The Hand of Justice

By Nicholas Foster

A Ghost Story in the High Court, where a young lawyer at the start of her career must discover why the judgements of a senior judge she respects are becoming wayward to the point of insanity. A murder trial overseen by a razor-sharp mind in a world of its own. A sequel to 'Four Ghost Stories' (The Rustling of Silk, The Comrades, Joining the Dance, Ghosts in the Machine), 'Four More Ghost Stories' (Mr Westgrove, The Ghosts Within, A Sound of Singing, The Final Page), 'The Consul from Tunis', The Ghostwriter', 'The Ragged Girl' and 'Close to the Wall'. All available for free download.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicholas Foster
• Release date: Oct 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005644062

Nicholas Foster

I have published ten small books of ghost stories on Smashwords; 'Four Ghost Stories' (The Rustling of Silk, The Comrades, Joining the Dance, Ghosts in the Machine), 'Four More Ghost Stories' (Mr Westgrove, The Ghosts Within, A Sound of Singing, The Final Page), 'The Consul from Tunis', 'The Ghostwriter', 'The Ragged Girl', 'Close to the Wall', 'The Hand of Justice', 'Stavrakis', 'On the Bridge' and 'The Ice House'. Many of the stories draw on places where I've lived and worked. All the characters are fictitious, even the ghosts, except for those who have walked out of the pages of History. All my books are available for free download on Smashwords. A collected print version, 'The Consul from Tunis: and other ghost stories' is available as a paperback from Amazon.

Book preview

THE HAND OF JUSTICE

Nicholas Foster

Published by Nicholas Foster at Smashwords

Copyright 2020 Nicholas Foster

Smashwords Edition, Licence Notes. Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form.

Chapter One

I think I’ve already told you that I don’t believe in ghosts, said Abigail. But then you would hardly expect me to. As a lawyer, I have spent my whole life either presenting evidence as a barrister or sifting it and interpreting it as a judge. I have been guided by precedent and steered by intellect. Every decision I have taken has been the product of reason. What we do as barristers is to present each fact in a way which strengthens our argument and rules out all possibility of an alternative. Someone once said that our job is to corral the truth. We stand before the jury with all their doubts removed or accounted for. If we are good at our job, we leave them with no choice but to accept the result we have delivered for them. It’s this final certainty which has always appealed to me, a certainty which is arrived at through hard work and logic. As a judge, it is a joy to watch a good barrister construct their case, destroying all counter-argument as they do so. Even if that leaves little work for the judge to do.

And so I don’t have a ghost story to tell you. What I shall do is