by AD Davies
The door to room 237 is ajar when she arrives. She is about to enter when she hears Alicia’s voice. She must have forgotten to close it.
So Katie listens.
It’s rude, she knows that. But she’s curious at what Alicia might have to say to a man like her comatose dad. She’s a cop. He’s a killer she crossed paths with on an investigation. For the first time, now Katie is outside the fog of grief and anger, it strikes her as odd.
So she listens more closely.
* * *
“Her name is Stacey,” Alicia tells Richard Hague. “I named her after one of your victims. My friend, Alfie, it was his wife. I told him. He cried, the big sissy.”
She is nervous coming here, unloading all this upon him. But like her previous visits, it seems like the right thing to do.
“I’m walking normally again now. Sure, I read the literature and watched the videos, but the scale of damage to my vagina was really quite impressive. They had to cut me during the birth, and so that needed stitches. I stayed four days in hospital, then several days of semi-regular paracetamol at home. I had to accept help from my mum, though, my dad and brothers too, to an extent. Robbie did actually move out for a week, but she’s back in place now. Enjoying her duties as Stacey’s favourite aunt.
“Stacey wasn’t as premature as Paulson worried, of course, since I lied to HR about the due date. Actually, she was only four or five days out, which is the same as nothing at all.”
At the time of conception, there were already rumours of Alicia flirting with Katie Hague’s dad, so the last thing she needed was people adding the dates up correctly. As far as HR was concerned, and her boss, Stacey was conceived via a one night stand on New Year’s Eve to an Aussie spunk who gave a fake name and claimed he was heading home the following week. “Well, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day,” she added cheekily when asked. “He was extremely impressive.”
In years past people might have called her a slut or a slag, and some probably still did, but things are better than they used to be.
Now, she cradles the little girl in a way that feels as natural as breathing. It is like her very shape is designed for this, for holding a sleeping infant. After getting the hang of breastfeeding, even that feels normal, and mixing up formula for those nights where she has little left to give is the oddity. At times, she gazes down at Stacey, as she suckles or sleeps, screams or simply gazes around, and she is filled with questions of what her life would have been like had she not given in to her parents’ admonishments and portents of doom.
She says, “Would my life really have been ruined? Would I have been one of those young mums who can’t let go of the life they want—the parties, the guys, the booze—to the detriment of her child? Would I have become a police officer?
“I don’t think my life would have been ruined by having that baby, but I am certain I would not be here now. With Stacey. I wouldn’t have joined the police, wouldn’t have become the woman I am today. Never would have met you. Wouldn’t have snuck out of an active investigation to take you to a hotel and hump your brains out. Three times.”
She feels embarrassed at the memory of that night, but more-so of the stirring down below. To counter that, she gazes at Stacey’s little chest rising and falling, and even though she knows those lungs will soon be keeping her awake when she should be sleeping, she doesn’t care one bit.
“I honestly wish I could have mopped things up after the school incident resolved. I mean, I heard about Holly’s parents admitting her to an institute in America rather than standing trial. A victim of brainwashing, apparently.
“Kuno was cleared of any direct involvement, but she’s still suspended from practicing law until a full review concludes. In a way I hope she didn’t know anything, but I know that will hurt her in a whole different way—betrayal, failure, the feeling of stupidity of not seeing what should have been clear.”
She swallows back a bitter taste.
“The guys who took part in the raid, influenced by Faulkner, lied to, some might call it brainwashed … they’re not heading to America. They’re back in jail on terrorism charges. The institute shut down completely, so those who were out on licence and absconded, they’re back inside too.
“But Murphy got the DCI job full time, so that’s something.”
Stacey murmurs and makes a grating noise that Alicia is positive means she’s choking to death on something, but the feeling lasts all of half a second before the baby settles back down and smacks her lips. She’ll need feeding soon.
“Richard … I’m not sure why I’m here. Honestly, I know it’s pointless. But I think before now I didn’t want to be a single mum. Even though you’re, y’know, crazy. I said I was confident, even told myself I was. But it wasn’t until I came in here tonight that I knew for sure. This is the last time I’ll visit you. The last time I will ever lay eyes on you. And it’s the closest you’re ever going to get to your daughter.”
* * *
And there it is. The words are out there. Can’t be taken back. It isn’t like there were no suspicions, but it seemed so stupid, so far-out, that Katie never really gave it credence. Wrote it off as another chink in her failing sanity.
At learning of her sister, though, Katie is happy. She’s gearing herself up to burst in and thank Alicia so much. Thank her for repairing her, for supporting her, for giving her a sibling to love and cherish and—
A voice inside Katie says, No.
Alicia betrayed you.
Lied to you.
Katie backs away from the door, biting her bottom lip to keep from shouting.
She gave you hope.
But she does not deserve your friendship.
The voice sounds so much like her dad, she has to shut herself in the single unisex toilet cubicle. She locks the door.
“Go away,” she says quietly.
I’ll always be with you.
“No. The pills, the gym, Dr. Rasmus. They helped you stay away.”
Temporary measures, Katie.
Look.
Watch.
Even though she knows it isn’t really her dad, understands it is herself talking, a coping mechanism, Katie cracks open the bathroom door and waits. Waits in silence, until Alicia emerges, pushing a Mamas and Papas buggy with the baby clipped into a car seat.
She hasn’t just excluded Richard from the baby’s life; she has concealed the existence of your baby sister.
“I have a family after all,” Katie said. “And Alicia Friend is keeping her from me.”
She has to pay for that.
“Yes,” Katie says, knowing now that she cannot pull the plug on her father. “That bitch will pay.”
Alicia Friend will return, although I think you’ll agree she’s earned something of a break for now. She plans to return to duty in 2017.
If you enjoyed With Courage With Fear, I would really appreciate a review at wherever you bought it.
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The Dead and the Missing
* * * This novel is now FREE on all platforms * * *
A missing girl…
An international underworld…
A PI who will not quit…
Adam Park is an ex-private investigator, now too wealthy to need a job. But when his old mentor’s niece rips off a local criminal and flees the UK, his life of surfing and travel comes to an abrupt end.
Using cutting-edge technology, Adam tracks the young woman and her violent boyfriend through the Parisian underground where he learns of a brutal criminal enterprise for whom people are just a business commodity.
But when the men who run this enterprise feel threatened by his investigation, Adam is propelled to more dangerously-exotic local
es, where he must fight harder than ever before.
To return the girl safely and protect the ones he loves, Adam will need to burn down his concepts of right and wrong; the only path to survival is through the darkest recesses of his soul.
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A Desperate Paradise
An Adam Park Thriller
A dead aid worker.
An island rife with secrets.
A detective driven to solve it all.
With a damaging, violent case behind him, Adam Park is happy tending to his late mother’s canal barge, catching up on his reading, and hoping his increased training is never required. Unfortunately, he owes favours, and when an aid worker is murdered on the Greek island of Paramatra, one such favour is called in.
Kai Pace’s parents believe the investigation into their son’s death is deeply flawed, and Adam is tasked with reviewing the police’s conclusions and - if found wanting - identifying the real killer.
On an island struggling to cope with the influx of refugees from warzones across the Mediterranean, Adam must battle corruption and ruthless smuggling gangs, all amid people so desperate they will do anything to reach the paradise of the west. If he cannot stay the course, and dig out the truth, a murderer will go free, and Adam will fall prey to the same evil.
A thrilling investigation that thrusts a private detective from the heart of Greece into northern Africa, where fear and violence will take their toll upon him, and challenge the very nature of his soul.
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The Shadows of Empty Men
An Adam Park Thriller
A troubled girl.
A cabal that believes her possessed by an avenging spirit.
A detective who will stop at nothing to protect her.
When Adam Park is retained to confirm the accuracy of a young heiress’s family tree, it sounds like the simple case he needs to break the monotony of life on an Aegean island. But it soon becomes clear that others wish to stake a claim to the girl’s fortune, and something as inconvenient as a private detective will not stand in their way.
As this group calls upon a shadowy killer known as the Pale Boy, Adam’s attention turns to the girl herself, learning her illness is viewed by some as “possession” by a spirit intent on righting wrongs from Porajmos, or “the Devouring”, the Romani genocide inflicted by Nazi Germany. And even those who profess to represent the girl may not hold her best interests at heart.
Delving into a decades-old secret that people will murder to protect, Adam must fight smart and fight hard—against a seemingly supernatural mercenary, against people of unfathomable greed, and against his own darkening nature.
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Three Years Dead
When a good man.
Becomes a bad cop.
But can’t remember why.
Following an attempt on his life, Detective Sergeant Martin Money wakes from a week-long coma with no memory of the previous three years. He quickly learns that corrupt practices got him demoted, violence caused his wife to divorce him, and his vices and anger drove his friends away one by one. On top of this, the West Yorkshire Police do not seem to care who tried to kill him, and he is offered a generous pay-out to retire.
But with a final lifeline offered by a former student of his, Martin takes up the case of a missing male prostitute, an investigation that skirts both their worlds, forcing him back into the run-down estates awash with narcotics, violence, and sex, temptations he must resist if he is to resume his life as the good man he remembers himself to be.
To stay out of jail, to punish whoever tried to kill him, and to earn his redemption, Martin attempts to unravel the circumstances of his assault, and—more importantly—establish why everyone from his past appears to be lying at every turn.
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Rite to Justice
A dead cult leader.
A federal cover-up.
A devout cop will uncover the truth.
In the small town of Hope, Nevada, Detective Roland Recht is a deeply religious man trying to understand his place in the world. And his latest case, the murder of an isolated pastor, hits him harder than usual.
Killed within the Congregation of Saul’s compound, the only witness is Lizzie, the Christian cult’s newest and youngest follower, and it seems clear that a former member must be responsible.
But when Recht and his girlfriend suffer a personal and terrifying threat, it sends the investigation in a new direction, one that no one, not even his superiors or the FBI, wants him to pursue.
Rite to Justice sees a good man forced to choose between his career as a cop, and following his moral compass, whatever the consequences.
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The Sublime Freedom
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A serial killer who thinks he is above the law.
A growing legion of “fans” who admire him.
A veteran detective will prove them all wrong.
When Detective Frank Russo moved from New York to LA with his daughter, he had two aims in mind: to raise Kim well in preparation for the real world, and to leave behind the city where he lost his wife to a serial killer. But Russo knows he is still too over-protective, and even resorts to spying on Kim’s internet use.
Now a serial killer emerges, prowling the back alleys of Los Angeles, inspiring an online following who call him “The People’s Assassin.”. And when Kim is sucked in to their circle - SublimeFreedom.com - Russo will do whatever it takes to bring him in.
Except the killer believes his money elevates him above the law, and as the legal system continues to protect him, his fan base swells along with the body count.
Hiding his nefarious spying activity from Kim, and pursuing this killer to the limits of his job, Russo risks all he has built since starting afresh. If he is to end the killing, save his daughter, and finally lay his past to rest, Russo must learn to trust in himself, in Kim, and in a system that has let him down too often.
The Sublime Freedom is a fast paced serial killer thriller, full of secrets and lies, featuring a detective who simply will not accept defeat.
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Project Return Fire
By Antony Davies & Joe Dinicola
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An inadvertent trip through time...
A battle to decide the fate of mankind…
One chance to set things right…
Deep in the Juras Mountains, Johnathan Santarelli's team of Army Rangers investigates a radioactive anomaly. Suddenly Santarelli and his men are transported back to 1945 in German-occupied territory!
Far from their loved ones, the Rangers want nothing more than to preserve the timeline and get home, but when an elite Nazi unit captures future technology, and the Rangers are confronted with younger versions of important people from their present, they question if this trip was a coincidence after all. Before long, the U.S. team realizes it has a higher duty: stopping the Third Reich from turning the war in Germany’s favor.
Before they return home, the team must battle the Nazis for the future of time itself…
Project Return Fire is a military time travel action adventure novel set during World War II. If you like bloody battles, soldiers in action, combined with the shock of being ripped through time, then you'll love this action-packed thrill ride.
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His
First His Second
An Alicia Friend Investigation
Meet Detective Sergeant Alicia Friend. She’s nice. Too nice to be a police officer, if she’s honest.
Yet, despite a perky personality that irritates the most professional of detectives, she is also one of the most respected criminal analysts in the country.
Now assigned to DI Donald Murphy’s team, she finds herself in the grip of a northern British winter, investigating the kidnap-murders of two young women - both strikingly similar in appearance. When a third is taken, they have less than a week to chip away the secrets of a high-society family, and uncover the killer’s objective.
But Richard - the father of the latest victim - believes the police are not moving quickly enough, so launches a parallel investigation, utilising skills honed in a dark past that is about to catch up with him.
As Richard’s secret actions hinder the police, Alicia remains in contact with him, and even starts to fall for his charms, forcing her into choices that will impact the rest of her life.
