by M A Comley
Hero series box set Books 1-3
M A Comley
Jeamel Publishing Limited
Contents
DI Hero Nelson Series Box Set Books 1-3
Other Books By M A Comley
Keep In Touch With The Author:
Acknowledgments
I. TORN APART
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Part II
I. END RESULT
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
III. IN PLAIN SIGHT
II. Book 3
I. IN PLAIN SIGHT
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
NOTE TO THE READER
DI Hero Nelson Series Box Set Books 1-3
TORN APART
END RESULT
IN PLAIN SIGHT
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author M A Comley
Published by Jeamel Publishing limited
Copyright © 2019 M A Comley
Digital Edition, License Notes
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
Other Books By M A Comley
Blind Justice (Novella)
Cruel Justice (Book #1)
Mortal Justice (Novella)
Impeding Justice (Book #2)
Final Justice (Book #3)
Foul Justice (Book #4)
Guaranteed Justice (Book #5)
Ultimate Justice (Book #6)
Virtual Justice (Book #7)
Hostile Justice (Book #8)
Tortured Justice (Book #9)
Rough Justice (Book #10)
Dubious Justice (Book #11)
Calculated Justice (Book #12)
Twisted Justice (Book #13)
Justice at Christmas (Short Story)
Prime Justice (Book #14)
Heroic Justice (Book #15)
Shameful Justice (Book #16)
Immoral Justice (Book #17)
Toxic Justice (Book #18)
Overdue Justice (Book #19)
Unfair Justice (a 10,000 word short story)
Irrational Justice (a 10,000 word short story)
Seeking Justice (a 15,000 word novella)
Caring For Justice (a 24,000 word novella coming July 2019)
Clever Deception (co-written by Linda S Prather)
Tragic Deception (co-written by Linda S Prather)
Sinful Deception (co-written by Linda S Prather)
Forever Watching You (DI Miranda Carr thriller)
Wrong Place (DI Sally Parker thriller #1)
No Hiding Place (DI Sally Parker thriller #2)
Cold Case (DI Sally Parker thriller#3)
Deadly Encounter (DI Sally Parker thriller #4)
Lost Innocence (DI Sally Parker thriller #5)
Goodbye, My Precious Child (DI Sally Parker #6) coming soon
Web of Deceit (DI Sally Parker Novella with Tara Lyons)
The Missing Children (DI Kayli Bright #1)
Killer On The Run (DI Kayli Bright #2)
Hidden Agenda (DI Kayli Bright #3)
Murderous Betrayal (Kayli Bright #4)
Dying Breath (Kayli Bright #5)
The Hostage Takers (DI Kayli Bright Novella)
No Right to Kill (DI Sara Ramsey #1)
Killer Blow (DI Sara Ramsey #2)
The Dead Can’t Speak (DI Sara Ramsey #3)
Deluded (DI Sara Ramsey #4)
The Murder Pact (DI Sara Ramsey #5) Coming August 2019
The Caller (co-written with Tara Lyons)
Evil In Disguise – a novel based on True events
Deadly Act (Hero series novella)
Torn Apart (Hero series #1)
End Result (Hero series #2)
In Plain Sight (Hero Series #3)
Double Jeopardy (Hero Series #4)
Sole Intention (Intention series #1)
Grave Intention (Intention series #2)
Devious Intention (Intention #3)
Merry Widow (A Lorne Simpkins short story)
It’s A Dog’s Life (A Lorne Simpkins short story)
A Time To Heal (A Sweet Romance)
A Time For Change (A Sweet Romance)
High Spirits
The Temptation series (Romantic Suspense/New Adult Novellas)
Past Temptation
Lost Temptation
Tempting Christa (A billionaire romantic suspense co-authored by Tracie Delaney #1)
Avenging Christa (A billionaire romantic suspense co-authored by Tracie Delaney #2)
Keep In Touch With The Author:
Twitter
https://twitter.com/Melcom1
Blog
http://melcomley.blogspot.com
Facebook
http://smarturl.it/sps7jh
Newsletter
http://smarturl.it/8jtcvv
BookBub
www.bookbub.com/authors/m-a-comley
Acknowledgments
Thank you as always to my rock, Jean, I’d be lost without you in my life.
Special thanks as always go to @studioenp for their superb cover design expertise.
My heartfelt thanks go to my wonderful editor Emmy Ellis, my proofreaders Joseph, Barbara and Jacqueline for spotting all the lingering nits.
Mary, you’ll always live on in my heart.
Part I
TORN APART
Prologue
Saskia Hartley knew she was the luckiest woman alive. She had a man who worshipped her and a son who told her daily she was the best mummy ever. After arriving at the school gates, she got out of the Range Rover to stretch her legs. She’d had a lon
g day, and traffic had been annoyingly heavy for some reason. She couldn’t believe she’d made it before the school bell rang.
A couple of the other mums were chatting away and laughing outside the gates, but she wasn’t keen on joining them. They’d never really shown any interest in getting to know her anyway, which was fine by her. She had a hard time figuring out why that was, and she flipped between thinking they disapproved of her Russian background or the fact that she had married into English gentry. Either way, they could stick their friendship where the sun didn’t shine. Shallow people really pissed her off.
A petite blonde pulled her sports car to a stop beside Saskia. Jilly Soames waved as she got out of the car and came to meet her. “Hi, Saskia. Well, are you looking forward to the summer holidays?”
Shyly, Saskia smiled. “I love the holidays with Laurence. We have a full itinerary over the coming months. It’s our special time together.”
Jilly looked at her in disbelief. “Really? You mean you don’t farm Laurence out to your other relatives during the holidays?”
Shocked, she replied, “No! Why would I want to do that? What’s the point in having children if you don’t want to spend time with them?” The bell rang, and she started towards the gates.
Jilly broke into a trot to keep up with her. “Well, two weeks with my kids, and you’d soon understand my point of view.”
Saskia laughed softly. “You are funny, my friend.” She waved when she saw Laurence struggling across the playground with his school trunk. He burst through the gates, dropped the trunk, and flew into her arms. She clutched him tightly and whirled him around, much to the nine-year-old’s delight. “Darling, I’ve missed you so much.”
“Not as much as I’ve missed you, Mummy.”
Releasing him, she bent down to help him with his trunk, but her son, being the little gentleman that he was, refused to let her help carry it. “See you soon, Jilly. Have fun.”
Jilly waved and mumbled, “Fat chance of that happening. You two enjoy yourselves over the holidays.”
“We will,” Saskia called over her shoulder. She pressed the key fob to unlock the car, hoisted his trunk in the boot, then settled Laurence in the backseat before jumping behind the wheel and setting off.
“Mum?” Laurence asked hesitantly.
“Yes, love.” Saskia had an idea what was coming next.
“Can we stop off and get a McDonald’s?”
She smiled and gazed in the rear-view mirror at the large grin lighting up his adorable face. They went through the same ritual at the end of every term. After being cooped up in boarding school for weeks on end, every boy in the school craved a burger the second he was set free. Oh, how she had missed her Laurence.
“If we must. We’ll stop at the one up the road before we head for the motorway again.”
She heard Laurence rustling around in his bag for something, then watched as he plugged in his iPod. She was glad to have him back. Her heart felt lighter somehow. She’d been excited about seeing him for weeks, much to her husband’s amusement. Rupert teased her constantly about the way she doted on her son.
She pulled into the McDonald’s car park a few minutes later. Saskia preferred to eat on the premises rather than use the drive-through facilities after making that mistake once and having the smell linger in the car’s upholstery for weeks—even after she’d had it thoroughly valeted.
They left the vehicle, engrossed in idle chatter, they neglected to see the Astra speeding towards them.
“Watch out!” a man shouted at Saskia.
She yanked her son backwards just before the car flew past. Searching for safety, she rushed through the front door of the restaurant and immediately crouched down in front of her son. “My God, are you all right? The idiots could have killed us.”
The boy trembled, tears welled up in his terrified eyes. He tried to put on a brave face and gave her a small smile to reassure her. “I’m okay, thanks to my Supermummy.”
She hugged him, and they walked up to the counter to select their meals. The restaurant was quiet, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t last long when the other schools in the area finished for the day.
They ate their burgers and talked excitedly about what they would do when they got to the holiday villa on the Greek island of Kos she had booked for them. They were due to fly out, just the two of them, the following Friday. Rupert was planning to join them in a week or so, once his heavy workload became lighter. Saskia gazed at her son, amused that his eyes had grown wide with excitement during their conversation. Within a millisecond, his face had changed, and he gulped noisily. She glanced behind her and watched a group of rowdy teenagers enter the restaurant. She recognised one of them immediately as the one who had tried to run them over a few minutes earlier. She reached across the table and placed a reassuring hand over her son’s. “Don’t worry. Just ignore them, little one.”
But ignoring them proved to be an impossible task when the group sat down at the table next to them.
“Aww… Mummy’s holding the little boy’s hand,” one of the youngsters mocked them, making the rest of the group laugh.
Not wishing to cause her son any further embarrassment, Saskia withdrew her hand from Laurence’s. Her heart sank when she saw fear radiate from his bright blue eyes.
Their heads down, Saskia and Laurence remained silent for the remainder of their meal, neither of them daring to look at each other as the gang’s taunts intensified.
“She don’t look old enough to have a sprog that age. I bet she bangs like a shithouse door in a force-nine gale,” one of the boys shouted across the room. The others laughed riotously.
Saskia’s stomach rejected her burger and chips, and she fought desperately to hang on to the meal she’d almost finished, but it was proving to be difficult. Why is my English so good? It would be so much easier if I didn’t understand what they are saying. Why doesn’t someone help us?
She heard a chair scrape before she felt the presence of someone standing behind her. She gulped noisily as her son scowled at the person.
“What’s that look for, twat features?”
Laurence’s gaze dropped to the plate in front of him, and Saskia shut her eyes as if she knew what was about to happen to her. A mantra began rattling around in her mind. Please don’t hurt me! Please don’t hurt me! She didn’t have the courage to speak the words. All she wanted was to leave this infernal place and get back to the safety of her car with her beloved son. She heard yet another chair scrape, then another, the unwelcome noise adding to the torture. Her eyes sprang open to see one of the gang members standing behind her son’s chair. The youth was grinning at her, a knowing glint in his eye.
Saskia swallowed hard. She desperately wanted to stretch out her hand for Laurence to hold, but she knew deep down how foolish that action would be for both of them. Suddenly, the youth flung his arms around Laurence, then grabbed his arms and forced them back around Laurence’s chair. Tears welled up in her son’s eyes, and Saskia’s heart broke in two.
“Don’t hurt him, I beg of you,” she pleaded, her usually slight accent thickening briefly.
“What’s that? Is that German I hear?” the youth behind her bent down and shouted in her ear.
She flinched and leaned away from him. “No! It is Russian. I’m Russian.” As if realising her mistake, she glanced at her son and sent a silent apology. Her son’s shoulders shook as he sobbed.
The teen behind her thrust a forearm under her chin. She froze, waiting for his next movement. Back in Russia, she’d come across his sort before, and she knew they got their kicks by degrading women. Her eyes closed again to block out her son’s face. Her angelic son had never been subjected to anything like this before in his young life because she’d protected him well over the years, but she felt powerless to keep him safe from these vile people. Saskia inhaled a sharp breath when the youth’s hand groped her breast. There was nothing gentle about his touch. He squeezed and pawed at her small breasts
before ripping apart her blouse and seeking her nipple through her lacy bra.
“I’ve heard all about what Russian whores are like. Rough, that’s the name of the game with you lot, ain’t it? Well, is this rough enough for you, sweetheart?”
Tears of frustration and fear ran down her cheeks. In her mind’s eye, all she could see was Laurence and his father playing cricket on the back lawn at their mansion. She was sure that thinking happy thoughts would be the key to getting through this intrusion. She winced and bit down on her tongue, determined not to scream in pain as the teen pulled and stretched her nipple as far as he could.
Laurence cried out through his sobs. “Leave my mummy alone.”