Nothing Ventured Read online

  TO COMMANDER WILLIAM HUCKLESBY QPM

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  My thanks for their invaluable advice and research to:

  Simon Bainbridge, Jonathan Caplan QC, Gregory Edmund, Colin Emson, Eric Franks, Vicki Mellor, Alison Prince, Ellen Radley (Forensic Handwriting and Document Examiner, rtd), Catherine Richards, Susan Watt and Johnny Van Haeften.

  Special thanks to Detective Sergeant Michelle Roycroft (rtd) and Chief Superintendent John Sutherland (rtd).

  Dear Reader,

  After I finished writing the last of the Clifton Chronicles, several readers wrote to tell me they’d like to know more about William Warwick, the eponymous hero of Harry Clifton’s novels.

  I confess that I had already given the idea some thought before I began working on Nothing Ventured, the first in the William Warwick series.

  Nothing Ventured opens when William leaves school and, much to his father’s dismay, decides he wants to join the Metropolitan Police, rather than become a pupil in his father’s chambers. William perseveres, and in this opening novel we follow his life on the beat with a cast of characters, some good, some not so good, who cross his path as he tries to become a detective and transfers to Scotland Yard.

  During the series, you will follow William’s fortunes as he progresses from detective constable to the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

  I’m currently working on the second novel in the series which will focus on William’s time as a young detective sergeant in the elite drugs unit.

  Should he ever make it to commissioner will depend as much on William Warwick’s determination and ability as my hopes for longevity – mine, not yours.

  Jeffrey Archer

  September 2019

  This is not a detective story,

  this is a story about a detective

  1

  14 JULY 1979

  ‘YOU CAN’T BE serious.’

  ‘I couldn’t be more serious, Father, as you’d realize if you’d ever listened to anything I’ve been saying for the past ten years.’

  ‘But you’ve been offered a place at my old college at Oxford to read law, and after you graduate, you’ll be able to join me in chambers. What more could a young man ask for?’

  ‘To be allowed to pursue a career of his own choosing, and not just be expected to follow in his father’s footsteps.’

  ‘Would that be such a bad thing? After all, I’ve enjoyed a fascinating and worthwhile career, and, dare I suggest, been moderately successful.’

  ‘Brilliantly successful, Father, but it isn’t your career we’re discussing, it’s mine. And perhaps I don’t want to be a leading criminal barrister who spends his whole life defending a bunch of villains he’d never consider inviting to lunch at his club.’

  ‘You seem to have forgotten that those same villains paid for your education, and the lifestyle you presently enjoy.’

  ‘I’m never allowed to forget it, Father, which is the reason I intend to spend my life making sure those same villains are locked up for long periods of time, and not allowed to go free and continue a life of crime thanks to your skilful advocacy.’

  William thought he’d finally silenced his father, but he was wrong.

  ‘Perhaps we could agree on a compromise, dear boy?’

  ‘Not a chance, Father,’ said William firmly. ‘You’re sounding like a barrister who’s pleading for a reduced sentence, when he knows he’s defending a weak case. But for once, your eloquent words are falling on deaf ears.’

  ‘Won’t you even allow me to put my case before you dismiss it out of hand?’ responded his father.

  ‘No, because I’m not guilty, and I don’t have to prove to a jury that I’m innocent, just to please you.’

  ‘But would you be willing to do something to please me, my dear?’

  In the heat of battle William had quite forgotten that his mother had been sitting silently at the other end of the table, closely following the jousting between her husband and son. William was well prepared to take on his father but knew he was no match for his mother. He fell silent once again. A silence that his father took advantage of.

  ‘What do you have in mind, m’lud?’ said Sir Julian, tugging at the lapels of his jacket, and addressing his wife as if she were a high court judge.

  ‘William will be allowed to go to the university of his choice,’ said Marjorie, ‘select the subject he wishes to study, and once he’s graduated, follow the career he wants to pursue. And more important, when he does, you will give in gracefully and never raise the subject again.’

  ‘I confess,’ said Sir Julian, ‘that while accepting your wise judgement, I might find the last part difficult.’

  Mother and son burst out laughing.

  ‘Am I allowed a plea in mitigation?’ asked Sir Julian innocently.

  ‘No,’ said William, ‘because I will only agree to Mother’s terms if in three years’ time you unreservedly support my decision to join the Metropolitan Police Force.’

  Sir Julian Warwick QC rose from his place at the head of the table, gave his wife a slight bow, and reluctantly said, ‘If it so please Your Lordship.’

  William Warwick had wanted to be a detective from the age of eight, when he’d solved ‘the case of the missing Mars bars’. It was a simple paper trail, he explained to his housemaster, that didn’t require a magnifying glass.

  The evidence – sweet papers – had been found in the waste-paper basket of the guilty party’s study, and the culprit wasn’t able to prove he’d spent any of his pocket money in the tuck shop that term.

  And what made it worse for William was that Adrian Heath was one of his closest pals, and he’d assumed it would be a lifelong friendship. When he discussed it with his father at half term, the old man said, ‘We must hope that Adrian has learnt from the experience, otherwise who knows what will become of the boy.’

  Despite William being mocked by his fellow pupils, who dreamt of becoming doctors, lawyers, teachers, even accountants, the careers master showed no surprise when William informed him that he was going to be a detective. After all, the other boys had nicknamed him Sherlock before the end of his first term.

  William’s father, Sir Julian Warwick Bt, had wanted his son to go up to Oxford and read law, just as he’d done thirty years before. But despite his father’s best efforts, William had remained determined to join the police force the day he left school. The two stubborn men finally reached a compromise approved of by his mother. William would go to London University and read art history – a subject his father refused to take seriously – and if, after three years, his son still wanted to be a policeman, Sir Julian agreed to give in gracefully. William knew that would never happen.

  William enjoyed every moment of his three years at King’s College London, where he fell in love several times. First with Hannah and Rembrandt, follow