Release Blitz, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
When the Law Needs Help
By Jackie Keswick

Dwight & Conrad Casefiles Volume One

Part of The Power of Zero Series

Can love, loyalty, and family step in when the law needs help?

Join Jack Horwood and Gareth Flynn as they tackle murder, secrets, and moral dilemmas in a world where the law isn’t always enough – while finding comfort in each other and their home-made family.

The first volume of Dwight & Conrad Casefiles stories includes:

Mouse Hunt: When a friend’s death and old secrets collide, Jack has no choice but to step up and help.

A Very Bagpuss Christmas: Can adopting a cat really cause so much heartache that Jack considers escaping to Tokyo? Can Gareth fix what’s going wrong?

Grand Union Hunt: Gareth lives to help people. But should he obey the law or follow his conscience?

When the Law Needs Help is a collection of three tales set in and featuring characters from the Power of Zero world.

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Exclusive Excerpt:

The one thing Gareth Flynn loved more than Christmas itself were the weeks leading up to it, when he spent a large part of his free time in the kitchen surrounded by mincemeat and relish, pies and puddings, cakes, and savouries. Not for him the last-minute panic over what to serve between early December Christmas parties and New Year’s Day. Any guests stepping over his threshold could expect tasty fare.

Acquiring a family had only increased his enjoyment of the season. This year, Daniel had joined Gareth at the stove, with Nico supplying music and keeping them entertained while they cooked.

Jack was avoiding the cheerful chaos. He didn’t spend afternoons sitting in the window seat with his guitar and a glass of wine, nor did he peek into pots or taste their creations. He ran errands when Gareth asked him to, but the season’s cheer passed him by, and his smile had gone missing. Had it been anyone other than Jack, Gareth would have diagnosed a case of the sulks, but Jack didn’t sulk. He identified what bothered him and then went and fixed it. That he wasn’t doing so this time was … worrisome.

Gareth decided to pay attention to the weather forecast.

Two days later, the alarm blared at an ungodly hour, loud and insistent in the darkness of their bedroom.

“What?” Jack shot out of bed—old habits dying hard and all that—and stood blinking owlishly when Gareth turned on the bedside light.

“Good morning,” Gareth purred and rolled from under the duvet. “I thought we should go for a run.”

The thick mist outside the window produced the first smile in a week. Jack changed into running gear and they stretched on the doorstep before setting off into the moisture-laden dark.

Haloed streetlights guided their steps, and only the slap of their soles on damp pavement and the huff of their breaths marred the stillness of the morning. For a little while—until the early commuters took to their cars and the traffic on the main road grew busy enough for the sounds to cut through the blanket of fog—they could have been the only ones awake.

Gareth let Jack take the lead, content to watch his lover work the tension from his frame. He hated seeing Jack disheartened. Hated it even more when Jack didn’t sleep, and his weight took a nosedive. Jack struggling during the Christmas season wasn’t new, but Gareth had thought they’d put the worst of those ghosts to rest their first year together.

They followed the path up to the Common in the pre-dawn, keeping pace with each other until Jack slowed when they reached the benches by the pond. He braced himself on the back of one and let his head drop.

Sweat gathered on Gareth’s neck, trickled in a chilly runnel down his spine. The sensation wasn’t unlike fear, and Gareth had reason to feel it. Here was Jack, stripped of the determination and defiance he wore like armour. This was Jack … naked. Vulnerable. Defeated.

Or as near to it as he let Gareth see.

His fingers itched to pull Jack close and wrap him in a hug. Gareth fought the urge. If he made a move, if he so much as breathed too loudly, Jack would snap his armour back into place and pretend that all was as it should be. Gareth locked his knees and stood unmoving, ignoring the chill drawing his damp skin into goosebumps.

“Am I being obvious?” Jack asked finally.

“No. I’m paying attention and learning my way around that busy brain of yours. This problem … is it something I can fix?”

“I thought we could go away. Take a proper holiday for the whole of Christmas and New Year.”

Gareth didn’t mention the mountain of food they’d already prepared for the parties, the Christmas Day Open House, and the days filled with visits from friends that followed. He just waited.

“I wanted to take you all to Tokyo.”

“Tokyo? As in Japan?”

“You’d love it.”

“I’m sure. Tell me why.” Because Jack wouldn’t plan something like this without reason.

“I … I keep remembering Jon, the senseless way he died. I can’t seem to—”

Gareth waited for more, but Jack didn’t continue. “You haven’t mentioned Jon Briggs in months. Not since you first came back from Holton Wick.”

“It’s hardly a cheerful topic. And I should be able to deal.”

Jack’s capacity to inflict pain on himself caught Gareth out yet again. He clenched his fists and forced himself to breathe, so that he at least sounded calm when he spoke. “Do you really believe that there’s no space for your memories and your worries in our lives? In our family? Do you consider us so fragile?”

“No, of course not.” Jack’s answer came too quickly. He realised it a moment later and sighed. “It’s more than the memories. Every time I remember Jon I get … So. Fucking. Angry. None of you need that in your lives.”

He turned away and Gareth realised that it wasn’t the cold, but shame that coloured Jack’s cheeks.

Shame that he’d let his armour crack.

That he’d let Gareth see his pain.

He caught up to Jack and drew him against his body. “I know it makes you uncomfortable, but I appreciate you telling me. For what it’s worth, processing grief takes time. And I think you’ve never given yourself permission to grieve properly for Jon in the first place. You’ve been too busy protecting us all.”

A rush of frigid air ruffled the bushes and made them shiver. Jack let himself lean for a heartbeat or two and then he straightened and put space between them. “Let’s head back before we freeze to the pavement,” he said. “Talk over coffee?”

Gareth narrowed his eyes, then nodded. “Fine by me. As long as we talk.”

Enter the Giveaway:

Jackie writes a mix of suspense, action adventure, fantasy and history, loves stories with layers, plots with twists and characters with hidden depths. She adores friends to lovers stories, and tales of unexpected reunions, second chances, and men who write their own rules. She blogs about English history and food, has a thing for green eyes, and is a great believer in making up soundtracks for everything, including her characters and the cat.

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