‘Okay-doke.’ Dad hefted himself up to standing. ‘Well, we’ll see you and that ball of mischief in the morning.’ He leaned in to kiss Vicky, but whispered, ‘Go easy on Ryan. Please. And trust Davie. You’ve got a foot in both camps, Vicky. Don’t forget your past.’ He paused. ‘Or mine.’
Vicky nodded. ‘I’ll think about it.’
Mum handed Dad both bags. ‘Come on, then. I’ll have to get the turkey on at six, so it’s not like I’ll get much sleep.’
‘You slept for Scotland earlier, dear.’ Dad followed her out of the room.
Vicky got up and walked out into the hallway. ‘Thanks for babysitting. Lifesavers.’
‘Don’t mention it. It was a real pleasure.’ Mum stepped out into the night. ‘Christ, it’s freezing.’
Vicky shut the door and listened to them arguing their way up the road until all she could hear was the occasional passing car up on the Barry Road.
What the hell was she going to do about Ennis?
Play along with Forrester’s game?
Did she have the option of going against him?
She just didn’t know.
But that was for another day.
Now, she had more important things to worry about. She crept up the stairs, taking it really slowly.
Bella was in her bed, tucked in nice and tight. She made a cute chuckling sound in her sleep.
Vicky went into her own bedroom and unlocked the cupboard. Bella’s stocking was lying there, already stuffed full of presents. She grabbed it, just as her phone chimed.
Probably Forrester seeing the error of his ways. Or Mum had left something in the fridge.
Christ.
She put down the stocking and checked the message. She almost dropped the phone. Almost threw it against the wall.
It was from Alan:
Hey, Vicks. Long time no speak. Just having a few with the boys and was wondering how you were doing? A
Vicky clutched the stocking, tight in her hand. Bella’s father, just texting her out of the blue like that. Didn’t seem like he had any idea, though.
She needed to keep it that way.
Vicky pressed the button to block his number, then sneaked through to Bella’s room.
READY FOR MORE?
Out now, buy on Amazon
The next book in the series, TOOTH AND CLAW, is out now — keep reading to the end of this book for a sneak preview. You can get a copy at Amazon.
Note that I’ve replaced the opening chapter with a new one that is a lot less shocking.
If you would like to be kept up to date with my new releases, please join the Ed James Readers Club at geni.us/EJmailer.
Afterword
Huge thanks for buying and reading this book. I hope you enjoyed it.
This series has been a labour of love for me. Vicky Dodds lives in the town I grew up in (as much as a 42-year-old manchild can grow up, eh?) and covers the city I used to visit every weekend for record shops, cinemas and, later, pubs and clubs. I hope I captured some of Dundee’s gritty and unique character — while it’s much-maligned and the butt of a lot of jokes in Scotland, I do really like the place. It’s got a very distinct history and some proud people.
And it didn’t start as a series. In 2014, my first year as a full-time author, the first novel I wrote was SNARED, which I thought would become a new series, after the existing five Cullen books. Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer graciously published it, way more successfully than I could have myself, and through various deals for the DI Fenchurch books, we discussed a sequel, which always got pushed out in favour of another Fenchurch. They reverted the rights to SNARED in 2018 and I heavily edited it and republished it as TOOTH & CLAW. Then I wrote another two books in the series, FLESH & BLOOD and the forthcoming SKIN & BONE, out on the 1st May 2021. And all that time, I had an idea to do this prequel, fleshing out a couple of lines in TOOTH & CLAW, about how Considine caught a taxi driver and what happened to DS Ennis. I hope it was worth the effort!
Thanks to Allan and Vicki for editing work this time out.
One final thing, if you liked this, then please leave a review on Amazon — it really helps aspiring indie authors like me.
Thanks for reading it.
— Ed James,
Scottish Borders, March 2021
Other Books By Ed James
SCOTT CULLEN MYSTERIES SERIES
Eight novels featuring a detective eager to climb the career ladder, covering Edinburgh and its surrounding counties, and further across Scotland.
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
DEVIL IN THE DETAIL
FIRE IN THE BLOOD
STAB IN THE DARK
COPS & ROBBERS
LIARS & THIEVES
COWBOYS & INDIANS
HEROES & VILLAINS
CULLEN & BAIN SERIES
Four novellas spinning off from the main Cullen series covering the events of the global pandemic in 2020.
CITY OF THE DEAD
WORLD’S END
HELL’S KITCHEN
GORE GLEN
CRAIG HUNTER SERIES
A spin-off series from the Cullen series, with Hunter first featuring in the fifth book, starring an ex-squaddie cop struggling with PTSD, investigating crimes in Scotland and further afield.
MISSING
HUNTED
THE BLACK ISLE
DS VICKY DODDS SERIES
Gritty crime novels set in Dundee and Tayside, featuring a DS juggling being a cop and a single mother.
BLOOD & GUTS
TOOTH & CLAW
FLESH & BLOOD
SKIN & BONE (coming 1st May 2021)
DI SIMON FENCHURCH SERIES
Set in East London, will Fenchurch ever find what happened to his daughter, missing for the last ten years?
THE HOPE THAT KILLS
WORTH KILLING FOR
WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU
IN FOR THE KILL
KILL WITH KINDNESS
KILL THE MESSENGER
DEAD MAN’S SHOES
Other Books
Other crime novels, with Senseless set in southern England, and the other three set in Seattle, Washington.
SENSELESS
TELL ME LIES
GONE IN SECONDS
BEFORE SHE WAKES
Tooth and Claw
Prologue
‘I see.’ Rachel gripped her mobile as tight as she could without cracking the screen. ‘I’m sorry you see it that way.’
Benji was tugging at his lead, desperate to sniff at the lamp post over the road. Little sod might be small for a pug, but he was strong.
Up here, she got a great view down
