Bodies in the Clearing

By Robert A.V. Jacobs

The mysterious death of a seemingly innocent man, in a hit and run;
Two people that Margaret Dexxman feels are not who they say they are;
The unexpected failure of the brakes and steering on her own car;
The attempt on her life, with her hire car;
The attempted mugging of her friend, by a knife wielding thug;
The poisoning of their client, and the discovery of bleached bones in a clearing.
These, and the looming crisis of Covid-19, are the hazards that Margaret Dexxman and her team have to face as they investigate two separate but converging cases.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert A.V. Jacobs
• Release date: May 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463318621

Book preview

Children’s fiction, ten years upwards:

Daisy Weal

Daisy Weal and the Monster

Daisy Weal and Sir Charles

Daisy Weal and the Last Crenian

Dauntless

The Lost Starship

The Star Queen

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

Grandpa’s Shed

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 Face

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 31 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

With No Warning

Adult Detective/Murder Mysteries:

Dexxman

The Disappearance of Natalie Firth

Time to Die

A Promise to Doreen

Almost Enough

The Eighteenth Panda

The Seventh Tower

The Ordeal

Non-fiction:

Sudoku, Food for the Mind

Table of Contents

Also By

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

Chapter Sixty-Two

Chapter Sixty-Three

Chapter Sixty-Four

Chapter Sixty-Five

Why Not Write a Review

Character List

About the Author

A Note from the Author

Bulbarrow Hill in Dorset, is the highest point in Dorset at 899 feet, and actually does exist, and is an old RAF radio station manned by: when I was stationed there, twenty-two men. It was passed to the USAF in the late fifties/early sixties, and has since been abandoned. It is currently the home of communications masts, used by the emergency services. However, the village of Maidens Lacy only exists in my wife’s mind. I had asked her to dream up a typically English sounding village name, and that’s what she came up with. I like it. In addition, Parkvale School for Autistic Girls in Leicestershire, is also imaginary.

Chapter One

George Peters was having a bad day. Every time that he tried to reconcile himself to what had just happened, he came up against a blank wall. As far as he was prepared to admit, he had just been fired for no reason at all. By nature, he was not the confrontational type, but this was simply too much, so he stood up, politely informed his boss that he would see him at an industrial tribunal, and walked out. The last thing that he saw as he left the office was his boss reaching for the telephone. It only took ten to fifteen minutes to empty his desk, bid farewell to his erstwhile colleagues, and walk out of the door.

The look that he got from the two girls in reception was quite unnerving, but he doubted whether they had anything to do with his situation. They really would not have the nerve. The taller of the two girls, smiled and gave an exaggerated wave, but the other just held up two fingers.

He pushed through the revolving doors that fronted this quite prestigious office block, and stood still for a few minutes, angry and quite confused at what to do next. He had worked here since he left school eight years ago, and never having been unemployed had no idea where he was going to get another job, particularly one that provided the same opportunities that this one had. He knew that he had threatened them with an employment tribunal, but he didn’t have any idea where to go for that either.

He reached into his pocket for his mobile phone. It was time to do what he always did in uncertain situations, and that was to ring his girlfriend of three years, but now his fiancé; Marissa Kent. She would know, as she always did, what he should do next. He keyed in her number, and lifted the phone to his ear. He didn’t see, or hear, the car that mounted the kerb behind him, and never even felt the impact that took his life.

I was in the office, which tended to be a rare occurrence these days, when the big screen on the wall sprang into life to reveal a youngish, petite, but very pretty redhead coming up the stairs toward our entrance. She looked harmless enough, so I hit the door release, and stood up to welcome her as she entered.

Good morning, I said, offering my hand, I’m Margaret Dexxman. How can I help you?

As I said, my name is Margaret Dexxman, but all my friends know me as Maggie or Mags. It wasn’t always Dexxman, but was Margaret French up until Larry Dexxman and his wife Penny had adopted me just after my sixteenth birthday. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, with me celebrating my twenty-seventh birthday last August. Larry is still alive and at eighty six is enjoying his retirement with the love of his life Penny, and sixteen year old Tanny. His mind is still as sharp as it always was, but his physical health leaves a lot to be desired. Denise, Lily, and I really enjoy our Sunday lunches with him, and all of us owe him so much that we will continue doing it for as long as he is able to appreciate it.

Her handclasp was firm, but even so I could see that she was nervous and deeply upset. I gave her an intense ‘once over’ as we stood fact to face, noticing her virtually perfect figure, and the confident way that she held herself. She really was quite delicious, and if I was not, as I believed I was, completely heterosexual, I could be really tempted.

Please sit down, I said, dismissing my uncharacteristic lewd thoughts, and directing her to the office sofa.

Thank you, her voice faltered, but I could still feel a shiver up my spine as she spoke, My name is Marissa Kent.

What can I do for you Marissa? I asked.

I’m looking for a Private Detective, she glanced around the room.

That would be me, I said, pointing to several certificates that adorned the wall.

I had spent the first four years after Larry had retired, taking various courses to comply with the new rules governing Private Detectives, passing most of them fairly easily. My most prized though, were those extra ones, dealing with firearms and self-defence that I had managed to squeeze in whenever I had some free time. It was true that I didn’t possess a gun, mainly because the law in the UK made it illegal, but as the bad guys were not as law abiding as me, I now knew which end was which, should the need arise. The added bonus was that I also knew at least seventeen ways to disable someone.

Oh sorry, she smiled. It was a bleak smile, but at least it was a smile, I was expecting someone much older.

I waited.

My boyfriend was killed a couple of weeks ago, outside of his office. she said, He was calling me, just as a car mounted the kerb, and hit him, killing him outright.

From your demeanour, I get the feeling that you think something was fishy about it?

I do, she said firmly, the Police investigated, and told me that the car had been stolen no more than five minutes before the incident. They say that the most likely cause was a blowout in one of its front tyres, causing the car to swerve and mount the kerb. What makes it suspicious to me is that they never found the driver.

Chapter Two

And I suppose that they are putting it down to a simple hit and run. I commented, at least that would tie it up nicely for them. I’m not saying that, that would be their choice, but with their workload, who could blame them?

Yes, that’s probably true. replied Marissa, after she had thought about it for a few seconds, They did tell me that the book would be kept open, but also said that even if they do find the driver, the only things that they would be able to charge him with is stealing the car, and leaving the scene of an accident.

Not even death by dangerous driving then?

No, they say that there is no evidence of anything other than an accident as a result of a blowout.

You do know that incidences of people running away from the scene of an accident are a lot more common than people realise? There has got to be more to your suspicions than not finding the driver?

Blowouts are noisy things, she said, I have spoken to several of the witnesses, and they did not hear anything until the car hit the kerb. The car was doing at least forty, and in my opinion the blowout could have occurred from the impact of the wheel itself, on the kerb, rather than occurring earlier. I would just like some clarity about the whole thing.

What time did this happen?

Ten forty-five in the morning.

And why then, was he outside of his office at that time?

I don’t know, her voice shook, I’ve asked several of his colleagues, and no one seems to know.

Is there anything else that I need to know?

Well one witness said that George was carrying a box, and someone from inside the building picked it up after the incident and took it back inside. No-one could corroborate that though, and as I am not his next of kin, the company were reluctant to even talk to me.

Well Marissa, I am intrigued, so I will take the case.

Thank you, she said jumping up and kissing me on the lips.

In hindsight I was sure that she meant to kiss me on the cheek, but I was taken by surprise, and didn’t turn my face in time. I was stunned, and as the kiss lasted, I realised that I didn’t mind, didn’t mind at all. I am convinced that I felt a probing tongue, and whether it was hers or mine, I could never really be sure. I had never been kissed by a woman before, in fact since the Thanet incident I had not really been kissed by anyone. Gently I pushed her away.

You are undoubtedly a very nice girl Marissa, I told her very red face, but I am very much a man’s woman.

So am I, as George would have told you. she said, obviously mortified at what she had just done, I don’t know what came over me.

Don’t worry about it, I said, leading her to my desk, If you could give me a few minutes of your time, and tell me everything that you know about him, we can get the investigation underway.

Half an hour later, having learnt as much as she could give me, most of it through rose coloured glasses of that I was sure, she got up from the sofa, and I showed her to the door.

I’ll let you know what I find. I said, and watched as she walked down the stairs.

I still kept thinking about that kiss. It wasn’t as if I had had very many with women or men since the Thanet incident. But the kiss kept bringing thoughts that I really did not want to dwell on, back into my mind.

I wasn’t even eighteen when Oliver Thanet had raped me several times. I hated the brutality of the whole thing, but what I hated the most was how good it felt to have him inside of me. I was glad that Larry and Penny had shot him. He deserved it just for thinking that it was his right to do something like that. Thinking that he could take a girl’s virginity without being asked and in so brutal a fashion was unforgiveable. Afterwards I had kept thinking how much he looked like Larry, and what it had felt like when he was inside of me. Despite knowing how wrong it was, I had often wondered what it would be like to do it willingly, and had presented my body to Larry on several occasions. But Larry being a gentleman and always mindful of his responsibilities had never risen to the bait. In the end it had taken me several years to really get over it.

I shook myself. It was no good dwelling on the past. The man was dead, but I was alive and I needed to get on with living.

Chapter Three

I’ve often wondered what it would be like, said Lily, leaning back in her chair.

What, what, would be like? I asked, puzzled that her words were so close to my own thoughts.

Kissing a woman, she said, smiling.

Lily had been the administrative part of our business for the best part of nine years. We did give her the opportunity to do some field work, but she was pretty much a computer geek, and preferred not to be too far away from one.

She was a pretty young thing, tall and slim with blond hair that framed a face that had an intensity of expression that always seemed to be somewhere else.

When we had first met, she had suffered badly from autism, but amazingly when she was around my dad she seemed to be largely unaffected by it. They had first crossed paths when Larry came face to face with a bomb in the Work and Pensions Office. He had no idea what to do with it, but she had disarmed it, much to the amazement of both him and the bomb squad.

In his words, she had saved his life, and even if she did nothing for the rest of her life, other than twiddle her thumbs, there would always be a desk for her in our offices.

Later, hoping that she could be helped, she had gone to the Parkvale School for autistic girls in Leicestershire for a couple of years. It had proved to be successful, and she had returned to us, not completely cured, but certainly eighty percent better than she had been when she first gone there. If there is a better computer whiz out there, then I have never met them. Even Ian Sawyer, who ran a local Computer forensics company, sat down and listened when she spoke.

Well don’t expect me to show you, I replied.

"Show her what?’ asked