The sky overhead for once had a remarkable amount of blue in it, the soft white clouds that dotted here and there were motionless and the sun was actually shining. It was a bright, crisp, chill autumn day. An autumn day like it should be. As it was in his childhood, when the seasons knew how to behave themselves.
It was a day for new beginnings.
Kate came out of the courthouse, her smile, the epicentre now of Delaney's solar system, as bright as the sun itself.
'What happened?'
'He got seven years and four months.'
'You don't feel guilty?'
'Not a bit of it.'
Delaney nodded. 'A certain degree of moral flexibility allows us to do what we do.' He grinned and flicked his cigarette into the drain at his feet watching it spark as it hit the grating below.
'I didn't perjure myself, Jack, I just didn't tell them I knew Helen Archer was lying.'
At that moment the woman in question came out of the courthouse, she was surrounded by friends and family. She looked across at Kate and gave her a small, quick smile.
Delaney pointed at the statue adorning the roof of the court building. 'Audrey Hill told me that there is no God and we all know that Justice is blind, so we just have to look out for each other, don't we?'
Kate linked her arm in his as they walked away. 'Seems to me that looking after you is going to be a full-time job.'
Delaney dropped his voice to the rich burr of his childhood tongue. 'That's because I'm all man, sweetheart.'
Kate laughed. 'All ego maybe.'
Delaney's phone trilled in his pocket and he flicked it out to answer it. 'Delaney.'
The voice on the other end of the line took him straight back to that childhood, almost as if he had summoned it. Took him back to a day of sunshine and wonders and joy at the world.
'Jack, it's Mary, your cousin Mary. I need your help,' she said.
And at that moment a crow took off from the roof of the court building behind them, its dusty wings flapping like shook canvas in the bright, still air, and its caw like the mockery of God.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This is a work of fiction and although all of the characters are indeed fictional some of the places mentioned within are real – so firstly a big apology to London! One of the most diverse, exhilarating and dynamic cities on the planet, and yet in these pages it comes across as rather a bleak place, to say the least; but all cities are viewed through different eyes and Jack Delaney's are a little more bloodshot and jaundiced than most. Some of the places mentioned in the book, however, are not real. Delaney works out of an entirely fictional police station and The Pig and Whistle is a pub that, sadly, does not exist; likewise a curious tourist would struggle to find South Hampstead Common or South Hampstead Tube or the Royal South Hampstead Hospital, but they would be well rewarded indeed, however, if they decided to check if the Holly Bush pub really did add a dash of wine to their Bloody Marys!
A lot of people should be thanked for the hard work they have put into bringing Blood Work to the bookshelf. And so, many thanks to James Nightingale, Tess Callaway and the lovely Caroline Gascoigne for their incredible help and support, the sales and marketing team from Hutchinson who did so much to get Jack Delaney out amongst the public, Justine for her eagle eye, Anna Hughes who handled the baton like an Olympiad and Robert Caskie for his continual encouragement and advice. Lucie Birnie of Lucy's Cafe for making me big in the Runtons and especially Lynn Butler for keeping my spirits high and the decanter full!
But the biggest thanks to you the reader, without whom Jack Delaney would just be a sad and bitter man, mumbling incoherently to himself in the corner of an empty bar as he sips his solitary pint.
MP
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW, A COLLECTION OF COMING-OF-AGE STORIES FROM SOME OF THE MASTERS OF CRIME FICTION, SELECTED AND EDITED BY JOHN HARVEY
Men From Boys
'Terrific tales' Independent on Sunday
Featuring Mark Billingham, Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, John Harvey, Reginald Hill, Bill James, Dennis Lehane, George P. Pelecanos, Peter Robinson, James Sallis, John Straley, Brian Thompson, Don Winslow, Daniel Woodrell and a novella by Andrew Coburn.
Little is perfect for the men in these seventeen crime stories and nothing is straightforward. The worlds they inhabit are as different as a deprived London housing estate and a rundown jazz joint in Manhattan, but each of them is striving to determine what is right, what will given them dignity, what will earn them self-respect. Some succeed. Others fail.
In this acclaimed collection of stories, John Harvey has gathered together some of the very best names in contemporary crime writing. Together thse writers answer what it is to be a father, a son, a man.
'Bonus points to Harvey as editor for taste, virtuosity and some weird kind of compatibility-spotting which detects kinship between the most dissimilar authors. An original, outstanding collection – readable and rewarding from start to finish' Literary Review
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Triptych
Karin Slaughter
Three people with something to hide. One killer with nothing to lose.
When Atlanta police detective Michael Ormewood is called out to a murder scene at the notorious Grady Homes, he finds himself faced with one of the most brutal killings of his career: Aleesha Monroe is found in the stairwell in a pool of her own blood, her body horribly mutilated.
As a one-off killing it's shocking, but when it becomes clear that it's just the latest in a series of similar attacks, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are called in, and Michael is forced into working with Special Agent Will Trent of the Criminal Apprehension Team – a man he instinctively dislikes.
Twenty-four hours later, the violence Michael sees around him every day explodes in his own back yard. And it seems the mystery behind Monroe's death is inextricably entangled with a past that refuses to stay buried . . .
'This is without doubt an accomplished, compelling and complex tale, with page-turning power aplenty' Daily Express
'Criminally spectacular' OK!
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Live Flesh
Ruth Rendell
Why did he do it? Why had it happened? What sort of fiend was he? Why should Victor Jenner, the child of happily-married, middle-class parents, succumb to such violent rages? Why should he have needed to make motiveless attacks on women? Victor didn't know.
But Victor did know that the last ten years – the years in prison – had been a mistake. He had never intended to harm anyone. It had all been an accident. In fact, his life had been a series of accidents, one mistake leading to the next.
Now, out of prison at last, Victor still isn't free. The past holds him so he can't go forward. So Victor goes back – and begins a chain of accidents, a new string of tragic mistakes.
'Powerfully claustrophobic'
Guardian
'Ruth Rendell shows an unparalleled understanding of human evil'
The Sunday Times
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
The Skin Gods
Richard Montanari
Philadelphia is blistering in the summer heat and detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano prowl the streets with growing unease. Suddenly, a series of crimes shatters the restless city. A beautiful secretary is slashed to death in a grimy motel shower; a street hustler brutally murdered with a chainsaw. Piece by piece, a sickening puzzle presents itself: someone is recreating famous Hollywood murder scenes and inserting the clips into videos – for an unsuspecting public to find.