Nowhere Man (Dead Reckoning series - Part 42)

Continued from Episode 41 (The Party's Over)

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 has 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, it's the following day and Archibald hasn't returned home (much to his Mum's annoyance), Mr. Strine hasn't reported in for work, probably due to intoxication, Ezekiel Cadwallader has lost two of his operatives who should have been collecting a corpse and Josiah has left to respond to a mysterious telephone call!:

“His name is Archibald Thurble…” Samantha said, firmly.
“I am really sorry, madam, but…” The Reception Clerk responded.
“That’s T-H-U-R-B-L-E, if you want to check your records”
“With respect, madam, the spelling is irrelevant.  I cannot share the private details of any of our guests with you”
“I don’t want to know his intimate details, I just want to know if he’s staying with you, is that too much to ask!” Samantha glared at the unfortunate Clerk.
“I’m rather afraid that it is, madam” The Clerk shook his head, sadly, “I am bound by the Data Protection Act”
“I don’t care if you’re bound by leather thongs every weekend, I just want to know if he stayed here last night!” Samantha said, her voice rising in volume with each word.
“Once more, madam…” The Clerk began, with a sigh.
“Bloody hell!  Have you got a thing about Undertakers or something?”
Samantha swivelled around from her confrontation with the Clerk, to see D.I. Wood and D.S. Stone standing behind her in the Reception area.
“Ah, Inspector, just the person I need…hang on, what do you mean about my having a thing about Undertakers?”
“I mean, Mrs. Knight, that we’ve been called to look into the possible disappearance of two gentlemen from the business of” He checked his notebook, “Cadwallader and Carruthers and who do we find has beaten us to it…?”
“I’m not here about them”
“And yet here you are” D.I. Wood folded his arms and looked at her, sternly.
“I’m not!” Samantha protested, “I’ve heard about them, I’ll admit that, because Ezekiel Cadwallader telephoned Josiah earlier…”
“It’s like a morticians’ mafia in this town, I’ve never known anything like it!” D.I. Wood rubbed his forehead, distractedly.
“It was because Ezekiel said that they had been despatched to here, that I thought I would…”
“Come along and hope to pick one of them up on the rebound?”  D.I. Wood suggested, sarcastically.
“No, not at all, look I’m trying to find Archibald…” Samantha began.
“Mr. Thurble.  The one you call ‘Lurch’, sir” D.S. Stone supplied, in an effort to be helpful, but received a withering look from his superior.
“I think I know who ‘Archibald’ is, in this context, Sergeant.  Our paths have crossed, you may recall?”
“…only this gentleman” Samantha clearly used the term, loosely, “won’t provide me with the simple information of whether he was here last night, or not”
“As I have tried to explain to this lady…” The Reception Clerk began, again, with a certain emphasis.
“Hush!” D.I. Wood held a hand up, “Do you think there’s some sort of connection between the two we’re looking for, and your Mr. Thurble then?”  D.I. Wood frowned.
“I don’t know, to be honest” Samantha shook her head, “but I suspect that Josiah did”
“I’m sorry?” D.I. Wood looked puzzled.
“This morning, Josiah had two ‘phone calls in quick succession” Samantha explained, “The first was from Ezekiel Cadwallader.  Ezekiel said that he knew it was a long shot, but he wondered if the two guys he had sent out to pick up a body that had been reported for collection from here, had somehow turned up at Josiah’s, for whatever reason.  Josiah told him to call you”
“Very sensible of him” D.I. Wood nodded, “and the other call?”
“I don’t know who that was from, but he seemed pretty shaken up by it.  It was supposed to be a call-out to a client.  I offered to go with him to help, but he wouldn’t hear of it”
“Wasn’t there anyone else on duty who could have gone with him?”  D.S. Stone asked.
“No, it should have been Mr. Strine but we think he may have overdone it with his pre-Christmas celebrations.  One too many Emva Creams, if you know what I mean?”
“I can see why Mr. Oakshott would be reluctant to involve you.”  D.S. Stone nodded, “I shouldn’t think that collecting the deceased is exactly a load of fun?”
“No, probably not” Samantha conceded, “He went out more or less straight after the second ‘phone call but, before he went, he did suggest that I might start looking for Archibald, here”
“Hmm, did he indeed?  D.I. Wood looked at his Sergeant, who was making notes, “Stoney, have a word with chummy there on the desk, see if you can get anywhere.  Mrs. Knight, come with me, I need to ask a few more questions” He guided Samantha away from the Reception desk, to the side of the foyer.  
“I must admit, I’m worried.  What with Archie going missing…”  Samantha said. “And Josiah was behaving really oddly just before he left”
“When you say that Mr. Thurble has gone missing, what do you mean exactly?”
“We had our Christmas Staff Party yesterday…” Samantha began.
“The Undertakers have a Christmas party?”
“Yes, I know it seems unlikely” Samantha nodded, “It’s hardly an occasion of wild abandon, I can tell you!  Anyway, this year I persuaded Josiah to allow a ‘Secret Santa’ arrangement, and it seemed to go down well.  Archie was due to get a present from Josiah, and he seemed to think that he had received one…”
“But he hadn’t?”
“Well, not the gift he should have had, no” Samantha explained, “Josiah had bought him a set of cufflinks and we found those at the bottom of the sack.  However, he seemed to think he’d been given something, because he was really pleased with it.”
“He never mentioned what it was?”
“Sadly, no” Samantha bit her lip, “but Josiah rang Archie’s mother this morning and she said he’d bounced out yesterday evening, looking pretty pleased with himself, with an overnight bag”
“Ah, I see where you’re going with this, now” D.I. Wood nodded.
“And then, just after Josiah had received that second ‘phone call, he suggested to me that I should start looking for Archie, here”
“And do you think the second ‘phone call was connected, somehow, with Mr. Thurble’s disappearance?”
“I don’t know!  As I said before, Josiah said he had to ‘attend to a client’” Samantha shrugged, miserably.  “But when he left, he told me to take great care of myself and to remember that he had hoped to have a conversation about our future.  It was almost as if he was saying goodbye!” She sobbed.
“I do sympathise and I can see why you’re worried but it’s very early days.” D.I. Wood shook his head,  “Both Mr. Thurble and Mr. Oakshott may not be missing at all, there may be some perfectly innocent explanation. In the meantime, we’re here to try and find out what’s happened to Mr. Cadwallader’s employees and we’re no further forward with that!”  D.I. Wood ran his fingers through his remaining hair but looked happier when he saw D.S. Stone approaching.
“Stoney, what have you got?” D.I. Wood looked at his colleague, expectantly.
“Well, I’ve managed to prise him away from the Data Protection Act, a bit” D.S. Stone grinned, “He’s confirmed that Archibald was here last night”
“Oh!” Samantha gasped.
“There’s a bit more, sir” D.S. Stone looked at his boss for permission to continue.
“Yeah, go ahead” D.I. Wood shrugged, “Mrs. Knight here seems to know more about it than we do, anyway”
“Well, apparently, the Reception bloke thinks there may have been a girl waiting for him in his room.  He said he didn’t enquire too closely because he assumed it was some sort of ‘clandestine arrangement’” D.S. Stone made the quotation marks with his fingers and raised his eyebrows.
“There was a girl?” Samantha looked shocked.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean anything” D.I. Wood reassured her, “Perhaps it was something he cooked up, and that was why he was so excited about it?”
“I don’t think Archibald has anyone in his life, presently” Samantha mused, “but I suppose I could be wrong”
“Hmm, well, I’d like to know how she got into his room, for a kick-off” D.I. Wood turned to his Sergeant, “Did he say if they had reported a fatality to Cadwallader and Carruthers?”
“There’s nothing in the Night Porter’s records apparently, and there would definitely be extensive documentation if that was the case.”
“If they did have a fatality, how would they deal with it, do you know?”  D.I. Wood rummaged in his pocket for a cigarette, more out of habit than anything else.
“He said they would be as discreet as possible.  A van would be brought to the Goods Entrance, and the deceased would be transported down in the Goods Lift” D.S. Stone reported.
“Ok, let’s get Mr. Reception in for a bit of a chat, Stoney and I want any and all CCTV from last night covering Reception, the floor Mr. Thurble was on and the Goods Lift and Entrance.  Got it?”
“Will do, sir” D.S. Stone marched away, purposefully.
“What about Josiah, and Archibald?”  Samantha looked worried.
“It’s like I said, there could be a perfectly innocent explanation for all of this, such as Archibald being on a promise with some random girl and Josiah actually going to collect a client!  We’re up a gum tree anyway there because we don’t know where he was going, do we?” D.I. Wood shrugged, “Did you check the number that called?”
“Yes, it was withheld”
“Pity!  Huh, we might make a copper out of you, at this rate” D.I. Wood grinned, “Is he coming quietly, Stoney?”
“He has volunteered to help us with our enquiries and he’s arranged for the CCTV footage to be transferred to us asap” D.S. Stone nodded and winked, “I think he’s wetting himself, if I’m honest” He whispered.
“Right then, Mrs. Knight, we’ll get Sonny Jim here back to the nick and have a chat with menaces.  See what we can find out but you have to remember, our focus has to be on the men who have gone missing from Cadwallader and Carruthers.  We can be reasonably confident that something has gone amiss there, whereas we don’t know that there’s a problem at all with Josiah and Archibald.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Samantha asked.
“I would go back to the office and wait.  If you hear from them, let us know immediately.  And if you can try and figure out where Messrs. Thurble and Oakshott have gone, that would be two less things for us to worry about”
“I wish I knew, Inspector” Samantha looked glum, “I wish I knew!”

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