had started the fire, she would have been unable to return to the room from which she is known to have escaped.’

  ‘Thank you. Now, were you able to find a source of this petroleum accelerant anywhere in the town?’ the defence lawyer asked.

  ‘Yes we did,’ the corporal replied. ‘There were two full cans and one empty can hidden under a tarpaulin in an outhouse at the mayor’s mansion.’

  There was a gasp and angry muttering from the gallery. Lieutenant Dixon banged her gavel and called for silence.

  ‘And now on to the murder victims. Were you able to determine the cause of their deaths?’

  ‘There were no murder victims. We found no traces of any bodies at the scene, and no indication that bodies had been removed.’

  ‘But wouldn’t the fire consume the bodies?’

  ‘Not an ordinary fire like that. You would need something exceptionally hot, and even then there would still be traces: bones, ashes, teeth and so on.’

  ‘Really? Everyone knows that a fire gets rid of the evidence, surely,’ Dixon interjected.

  ‘Yes, ma’am. We thought so too at first. But we checked, and it isn’t true.’

  ‘Checked? How?’ Dixon asked.

  ‘Well, ma’am, and this was Socko’s idea, we burnt down another house, with a body in it.’

  Dixon raised an eyebrow, ‘You did WHAT?’

  ‘Well, I say body, it was a dead pig, ma’am.’

  There was a titter from the gallery, and a comment from the back row, ‘I still want paying for that pig; valuable meat it was too.’

  ‘Ma’am, the butcher assured us the pig had gone off. It was not fit for human consumption. And it was rather smelly,’ said Corporal Barnes.

  Lieutenant Dixon banged her gavel. ‘Stick to the point,’ she said.

  ‘Well, I could of sold it,’ the butcher muttered, and was rewarded with a scowl from the bench.

  ‘You put the pig into a house and burnt it down?’ Dixon prompted.

  ‘Yes, ma’am. We used one of the derelicts at the edge of the town. Filled it with loads of scrap wood, then chucked on a can of the accelerant we found in the mayor’s mansion. Then we lit it,
well, Socko lit it. If you ask me, he’s a bit too keen that lad. Kept muttering something about “experimental crime fighting being the future”. We let the fire burn out, same as the inn, and then we looked. Found the pig, all burnt and charred, but it was still there.’

  ‘So are you saying the defendant’s sister and father are not dead?’

  ‘No ma’am, I’m not saying that. What I am saying is that there were no bodies in the wreckage. Before, during, or after. As to their status or present whereabouts, I have no information.’

  The room erupted in pandemonium. Dixon banged her gavel repeatedly until the room quieted down. Finally, she spoke.

  ‘The defendant will rise.’

  Flick stood, and quietly watched the lieutenant, a serious expression on her face.

  Lieutenant Dixon continued. ‘Felicity Carter, on the charge of arson, we find you not guilty. On the charges of murder, we find there is no case to answer. You are free to go.’

  Once again the room erupted, and this time dozens of people crowded round Flick trying to hug her and congratulate her as she tried to make her way to the stairs. It was only the intervention of Fred, pushing people out of the way that allowed her to escape.

  Flick stood in the square, looking at the burnt out shell of the inn. She’d just got back from Adam’s funeral. Lieutenant Dixon stood next to her. They stood in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

  ‘Will you rebuild it?’ Dixon asked.

  ‘Maybe one day,’ Flick said, ‘but first I have to find Rosie and Dad. If they are alive, they are out there somewhere. I need to find them; I owe it to them; I owe it to myself, I owe it to Adam.’

  The lieutenant gave Flick a big hug. ‘Good luck, Felicity,’ she said, ‘I hope you do find them. Keep in touch and let me know how you get on.’

  ‘Okay I will,’ Flick said, ‘but, you know? I don’t even know your name…’

  ‘It’s Jessica,’ replied the lieutenant, ‘but you can call me Jess.’

  Flick smiled.

  ‘Flick. Call me Flick.’

  THERE'S A killer on the loose and he's after the princess. Only seventeen year old Flick Carter stands in his way...

  The explosive sequel to WANTED, available in ebook and paperback from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

  Want a Free Novella?

  In the small town of Faringdon, a young girl is about to be hanged for a murder she didn’t commit. Kingsman Socko Garret and Corporal Dan Barnes are sent on a mission to save the girl and investigate the crime. But when they arrive, things are not what they expect…

  This crossover novella is free and exclusive to people like you, who have read this far. Just tap here for the download link. We’ll also send you occasional news of new releases and discount offers. We won’t spam your mailbox and of course you can unsubscribe at any time.

  POST-APOCALYPTIC JUST Got British!

  150 years after The Collapse, the Information Age is long gone; the clouds of data that once drove humanity are little more than ash. The few remaining people get by as best they can in their fortified towns, improvising or scavenging through long-derelict ruins. This is the world of the Kingsmen, elite enforcers with the power of life and death, and the Scavs, outlandish scavengers who they say will hunt you down and murder you, just for a trinket.

  Welcome to 23rd Century Britain.

  WANTED. Flick Carter #1

  Meet Flick Carter. She's sixteen. They say she murdered her family.

  She didn't.

  They're gonna hang her anyway.

  98,000 words. Available from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com in ebook and paperback.

  HUNTED. Flick Carter #2

  There's a killer on the loose and he's after the princess.

  Only seventeen year old Flick Carter stands in his way...

  97,000 words. Available from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com in ebook and paperback.

  SOCKO’S FIRST DAY

  Socko Garrett is just an ordinary kid from the Projects. Sure, he doesn’t have much in the way of prospects, but he never expects to be forced into the Watch. And it’s all the fault of that red-haired woman. Now he has woken up in jail. Surely it can’t get any worse, can it? For Socko, no matter what happens, this is his first day…

  12,000 words. Available from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com in ebook and paperback.

  SOCKO’S FIRST CASE

  It’s Christmas Eve and there’s trouble in the capital. A body has been found in the Chapter House, and the large chest of ceremonial gold coins which the king normally distributes to the poor on Boxing Day has gone missing.

  Newly-qualified Kingsman, Socko Garrett has just joined the Special Investigations unit (KSI), along with Corporal Dan Barnes. But with heightened security for the king’s visit, and their lieutenant called away for other duties, it’s up to Socko and Barnes to catch the killer and find the money, and they’ve got less than 48 hours before the king arrives…

  14,000 words. Available from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com in ebook and paperback.

  SOCKO’S FIRST FIRE

  The ultimate crossover! In the small town of Faringdon, a young girl is about to be hanged for a murder she didn’t commit. Kingsman Socko Garret and Corporal Dan Barnes are sent on a mission to save the girl and investigate the crime. But when they arrive, things are not what they expect…

  25,000 words. Available in ebook, free and exclusive for a limited time to members of the mailing list. Sign up here and get your copy.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  IN THE year it took from the first inkling of an idea to the last save of the final edit, many people have provided inspiration, encouragement, advice, criticism, cups of tea / coffee / something stronger. Some of you know who you are, others have no idea, and so I’ll start by thanking the latter. Suzanne Collins, whose fault ultimately this book is, since if she hadn’t written The Hunger Games, I would never have gotten into an “I can do that” wager, and this book wouldn’t have been written. Mur Lafferty of the I should be Writing podcast, for reminding me of exactly that. Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal & Howard Tayler of Writing Excuses for all sorts of thoughts and odd tangents. I’d also like to thank my beta readers, the awesome Kath Middleton, D.D. Chant, David Staniforth, Janet, Nicky Wilson, Rob Triggs, Kathryn Wills, Dave Richardson, Sue Shaw, Duncan Turner, Jan Greenough and all at Abingdon Writers and AB-FAG, for pointing out (sometimes harshly) things that were not as they should be.

  Many thanks to the following people who have found and reported typos, spelling mistakes and so forth in the finished book. They are also in with a chance to appear as a character in the next book in the series.

  Ian Melville, Matt Tidbury, Kat Steiner

  Special thanks to Andy Barrett, a real-life CSI for technical advice on certain aspects of this story.

  If you like what you’ve read, please consider telling your friends and family about this book.

  For more information about this book and the Flick Carter series, go to https://www.facebook.com/WantedFlickCarter

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tim Arnot claims to remember the Sixties, although that almost certainly means he wasn’t there. In his defence though, he does claim to have been very small. He had a college education from which he spectacularly failed to get any qualifications at all. But that didn’t stop him from going on to be a successful writer of programs for computers and apps for iThings (if you buy a train ticket in the UK from one of those touchy-feely machines, there’s a good chance that Tim wrote the software inside it–unless it screwed up, in which case it was someone else).

  At school, his teachers described him as “Quite good at English.”

  Tim lives in Oxfordshire with his kindle and a collection of iThings.

  http://www.tim-arnot.com

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TimArnotAuthor

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/TimArnot