I don’t forgive and forget. This is just a taste of what’s to come.

James returned a few minutes later to say that whoever had thrown the brick had disappeared, which came as no surprise to Annie.

She handed him the note and watched the panic seize his features as he read it.

‘I’m willing to bet it’s a message from Sullivan,’ she said tearfully. ‘And if that doesn’t convince you that we should move away from here, then I don’t know what will.’

CHAPTER ONE

Friday December 16th

According to the Met Office, it was going to be a white, blustery Christmas. The forecast was for severe blizzards across much of the UK, and those people living in northern counties were being warned to brace themselves for the worst of the weather. It was even likely that some towns and villages would find themselves cut off.

The prospect of being snowed in filled James Walker with dread. He wasn’t used to dealing with impassable roads and momentous drifts that brought life to a standstill.

In London, things carried on virtually as normal however bad the weather. But now he was living in Cumbria and this would be his first Christmas away from the capital. He was pretty sure it was going to be very different.

He and Annie had made the move seven weeks ago and he was still struggling to adjust. The pace of life was so much slower and he wasn’t sure he would ever get used to it.

Barely a month had passed since he’d started his new job as a detective inspector with the Cumbria Constabulary, based in the market town of Kendal, and he was already bored. He was missing the buzz of the Met, the big cases, the rush of adrenaline that he felt speeding to the scene of another major crime.

The cases that had come his way since the transfer included two burglaries, a domestic violence incident on a remote farm and an act of vandalism against a village pub. A far cry from the murder and mayhem that had kept him busy during almost twenty years working in the capital.

He wasn’t blaming Annie, though. Remaining in London had simply become too risky after the brick was thrown through their living room window. His wife was lucky not to have been injured, and it had forced him to concede that the threat was one he couldn’t ignore. He had to think of Annie and his family – his parents, brother, two sisters, and a bunch of nephews and nieces.

He still couldn’t be sure who was behind the attack. There had been no forensic evidence on the brick or the note that was attached to it. Naturally, Andrew Sullivan had denied responsibility when questioned, and he had a cast-iron alibi. But he could have got one of his gang members to do it for him, as revenge against James for the thirteen months Sullivan had spent behind bars before his unexpected release.