Read the extract from Chapter 2
Inspector Kate Swanson knew the junior officer standing by
the courtroom doors watching her. Flaherty was flushed with excitement, so
desperate to get Swanson’s attention that for one horrendous second she thought
he might shout over to her. Swanson turned her attention back towards Judge
Livermore. The accused, William Crampton, sat to Swanson’s right, on a separate
table with his lawyer. Little more than a child, he had been arrested six
months ago for petty theft after stealing a bottle of vodka from an off-licence,
a dare from his fellow gang members. Dressed in a maroon jumpsuit, his narrow
eyes stared straight ahead. Swanson listened to the familiar sound of the
verdict followed by the equally familiar sentence. There was only ever one
sentence.
Any breach of the criminal law, however minor, was subject
to an effective death sentence. After spending time in the holding zone,
convicts were placed in the glass pods which journeyed throughout the city. The
journey took thirty days, but after eight days the water supply was removed. No
one had ever survived the pods. Luis Ciucci had been the first prisoner to be
podded, not long after Swanson was born. Ciucci had murdered his wife’s lover
in a crime of passion. His podding had been symbolic. People had sympathy for
Ciucci, and the council knew it. It would have been easier to pod someone
everyone loathed, a multiple murderer, a rapist or child molester, but this way
they signaled to society that whatever your crime, whatever the mitigating
circumstances, you were going to the pods.
The boy barely reacted. Swanson had seen the weary look of
resignation countless times before. No doubt the hope had been ground out of
him during his probationary incarceration. Even after all these years in the
force, all the prosecutions she’d been involved with, the verdict was still
difficult to hear.
‘Court dismissed,’ said the judge.
Flaherty was by her side in seconds. In his grey-blue
uniform, he looked like a schoolboy playing dressing-up games. He smelt of
nicotine and sweet aftershave. He pulled at the grey clip-on tie dangling from
his throat. ‘Ma’am,’ he said.
‘What is it?’ asked Swanson.
‘It’s Judge Lloyd, Ma’am. He’s missing.’ Flaherty’s voice
was an octave higher than normal.
‘Would you care to elaborate, Flaherty?’ suggested Swanson.
‘He didn’t turn up for court today and there’s no sign of
him at his house. His car is still parked in his garage.’ Flaherty was smiling.
‘And?’
‘Chessington wants you over there. As soon as you finish
here.’
Swanson glared at him.
‘Ma’am,’ he said.
Swanson packed her files away. Five foot eleven with long
blonde hair tied back into a ponytail, she was wearing her standard formal
issue: a black pleated skirt, white blouse, and black jacket. On her left lapel
shone three silver crowns. Her voice was deep and guttural, the legacy of a
childhood throat infection which had permanently damaged her vocal cords.
The public defender, Dave Legg, walked over and shook her
hand, holding on longer than was necessary. ‘Another victory, Inspector Swanson,’
he said. ‘It must make you proud, putting away such hardened criminals.’
Swanson understood the man’s sarcasm, his despair at losing
another client, but couldn’t show any weakness. ‘Defeat makes you so bitter,
Dave.’
‘It is not the defeat, Inspector. It is the consequences of
defeat which trouble me.’ He held her gaze, trying in vain to look nonchalant,
then walked away. He had left a gold plated pen on his desk which Swanson
placed into her pocket.
Outside, she barged through a group of journalists each
barking questions at her. She made eye contact with one of their number, Jane
Sutton who she occasionally shared information with. She nodded to the woman
before entering her car.
As Swanson drove through the city to Judge Lloyd’s house,
she tried not to think about the sentence just handed down to the young petty
thief. The policy of Zero Tolerance, ZT, was fixed legislation. Its powers
could not be withdrawn, only extended. At present, any breach of criminal law,
subject to a fair trial before judge and jury, was subject to the death
penalty. Swanson had been working in the police force for the last eight years
and had never known a society without the pods.
She reminded herself that she didn’t make the policy. Her
job was to uphold the law, however draconian that law appeared to be. In her
judgement, the petty thief, Crampton, didn’t deserve to die. She empathised
with the young man, and even with his obnoxious lawyer. Maybe one day there
would come a time when the law was not so severe, but until then, she had a job
to do.
About the book
Zero
By Matt Brolly
Published by Canelo (E-book - 21 November 2016)
Publisher's description
A zero
tolerance policy results in the death penalty for all crimes, no matter how
minor.
When a
judge is kidnapped, and a ransom note demands the release of all prisoners
awaiting execution, kleptomaniac Detective Inspector Kate Swanson is put
on the case.
But soon
her boss also disappears. Under increasing pressure from her superiors, and
caught between the security services and the growing social unrest, Swanson
must race to find a man whose murdered wife and daughter link the missing men.
Can she
find him before it’s too late?
Buy from Amazon UK here.
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