Post Mortem by Gary Bell (free children's ebooks pdf .TXT) 📕

going to waste your time by sitting here and pretending that my vote might be swayed. You know me. You know how I feel. I believe the girl would be a credit to chambers.’

Rupert nodded. ‘Then I shall follow that up with my own observations. Since Barnes arrived here as a pupil, there has scarcely been a peaceful moment. Putting the two of you together, Elliot, is quite obviously a recipe for disaster. You have been beaten in the street. Hospitalised. Almost arrested. Your car has been destroyed. There have been at least two attempts on your life, and the drive-by shooting of a witness. You have behaved not so much like a silk, but more as some sort of maverick sleuth. I’m not sure chambers can handle much more excitement. On the other hand, the two of you do end up getting the job done, somehow.’ He paused, rolled his eyes and shook his head. ‘Does anybody else have a case to make? Charles, she has been your pupil …’

He shrugged. ‘I’ve had no concerns.’

The room was quiet.

‘That’s it?’ I asked.

‘What else is there? She comes in and works. In future it might be nice if I could get a pupil that I see more than the occasionally fleeting glimpse once or twice a week, but I’ve no complaints about her work.’

‘Very well,’ Rupert said. ‘Does anybody have anything that they’d care to add?’

All eyes rolled to our senior clerk, who was fiddling with his silver cufflinks. He gave up, lifting his chin, and across the room I braced myself for a low blow.

‘There’ve been many clerks to come out of the Peck household,’ he said. ‘Clerking is in our blood. To some, a clerk is a glorified receptionist, but if the justice system is a machine, and barristers are cogs, then clerks would be the oil keeping it all going. Of course, one day we will be obsolete. There are now software packages to invoice fees and we have emails instead of conferences. But I believe it is tradition that keeps our justice system the greatest in the world. Court dress, oaths, swearing by almighty God. Tradition. Now, I’ve said many times before that we hire by names, grades and calibre. At Miller & Stubbs, we’ve always set a precedent and, frankly, this Barnes doesn’t fit in with our traditions. She’s – different.’

I was glowering, but he didn’t notice. He took a slow mouthful and this time savoured the taste.

‘And yet, I would trade fifty barristers of the finest pedigree for another two of her. She has intellect and drive, courage and grit. That’s a good enough pedigree, even for me.’

‘Hear, hear!’ I cried, lifting my own glass.

Percy smiled. ‘We could all learn a lot from Zara Barnes. I say aye.’

Rupert nodded. ‘Aye.’

Stein concurred, lifting a single finger. ‘Aye.’

The word was repeated around the room as Zara Barnes was unanimously voted into chambers.

‘Elliot,’ Rupert began, ‘I assume that you will want to go down and tell her the news? Elliot?’

But I was already running down to the room on the third floor that was now, properly, ours.

A Note on the Authors

Born into a coal-mining family, Gary Bell was an apprentice mechanic, production line worker and door-to-door salesman before being arrested for fraud in his mid-twenties. After taking his exams at night school, he went on to study law as a mature student at Bristol University and has now spent over thirty years at the Bar, before becoming a QC specialising in criminal defence in 2012.

Scott Kershaw is the author of three novels. Prior to becoming an author, Scott worked as a professional chef for several years, and travelled the Continent as a music journalist.

Also available by Gary Bell

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

‘[A] thriller I found hard to put down’ Observer

Elliot Rook QC is one of the greatest barristers of his generation.

He is also a complete fraud.

Elliot Rook is the epitome of a highly successful, old Etonian QC. Or so everyone believes. In fact, he is an ex-petty criminal with a past that he has spent decades keeping secret. Until now…

An unidentified young woman of Middle Eastern origin has been found murdered on the outskirts of Rook’s home town. Billy Barber – a violent football hooligan and white-supremacist – is accused of her murder. Barber insists that Rook must defend him. If Rook refuses, Barber will expose him, bringing crashing to the ground the life and career that Rook has spent his life building.

The truth is there for the finding.

But at what cost?

‘A brilliant read’ A. N. Wilson, Tablet

‘Slick and wonderfully paced … One of the best legal thrillers I have read recently’

AMW Books Blog

https://www.bloomsbury.com/author/gary-bell/

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/beyond-reasonable-doubt-9781526606150/

Raven Books

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK

29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland

BLOOMSBURY, RAVEN BOOKS and the Raven Books logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published in Great Britain 2021

This electronic edition published in 2021 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright © Gary Bell, 2021

Gary Bell has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work

Extract from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot copyright (c) T. S. Eliot 1922. Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: HB: 978-1-5266-1240-3; TPB: 978-1-5266-1239-7;

eBook: 978-1-5266-1238-0

To find out more about our authors and their books