by Ted Tayler
Maggie also knew that her eldest son, Gary, had a violent temper. Her sister-in-law, Gina, told her on more than one occasion. Gus had learned what happened to Gary in prison, and how Maggie’s troubled son killed a dozen men when his violent temper surfaced. She had that to contend with, plus Gary was savagely attacking several young men in the snooker club. He didn’t believe she knew anything about that.
If Kerry’s analysis of Kirstin were correct, Maggie would soon lose her companion. Kirstin and the only grandchildren Maggie had would be off to pastures new.
Henry and Joseph faced arrest and incarceration. Patrick Iverson might shield them from the murders carried out by Grant and Gary, but drug trafficking and dealing carry a high tariff. They were both going away for a long time.
Gus wondered what would happen to Vic Hodge and Kerry Burnside.
The telephone rang.
“Mr Freeman, it’s Gareth Francis here,”
“Good morning, Gareth, I thought I’d done enough for you yesterday. What’s up?”
“Nothing,” said Gareth, “I wanted to thank you, and tell you I received a phone call yesterday afternoon after you left. DS Latimer is at HMP Bristol as we speak. Vic Hodge is singing like a bird. I’m driving to see Ms Burnside after this call. She’s eager to talk with us too.”
“It couldn’t be better news, Gareth. Go easy on her, won’t you? Her heart’s in the right place.”
“Will do,” said Gareth, “I look forward to working with you again.”
Gus hung up before he said something he regretted.
Gus thought that maybe he needn’t worry too much about Vic and Kerry. They might escape from this mess without too much damage. According to Patrick Iverson, Kerry made the first approach to Gina yesterday, so that was one lost sheep that could return to the fold.
Gus looked up to see what Lydia was doing.
She sensed someone watching her and glanced over the top of her computer screen.
“Are you okay, guv?” she asked.
“Do you remember our visit to Maggie’s house?”
“How could I forget? She looked like death behind that haze of smoke, but she didn’t want for a single material thing. She surrounded herself with those items most dear to her.”
“What did you call them? Her creature comforts, wasn’t it?” said Gus.
“Yes,” said Lydia, “but things have changed beyond recognition since then, haven’t they?
“What Maggie learns in the coming weeks concerning those family members whose photos surround her, she might consider them creature discomforts, not comforts.”
Gus completed his recommendations for the ACC and looked up to see Lydia bringing him a coffee.
“Just what I needed,” he said.
When Lydia returned to her desk, he suddenly remembered something.
Gus opened his desk drawer and found the Bourbon biscuit he’d kept back for a special occasion. There was nothing to celebrate, but what the heck.
You have just finished reading ‘Creature Discomforts.’
The seventh book in the series featuring ‘The Freeman Files’.
What can you look forward to in book 8 in this 16 book series?
The last thing Gus Freeman did on Tuesday afternoon was to tell his team they had the rest of the week to relax. The Grant Burnside cold case was colder than it had been when they started the review. Gus drove home to Urchfont that evening wondering what they had missed.
Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees. Grant’s murder wouldn’t get forgotten. Gus and the Crime Review Team would take another stab at it.
Geoff had said that the ACC was happy with the information Gus passed to the detective squad at Gablecross. Kenneth Truelove knew that the number of questions it answered far outweighed the one they hadn’t solved.
Gus, however, was unhappy at having to move on to another case. The case he was leaving behind could be one of those that keep detectives awake at night.
Wednesday, 27th June 2018
Alex Hardy and Lydia Logan Barre spend their three-day break searching for Lydia’s father.
“How do I trace a ship?” asked Lydia.
“Sometimes the only way to trace a record of a seaman is to trace the records of the ships on which he sailed. You can use the Crew List Index Project website to trace a ship by its name and port of registration. That can help locate merchant seamen in service up to the last decades of the twentieth century.”
“Do the seamen have to be British to appear?” asked Lydia.
“Not necessarily, they recorded seamen serving on British registered vessels, but the men themselves need not have been British to appear in the records. Your father visited Leith in the early Nineties, you say?”
“In late ninety-one, that’s right.”
“It might be better to check the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. That records seamen after 1972. If he was a temporary employee or was an apprentice, he may not have had a British Seaman’s Identity Card, in which case he’s unlikely to appear in either register.”
“I can still look, though. I want to find my Dad.”
“Access to full details of seamen born less than one hundred years ago may be restricted.”
“The CLIP catalogues are arranged alphabetically in ranges of surnames. The registers are in eight parts according to the nationality or origin of the seamen and other criteria. It allows for more targeted browsing. You can drill down to what’s often referred to as the seaman’s docket book. The docket book will show their date and place of birth, rank, or rating. A list of ships and their official numbers with date and place of engagement. It should highlight whether the engagement was for a Foreign or Home trade voyage. Finally, it will include the date and place of discharge from the ship.”
Lydia returned to find Alex.
“Any luck?” he asked.
“It’s a shame Gus wants us back at work on Monday,” she sighed. “It’s a far bigger job than I hoped.”
“I’m here to help,” said Alex. “We can make a start between now and Friday. If we have to spend our weekends hunting your Dad, that’s what we’ll do. I know how important it is to you.”
“You’re right,” said Lydia, “I’ve waited twenty-five years to speak to him. Another few weeks won’t make that much difference.”
Neil Davis persuaded Melody to return home. It was time to rebuild their marriage after the horror of losing their baby. Neil had a confession to make.
Luke Sherman and Nicky agreed that it was high time the ground-floor rooms in their house got decorated. Wednesday morning saw them visiting the local DIY store to buy wallpaper, paint, and all manner of tools that their parents had let them borrow in the past. They had been together for years without feeling the need to make things official.
As they stood at the checkout with a pasting table, brushes, a set of screwdrivers, twelve rolls of wallpaper, and six cans of paint, Luke asked Nicky to marry him.
“Why now?” asked Nicky.
“Who else does this,” said Luke, pointing at the overflowing trolley, “except an old married couple?”
“I suppose you’re right,” said Nicky, “in that case, it’s a yes.”
Margaret Hadlee and Brett Penman drove across from Colerne on Wednesday evening. Suzie Ferris stayed the night at Gus’s bungalow. There was no way either of them could go anywhere.
The upside was that neither had to get up in the morning. Suzie took the precaution of taking a day’s holiday. Gus told her about the meeting he’d had with the ACC that morning. The Grant Burnside file was to be side-lined for now but would never close.
Clemency Bentham and Irene North joined the party at the Lamb. Irene sat next to Bertie, which Margaret didn’t fail to notice. Gus and Bert found plenty to talk about with Brett. Bert’s grandson was determined to show his Aunt Margaret as much of the county as possible in the few days she was there.
After he’d taken her to Heathrow for her return flight to New Zealand on Sat
urday, Brett was staying with Bert until he could find a place of his own. He was staying in the area. Gus noticed the Reverend’s cheeks had more colour than usual, yet she was still only drinking that elderflower cordial. What else was getting her flustered?
Detective Constable Blessing Umeh arrived at London Road by taxi on Sunday morning. But that’s another story. Blessing will take her place in the Old Police Station office on Monday morning.
Each of these story threads will continue throughout book eight. But what of the Monday morning meeting? Which cold case has the Acting Chief Constable selected for the extended Crime Review Team to tackle?
Wednesday the sixteenth of January 2013–Ursula Wakeley, a seventy-eight-year-old spinster, was stabbed to death at her remote bungalow near Mere, Wiltshire, after confronting burglars. A few days later two teenagers tried to sell her jewellery in second-hand shops in the town of Ringwood, thirty miles away. Five years on, and local police have never found her killer.
‘Silent Terror’ the eighth book in the series will follow the Crime Review Team’s investigation. It promises to be another jigsaw with a thousand pieces for Gus Freeman to conquer.
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About The Author
Ted Tayler is the international best-selling author of The Phoenix series:
“The core message in my Phoenix novels is that justice is failing today. The Phoenix believes criminals should pay for their crimes; the current system fails to deliver the correct punishment. His fellow Olympus agents help redress the balance.”
December 2019 saw the launch of his latest venture, The Freeman Files:
“With Gus Freeman and his cold case investigations there will be bursts of frantic action, of course, but they will intersperse with romance, humour and country life. Life is all about balance. Good and evil, love and loss, laughter and tears.”
“I think of myself as a storyteller; with each successive book, I hope I get better at it. I’ve heard that the reader feels as if we’re across the table from one another, and I’m chatting with them. There are more stories left to tell.”
Ted Tayler lives in West Wiltshire, England where many of his stories are based. Born in 1945, Ted’s been married to Lynne since 1971. They have three children and four grandchildren.
Acknowledgements
The love and support of my family; without them, this would have been impossible.
The Phoenix Club
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Thanks again for reading. Until the next time.
The Final Straw
An only child, unloved and unwanted by his parents, Colin Bailey, is a bitter, emotionally damaged young man. He’s hell-bent on exacting revenge on anyone who has stopped him becoming the person he believes was his destiny. What sets Colin apart is his intellect and meticulous planning. Detective Phil Hounsell pursues his man relentlessly while trying to avoid the small town in which he works sliding further and further into the grip of two rival gangs.
A devastating event in Colin’s life provides the final straw that herald’s a bloodbath. Can Phil prevent it happening, or will he too be a victim? This tale of revenge spans two decades, yet the police are chasing shadows; it builds in pace and tension to a thrilling climax against the backdrop of a quiet West Country town.
Unfinished Business
The sequel to the award-winning ‘The Final Straw’ sees Colin Bailey return to the UK after a decade abroad. With a new name and a new face, he still has scores to settle. His meticulous planning takes him ingeniously across Scotland and the North of England ticking names off his list with the police completely baffled.
DCI Phil Hounsell pitted his wits against Colin before, and so he is sent to Durham where he teams up with super intelligent young DS Zara Wheeler; together they track their man to Manchester and then eventually south to Bath. The final scenes take place on the streets of the Roman city; Phil Hounsell’s family gets threatened. In a dramatic conclusion reminiscent of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, the two men struggle above the foaming waters of the historic Pulteney Weir.
A Sting In The Tale
A collection of twelve short stories, each with an unexpected twist at the end. Love stories, ghost stories, and tales of revenge sprinkled with a touch of humour.
There is something for everyone, young or old; from the elderly bookshop owner with an unusual talent and his summer of love with a young schoolteacher. To the haunting account of the journey on the last bus back to town from the heart of the countryside. Each story has characters and situations you will recognise. But will you identify the 'sting in the tale' before you turn that final page?
The Olympus Project
Rescued by strangers from a watery grave and given a new identity.
The Phoenix is a stone-cold killer.
An ideal fit for the Olympus Project, a secret organisation fighting injustice.
With hard, fast action and a cast of characters you can reach out and touch, this is the thriller series for which you’ve been searching.
Gold, Silver, and Bombs
The eyes of the world are on London 2012.
British security services anticipate an organised terror attack.
Safety is paramount. What if the real danger comes from a lone wolf?
You won’t want to miss the page-turning intensity of the second story in this gripping series.
Nothing Is Ever Forever
The action never slows. The tension never slackens.
The Phoenix stares death in the face once more.
Detectives Hounsell and Wheeler return.
The past threatens to catch up with Phoenix.
What will the future hold for the Project? What dramas lie ahead? After all, nothing is ever forever.
In The Lap Of The Gods
Olympus battle vicious gangsters on home soil. The body count rises.
Dimitar Marinov cements his reputation as the most brutal criminal to have set foot on UK soil.
Phoenix and Athena attend their first meeting with Zeus and the other Gods.
If you’re a fan of savage, underworld criminals, fast-paced action and intense characters, then you’ll enjoy following the Olympus Project and its fight against evil. Take a deep breath; once you start, you’ll want to keep turning pages until the end.
The Price Of Treachery
The Olympians and the Titans are in a power struggle.
A traitor inside Larcombe Manor must be uncovered.
There’s a new life to protect as Athena prepares to become a mother.
All these story threads in book five are woven together to produce a rich tapestry of good and evil. Life’s all about balance. Who will win the day to face ‘A New Dawn’ that awaits?
A New Dawn
A rogue cosmetic surgeon causes the deaths of several patients.
Drug dealers target even younger children. The school gates are the latest point-of-sale.
The Project’s leaders need to strengthen the organisation after the recent attempted coup.
The Titans may have been defeated, but a new era dawns. The nightmares are far from over.
Who is the mastermind behind this network? Can Olympus prevent it from gaining a stranglehold? Time will tell.
Something Wicked Draws Near
Newly-weds Phoenix and Athena battle The Grid and its leader Hugo Hanigan.
Olympus seeks fresh faces to join the Gods and provide finance for its missions.
Grid gang leader, Tommy O’Riordan, is convicted of murder.
Hugo Hanigan immediately takes bloody revenge.
A nostalgic trip to Dublin for Hugo Hanigan brings the curtain down on
this part of The Grid’s story. It continues in the eighth book ‘Evil Always Finds A Way’.
Evil Always Finds A Way
The drama unfolds over forty days and forty nights across the UK.
The Grid’s story continues as death becomes a constant companion to Phoenix and his colleagues.
Can Olympus halt the reign of terror perpetrated by The Grid?
When this story reaches its conclusion, one thing is sure, what follows next promises to be even more exciting and unpredictable.
Revenge Comes In Many Colours
Justice and revenge are to the fore.
A senior Grid members meeting has a dramatic conclusion.
Colleen O’Riordan strengthens her grip in the capital.
Who is her secret assassin?
What does the future hold for Hugo Hanigan?
The excitement never lets up as the vigilante organisation battles organised crime.
Step by step, the Olympus story moves closer to its final instalments.
Three Weeks In September
The Grid becomes all-powerful under its new leadership. The UK is on the brink.
An onslaught from organised crime combined with attacks by Islamist extremists takes its toll.
Can Olympus stem the tide without revealing its hand?
