Rage and
Retribution by Lorraine Mace
Can
two wrongs ever make a right?
It
quickly becomes clear that someone is abducting men and subjecting
them to horrific acts of torture. After three days they're released,
fighting for their lives and refusing to speak.
A
councillor is accused of fraud.
Montague
Mason is an upstanding member of the community. That is until he's
publicly accused of stealing the youth centre's funds - an accusation
that threatens to rip through the very heart of the community and
expose his best-kept secret. But how far would he go to protect
himself?
Two
cases. One deadly answer.
As
the two cases collide, D.I. Paolo Sterling finds he has more
questions than answers. And, when torture escalates to murder, he
suddenly finds himself in a race against time to find the killer and
put an end to the depravity - once and for all.
Extract
for Ellesea Loves Reading
Detective
Inspector Paolo Sterling has been heavily involved in fundraising for
the Bradchester Youth Centre and was asked to unveil the plaque.
As
the applause died down, he picked up the scissors from the lectern
and turned to face the velvet curtain covering the plaque.
“It
gives me great pleasure to announce the reopening of Bradchester’s
Youth Centre,” he said, cutting the ribbon and allowing the purple
cover to fall.
The
gasp from the assembled audience was almost deafening. Defacing the
plaque in vivid red letters were the words: MASONS A CRUK
Paolo
turned back into the glare of flashing lights as the press
photographers fired off shot after shot. The reporters clamoured
forward, shooting questions without giving him chance to answer.
“What
do you know about this?”
“Are
you going to investigate?”
“Did
this come as a surprise to you?”
“What
are you going to do about it?”
“Will
you arrest Councillor Mason?”
“Is
there money missing? If yes, why haven’t you arrested the
councillor?”
Paolo
held up his hands in the classic position of surrender and shouted to
be heard over the cacophony.
“At
the moment I know as much about this as you do.”
A
strident voice interrupted him. “I repeat: are you going to
investigate? Did you know money was missing? After all, you were the
main fundraiser.”
Paolo couldn’t see beyond the flashing bulbs, but recognised the
voice and sighed. A query that loaded could only have come from
Gordon Hennessy, muckraker supreme for the Bradchester Sport.
He should have known that piece of slime would put the worst possible
interpretation on anything to do with the centre.
“Yes,
there will be an investigation, but as of this moment I have no
reason to suspect the councillor of any wrongdoing. This could simply
be an attempt to smear his name by someone bearing a grudge.”
“Is
it true the councillor is a friend of yours? Is that why you’re so
quick to defend him?”
Paolo
looked through the glare to the spot from where he thought the last
question had been yelled.
“I
am not defending anyone, Mr Hennessy. I have said there will be an
investigation and there will be one. However, at this moment all we
have is an accusation scrawled in what looks like lipstick. Until I
find evidence of wrongdoing, it would be premature of me to accuse
anyone of a crime. However, to answer your question, no, Councillor
Mason and I are not friends. We do not socialise and have only come
together on this project. Outside of this, we have no contact. I
trust that puts your mind at rest.”
Paolo
permitted himself an inward smile. Far from being friends, he and
Montague Mason had locked horns on just about every aspect of the
renovation project, but he had no intention of sharing that with the
press – the gutter variety or the more responsible kind.
He
held his hands up again and kept them in the air until the noise
abated.
“Gentlemen
and ladies of the press, clearly there is something here for me to
look into, even it is nothing more than a case of defamation of
character. I’m afraid I must ask you all to clear the hall as I
need to close this area off to allow tests to be taken of the
substance on the plaque. Perhaps you would like to make your way to
the cafeteria, where I believe refreshments have been laid on for
this evening.”
When not working on her D.I. Sterling Series, Lorraine Mace is
engaged in many writing-related activities. She is a columnist for
both Writing Magazine and Writers' Forum and is head judge for
Writers’ Forum monthly fiction competitions. A tutor for Writers
Bureau, she also runs her own private critique and author mentoring
service. She is co-author, with Maureen Vincent-Northam, of THE
WRITER'S ABC CHECKLIST (Accent Press). Other books include children’s
novel VLAD THE INHALER - HERO IN THE MAKING, and NOTES FROM THE
MARGIN, a compilation of her Writing Magazine humour column.
Website:
www.lorrainemace.com
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/lomace
