Paul Gitsham: Silent As The Grave

It’s DCI Warren Jones’ coldest case yet…

The body of Reginald Williamson had been well concealed under a bush in Middlesbury Common and the murder had been efficiently carried out – a single stab wound to the chest. Reggie’s dog had been killed just as efficiently. With no clues and no obvious motive, the case is going nowhere.

…and then he gets a break.

DCI Warren Jones’ instincts tell him that the informant is dodgy – a former police officer under investigation. But when the story he tells involves the death of Warren’s father, he can’t help but listen. Suddenly, a wide criminal conspiracy, involving high-level police corruption, a gangster and a trained killer, is blown wide open…and Warren finds that this time, it’s not just his career under threat, but his family – and his life.

Also by Paul Gitsham:

The Last Straw

No Smoke Without Fire

Blood Is Thicker Than Water (A DCI Warren Jones novella)

Silent as the Grave

A Case Gone Cold (A DCI Warren Jones novella)

The Common Enemy

A Deadly Lesson (A DCI Warren Jones novella)

Forgive Me Father

At First Glance (A DCI Warren Jones novella)

Silent as the Grave

A DCI Warren Jones Novel

Paul Gitsham

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2015

Copyright © Paul Gitsham 2015

Paul Gitsham asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © June 2015 ISBN: 9781474033602

Version date: 2019-11-11

PAUL GITSHAMstarted his career as a biologist working in the UK and Canada. After stints as the world’s most over-qualified receptionist and a spell ensuring that international terrorists hadn’t opened a Child's Savings Account at a major UK bank (a job even duller than working reception) he retrained as a science teacher.

You can find out more about Paul at his website, www.paulgitsham.comor follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dcijonesor Twitter @dcijoneswriter

Acknowledgments

Like all of my novels, Silent as the Grave couldn’t have been written without the help and assistance of a great number of people.

The first thanks must go to my amazing beta readers, Dad and Cheryl, who put up with my foul-mouthed rants at my computer’s steadfast refusal to print out a draft copy for them to read over, then dropped everything to go over the document in record time so I could meet my deadline.

Next is the long line of friends who have listened to extracts of the work during its gestation, giving much appreciated feedback and encouragement. I will never be able to list everyone who helped me, so if I don’t name you, please be assured that I valued each and every suggestion and contribution.

A few who can’t be missed out include my friends at the Hertford Writers’ Circle, who have given me essential feedback on all of my books, supplying thoughtful suggestions where necessary and giving me the strength to persevere when it all seemed a bit overwhelming.

Some chapters of this novel were written as an exercise for a creative writing class and the critical feedback supplied by Danielle Jawando and my friends at Hertford Regional College helped me raise my game enormously. Good luck guys and keep on writing!

As always, I relied on technical advice from many people: Elaine Dockrill helped enormously with medical advice, Caroline and Dan kept me straight on the legal stuff and our close family friend Danny McAree generously shared his experience from decades in the police. As always, Crime Scene Investigator Lee Robson of Essex police was a source of both information and future inspiration.

My colleagues and friends at school have been wonderful, supplying both encouragement and feedback as well as acting as a useful source of interesting surnames and even more interesting character quirks…

Behind the scenes, I will forever be grateful to my publisher, HQ Digital, for taking a chance on me and for their support, from editing and feeding back on my manuscripts to the beautifully designed covers. Cheers, guys!

Finally, I must say a heartfelt thanks to the many kind readers who have taken the time to tell me what they thought of the first two books, either in person or via reviews. Releasing your ‘baby’ into the wild is a nerve-wracking experience and a positive review really makes an author’s day.

DCI Warren Jones will return. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy his latest adventure.

Paul

Dedication

To my number one cheerleaders, Mum, Dad and Cheryl. If you find one of my business cards or flyers in an unexpected place, it was probably them…

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Book List

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgement

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Epilogue

Extract

Endpages

About the Publisher

Prologue

The teenage boy walked carefully, balancing an overfilled mug in each hand. The kettle had boiled only moments before and his mother had called down the garden, asking if his father wanted coffee. There had been no reply, but in twenty years of marriage Aileen MacNamara had never known her husband refuse a hot drink. So, curious to know what his father had been doing all evening, the fourteen-year-old had poured himself one as well and set off down the path.

The garage door was a sturdy, wooden affair, the handle missing for as long as the boy could remember, the hasp for the padlock its replacement. Looping a free finger around the metal bracket, he unhooked it then pulled as hard as he could. The door, warped from years of hot summers and cold winters, resisted before screeching open with a sudden jerk, spilling scalding liquid all over his hands. The teenager swore quietly.