Here’s a complete short story completely free. In the week my new Danny Lancaster crime novel GARGOYLE PIXIE DOG is published I’m serialising SELFIE over five days – today until Friday – on my blog and www.facebook.com/DannyLancasterInvestigates. Here’s:
SELFIE: part 1 of 5
“Go on… Where’s the harm?… It’s no big deal… everyone does…
people’ll think you’re weird if you don’t…
babe, stop stressing… don’t get upset… it makes you look ugly…
just relax…
chill…
You’re making a fuss over nothing…
You want people to think you’re still a kid?…
It’s not so bad…
You would if you really loved me…
***
Danny Lancaster loved spending time in Jubilee Library. He was wrestling with a hefty book on plate tectonics when he first noticed them.
He turned a page. The forces that moved the earth’s crust made your head spin. It was giving Danny an appetite.
Ten minutes later they were still watching him, two of them, by the window. Danny turned his attention back to the book and when he looked up they were standing by his table, maybe 14 or 15 years old, denim shorts over black tights, T-shirts, long loose hair, thin arms and legs, not women, not children. He couldn’t imagine what they wanted. It certainly wasn’t going to be a discussion on plate 
tectonics.
“You’re Danny Lancaster,” said the tall one.
“That’s right.”
“Could you help us?”
“You need a librarian.”
“No, it’s not about books. We need a detective.”
“You are joking?”
“We’ve got money.”
The taller girl pulled a sagging Tesco carrier from her tote bag and placed it on the table.
“There’s just over forty three pounds.”
“I don’t think there’s anything I can do for you. If you want help speak to your parents.”
The taller one whispered something, reached out. The second girl shied away. The first nudged. Something was passed palm to palm. The taller girl reached across, something in her hand.
“It’s this.”
Danny glanced at the smartphone screen, glimpsed pink flesh, startled eyes.
“Put that away!”
The tall girl flinched, stuffed her friend’s phone into her tote. The shorter girl’s shoulders were moving in tiny suppressed jerks. She was crying.
“Please,” said the tall one. “There isn’t anyone else. We really need your help.”
***
Outside they sat on a wooden bench. The tall girl next to him, the shorter one a little further away.
“Ok, so who are you?”
“I’m Ash,” said the taller one, “and this is Gemma.”
“And what’s this about?”
“Gemma had this boyfriend, Ryan. They split up. Last week he rang up, drunk, wanted them to get together. She said no so he threatened her, said he’d started posting pictures.”
“He took them when they were going out?”
“Yes, last year. There’s these apps…”
“Don’t get technical on me.”
“It’s a thing on your phone. You can send a picture to someone. They can see it for a few seconds, then it’s deleted. Only there are other apps to save the picture before it deletes.”
“And that’s what this Ryan did?”
“Yes, when he rang he said he’d put them online it she didn’t do some more.”
“And did she?”
Ash nodded. “Then he put them online anyway.”
“Sounds a real charmer.”
“He’s a pig,” said Ash. “Gemma’s in a real state. You’ve got to help us.”
“How old was she?”
“Fourteen, we’re both fifteen now.”
“And what do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know. Gemma needs my help and I don’t know what to do.”
“How about her dad?”
“He’d go mental.”
“A teacher?”
“She’s already getting picked on at school. It’d make things worse.”
“I’m pretty sure this stuff is illegal.”
“The police? No way!”
Danny leaned round Ash to look at her friend. Gemma’s head was down, hair flopping, a quivering lip her only visible feature.
“Why, Gemma?”
The girl mouthed something in a voice too quiet to hear. It might have been, “Said he loved me.”
“Look, Ash, I don’t see how I can help.”
“There must be something, please. I’m scared she’ll do something,”
“Look,” said Danny. “I’ll think about it.”
He passed her a business card.
“There’s my number. Give me yours and I’ll be in touch. But no promises.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
Danny got up and began to walk towards the Pavilion Gardens, appetite gone.
***
He’d never seen her really angry before. Her face was flushed and dark. Muscle moved along her jawline as she ground her teeth.
“You sure this isn’t some sort of wind-up, a prank?”
“Wish it was,” said Danny.
“I mean, you read about this sexting stuff in the papers but that doesn’t make it true. And these kids just came up to you?”
“Yup, I saw the pictures. Wish I hadn’t.”
“What sort of sick mind…?”
Wanda stared down at the coffee table. Eyes unfocussed. Her jaw was grinding again.
“It makes me just so angry.”
“Me, too. My Hayley’s not much older than this kid.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“It’s a bit iffy me working for them. A guy my age can’t go around talking to strange kids.”
“You say they won’t talk to their parents or the police?”
“No, the kid’s humiliated, terrified of what her dad will do. And she’s already getting stick at school.”
“So that leaves you then, Danny.”
“Somehow I knew you were going to say that, Wanda, but it’s a bloody minefield.”
“You’ve done minefields before.”
“Not the same.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’ve got to help this kid.”
MORE TOMORROW
█ SELFIE is an edited version of a short story in my new Danny Lancaster crime novel GARGOYLE PIXIE DOG which is a short thriller plus six short stories. That’s a lot of crime for 99p. It’s available as an Amazon ebook. Just click this link – www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010T2CHK4. Part 2 of SELFIE will be published on my blog and Danny’s Facebook page tomorrow.