by Faith Martin
* * *
It was getting on for eight o’clock in the evening, and Hillary Greene was sitting in a deckchair on the tiny deck at the rear of her narrowboat. It had been a warm day, and the evening was turning out to be pleasantly warm too. Soon the sun would set, and the bats would come out, and she would go inside and settle down with a good book.
She was drinking a small glass of wine. She no longer felt sore from the taser, and she was well and truly back in Rollo Sale’s good books, with the CRT sharing the glory with Robin Farrell’s team for the closure of three murder cases. Four, if you included the killing in Reading.
She had assigned Gareth the job of going over to Woodeaton to tell Michael’s parents the news that their son’s killer had been caught and would be brought to justice. She thought, after all he’d been through, the former soldier needed reminding that he could still be of so much use in the world. That there were still people — good people — who were relying on them all to do their jobs properly.
Hillary found herself in a philosophical mood, however. Had she done the right thing in saving Gareth from committing professional suicide, after his friend had committed the real thing? She wasn’t altogether sure. She knew that some people would argue — quite rightly — that she had stepped over the line there.
But would it have been better for her to have followed the letter of the law and see a good man ruined? A man who had fought for his country, and been injured in the process? A man who had only been trying to do right by his dead friend?
She didn’t think so.
But she didn’t really know for sure. How could she? How could anyone really be their own judge and jury?
She sipped her wine and sighed. Her job had never been easy, and it could certainly take its toll at times, but she couldn’t see herself doing anything else.
And if she made mistakes along the way . . . well, in the end, she knew that she was as imperfect as any other member of the human race, and as long as she could look herself in the mirror every day she shouldn’t really complain.
When it came right down to it, she supposed, feeling just a touch melancholy, she could only do her best, and hope for the best.
She took another sip of wine.
And if there was a better way of going about life than that, then she didn’t know what the hell it was.
THE END
ALSO BY FAITH MARTIN
DI HILLARY GREENE SERIES
Book 1: MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL
Book 2: MURDER AT THE UNIVERSITY
Book 3: MURDER OF THE BRIDE
Book 4: MURDER IN THE VILLAGE
Book 5: MURDER IN THE FAMILY
Book 6: MURDER AT HOME
Book 7: MURDER IN THE MEADOW
Book 8: MURDER IN THE MANSION
Book 9: MURDER IN THE GARDEN
Book 10: MURDER BY FIRE
Book 11: MURDER AT WORK
Book 12: MURDER NEVER RETIRES
Book 13: MURDER OF A LOVER
Book 14: MURDER NEVER MISSES
Book 15: MURDER AT MIDNIGHT
Book 16: MURDER IN MIND
Book 17: HILLARY’S FINAL CASE
Book 18: HILLARY’S BACK
Book 19: MURDER NOW AND THEN
MONICA NOBLE MYSTERIES
Book 1: THE VICARAGE MURDER
Book 2: THE FLOWER SHOW MURDER
Book 3: THE MANOR HOUSE MURDER
JENNY STARLING MYSTERIES
Book 1: THE BIRTHDAY MYSTERY
Book 2: THE WINTER MYSTERY
Book 3: THE RIVERBOAT MYSTERY
Book 4: THE CASTLE MYSTERY
Book 5: THE OXFORD MYSTERY
Book 6: THE TEATIME MYSTERY
Book 7: THE COUNTRY INN MYSTERY
Click here to join our mailing list and be the first to hear about FAITH MARTIN’S NEW SERIES!
DISCOVER FAITH MARTIN’S CLASSIC WHODUNITS!
JENNY STARLING BOOK 1
THE BIRTHDAY MYSTERY
UK www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07L7C6R53/
US www.amazon.com/dp/B07L7C6R53/
These classic-style mysteries will have you scratching your head to work out who the murderer is, and look out for some real twists and turns.
Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective.
DI HILLARY GREENE BOOK 1
MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL
UK www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0763RXLRV/
US www.amazon.com/dp/B0763RXLRV/
MEET DI HILLARY GREENE, A POLICE WOMAN FIGHTING TO SAVE HER CAREER.
Not only has she lost her husband, but his actions have put her under investigation for corruption.
Then a bashed and broken body is found floating in the Oxford Canal. It looks like the victim fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Her investigation exposes a dark background to the death.
Can Hillary clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?
DI HILLARY GREENE BOOK 2
MURDER AT THE UNIVERSITY
UK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076CQSYMM/
US www.amazon.com/dp/B076CQSYMM/
A pretty French student is found dead in her room at an exclusive Oxford college. Everyone thinks it is another tragic case of accidental drug overdose.
But Detective Hillary Greene has a nose for the truth. She quickly discovers that the student was involved in some very unusual activities.
With a shocking cause of death found, the case becomes a high-profile murder investigation.
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GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH USAGE FOR US READERS
A & E: accident and emergency department in a hospital
Aggro: violent behaviour, aggression
Air raid: attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets
Allotment: a plot of land rented by an individual for growing fruit, vegetables or flowers
Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)
Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings
A levels: exams taken between 16 and 18
Auld Reekie: Edinburgh
Au pair: live-in childcare helper, often a young woman
Barm: bread roll
Barney: argument
Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids
Beemer: BMW car or motorcycle
Benefits: social security
Bent: corrupt
Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)
Biscuit: cookie
Blackpool Lights: gaudy illuminations in a seaside town
Bloke: guy
Blow: cocaine
Blower: telephone
Blues and twos: emergency vehicles
Bob: money, e.g. ‘That must have cost a few bob.’
Bobby: policeman
Broadsheet: quality newspaper (New York Times would be a US example)
Brown bread: rhyming slang for dead
Bun: small cake
Bunk: escape, e.g. ‘do a bunk’
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
CBeebies: kids’ TV
Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments
Chemist: pharmacy
Chinwag: conversation
Chippie: fast-food place selling chips, battered fish and other fried food
Chips: French fries but thicker
CID: Criminal Investigation Department
Civvy Street: civilian life (as opposed to army)
Clock: punch (in an altercation) or register
Cock-up: mess up, make a mistake
Cockney: a native of East London
Common: an area of park land or lower class
Comprehensive school (comp.): a public (re state-run) high school
Cop hold of: grab
Copper: police officer
Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit
CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, who decide whether police cases go forward
Childminder: someone paid to look after children
Council: local government
Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic
DC: detective constable
Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block
Deck: hit (verb)
Desperate Dan: very strong comic book character
DI: detective inspector
Digestive biscuit: plain cookie
Digs: student lodgings
Do a runner: disappear
Do one: go away
Doc Martens: heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole, also DMs, Docs
Donkey’s years: long time
Drum: house
DS: detective sergeant
ED: emergency department of a hospital
Eagle: children’s comic, marketed at boys
Early dart: to leave work early
Eggy soldiers: strips of toast with a boiled, runny egg
Enforcer: police battering ram
Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)
Estate agent: realtor
Falklands War: war between Britain and Argentina in 1982
Fag: cigarette
Father Christmas: Santa Claus
Filth: police (insulting)
Forces: army, navy and air force
FMO: force medical officer
Fried slice: fried bread
Fuzz: police
Garda: Irish police
GCSEs: exams taken between age 14 and 16, replaced O levels in 1988
Gendarmerie: French national police force
Geordie: from Newcastle
Garden centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold
Gob: mouth, can also mean phlegm or spit
GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community
Graft: hard work
Gran: grandmother
Hancock: Tony Hancock, English comedian popular in 1950s
Hard nut: tough person
HGV: heavy goods vehicle, truck
HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents
Home: care home for elderly or sick people
Hoover: vacuum cleaner
I’ll be blowed: expression of surprise
In care: refers to a child taken away from their family by the social services
Inne: isn’t he
Interpol: international police organisation
Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, a
pplied to any strong woman
ITU: intensive therapy unit in hospital
Jane/John Doe: a person whose identity is unknown/anonymous
JCB: a manufacturer of construction machinery, like mechanical excavators
Jerry-built: badly made
Jungle: nickname given to migrant camp near Calais
Lad: young man
Lass: young woman
Lift: elevator
Lord Lucan: famous British aristocrat who allegedly killed his children’s nanny and disappeared in 1974 and was never found
Lorry: truck
Lovely jubbly: said when someone is pleased
Luftwaffe: German air force
M&S: Marks and Spencer, a food and clothes shop
Miss Marple: detective in a series of books by Agatha Christie, often used to imply a busybody, especially of older women
MOD: Ministry of Defence
Mobile phone: cell phone
MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area
MRSA: A strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Myra Hindley: famous British serial killer
Naff: tacky/corny, not cool
Naff all: none
National Service: compulsory military service, in the UK ended in 60s