January (4 page)

‘And what I do.’

‘Sort of, I mean—’

Carter cut him off: ‘I need honest men who might have to handle certain types of goods or money but wouldn’t think of nicking from me.’

‘Oh . . .’

‘Loyal, too. People who don’t grass.’

Kitkat tried to read Carter but there was nothing to see. He wondered how much of this had been planned. He
had
been asking for work and his car was distinctive enough to be spotted at
the chicken place the previous evening. Had he been given the money by accident? Was it deliberate to see if he tried to do something stupid with the cash? Who was the server? Perhaps he’d
passed the test by not being an idiot? Maybe he’d never know.

He covered his mouth as another cough erupted. Carter stepped to the side, pointing towards the fire exit. ‘Get me back my five hundred quid and I’ll have a job for you.’

At least that answered the question of whether Chris was in on all of this – he wasn’t
and
he’d nicked five hundred quid. The idiot. Kitkat stumbled across the kitchen,
passing the snipped remains of his rucksack.

Carter’s voice echoed across the room. ‘I’ll get you a new bag.’

Kitkat had one hand on the metal bar across the fire exit, freedom tantalisingly close. ‘Right.’

‘One more thing.’

‘What?’

‘Get better mates, Kitkat – Chris Green’s a liability. I’ll be in touch, yeah?’

Kitkat gazed up at the brute of a man, knowing he couldn’t say ‘no’. What were the career options when you were born in a place like this? Roofer? Some shit job in a call
centre?

No way.

He nodded, still tasting the detergent. ‘No problem.’

SCARRED FOR LIFE

There’s no going back . . .

DI Jessica Daniel is not having a good week. Her wallet’s been nicked, the refurbished incident room is already falling apart, and a new football-mad constable is driving
her crazy.

But she has bigger things on her mind. A student, vaguely linked to an Olympic medallist, has been found dead; his body dumped in a wheelie bin at the back of a university building. One theory
is that it could have been an induction that went wrong.

There’s also the tattooed shop raider who has her team stumped; someone attacking lone women; a chief inspector who seems to have a problem with her; and she’s started receiving
threatening letters through her front door.

Worlds are colliding for Jessica – and, if she’s not careful, someone close to her might not make it out in one piece.

JANUARY

Since turning thirty in late 2010, Kerry Wilkinson has been busy.

He’s topped the Amazon Kindle chart; had eight consecutive top 20 Kindle crime books; written a young-adult dystopian trilogy; had a paperback in the UK chart; been translated into more
than a dozen languages; sold around 800,000 books; worked for the London 2012 Olympics and the 2014 World Cup; visited more than thirty US states; and, in 2014 alone, cycled 10,000 miles.

There’s probably more but his memory’s not that good.

January
is part of Kerry Wilkinson’s ebook series
A Calendar of Crime
.

Website: www.kerrywilkinson.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/kerrywk

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JessicaDanielBooks

Email: [email protected]

By Kerry Wilkinson

The Jessica Daniel series

LOCKED IN

VIGILANTE

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

THINK OF THE CHILDREN

PLAYING WITH FIRE

THICKER THAN WATER

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

CROSSING THE LINE

SCARRED FOR LIFE

The Andrew Hunter series

SOMETHING WICKED

The Silver Blackthorn trilogy

RECKONING

First published 2015 by Pan Books

This electronic edition published 2015 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-1-4472-9266-1

Copyright © Kerry Wilkinson 2015

The right of Kerry Wilkinson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital,
optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be
liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

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

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www.panmacmillan.com
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