The Tide Is High (Dead Reckoning series - Part 24)

Continued from Episode 23 (The Jean Genie)

The story so far:   Josiah, having rekindled a romance (on the rebound from Samantha Knight) 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.  Now that the Detectives know that Jeanette, Precious and her driver, Hames are probably connected with a series of jewellery robberies, 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 watertight cellar of Evanley Hall, Josiah and Archibald are in deep trouble, and getting deeper!:

“This man, the ‘posh sort’ in the car, did he help tie you up?”  D.I. Wood asked.

“Inspector!” Samantha protested.

“I have to ask” D.I. Wood snapped.

“Nah, it were just ‘im from the ‘All” Jeannie shook her head, “Bastard!” She added for good measure, and spat into the fireplace, which did nothing to aid the ambience.

“Who else is at the Hall, Jeannie?”

“’Im, ‘Er,  an’ some chit of a girl what reckons she’s their daughter, but, if you asks me, I’d say she ain’t no daughter of there’n!” Jeannie chuckled.

“This girl who’s a …” D.I. Wood began.

“She said ‘chit’, Inspector” Samantha clarified.

“I know, I know!” D.I. Wood glared at her, “this girl, Jeannie, does she look like this?”  He produced the other CCTV image from his pocket.

“I tole yer, I ain’t got me specs, I can’t see nuffin’”

Samantha rifled through her handbag, “Here, try mine” She suggested.  Jeannie held them, tentatively, and looked at them warily.  “Give them a go, Jeannie, they can’t hurt you, can they?” Samantha smiled warmly at her.

Jeannie, grudgingly, put the spectacles in place, and peered at the photograph.

“Ar, that be ‘er” She nodded, “daughter! Pfft!  Good specs these”

“You can keep them, Jeannie, if you can tell me what happened to the man in the car, and did you see or hear anyone else recently?”

D.I. Wood scowled at Samantha but waited to hear the answer.

“I dunno what ‘appened to ‘im in the car, on account of me being tied up, yer see?”  Jeannie looked at Samantha as if she wasn’t all that bright, “but, if ‘e went up to that ‘All, it wouldn’t ‘ave gone well fer ‘im, I know that much”

“And did you see or hear anyone else, perhaps yesterday?” D.I. Wood asked.

Jeannie nodded, “There were a car, I thought it were comin’ ‘ere.  I yelled and ‘ollered but…nothin’.  I could tell, from the shadow like, it were parked out there, still is, I reckon”

Samantha produced some tea, in a recently washed mug.

“Thank you, Jeannie” She smiled, “you can keep the glasses”

* * * *

“I reckon…” Archibald began, through gritted teeth, “I reckon, with a bit of luck, I can drag this sacking off, if I can get it between me teeth”

“A worthwhile endeavour, Archibald, I’m thure” Josiah commented, “although, whether it will change anything, I rather doubt”

“Got to try, Mr. O.!” There was the sound of snuffling and growling, and then, “Hey, I did it!  I got it off!”  There was no doubting the pleasure in Archibald’s voice.

“Well done, Archibald!”

“This water’s come up a lot in a short time, hasn’t it, Mr. O.?” Archibald said, in a worried voice, after enjoying the novelty of being able to see his surroundings.

“That wath my concluthion, Archibald, I mutht admit” Josiah nodded.

“Now I can see, I reckon I could shuffle this chair of mine over to you”

“I would counthel againtht that courthe of action, Archibald” Josiah said, seriously.

“Why not?  I might be able to help you.  You don’t look in a good way, Mr. O.”  Archibald said with concern.

“That ith kind of you, Archibald, and I apprethiate your conthern but, conthider thith, if your chair were to topple, ath you thuffled it, what would happen then?”

“Well, I’d get a bit of a soaking!” Archibald chuckled.

“A bit more than that, Archibald!” Josiah pointed out, “remember, you are tied to the chair.  If it fell over, you would be unable to right yourthelf and you would be underwater, with all that entailth”

“Under…, oh heck, yeah, I see what you mean” Archibald looked gloomily at the rising water, “but, I’ve got to do summat!”

“You might try praying” Josiah suggested, “I can’t think of anything elthe”

* * * *

“So, now what?” Samantha asked D.I. Wood, as Jeannie noisily enjoyed a mug of tea.

“Once this lady’s been attended to, we’ll go up to the Hall and see if there’s anyone there who can help us with our enquiries.” D.I. Wood looked around at his surroundings with some distaste, “I’ll be glad to get out of here, I know that much.  Never did like cats!”

“Paramedics are on their way, sir, not sure about Social Services, I left a message” D.S. Stone reported.

“You really need to keep on top of things, when you’re feeling a bit better!” Samantha suggested to Jeannie.

“Oh, I do that, don’t you worry yer sen” Jeannie said, proudly, “I kin look after mesel’, an’ me kitties, long as I don’t get messed about by them up there” She jerked her head in the direction of the Hall.

“We’ll go up and have a word with them” D.I. Wood said, slowly and with excessive enunciation.

“’E thinks I’se barmy, yer know” She sniggered, “yer can git yersels up there, if yer a mind to…”

“Thank you, madam” D.I. Wood said, sarcastically, bowing a little.

“…burrit wunna do yer no good!” Jeannie took another draught of tea.

“Why do you say that, Jeannie?” Samantha asked, scowling at the Inspector.

“I ‘eard their car goin’ out jest afore ye came and nearly bust me door down!”

“We were helping you, you ungrateful…” D.I. Wood spluttered.

“Thank you, Inspector!” Samantha snapped, “you say their car went out, Jeannie?”

“Ar, that be right” Jeannie nodded and slurped some more, “if’n the car goes out, ye can betcher bottom dollar they’ve all gone”

“Perhaps they’re taking Josiah and Archibald home?” Samantha suggested, hopefully.

“Sergeant, see if you can get any APNR data on it” D.I. Wood commanded.

“I’ll have to get their registration before I can do that, sir” D.S. Stone grumbled.

“Well, get it found out, Sergeant” D.I Wood snapped, “it can’t be beyond the wit of man to track down their registration!”

“At least, we could go up and have a look?” Samantha mused.

“Ah, could be a bit tricky” D.I. Wood looked sheepish, “you see, if they have gone out, then we can’t ask for permission to enter the premises”

“Can’t we just break in?”  Samantha looked astonished.

“Of course not!” D.I. Wood snapped, “we can’t just break into people’s houses!”

“We nearly did here” D.S. Stone grumbled, rubbing where he might have had a shoulder injury.

“And, as you well know Sergeant, that was because we heard sounds of distress and, therefore, had a reason for breaking in” D.I. Wood frowned at his subordinate. “To gain access to the Hall, we would need a warrant, which I doubt we would get”

“But…but…we’ve got to do something!”  Samantha looked exasperated.

“Let’s see what comes back from the ANPR” D.I. Wood shoved his hands in his pockets and headed out of the door.

“And, in the meantime…?” Samantha flung her hands up in the air.

“We wait for the paramedics, somewhere that’s a cat-free zone, preferably”

* * * *

“I think I thould mention thomething, Archibald” Josiah suggested, in a tired voice.

“What’s that, Mr. O.?”

“Well, with the water rithing, ath it ith…” Josiah began.

“Writhing?” Archibald frowned.

“Yeth, rithing…getting higher” Josiah explained.

“Oh yeah, got you!” Archibald nodded.

“Well, you thee, becauthe there ith a dithparity in our heightth…”  Josiah continued.

“Dithparity?”

“You’re taller than me” Josiah sighed.

“Oh, well, I’m younger” Archibald explained, “we’re getting taller, it’s summat to do with diet, they reckon.  Which beats me ‘cause I’ve never been on a diet!  Now me mam, she is all the time, and she’s smaller than me, so it don’t make sense now, does it?”

“Anyway, be that ath it may,” Josiah continued with a sense of exasperation, “you are taller and, therefore, the water ith likely to affect my thurvival earlier than yourth, if you thee what I mean”

“Eh?  Oh, yeah, I think so” Archibald frowned and concentrated really hard, “but, it won’t matter though, ‘cause we’re sitting down!”

“That’th irrelevant!” Josiah snapped.

“No, I don’t think so” Archibald shook his head, “I’d be taller if we were standing up, but we aren’t!”

“Nevertheleth, your tortho…you are head and thoulderth above me, even thitting down” Josiah tried to explain.

“I don’t see how shampoo’s going to help?” Archibald was seriously confused.

“Put thimply, the water will drown me thome time before it doeth the thame to you”

“Oh, don’t say things like that, Mr. O.!” Archibald pleaded.

“It’th a matter of fact” Josiah sighed, “tho, before that happenth, I juth wanted to thay how proud I am to have worked alongthide you, and how thorry I am that it hath come to thith” There was the sound of a stifled sob.

Archibald looked at his employer and the ever-rising water.  He looked down at the chair to which he was tied.  He frowned, tried to swallow the lump in his throat, and said in a low voice,

“Bugger this for a game of soldiers!”

And then, against his employer’s express instructions, Archibald began to shuffle his chair, with immense difficulty, in Josiah’s direction.

Now read Part 25

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