Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand) (Dead Reckoning series - Part 45)

Continued from Episode 44 (Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick)

The story so far:  Josiah's 'on the rebound' romance with the woman he thought was his old flame, Jeanette DeVille, proved to be with her twin sister, Nenette, and led to him and Archibald being left for dead in the rapidly rising waters of the cellar of Evanley Hall.  Since then, there has been much to occupy the Merkin-under-Heathwood police force, not least the apparent suicide of a young man in the local reservoir (last seen in the company of Precious DeVille - Nenette's supposed daughter) and then the further apparent suicides of Nenette and her 'driver' Hames.  The common denominator in all of these deaths appears to be Precious, who made a surprise reappearance, fetchingly dressed in lingerie, in Archibald's hotel room, a room he thought he had been given as a Secret Santa gift from Josiah.  Now Archibald is missing, along with two operatives from the rival firm of Cadwallader and Carruthers.  CCTV has shown Precious and the men from Cadwallader and Carruthers leaving the hotel in a van, with a body bag and Samantha and the Detectives have separately realised just where she might be heading!  In the meantime, following a call from Precious threatening Archibald's life, Josiah has arrived at Evanley Hall, only to encounter an open grave and the flat side of a shovel:

Samantha gingerly made her way up the ramshackle path and through the overgrown garden that led to Jeannie Mountjoy’s cottage.  She hammered on the door and waited for the inevitable barrage of expletives.
“Who the bloody ‘ell’s that?  Yer’ve made me cats run off agin, come ‘ere yer little buggers!”
“JEANNIE!” Samantha shouted.
“WHO’S THAT?” The voice replied, suspiciously.
“JEANNIE, IT’S ME, SAMANTHA”
“BUGGER OFF!”
“JEANNIE, I NEED YOUR HELP”
There was a considerable amount of chuntering, the sound of furniture being scraped over the tiled floor, a shout of “GET BACK YER LITTLE SODS!” and then the door opened, just a crack.  An eye peered out.
“Yeah?” The voice said.
“Jeannie, it’s me, Samantha.  Samantha Knight.”
“Don’t know no Samantha” The door started to close but Samantha managed to get her foot in the way, first.
“I was here, before, with Archibald and the police.  You remember, after that business with the flooded cellar up at the Hall?”
The eye looked at her, steadily.
“Oh ar!” The voice acknowledged, and the door creaked open a little more, “I reckon yer now.  What d’yer want?”
“it’s…it’s about Josiah” Samantha said with a catch in her voice, “You remember Josiah?”
“Yeah, I know who yer mean” Jeannie said, cautiously.
“He’s missing.  Archibald too!”
“Yer best come in” The door opened a bit more and Samantha managed to edge into the gloom.  Jeannie shuffled through the next door, into the kitchen, which was still the same jumble of used plates, cups and cats.  “I dint ‘ear yer come in no car” Jeannie said, turning to look at her.
“I left it on the road” Samantha explained, “I didn’t want anyone to hear or see me” She nodded in the direction of the Hall.
“There ain’t nobody there, not as I know of” Jeannie frowned, “Hang on, come to think of it, there were a van…”
“A van?  When?”
“Early hours.  Set the cats off.  They dunner like being disturbed, yer know?”
“I think that might have been Precious, you remember her?  I believe she’s got Archibald.  I don’t know if he’s alive or dead.  She…she took him away in a body bag” Samantha choked back a sob.
“Body bag?” Jeannie looked at her, quizzically, “That’s a bad do, that.  What meks yer think it’s ‘er?”
Samantha explained about the CCTV footage from the Country Club.
“It was when I saw the name badge on her uniform, ‘Lana Heyvell’,  I thought it was an odd name to use and then, it dawned on me that it’s an anagram of ‘Evanley Hall’.  So I came straight here.  I think Josiah might be here, too.  He left suddenly after a ‘phone call and I haven’t seen him since”
“Yeah, there might ‘ave been a car, earlier, an’ all” Jeannie nodded, slowly,  “I dunno, there’s allus summat goin’ up and down this lane” Jeannie slumped down in her rocking chair, by the kitchen fire, “What d’yer want with me, then?”
“I thought you might help me?” Samantha looked pleadingly at Jeannie, “I need to get up to the Hall and see what’s going on”
“I ain’t goin’ up there” Jeannie shook her head, furiously, “I ‘ates it up there!”
“If not for me, then for Josiah?  You used to mean something to each other, didn’t you?”
“That…that were a long time ago” Jeannie stared, moodily, at the fire.
“I’m worried, Jeannie” Samantha sat down, unbidden, on the chair opposite to Jeannie, “For all I know, Archie might already be dead, and if she’s got Josiah too…” A tear rolled down her cheek, “You know what she’s capable of, you had to identify your sister’s body”
“Yeah” Jeannie nodded, still staring intently at the fire, “There weren’t no call for ‘er to do that, not to ‘er.  She were barmy, Nenette were, I know that, but if we all went ‘round killin’ everyone who was a bit barmy… well!”
“They think she might have killed a young, homeless boy, too.  She’s very dangerous”
“What d’yer reckon we can do?” Jeannie looked up from the fire and stared at Samantha.
“We could at least go up there and find out what’s going on.  If I’m wrong, well that’s fair enough.  But, if I’m right…”
Jeannie took a deep breath, and sighed.
“Right!” She said, slapping both hands on her knees, “We’ll go up there.  But we only tek a look, mind, right?”
“Fine” Samantha managed a weak smile, and reached out to touch Jeannie’s hand, “Thank you, Jeannie.  I’m very grateful”
“Werl, it’s like yer said, we were summat to each other once.  I owe ‘im that, if nowt else”

* * * *

“I’ll personally throttle her, if she’s gone and put herself in danger” D.I. Wood fumed, “Not to mention buggering up our investigation”
The police cars sped along the country roads with D.S. Stone attempting to concentrate at the wheel, despite his superior’s constant distractions.
“To be fair, she’s been ahead of us all along, sir”
“She shouldn’t be messing with stuff she doesn’t understand!” D.I. Wood snarled, “She should leave it to the professionals”
“That would be us, would it sir?” D.S. Stone looked slyly at his boss.
“Too bloody right, Stoney!  Proper police work takes time, you have to follow procedure, gather evidence, eliminate suspects, you can’t go off half-cocked”
“She cracked the anagram though, well, at least, we suspect she did” D.S. Stone pointed out.
“So did we!” D.I. Wood said, indignantly, “It’s not like the T.V., Stoney, sudden flashes of inspiration and stuff.  It’s about doing the boring stuff, that’s what gets the job done”
“And that’s what you’re good at, sir” D.S. Stone said, straight-faced and staring determinedly ahead.
“Yes, that’s…hang on, what?”
“Boring stuff, that’s what you’re good at, sir”
“I can do inspiration if I need to, Sergeant, don’t you worry!” D.I. Wood folded his arms and snorted.
“I’m sure you can, sir”
“I’m just saying, it’s the procedural stuff that makes the difference”
“I’m sure it will be greatly prized in the Caribbean, sir” D.S. Stone chanced a smirk, whilst still staring pointedly forward.
“Yeah, well, we’ll see Sergeant” D.I. Wood looked like someone who had taken up lemon-sucking as a hobby.

* * * *

Josiah Oakshott swam, slowly, into the shallower waters of consciousness.  Unfortunately, with that, came an awareness of a sickening pain in his head.  There seemed to be something collecting on his lips and in his mouth.  He coughed and spluttered, causing the pain to bounce around, and realised what a vile taste he now had in his mouth.  He tried to wipe his lips but found he couldn’t move his arms.  He risked slightly opening one eye.  What he saw caused him to shut it pretty quickly and pray that this was some sort of awful hallucination.

You can find a lot more from Josiah and Archibald, including the prequel novel to this series, in The Undertakers collection.