Jackson Is Missing

by Wendy Gill

  Chapter Nine

  Danny looked up as Bert walked into the room.

  “What have you found out?” he wanted to know.

  "There is to be a wedding, tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock. They are all going. I followed that big woman. She went to the church with an armful of flowers. When she left, I went into the church and found the vicar. I told him that I thought the flowers were nice and he told me there was going to be a wedding tomorrow morning, and the church had been privately booked.

  "There was to be a maid of honour and the bride was being given away by her father and the best man was an inspector of police. I didn’t even have to ask any questions, he was all puffed up about it, he could not stop talking.

  “I wish all the information I try to find out about our next job was as easy as that, all I had to do was stand and listen. They are all going to be at the church tomorrow morning, including Inspector Blurr.”

  Danny got up from his position at the table and started to pace the room. Bert followed him with his eyes waiting for him to decide what their next move was to be.

  "There has been no mention anywhere of our witness being found, dead or alive. Maybe he just curled up in a corner somewhere and popped his clogs and nobody has found him yet. There has been no activity at the jewellers either. I think Bert, what we should do is get away from here as soon as possible, I don’t like it, things are too quiet by half.

  “Tomorrow while they are all at the church for the wedding, especially Inspector Blurr, I think we should risk going into the wood and digging up the jewellery and money then take off, get as far away from this town as possible.”

  “I think that is a very good idea,” agreed Bert.

  "We will go early in the morning, be at the edge of the wood well before 9 o’clock and watch for the wedding guests to depart. When we see them, all heading for the church we will nip back into the wood and dig up the goods.

  "If we go early enough, it will also give us the opportunity to see if there is anyone lurking about too. Keep our eyes open for anyone hanging about in the wood. It might be a good idea if one of us were to stand well back and keep lookout, you never know who could be knocking about.

  “Look what happened when we were burying the stuff, we never expected someone to come across us, did we? If one of us had been on the lookout then, we would be in a better situation than we are right now. There is plenty of hiding places in the wood; we are going to be more careful this time.”

  “I agree. Who is going to be the lookout?” Bert wanted to know.

  “We will pull straws, the one with the shortest straw keeps lookout.”

  Bert went over to one of the beds and pulled out two pieces of straw from a slit in one of the mattresses and offered them to, Danny.

  Danny chose a straw and Bert showed his.

  Bert had lost, he was to be the lookout, “Just my luck,” he mumbled.

  Ella had slept the previous night at Blanche’s and they were both getting a helping hand with their hair and dresses from Blanche’s maid.

  Mrs Moyer kept running in and out of Blanche’s bedroom making sure everything was perfect for her daughter’s wedding. It was not what Mrs Moyer had wanted for her daughter, but she was happy Blanche had finally decided to settle down and get married.

  A baby on the way was not ideal either. There would be gossip from more than one quarter, but Mrs Moyer decided she would rather have the gossips and have her daughter back than be at loggerheads with her.

  Mrs Moyer had been surprised how easy it had been for her husband to accept the situation. The only reason Mrs Moyer could think of for this unexpected turn of circumstances was because of Jackson being a war hero. She did not care what the reason was, Blanche was getting married and Blanche was happy, Mr Moyer was happy and so was she. Mrs Moyer had not seen her daughter so happy and blooming for quite a while.

  Danny and Bert stood on the edge of the wood and watched the three gentlemen set off in the direction of the church.

  Without a word between them they headed back into the wood and had a good look round before making for where they had hidden the stolen goods.

  It was a pity that neither Bert nor Danny had the sense to glance up in the trees for they were being watched from above.

  Bert walked on and Danny, retrieving the shovel from where they had hidden it when they buried the loot, proceeded to dig for his treasure.

  He dug, and he dug, but he could not find the treasure. He moved to his right and he dug, and he dug, but he could not find the treasure. He moved to his left and he dug, and he dug, but he could not find the treasure.

  Throwing caution to the wind he bellowed, “Bert, come here.”

  Bert went at a trot to find out what the panic was all about.

  “What the devil are you bellowing at? You are loud enough to wake the dead.”

  “It has gone, the loot has gone. Have you been back and taken it without letting me know?”

  “Don’t be stupid, why would I do that? Are you sure it’s not there? Maybe you have been digging in the wrong place.”

  “Well, where would you have me dig?” Danny spread his hand in the direction of the scattered holes.

  Bert glanced at all the holes Danny had dug. He made no comment.

  Danny said, “I don’t like this Bert, I don’t like it one little bit, let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Danny threw the shovel down and turned to leave. He did not take more than two strides and he was brought to a dead halt. Six police officers were blocking their way.

  Neither Danny nor Bert put up a fight. They could see it was useless. They were outnumbered and neither of them liked the look of the pistol barrels pointing in their direction.

  The meal Mrs Moyer had organised for after the ceremony was being held at the Moyer’s house.

  They all sat around the dining table and enjoyed a fine feast when Mr Moyer said, “That vicar had a damned quiet voice I could hardly hear what he was saying, I missed your first name Jackson.”

  Jackson looked across at his father-in-law and he thought he had better keep on good terms with him until he got the dowry. He needed the stable block building and he was aiming to use the dowry to pay for it.

  He did not relish the thought of admitting his first name was Charles but there was nothing else for it, “Charles,” he mumbled.

  “Charles, I knew it, I damn well knew it,” exclaimed Mr Moyer. “You are in good company my boy for my first name is Charles too.”

  “Should have known,” Jackson said.

  “All the men sitting round this table are called Charles,” said Blanche, “what are the odds on that? I agree with you Jackson, there are too many Charlies in this world.”

  “Mr Grundy’s name is Clarence, surely?” asked Mr Moyer.

  “Nope, it is Charlie. Jackson christened him Clarence to stop the confusion,” his daughter explained.

  “To stop whose confusion?” her father wanted to know. “Why are you known as Jackson and not Charlie? Why is Charlie not known as Blurr then you can be known as Charlie?”

  “We let Charlie keep his name because he is the ugliest,” explained Jackson.

  Mr Moyer looked from Inspector Blurr to his new son-in-law and then to Mr Grundy, and he burst out laughing and they all joined in.

  Mrs Moyer looked around her dining table at the odd assortment of people all enjoying themselves and she felt a cloak of contentment settle over her. It was a long time since the walls of her house had heard laughter.

  “Mr Grundy has something for you and Jackson, Blanche. We hope you like it,” Ella told her friend.

  Mr Grundy looked over the top of his glasses at Jackson then he said to Blanche, "Charlie, Ella and I have put together and bought you a bed as a wedding present from us all. It is being installed right now, or at least it should be, in an upstairs bedroom above my office in West Street.

  “Here is a key to the office. After the bed has been installed the delivery men are to d
rop the key I left with them through the letterbox, so you will be able to have a key each. You may use it as temporary accommodation until we all get things sorted out.” Mr Grundy passed the key to Blanche.

  “Charlie’s house seems to be stuffed to the rafters with bodies now. It is Ella you know, she has a habit of collecting stray bodies. She did not get the habit from her Aunt Fran. She was quite the opposite, liked her own company did Fran. That is one of the reasons we had the workshop built for her,” Mr Grundy explained to Mr and Mrs Moyer.

  “You can go back to Haywood Street during the day if you like and sleep at West Street at night, treat it as an overflow then no one is on top of anyone else, a honeymoon retreat. Ella and I will keep away from the office for a couple of weeks then, when the honeymoon is over you can give me the keys back or you can carry on living there and Ella can come and start moving the files down into the basement. Then we can get on with turning the office into living accommodation again. I am not looking forward to carrying all those files down into the basement, I can tell you.”

  “Don’t you worry yourself over the files Mr Grundy; I will help Ella carry the files down into the basement while Jackson is getting everything ready in his surgery. It will give me something to do,” Blanche told him.

  “It is the best wedding present you could have given us Clarence. You should see what they are making me sleep on now, a put-me-up. It is not doing my poor old back any good.”

  “Mrs Moyer, that was a very enjoyable meal, but if you don’t have any objections, I must get back to work.” Charlie looked over at his hostess.

  “Of course, you must go if you have to. Thank you for helping to make this a pleasant occasion. Now you know where we live, you all have an open invitation to call anytime you are passing,” Mrs Moyer told him.

  “Yes, nice to have met you Charlie. I have heard a lot about you. How is that grandmother of yours keeping these days?” Mr Moyer stood up and shook hands with him.

  “Not as sprightly as she was I’m afraid, in body that is, her tongue could do with a rest though, and she tends to bend my ear every time I see her. Are you two ready to go back yet?” Charlie looked at Ella and Mr Grundy.

  “Yes, it has been a very pleasant day, but we will leave you now. Enjoy your honeymoon and we will see you when you surface again Jackson old boy. Let us see how the back is then,” Mr Grundy tittered.

  Jackson had the grace to blush and found it hard to avoid the gaze of his father-in-law.

  Walking back home Charlie said to them, “Mr Moyer mentioned my grandmother back there. Did you ever meet her, Clarence?”

  “No, I can’t say I have, never even heard of her I don’t think.”

  "No, I try to keep my work and my social life separate from her. The trouble is she is getting on in years now and she is hounding me to go and take over the family estate. I knew it would come to this one day and to be truthful, since I have met Ella, and Jackson and Blanche have tied the knot and there is a baby on the horizon, it has been on my mind more and more.

  "You know, having a wife and family of my own has never been an issue with me. I have never found anyone that I wanted to share the rest of my life with until Ella came into my life. I know it is early days yet Ella, we have only known each other a week but I am thinking about leaving the police force and settling down.

  “Do you think you might be able to look at me in a more personal way, once you have got to know me better of course?”

  "I have not been offended at being called your fiancé, in fact, I rather like it. In the past three years I have met a few men who thought they could take advantage of me, but they soon found out differently. Since meeting you I have not felt any of the repulsion that I felt towards them.

  “In fact, Charlie, I must admit, the first time I saw you, your shirt was unbuttoned, and I had difficulty in keeping my eyes off your hairy chest, which surprised me, because that sort of thing had never been further from my mind.” Ella confessed, and they carried on walking in silence.

  Mr Grundy was the first to speak, “Well, that seems to settle that then.”

  “No not quite, there is still the question of you Clarence. We have been friends for far too long to allow you to be on your own again. Would you be willing to come and live on the estate with us? There are plenty of spare rooms and I am sure you would get on famously with my grandmother, give her something to take her mind off me. What do you say to that Clarence, fancy a taste of life in the country?” Charlie asked him.

  “Never lived in the country before and I certainly have never been a chaperone to an old lady to keep her occupied from nagging someone else.”

  “Then it is about time you did. I will leave you now, but I shall come and see you both tonight,” Charlie took hold of Ella’s hand and brought it to his lips.

  Back in Charlie’s house Ella and Mr Grundy went straight to the sickroom and found father, daughter and baby. The baby was contentedly fast asleep in his drawer.

  “Hello. How did the wedding go?” PC Keyser asked.

  “Everything went swimmingly, Blanche is now Mrs Charles Jackson and they are to honeymoon over in West Street so Ruth can sleep in comfort in Jackson’s bed until you return home, without her feeling guilty about it,” Mr Grundy explained.

  “This is very good of you all,” PC Keyser said. “I believe you are the young woman that saved me from being caught by my pursuers. What made you take my side? Normally when someone is injured they are usually the culprit, you had no way of knowing I was a policeman.”

  “There were two of them and I thought the odds were unfair, besides which they pushed their way into Mr Grundy’s house and were very rude to the both of us. I did not like them,” Ella told him.

  “It was a good job that you didn’t like them. I thank you for what you did for me. It was very kind of you. I do not know what my little Ruth would have done if I had died. We all thank you, including little David over there.”

  “Why did you seek me out?” Mr Grundy wanted to know looking at Ruth.

  “My father gave me a letter to deliver to you if anything happened to him, so when he did not return after a few days, I headed for here,” was the reply.

  Mr Grundy looked at PC Keyser and waited for an explanation.

  PC Keyser tried to sit up and Ruth ran over to him and pumped up the pillows behind him.

  "Inspector Blurr, Jackson and yourself, have a reputation for being very fair and understanding. Ruth’s husband had an accident with a plough and was unfortunately killed. He never saw his baby son, and Ruth and the baby came to live with me. My wife, Ruth’s mother, died some years ago. Things have not been too bad for us, Ruth kept house for me and I was pleased to have her and the baby’s company.

  “Then, Chief Inspector Freeman took over our division at the police station and he had a son, also a policeman, who took a shine to Ruth and the baby. They wanted to get married but, Chief Inspector Freeman would hear nothing of it.” PC Keyser put his head back on the pillow.

  "Chief Inspector Freeman said Ruth was not good enough for his son and he would not allow his son to marry someone who had a baby by someone else. Chief Inspector Freeman has been trying his best to get me removed from the police force hoping to make Ruth go away at the same time.

  “Our Inspector over at Hotshell is under Chief Inspector Freeman’s thumb and I cannot get any support from him, so on Saturday, which was my day off, I decided to come and see Inspector Blurr. Ask his advice on how I should proceed, and you know the rest from there. In fact, you will be more in the know than I am as to what is happening right now.”

  Melvin Keyser looked enquiringly first at Mr Grundy then at Ella but neither spoke, so he continued.

  “I have not seen Inspector Blurr for a couple of days and Jackson will tell me nothing. I gave Ruth a letter, my will really, to bring to you Mr Grundy in case anything happened to me. I do not trust the solicitors in Hotshell that is why I instructed Ruth to come and see you, just to be on the s
afe side.”

  “Well, we cannot tell you anything either, PC Keyser. Charlie has gone off doing his detecting and he said he would be back for tea, maybe we will find out more then. In the meantime, is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?” Mr Grundy wanted to know.

  “I wouldn’t mind sitting in a chair for a while. I am sick of lying here, I need to get up, try to walk, get a bit of exercise. I am not used to lying in bed all day; my body is beginning to ache.”

  “I can bring a chair up for you to sit on but, until Jackson has seen you I think it would be better not to do any walking on that leg, after all you did catch a bullet in it.” Mr Grundy went to fetch a chair.

  “You look very pretty my dear in that lovely pink dress. I shall buy Ruth a dress like that one of these days,” PC Keyser smiled across at his daughter.

  No smile reached his daughter’s eyes when they exchanged glances. Nor did a smile appear on her lips.

  “Ruth is not very happy I am afraid. She thinks she is not going to see her beau anymore. Chief Inspector Freeman is making things very difficult for his son to sneak away and see her. It looks like their relationship is doomed.”

  “I am very sorry Ruth. I hope things work out for you and your boyfriend. If he really loves you, he will find a way.” Ella went over to the young girl and put her arm round her shoulder.

  “You have all been so very kind to us, I should be feeling very grateful, but I cannot think about anything else but Lester. He will be wondering where I am, he will think I have gone off and left him without as much as a word. I was not expecting to be away this length of time.” Ruth started to cry, and Ella gave her a handkerchief.

  “I am sure everything will turn out for the best, you just stay here and keep your father company until he can return to work,” Ella encouraged.

  “Here we are.” Mr Grundy came puffing into the room bearing a wooden armless chair.

  “Let me put a couple of pillows on the seat that will help make it more comfortable for you to sit on.”