by Ian Mayfield
‘Sit down, Luke.’ Her quiet firmness brought him up short. A sad blue stare followed him back to his chair. Sophia said, ‘Off the record.’
‘What?’
‘Quaife had a knife,’ she said, ‘and he got close enough to one of my officers for her to feel mortally threatened. That’s sufficient grounds as far as I’m concerned.’ It was indiscreet, but she didn’t regret it. Luke Benton had earned more than the playbook. ‘That was for your ears only,’ she added, making sure he was paying complete attention. ‘I’ll hold you to it.’
He held her gaze. ‘Off the record?’
‘Yes?’
‘I’m glad he’s dead. You know what? I’m glad they’re both dead. Him and that fucking loser who reckoned he could help us black people and ended up destroying everything anyway. Glad.’ Relaxing, he smiled, and the look on his face as he’d met her at the front door finally had a definition. ‘I won’t hold you to that,’ he said. ‘You can tell the world.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
IAN MAYFIELD grew up in South London in a house full of books, and made a valiant attempt to read them all, even some of the ones in French. Eventually he developed a desire to convert some of the daydreams these works inspired into his own writing.
As if this weren’t enough, he worked for many years as an information technician – well, all right, library assistant. One of the perks of this job was being able to obtain even more books for free when they were impartially deemed by him to be too worn out to continue circulating.
Among his major influences as a crime writer Ian counts Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L. Sayers, Raymond Chandler, Ruth Rendell, William Marshall, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles and John Harvey.
Following his tendency to gravitate to the south of things, he now lives in Southern California with his wife and a cat named Benjamin.
Follow the further adventures of the Special Crime Unit in
TEAM GAMES
Echoes of recent history haunt the detectives of the Metropolitan Police Special Crime Unit as they take on a new caseload. DC Sandra Jones suspects that an old friend may be connected to a number of vicious attacks on night bus passengers; DCs Jeff Wetherby and Danielle Greaves, a newcomer to the team, arrest a high school teacher who has betrayed the ultimate trust; and DCI Sophia Beadle prepares for the extradition of a fugitive who nearly killed one of her own.
As Sophia and her team trace the links between victims, witnesses and suspects through the streets of South London and beyond, investigations that had seemed straightforward spiral into a series of shocking consequences, and they must face up to the possibility that those who survived the violence of the past may not be so lucky this time around.
Coming soon from Ian Mayfield
Published by Four Limes Books
TEAM SPIRIT Copyright © 2016 by Ian Mayfield.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
For information contact: [email protected]
Cover design by Pixel Studios
Cover image by noskaphoto
First Edition: 2016
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