by Simon Hall
Oscar opened the door, went to walk out, but hesitated. Half of his face was in shadow, half in the light.
‘The ring of terrorists we were trying to break, the ones we hoped Ahmed might lead us to – before you got in the way. They’re some of the worst we’ve ever gone up against. They want to carry out the vilest attack Britain’s ever seen. A glorious atrocity to shock the world and teach the west a lesson it’ll never forget.’
The spy’s hand was tight on the door handle. There was one final pause and he added, ‘Our intelligence says they’re planning to attack a primary school.’
He stared for a second, then walked out. The door clicked closed. Dan lay back on his pillows and let out a very long breath. He noticed he was trembling. He shut his eyes and tried to stop himself thinking about what Oscar had said, but couldn’t. The sterile hospital room had filled with the screams of dying children.
He got up, poured himself a glass of water, then another and gazed out of the window at the last light of the day. The sun was sinking fast now, just a red segment left lingering over the distant hills.
Dan walked back to the bed, thinking of Ahmed, John Tanton, Sierra and Oscar, the spy’s story of the attack on the Israeli school, and his own role in the extraordinary events of the last few days.
He picked up the diary. He had the title now.
In an unsteady hand, Dan slowly wrote, The Balance of Guilt.
Also by Simon Hall
The TV Detective
Television reporter Dan Groves needs a crash-course in police work; the solution is to shadow Detective Chief Inspector Adam Breen on a high-profile murder inquiry, which doesn’t go down well with some members of the police force.
The victim is a notorious local businessman, Edward Bray, a man with so many enemies that one of the problems the inquiry faces is having a surplus of suspects.
Tensions abound between Dan and the police, and he comes close to being thrown off the case - until the detectives come to realise he might actually be helpful, in using the power of television to tempt the murderer into a trap…
ISBN9781907016059
Price £6.99
The Death Pictures
A dying artist creates a series of ten paintings “The Death Pictures” which contain a mysterious riddle, leading the way to a unique and highly valuable prize. Thousands attempt to solve it. But before the answer can be revealed, the painter is murdered.
A serial rapist is plotting six attacks. He taunts the police, leaving a calling card counting off each victim.
Dan Groves covers the stories and is drawn in by the baffling questions. Why kill the artist when he would soon die naturally? Could it be connected with the rapes? He crosses the line from journalist to investigator, forced to break the law to try to solve the crimes.
ISBN 9781906125981
Price £ 6.99
Evil Valley
A psychopath is out to teach the world a shocking lesson and the clock is ticking. Can the police crack his cruel riddles and stop him from committing the ultimate crime?
Chief Inspector Adam Breen and crime-fighting TV reporter Dan Groves are reunited in the hunt for a masked man who boasts of plans to commit a crime so evil it will shock the nation.
ISBN 9781906373436
Price £ 7.99
The Judgement Book
We all have our shameful secrets and one of our greatest fears is seeing them revealed.
The Judgement Book – just a pocket diary, but festering with so much sin.
A faceless criminal, seeking not money, but revenge.
Secret after secret of the prominent and powerful is revealed… sordid sex, corruption and murder… and suicide, scandal and humiliation follow.
And then crime fighting TV reporter Dan Groves and his detective friend Adam Breen discover they too are in The Judgement Book…
ISBN 9781906373733
Price £7.99
