Slur: The Riverhill Trilogy: Book 1 (25 page)

‘Rita,
you don’t need to sound so overjoyed. It’s still a human life even if he was an
evil bastard. His family will be grieving.’

‘Like
as if.
T
he bastard
got what he deserved for getting a nice girl like Amanda hooked on drugs in the
first place just so he could control her, not to mention the other two people
he killed. Anyone who wants to grieve over him needs their head testing. They
should be glad to see the back of him.’

Once
Rita had finished her rant, Julie continued. ‘A rival drugs gang jumped him in
his cell. They kicked, punched and knifed him to death … Anyway, the police
aren’t going to press charges for the break-in at his flat, so that’s a
relief.’

‘I
didn’t think they would after all the problems they caused us in the first
place!’

‘You
should have heard Bowden, Rita. He apologised for doubting my word and for
misjudging us, and he asked me to send you his apologies too. And he said that
he might have broken into Les’s flat too if he had been in my position.’

‘Jesus,
I wish I’d have been there to hear him grovel.’

‘Oh,
don’t worry Rita, it wasn’t all good. He did suggest that I had put myself in
that position by my foolish behaviour, and that girls who go to nightclubs are
regarded as being a certain type.’

‘The
cheeky get!’ cried Rita before noticing Julie’s eyes looking over her shoulder.
She followed her gaze and noticed that it was Vinny who had caught her eye.

‘Hiya
love,’ shouted Julie before standing up, approaching Vinny and embracing him.

‘I
thought you’d only just bleedin’ left him?’ asked Rita exasperated, as she
grabbed her drink and left the table. ‘I’m leaving you two love-birds to it,’
she added. ‘I’ll be on the dance-floor when you’re ready Julie. I’ve got one
more thing to celebrate now with that nutcase out of the way. That’s made my
fuckin’ day, that has.’

Rita
strutted towards the dance-floor to the sound of “Trapped” by Colonel Abrams,
turning to wink at Julie before she disappeared from view.  

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Saturday 20
^th
December 1986

It
was the following day. Julie stood by the window with her back to Vinny and
Rita. She didn’t want them to notice how upset she was. She knew she was being
silly but she just couldn’t help it. Outside the rain gently ran in tiny
rivulets down the pane of glass; a moment’s let-up against the heavy downpour,
which had lashed down throughout the last twenty-four hours, causing the inside
of the windows to steam.

“
Funny
how the weather’s always grotty when something sad is happening,
” thought
Julie.

An
aeroplane was cruising along the runway preparing for take-off. She watched as
it built up speed until it soared into the air.

‘That’ll
be me soon,’ Rita commented, surprising Julie by her proximity. Noting Rita’s
glee, Julie managed to force an encouraging smile but Rita, as always, could
see through her façade.

‘Now
don’t start snivelling Julie Quinley or there’ll be no cheap holidays for you!’

‘Oh
I’m sorry Rita. I am really happy for you; it’s just that I’ll miss you.’

‘I
know, I’ll miss you too Julie, but I’ll ring you as soon as I get there, and
I’ll keep in touch and let you know how I’m getting on.’

‘I
know, Rita.’

‘Right,
well let’s tuck into those bloody drinks then. This is a celebration.’

After
grabbing her drink she clinked the glass against Julie’s and Vinny’s and announced,
‘To new beginnings.’

She
then managed to down her drink in one go. As Julie and Vinny watched,
astonished, she commented, ‘Well, you didn’t think I was gonna fly sober, did
you?’

‘How
long have you got?’ Julie asked.

‘My
flight’s at 3.15 so that gives me just over two hours, but I’ll have to go
through to passport control long before then. That’ll be the boring bit, when
I’m sat on my own waiting and can’t even have a drink. Mind you, I’ll be that
pissed by then that I won’t give a shit.’

‘Yeah,
I pity the poor bugger that’s got to sit next to you for the flight,’ said
Julie, laughing.

‘Whoever
it is, his luck’s in. Eh, I wonder if there’s any good films on. I hope it’s
not that load of crap they had on last time.’

‘Is
Yansis meeting you at the airport when you get there?’ asked Vinny.

‘Course
he is. He’s a darlin’ is Yansis. He wouldn’t leave me stranded.’

Julie
and Vinny took great care not to mention the fact that none of Rita’s family
had accompanied her to the airport, and that, if it hadn’t been for Vinny’s
insistence that they gave her a lift, she would have had to rely on taxis at
this end. They knew that it was just the way it was with Rita’s family and that
Rita had long since become accustomed to it all.

It
seemed that they had already said all they had to say and Julie didn’t want to
quell Rita’s excitement by discussing anything too mundane. So they confined
their conversation to topics that interested Rita; what clothes she had taken,
how hot the weather was going to be, what Yansis’s apartment was like etc., etc.

As
soon as it was time for Rita to go, a last minute panic gripped Julie. This was
it; Rita was really leaving! She felt that there was something important she
should be doing or saying at such a crucial time, instead of just standing
there looking hopeless. Now it seemed to her that their last moments together
had passed by in a flash. Before she knew it Rita was in the queue waiting to check
her baggage in. She wanted to grab hold of Rita, as though she would never let
her go, but Vinny held her back.

‘Let
Rita do it her way,’ he whispered. She watched Rita advancing excitedly up the queue
and knew he was right. Rita wouldn’t appreciate a heavy emotional scene at such
a key time in her life; she wanted to embrace the whole experience, not
commiserate it.

As
Rita moved to the front of the queue, Julie shouted, ‘Have a great time Rita. I
hope it all works out!’

‘Course
it will,’ came the reply. ‘Come and stay whenever you want. I can’t wait to see
you both.’

Then
she was gone and Vinny was ready with open arms. When Julie had spent a couple
of minutes recovering her composure, she finally found her voice.

‘Oh
Vinny, I’m going to miss her so much; we’ve been through a hell of a lot together!’

‘Don’t
worry,’ he casually remarked. ‘She’ll be back.’

T H E   E N D

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Author Note

If you enjoyed “Slur” perhaps you would consider leaving a
review on Amazon using the direct link:
Amazon
Review (UK)
or
Amazon.com
review
. Independent authors such as myself value reader reviews, and we
rely on them to spread the word about our work.

I am also inviting readers to subscribe to my mailing list
by following the link:
Heather’s readers
.
This will enable you to be among the first to find out about forthcoming
publications, and receive a FREE copy of my short story book “Crime, Conflict
& Consequences”. I use my mailing list solely to notify readers about my
books and will never share your details with any third parties.

--------------------

A
Gangster’s Grip – The Riverhill Trilogy: Book 2

When Rita returns to Manchester after a few years away, she
doesn’t expect to find a spliff smoking, beer swilling thug called Leroy firmly
ensconced on her parents’ sofa. Rita is horrified to discover he is her sister
Jenny’s new boyfriend, and she senses trouble.

The more Rita finds out
about Leroy, the more she mistrusts him. As she uncovers the truth about his
shady dealings, she becomes anxious about Jenny’s safety and is desperate to
lure her away from him. Rita’s mettle is tested as she tries to protect her
sister while battling with personal health concerns.

But it’s worse than Rita
could ever have suspected. Through her association with Leroy, Jenny is about
to become embroiled in the most dangerous phase in Manchester’s recent history.

“A Gangster’s Grip” is
available from Amazon in both a Kindle and a print format:
http://viewbook.at/GangstersGrip
.

Crime,
Conflict & Consequences

This entertaining collection of 10 assorted tales explores a
variety of genres with stories of crime, love and family dilemmas. There are
also a few twists and surprises along the way. The common thread running
through each story is - consequences.

-
       
In HELD UP our
heroine is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and becomes a witness in
an unusual bank robbery.

-
       
In ISLAND OF DREAMS
Joe and Bev are looking forward to returning to the island they visited on
honeymoon 34 years previously. Will it still be the same?

-
       
In WELCOME ABOARD
find out how Helena copes with the job from hell.

These short stories are a
great introduction to the work of Heather Burnside. Each one makes an enjoyable
quick read with a satisfying conclusion.

“Crime, Conflict &
Consequences is available from Amazon in Kindle format:
http://viewbook.at/Consequences
.

Heather Burnside started her writing career 16 years ago
when she began to work as a freelance writer while studying towards her writing
diploma. During that time she had many articles published in well-known UK
magazines. As part of her studies Heather began work on her debut novel, “Slur”,
and wrote several short stories. She has since written outlines for a number of
other novels.

Despite interest
from a couple of literary agents, Heather didn’t quite succeed in finding a
mainstream publisher for “Slur”. Disheartened, she put it to one side while she
focused on other areas, but was determined to return to it one day. She
eventually published “Slur” in August 2014, which is book one in The Riverhill
Trilogy.

When not working
on her books Heather runs a business offering writing services to various
companies and individuals. Through her writing services business Heather has
ghost-written many non-fiction books on behalf of clients, covering a broad
range of topics.

In early 2015 Heather
published a collection of short stories, and she published the second book in
The Riverhill Trilogy, entitled “A Gangster’s Grip” in autumn 2015. The third
and final part of The Riverhill Trilogy will be published in summer 2016. Heather
publishes regular updates about her writing on her blog at:
www.heatherburnside.com
.

You can also connect
with her on Twitter at: @heatherbwriter or on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/DMPublisher
.   

--------------------

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the many people who have helped me
to bring this book to market. Firstly I will start by thanking the independent
author community in general. They are a fantastic group of talented authors who
support each other, offering advice on everything from formatting to marketing.
Unfortunately there are too many names to mention but the people involved know
who they are.

A special
thank you goes to my longstanding friend Karen Hopes who was the first person
to read a very early draft of the book and give me some honest feedback. Karen
has worked both as a librarian and an administration manager with the police so
her knowledge was particularly valuable.

I
would like to acknowledge the Police History Society for invaluable help with
the research for my book. Their website at:
http://www.policehistorysociety.co.uk/
contains a
wealth of information. I would also like to thank individual members of staff
who went to a great deal of trouble to answer all my questions.  

Thank
you also to my wonderful beta readers who gave valuable feedback which helped
me to improve the book. They are the lovely Rose Edmunds, Emma Dellow, Fiona
Lang and Rita Ackerman.

Big
thanks also go to Chris Howard for designing a stunning book cover. He can be
contacted at:
[email protected]
.

I
found the following websites useful when carrying out my research:
http://www.cps.gov.uk
for
information on court procedure and
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/c.htm
for
helping to compile my glossary of slang. I have to confess, however, that I am
already familiar with the slang used, but in many cases I needed to find a
polite way to define the words. I also used several websites for research on
drugs but this research was carried out several years ago so I no longer have
the relevant links. 

Lastly
I would like to thank my family and friends, particularly my husband Damien and
my children, for all the support that they have given me in bringing this book
to fruition.

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