Drowning Not Waving (Dead Reckoning series - Part 26)

Continued from Episode 25 (Bridge Over Troubled Water)

The story so far:   Josiah, having rekindled a romance with an old flame, Jeanette DeVille, has apparently disappeared since his supper with her, at Evanley Hall, last Saturday.  Samantha persuaded Archibald to go to the Hall to find out what had happened, on the pretext of visiting his girlfriend, Precious, but now Archibald has also failed to return.  The Detectives now know that Jeanette, Precious and her driver, Hames are probably connected with a series of jewellery robberies, so they and Samantha have gone to investigate.  In the process, they have discovered Jeannie, the mad woman in the cottage by the Hall, tied up and left to die.  Meanwhile, in the cellar of Evanley Hall, Josiah and Archibald, tied to chairs and with water rising rapidly around them, are in a critical condition. Luckily, Samantha and D.S. Stone have gone up to Evanley Hall to snoop around, have heard their cries for help and have broken in (against the express instructions of D.I. Wood!):

 

“You don’t look so good, Sergeant” Samantha observed when he opened the kitchen door of the Hall.

“Crawling through broken glass will do that to you” D.S. Stone agreed, ruefully, examining the state of his shredded trousers.

“Come on, we need to find the cellar” Samantha strode past him, through the large kitchen and into the dark entrance hall, beyond. “I can’t hear the running water, anymore”

“No, me neither” D.S. Stone shook his head and followed her.

“There’s a door here, I wonder if that could be for the cellar?” Samantha tried the door, “It’s locked” She announced.

“Would be!” D.S. Stone said, miserably.

“Can you erm?...” Samantha nodded toward the door.

“I’ll have a go, but I’m not promising anything” D.S. Stone grunted.  He took a couple of steps back, braced himself and lunged at the door.  Much to his surprise, it gave way immediately and he found himself teetering above a set of brick-built steps leading down to, what appeared to be, an indoor lake.  Samantha managed to grab him before he plunged headlong into the water.

“Are you alright?” She asked, dragging him back.

“Yeah” D.S. Stone rubbed his aching shoulder and looked dubiously at the dark water spreading out before him.  “I think so”

“HELP!” They heard, in the distance.

“They are down there!” Samantha yelled, starting down the stairs.

“Wait a minute, miss!” D.S. Stone pulled her back, “It’s dangerous, we don’t know how deep that water is”

“Well, it can’t be that deep, it’s a cellar, not the Irish Sea!” Samantha glared at her companion.

“Ok, fair point, but let me go first and see what’s happening” D.S. Stone pushed in front of her and set off, tentatively, down the stairs.

Ducking under the arch of the door leading into the cellar, he peered out, over the dark and forbidding water.  At first, he couldn’t see anything in the gloom, but then spotted, in the distance, two panic-stricken faces, just on the surface of the water.

“I think I can see them!”  D.S. Stone said, over his shoulder, to Samantha, “Mr. Oakshott!” He cried out, and his voice echoed around the cellar.

“HELP US!” Archibald responded.

“Oh god!”  D.S. Stone murmured, removing his jacket and shoes, “I’m going to have to swim over to them, they’re only just above the water”

“Take care, but hurry, please!” Samantha pleaded.

* * * *

“I’ll kill him!” D.I. Wood staggered, stiff-legged and supported by one of Jeannie’s walking sticks, up the Hall drive.  “What the hell does he think he’s playing at?  Breaking into Evanley Hall, give me strength!”

“Must ‘ave found summat?”  Jeannie suggested, ambling behind him.

“He’ll find the end of my boot if he can’t justify this” D.I. Wood fumed, “I’ll bet he’s let that Samantha sweet-talk him into it!”

“Never know what you might find, up ‘ere” Jeannie mused, looked up at the Hall as if seeing it for the first time.

“Hmm, well we’ll see” D.I. Wood growled.

* * * *

After a fair bit of splashing and gasping, D.S. Stone finally arrived where two fearful faces could, just about, be seen above the water.

“Are you pfft, are you alright?” D.S. Stone managed.

“Just…just about” Archibald spluttered, “can you get Mr….Mr. Oaksh…Mr. Oakshott here out, ‘cause I’m pfft…I’m holding him up, I’ve got me hea…me head under his arm…and I can’t do it for much lon…much longer”  Archibald kept disappearing below the water.

“I’ll see pfft, what I can do” D.S. Stone took a very deep breath and dived down.  He surfaced a moment later.  “He’s…he’s tied to a chair!”

“We…we ain’t here ‘cause we want to be!” Archibald gulped.

“Right!” D.S. Stone nodded, “I’ll try and get hold of him”

“Whe’…when you’ve got him, give me a tug or summat and I’ll try…try an’ get me ‘ead out”

“Ok, wait for my signal” D.S. Stone dived down once more.  A few moments later, Josiah was suddenly raised up.  Archibald, gasping and spluttering, took a deep breath and ducked down.  Moments later, he reappeared, shaking his head.

“I can’t…can’t get me ‘ead free!” He choked.

D.S. Stone surfaced, coughing and snorting.

“Wha’…what happened?” He gasped.

“I can’t get me ‘ead out” Archibald managed, “’e keeps pinnin’ me with his elbow!”

“Mr. Oakshott…Mr. Oakshott!” D.S. Stone yelled.

“I reck…I reckon he’s out of it, again pfft” Archibald struggled to get his face above water, “’e keeps doin’ that”

“Must be a… a reflex action, then” D.S. Stone thought for a moment, wiping water from his face, “Right!  Let me see if I can…get behind him.  If I can push his arm forward, I should…I should be able to get you free”

“Soon’d be good!” Archibald gasped.

D.S. Stone took as deep a breath as he could manage and dived down, again.  Swimming down and behind the two men, he could just see, through the murk, Josiah’s arm wrapped around Archibald’s neck.  With an enormous effort, he pushed Josiah’s arm up and forward.  Archibald’s head popped out like a cork, as he ducked down and freed himself.  D.S. Stone grabbed Josiah’s chair and pushed it upward.  All three surfaced simultaneously.

“Bloody ‘ell!” Archibald gasped.

“I’ve got him” D.S. Stone gulped, and looked over at Josiah, “you’re right, he’s out of it”

“Keeps ‘appenin’” Archibald spluttered, “can you get ‘im out of here, somehow?”

“I’ll try and get…get him and this chair…over to the steps, there” D.S. Stone grabbed Josiah’s chair and began to push it across the room.  “Are…are you going to be ok?” He yelled back at Archibald.

“Jus’…jus’ get ‘im some help!” Archibald gasped.

* * * *

“Look!  Just look at that!  He’s only gone and done one of the windows in!”  D.I. Wood yelled.

“Improvement, if’n yer asks me” Jeannie chuckled.

“Chief Constable’ll go nuts!” D.I. Wood shook his head and pushed open the half-open door.  He attempted to stride in, with an authoritative manner, as best he could, with Jeannie trailing, a little reluctantly, behind him.  “Sergeant!  Where are you?” He shouted.

There were some clattering sounds coming from the Entrance Hall.

“Inspector!  We’re here!” Samantha shouted, sounding as if she was in some giant cavern.

“What the hell are they doing?”  D.I. Wood tramped on.

“Cellar, shouldn’t wonder” Jeannie muttered.

D.I. Wood marched into the Entrance Hall and saw the broken door.

“God!  Is he trying to get me the sack?  Look at all this!” He pointed at the door with his stick.

“Tole yer it’d be the cellar” Jeannie smirked.

“Inspector!  We need your help!” Samantha shouted from behind the door.  D.I. Wood pulled it open and saw her, at the bottom of a flight of stairs, attempting to drag a chair with an unconscious man tied to it, out of some very dark water.  Behind the chair, he could see the bedraggled and wringing wet head and shoulders of D.S. Stone.

“Stoney!”  D.I. Wood yelled, “What the hell are you doing?”

“’Ere, gerrout the way!” Jeannie pushed him aside and stomped down the stairs, joining Samantha and helping her to drag the chair out of the water.  “We ain’t got time for no rabbit, this bloke needs ‘elp, quick!”

“I’ll call the paramedics” D.I. Wood pulled his ‘phone from his pocket.

“He needs a blanket, or something,” Samantha looked at Josiah with concern, “he’s terribly cold!”

“Cupboard, top of the stairs, should be summat in there.  Get to it!” Jeannie snapped.  Samantha rushed off to check.

“Well done, Stoney!” D.I. Wood nodded to his wringing wet colleague, still bobbing in the water, “any sign of the other one?”

“Yeah, he’s back there, I’ll just go and get him, now I’ve got my breath back” D.S. Stone turned to look at where he had just come from, “OH NO!  WHERE IS HE?”

The dark and silent water gave no answer.

You can find a lot more from Josiah and Archibald here - The Undertakers Collection

Now read Part 27