The ‘Saviour’ Series
Three supernatural mysteries introducing Nick Travis, a reluctant psychic with a secret that threatens everything…
Saviour: Part One – Haunted
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A romantic weekend in the Lake District is interrupted by a phone call that brings back the nightmares forensic artist, Nick Travis, wanted to put behind him. Helping to identify the remains of a young boy risks facing a ghost from his own past. Plagued with dreams of his own missing brother, Nick is stalked by the prime suspect for the murder of the boy – a man who has been dead for years.
Nick struggles to keep his sanity, his marriage, and his professional credibility intact while trying to reunite another family; however the puzzle of the child’s identity will remain unsolved… unless Nick surrenders and uses the psychic gift he tries so hard to ignore.
(66 pages)
Excerpt
Silence and darkness fell as if a switch had been flipped off, plunging him into gloom. Streetlights flickered into life, picking out oily puddles oozing across the narrow street. A fine drizzle stuck to his skin and the smell of rotting waste rose up to meet him as he walked further down the alley. Where did you go Adam? Where are you, kid?
He drew level with a dark doorway. A rasping cough drew his eyes downward. “He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack…” The voice was husky and weak. A hand reached out from the shadows. Vivid scars knitted together a patchwork glove of red-raw and pink skin covering the man’s upturned palm. Nick peered into the darkness, searching for a face while he fumbled through his pockets for change. The beggar hunched forward on his step, shrouded in a heavy grey overcoat, a hoodie pulled low, hiding the face Nick sought. He found some loose coins and leaned down to drop the money into the man’s open hand.
The beggar raised his head. Nick smiled as he looked into familiar blue eyes. Adam. The sudden, sharp pang of excitement stabbing his chest turned to a jolt of horror. The skin surrounding the heart-stopping eyes was blistered and raw, leaving them the only recognisable feature in a ruined face. The reflection of an inferno playing across their surface burned into his mind. The agony pouring from the depths of the dark pupils threatened to overwhelm him. Repelled, flinching from the pain searing through him, Nick fell back. I’m sorry, Adam. I’m so sorry. The hooded man opened his mouth and let rip with a soul-wrenching scream…
Saviour: Part Two – Buried
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Nick Travis becomes the focus of a dark obsession whilst helping to identify the skull of a teenage girl unearthed on a building site on the outskirts of Ely, Cambridgeshire.
Lonely and in a strange city, glimpses into the past leave him fearful of the future, while a chance meeting with a young woman threatens to derail his life. Struggling to use his psychic talent and keep it under control, Nick is implicated in a violent crime and under suspicion from one of his oldest friends… and his worst nightmare is about to become reality…
(136 pages)
Excerpt
The cool shade of the stone Porta replaced the heat of the sun, goosebumps prickling along his arms and a light breeze tickling across his skin as he walked inside. A hollow silence surrounded him as he stepped into the shadows. His heart beat harder as the flicker of a memory from his earlier dream thrust its way into his thoughts. The shadows inside the stone cavern were so deep he wondered if the sun ever reached inside and, checking that there was no one around to see, he ran his hand along the grime-stained wall, as if feeling its history through his fingertips. The silence was shattered. High-pitched voices reciting words nineteen to the dozen echoed around the ancient walls. A rabble of teenagers spilled through the gate from The Gallery beyond and Nick hastily stepped aside to avoid being swept up in the stream of over-excited youths.
Opposite him, a slight figure also stood to one side of the building; a young girl with strawberry blonde hair caught up in the eddies of the breeze. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as if tired of standing and alternately looked through the gateway and down at the ground. She fiddled with the loose cuffs of her white blouse, brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face and frowned as she checked her watch.
The throng of noisy students finally dwindled, the last stragglers disappearing towards the park. Silence returned. The girl turned to face him. She smiled and took a step towards him, only to stop, the smile vanishing as quickly as it came. She bit her lip. Maybe she thought he was someone else. “Hey, nice day,” he said, trying to ease her embarrassment, except his usual friendly smile didn’t follow his words, instead he found himself almost willing the girl to reply. She merely smiled sadly back at him before walking out of the dark shelter of the gate towards the sun-bathed courtyard, leaving him standing alone in the shadows.
He shrugged, and stepped through the gate and into The Gallery, to be greeted by the rumble of traffic negotiating the roundabout in front of him and chattering school children standing just a few feet away, sounds that he was sure had been absent just a second before. He shook his head, trying to evict the dark spectre of doubt creeping back into his mind along with the memory of the strained conversation he had with his doctor during the last week with Tessa. Perhaps it was simply a lingering echo of the experiences he had recently endured, exacerbated by tiredness, or maybe it was down to the thickness of the stone walls acting as a barrier between him and the busy street. The open door of The Fountain pub beckoned. He was hungry and definitely needed a drink.
Saviour: Part Three – Revelation
Nick tries to rebuild his life, but retreating to the solitude of a Suffolk forest proves more unnerving than he could ever have imagined. His past follows him, despite being put to rest, and those closest to Nick fall victim to the consequences of his childhood mistake. Is there any way Nick can put right so many wrongs?
(70 pages)
Excerpt
Damn weather. Nick Travis shrugged off his leather jacket, dumped it on the back of a chair and dumped himself into the worn, padded shelter of the only booth with both a clear view of the pub door and a window looking out on the main approach to the pub itself. A typical British winter was setting in – dreary, wet and a reminder of the pit his life had slithered into at the start of the year. He lifted his glass and took a long drink. Ice cold, cold enough to cause a dull ache inside as it slipped down his throat. Or was that just dread?
He glanced out of the window to his side at the lake of gravel scattered with islands of murky puddles that was the car park. His focus shifted from beyond the rain spattered glass to the glass itself and he watched raindrops skate down the windowpane, careering, avoiding, and eventually colliding as they rushed towards their end.
A red Ford Mondeo seared into view, slicing through the grey curtain of rain. Nick felt his heartbeat quicken just slightly, his mouth dry. He took another drink, and straightened in his seat. He tried to prepare himself as the car pulled up and parked, tried to think of what to say first as he watched the driver flip off the headlights and clamber out of the car, slamming the door shut as she ran for the pub.
Tessa Travis dashed through the pub door, and stopped a few steps in as an apparently empty room greeted her. He can’t be late. He’s never late. A movement in the corner of the room caught her eye; her husband lifted a hand in acknowledgement. Deep breath, keep it matter of fact… he looks tired. She walked towards his booth and Nick rose to his feet. She realised she was actually holding her breath. The damp weather had encouraged the dark waves Nick tried in vain to tame to spring into unruly life, his brown eyes were as deep and warm as ever, if lacking the spark that occasionally flared to catch people unawares. A sudden picture of the two of them entered her mind, like an old-fashioned home movie. The Lakes. Their last weekend away. Breathless, in the front seat of Nick’s steamed up Toyota, raindrops dripping from her hair, tickling down her throat before Nick kissed them away. A long time ago. A very long time ago.
The Saviour Trilogy is also available in one volume:
A Dark Miscellany 