The Seventh Tower

By Robert A.V. Jacobs

Despite his reluctance to be a pushover for every waif and stray, Larry agrees to find the sister of a fifteen year old boy who turns up at his office. Having run away from parents that he claims are abusive, he and his sister had been living rough until she disappeared.
Larry visits the boy’s parents, in Cromwell’s Seat, a village some ten miles outside of London, only to hear that MI6 are investigating suspected espionage centred on the local police station.
Dragged reluctantly into that investigation, while trying to solve the disappearance, he is suddenly arrested when the boy’s mother is found hanged from the seventh tower of a series of fifteen carrying new power lines.
The situation is becoming difficult until Clare Haines, a constable working for his friend Superintendent Blake Reece, comes to his aid, and he is released.
The murder of a constable in an unusual manner, a face seen, and vaguely remembered, an MI6 agent who is not quite as he appears to be, a reluctant traitor, the almost fatal shooting of Penny and the death of someone who had come to be his friend, finally brings everything to a head at the foot of the tower.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert A.V. Jacobs
• Release date: Jun 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463431825

Book preview

Also by Robert A.V. Jacobs

Children’s fiction, ten years upwards:

Daisy Weal

Daisy Weal and the Monster

Daisy Weal and Sir Charles

Daisy Weal and the Last Crenian

The Lost Starship

The Star Queen

Dauntless

The Adventures of Daisy Weal (Omnibus edition, containing four of the books in the series)

Grandpa’s shed

Cindy Lost and the Black Witch

Short Stories in the Daisy Weal series

(Available as ebooks):

Daisy Weal and the Grelflin

Daisy Weal and the Weenies

Daisy Weal and the Millions

Daisy Weal and the Outside Place

Daisy Weal and the Secret

Daisy Weal and the Disaster

Daisy Weal and the Ghost

Daisy Weal and the Figment

Young Adult and Adult Fiction:

Speaker (A collection of 32 short stories)

The Yellow Dragon

The Diamond Sword of Tor

Cardoney (Omnibus edition containing both The Yellow Dragon and The Diamond Sword of Tor)

Adult Science Fiction:

As a Consequence

Taldi’na

Adult Detective/Murder Mysteries:

Dexxman

The Disappearance of Natalie Firth

Time to Die

A Promise to Doreen

Almost Enough

The Eighteenth Panda

Non-fiction:

Sudoku, Food for the Mind

Table of Contents

Also By

Previous Books in the Series

A Note from the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-Two

Chapter Fifty-Three

Chapter Fifty-Four

Chapter Fifty-Five

Chapter Fifty-Six

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Chapter Sixty

Chapter Sixty-One

Why not Write a Review

Character List

About the Author

Previous Books in the Series

Dexxman

When the body of the British Home Secretary’s son is found in an alleyway where he had been battered to death, Larry Dexxman, a seventy-five year old private detective is thrown into the middle of a political minefield that could easily cost him his life.

His only protection is Sally, a tiny Shih-tsu/Yorkshire terrier cross, Penny his twenty-four-year-old assistant and his own combat experience gained in the armed forces fifty years ago.

Narrowly surviving several attempts on his life, Larry must try to protect those around him while, at the same time, keeping his promise to the murdered boy’s girlfriend that he would find out who was responsible and see that they are brought to justice.

When the Director General of MI6 is murdered, his daughter Hayley fears for her own safety, and turns to Larry and Penny as the only people that she can trust.

Worried that the situation might be terrorist related, the Home Secretary orders his own daughter, Denise, placed under protection as a precaution, but Larry soon realises that it is not enough, and if he can’t remove her from danger she could easily be next.

As Larry probes deeper into the conspiracy, he is placed under police protection himself. But he still must find a way to keep Denise safe, even if he has to kidnap her, without at the same time, alerting Counter Terrorism Command or his own bodyguard to his plans.

The Disappearance of Natalie Firth

When all the bodies have been filed away, and the killer of the Home Secretary’s son apprehended, Larry must cope with being inundated with the request for work, having become a household name and a knight of the realm. But then unaccountably he starts having dreams...

Harry, the eight year old son of Malcolm and Natalie Firth, engages Larry Dexxman to find his mother, but he has no idea of the can of worms that he is about to open. Larry is perplexed as he realises that though his dreams, he knew that Harry would be coming.

His wife Penny, Neil and Denise his two new assistants, and Sally, a tiny shih-tsu/Yorkshire terrier cross, embark on a mission to find her. With the help of MI6 they delve into the murky depths of Malcolm’s life and are horrified to learn that he has links with Vincente Vasquez, a known villain, suspected of drug smuggling and murder.

When Special Branch shows an interest in the case, Larry finds that he has unwittingly become embroiled in an ongoing espionage investigation, which seems to be inexorably linked to Natalie’s disappearance.

Whether Natalie is alive or dead is a moot point, when keeping Harry, his friends, and himself alive becomes the order of the day

Time to Die

It all started when Larry Dexxman received a letter more than twenty years late. It cast doubt upon the official verdict of accidental death on two employees of a legal company, one of which was Larry’s former wife. Several attempts on Larry’s life, when there is no discernible reason for them, drag him ever further into a web of lies and deceit.

It seems to involve espionage, and is believed to be centred on the law firm of Parkes and Parkes, until links back to a former adversary are found. All of the main suspects are already dead, so his attention is inexorably drawn back to the law firm.

The action moves into one of the many deserted tunnels in London, where a shocking scenario unfolds, leaving Larry and his friends embittered, stunned and confused.

Finally things come to a head, when Larry and his friends are trapped by two people consumed with the desire to see them dead in the slowest and most painful way possible. Now, the only question that he has left to answer is whether or not now will actually be his ‘time to die’ after all.

A Promise to Doreen

Recovering from a heart attack, Larry is being overprotected by his colleagues, which in itself is providing more stress than he needs, so he decides to take some time out with a visit to Gregory’s café.

A conversation overheard in the café attracts Larry’s attention, and becomes more intriguing when a day later he witnesses the murder of the principle speaker. On the spur of the moment as he kneels beside the dying girl he makes a promise. He promises to find the murderer, whatever it costs. It is a promise that he will find has a much higher price than he would willingly pay.

An imposter in MI6, murder, embezzlement, and terrorism, are just four of the hazards that he has to face, as he struggles with the bizarre, in the form of an almost identical twin to himself.

Several attempts on Larry’s life, when his ‘twin’ is in the vicinity raises the question of whether those attempts are really meant for him, or are they actually meant for the ‘twin’?

When Margaret, Larry’s adopted daughter, fails to return from assignment, Larry fears the worst, and thus begins a race against time to ensure that those fears are not realised.

Almost Enough

A phone call in the middle of the night alerted Larry Dexxman to the death of his wife Penny’s friend Stella. It seemed to be a simple mugging, but what should have been a straight forward investigation turns major when the bodies start to pile up.

Initial enquiries reveal that Stella’s past, and her present, were shrouded in mystery, and when the frequent trips that she took before her death lead to the Department of Work and Pensions whose office in London is unaccountably destroyed in an explosion, the puzzle deepens.

The investigation moves to Stella’s last employer, Bytesize Systems Ltd, who were contracted to develop an AI solution for the DWP, but before any progress can be made, the owner is brutally murdered in a hit and run.

Larry, despairing that he will ever get a handle on the puzzle is not as surprised as he should have been when the whole thing is brought to a head by his home being invaded by armed intruders.

The Eighteenth Panda

With virtually nothing happening except divorce cases, Larry is getting bored. So much so that when he is approached by a five year old to find her stolen Panda, he jumps at the chance.

But when the one escalates into seventeen, and then a murder in front of him, followed by an attempt on his own life, and the death of his friend, he realises that there is more to this affair than was at first realised.

It seems that an eighteenth Panda may be the key to the puzzle, so all of his efforts are channelled into an intensive search for it.

When the truth is revealed, and the extent of the criminal activity becomes known, Larry risks all to protect those around him, and bring the perpetrators to Justice.

A Note from the Author

This is the seventh book in the Dexxman series, and as I pointed out in the previous one, there are numerous places where references to people or events from the other six exist. To explain every time who the person is, or what the event was, would take up so much space that it would probably put people off. Therefore, I have included a reference to the title of the appropriate book in the body of the text. Should anything intrigue you sufficiently, then you can see where it comes from and read the appropriate book.

I do however, urge you not to look for Cromwell’s Seat as to my knowledge it does not exist, but is just a figment of my imagination. On the other hand Kangaroo Flat, which is also mentioned, does. It is near Bendigo in Australia, and is the home of Anita and Graeme Rosewall, who are friends of my Niece.

Chapter One

The last few months have been hard, not physically you understand, but emotionally. Jenny did her best, but it just simply was not enough. Don’t get me wrong, I love her dearly, but I did not realise how difficult it would be not to see Penny every day. I recognised that I was becoming difficult, not only with Jenny, but with everyone else in the house, and if I was not careful I would end up alienating them all.

I was in more turmoil now than I had been while my emotions were running riot when I was a teenager. Of the two, Jenny would probably have been more desirable to most men, and I had to admit that she really was stunning. But for me there was only one, and she had gone away. Not because she had fallen out of love with me, but because she still was, and could not face the prospect of losing me while she was still young.

You are probably wondering what I am talking about, so let me explain.

My name is Sir Lawrence Dexxman, more commonly know just as Larry Dexxman. I am a seventy-six, going on seventy-seven year old private detective. After some very high profile cases, which brought me fame and fortune quite literally, more work than I could handle came my way. But that was several months ago, and as they do, peoples’ memories tend to be short lived, and the fame quickly faded away and along with it, so did the work.

But as I was saying, Penny was so much younger than me that she, probably rightly, came to the conclusion that she could not face the possibility of me departing this world and leaving her alone. It was the suddenness with which this might happen that concerned her most, so in her mind she reasoned that to gradually pull away was the better option.¹

1.The Eighteenth Panda

It was the arrival of Jenny, as our housekeeper, that was the catalyst. Knowing that Jenny had feelings for me, and I would not be alone if she left, Penny had decided that now was the right time to make the break. Jenny was about ten years older than Penny, though you would not have believed it if you had seen them together. And because I had helped her and her daughter when they had needed it, she had developed an attachment that, for her, had turned into love. I shall never understand why, because it didn’t make sense to me that such a young and vibrant woman would want to attach herself to an old goat who was hanging on to life by a thread.

Yeh! Sure I loved Jenny, who wouldn’t? But given a set of emotional scales, it would be in Penny’s direction that they tipped the most.

I was about to swing my legs out of bed, when I realised that a completely naked Jenny had been sitting up looking at me for the last few minutes. She was so beautiful that it hurt, but despite the fact that she was incredible and I loved her, my heart cried out for Penny to be in her place.

Then I noticed the single tear that was trickling down one side of her face.

What’s the matter Jen? I asked as gently