The Wordsearch Murders

By Robert A.V. Jacobs

Margaret Dexxman is surprised when she receives a Wordsearch puzzle, but no clue to its contents. Careful examination however, reveals a woman’s name, and within hours her body is discovered.
Several other puzzles arrive over the next few weeks, and each time a body is discovered less than a day later.
Margaret is devastated, when her dearest friend Samantha is also named and then later turns up dead.
Six times she receives a puzzle, and six times someone dies. The Police and Margaret, have no leads at all, and are at their wits end, particularly when a copycat leads them briefly down the wrong track.
Six murders are now attributed to the person that they have called ‘The Wordsearch Murderer’, but everyone is stunned when a seventh puzzle is received, and it names Margaret Dexxman as the intended victim.
Margaret and her friends must now utilise all of their skills, and not a small amount of luck, as they struggle against the odds to keep her alive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert A.V. Jacobs
• Release date: Sep 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005704605

Book preview

The Wordsearch Murders

The Wordsearch Murders

First Edition

Copyright 2020 Robert A.V. Jacobs

Published by

Robert A.V. Jacobs on Smashwords

Cover by: Robert A.V. Jacobs

This is the tenth book in the Dexxman Series

Smashwords edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is written in ‘English’ English, so there may be some differences in spelling to other international forms of English.

This book is a work of fiction and all characters are fictitious or are portrayed fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental

This book Contains Adult Material

Also by Robert A.V. Jacobs

Children’s fiction, ten years and upwards:

Daisy Weal and the Monster

Daisy Weal and Sir Charles

Daisy Weal and the Last Crenian

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

Young Adult and Adult Fiction:

The Lost Starship

The Star Queen

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

Bodies in the Clearing

Non-fiction:

Sudoku, Food for the Mind

Table of Contents

Also by

Author’s Note

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

Chapter Sixty-Six

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Why not write a review

List of Characters

About the Author

Author Note

The Wordsearch puzzles, shown throughout this book, were produced using a computer program that I wrote early in 2020.

The puzzles randomly position pre-selected words, either forward or backward, horizontally, vertically or diagonally in a 20 x 20 grid. A word may cross another where there is a matching letter in each word. After which the empty squares are filled with randomly selected letters.

Each of the puzzles in the book contains a forename and a surname, while a couple have other words as well. I could have laid them out for you, but I thought that solving a little puzzle while you read, may just add to your reading pleasure.

The cover depicts a puzzle, and names are also there for you to find.

Chapter One

I picked up the knife that I used as a letter opener and slit open the envelope that Lily had just handed to me. She invariably went downstairs and emptied the mailbox as soon as she got into the office in the morning, and today was no exception. As she was also responsible for all of the administration tasks in the office, it was something that she had taken on for herself. Most of the mail she would have to open anyway, so it seemed reasonable for her to actually collect it. This letter, however, was different. It was a plain white envelope, addressed specifically to me, and was marked ‘Private and confidential’.

My name is Margaret Dexxman, and I am the lead detective in ‘Dexxman Investigations’ which I inherited from my step-father, Sir Lawrence Dexxman. I hasten to add that he is not dead yet, just retired, and living with his wife Penny and their other adopted daughter Tanny.

Keeping me company I have Denise, Sam, and Lily. Denise and Lily have been with the company for a number of years, but Samantha, is a more recent addition, and my significant better half. I never thought that it would ever happen, but Sam helped me to forget my past, and I loved her dearly. The final member of the household is Grace, who is our long time live-in housekeeper, and after Gregory (our local café owner), is the best cook that I have ever met.

As I was saying, I slit open the envelope. A sudden feeling of unease had me searching for the pair of linen gloves that I kept in my drawer. I put them on, took out a single sheet of paper from the envelope and unfolded it. It was very odd, and completely unexpected. The only thing on the paper was a twenty by twenty Wordsearch grid, which appeared to be full of random letters.

For those of you that have not enjoyed the delights of Wordsearch, let me explain. Normally in addition to the grid, a number of words are listed, and it is the player’s job to find them all in the grid. The words can be vertical, horizontal, and diagonal, either forward or backward, and sometimes crossing each other where a letter in both words match. Unfilled squares are then filled with random letters.

This sheet did not contain a list of words, just a grid of letters. It was all very odd. What were they for? Was I expected to find some hidden message in it, or was it someone’s poor idea of a joke? I poured over it for several minutes, but found myself unable to recognise a single word. Nonetheless, it must have been sent to me for a reason, so thinking that Lily might just be good at this sort of puzzle, I decided to find out.

Lily, how are you at Wordsearch puzzles?

For a second she looked thoughtful.

Not too bad. Why do you ask?

I’ve just received one in the post. There isn’t a list of words to find, only the grid. Whoever sent it must have a reason, and I get the feeling that it might just be important. I don’t know why, but I strongly suspect that we should take some basic precautions while we handle it.

I’ll have a look, but if I can’t find anything, we can always run it past Denise and Sam when they get back.

Denise and Sam had left shortly after breakfast, to keep a watchful eye on an employee of an engineering company, suspected of theft and embezzlement. It made a change from the normal domestic problems that occupied most of our time, and the pair of them had been eagerly looking forward to it.

I got up, passed the sheet of paper to Lily, and she carefully smoothed it out with a piece of tissue, before placed it in her computer scanner. Closing the lid, she took a photocopy and then passed the original back to me, before glancing at the copy.

1.

Well as this is not handwritten, she said, her eyes running over the paper, and from the way that it’s laid out, I can hazard a guess that it was Computer generated.

It only took her about half an hour, before she jotted something down onto her desk pad.

I can only find one word that makes any sense, she said, tearing the sheet from the pad.

Getting up from her desk, she came around to me, and handed me the photocopy and the sheet of paper from her pad.

And that word is PENELOPE. I haven’t marked it on the copy, just in case you have other uses for it.

Because I am useless at these things, can you point it out?

She leaned across me and traced the word for me with her finger.

Got it, I said.

Chapter Two

The only Penelope that I knew was Penny, Larry’s wife, so I reached for the phone. I had no idea what it might mean, but it just might be prudent to let her know just in case it was something nasty. Other than letting her and Larry know, it hardly seemed important enough to spend any more time on, so erring on the side of caution, I slipped the original sheet into an evidence bag. Then I opened the filing cabinet, located the queries stroke pending section and added the bag to it.

I made the call, fully aware that Penny’s historic associations with MI6 made her quite capable of looking after herself. Nevertheless, when I told her what we had received, she was appreciative, and said that she would keep her eyes open, as well as giving MI6 a heads up just in case.

Having got that out of the way, I returned to the report that I had been writing when I had been given the letter. I had been retained by a Mr. Trenton Saunders, to investigate his wife who he was divorcing. Afraid of how much it would cost him, he had been looking for a way out. He had theorised that if he could prove his wife’s infidelity, then he would not have to pay so much in child support.

He was paying me quite well, so I was loath to tell him that it probably wouldn’t make that much difference in a court, particularly since the said children were still very small. Unfortunately for him, I could find nothing that made his wife anything other than a good wife and mother, who was just devastated that her husband was leaving her. The man was an asshole. The children were his, and he needed to accept that they were still his responsibility, but I was in it for the money, and until he paid me, I was not about to share that with him.

It had been quite a difficult assignment, especially with the restrictions that the recent lockdown due to Coronavirus had imposed on us, but keeping appropriate social distancing had helped me to remain undetected.

Completing the last few words to the report, I sent it to the printer, and after it had finished printing, folded it neatly, together with my invoice, and placed it in an envelope. Addressed and stamped, I passed it to Lily to add to the day’s outgoing mail.

I was surprised when the fifty-five inch screen on the wall, which was connected to the door camera, sprang into life. It revealed the form of one Mrs Alexandra Saunders coming up the stairs. Surprised as I was, I still pressed the release and the door swung open. It was the little touch that I had promised myself a couple of months ago, when I realised that having to press the door release at my desk, and then having to get up and actually open was an inconvenience to say the least. A quick call to the security guy and then we had it installed a few days later. I loved it, and if it hadn’t been frowned upon by the rest of the staff, I would have played with it all day.

Pretending that I didn’t know her, I stood up and extended my hand.

I’m Margaret Dexxman. What can I do for you?

Completely unfazed by my deception, she shook my hand briefly, My name, as if you didn’t already know, is Alexandra Saunders.

I smiled at her, took her arm, and indicated the sofa.

Perhaps we should sit down, and then you can tell me what is on your mind, I suggested, but before that, for my own peace of mind, can you tell me where it was that you realised I was following you.

I never did. she said, obviously becoming more comfortable with me, My husband is not quite as clever as he would have us believe, or he wouldn’t have left your business card lying about.

That would certainly raise questions, I acknowledged, "but for your peace of mind, I have already sent him my final report, which absolves you of any wrongdoing. I couldn’t find anything untoward in any of your actions, and that is what I told him."

I hope you charged him an arm and a leg for the privilege. she said, her forehead creased in a frown.

She suddenly she smiled and added, I have to admit, that I did meet a couple of Gentlemen who I could have fancied under different circumstances, and I might just look them up when all of this is finished.

A Woman after my own heart, I thought, and then said, Good for you.

Anyway, down to business. I would like to retain your services to look into him, because I don’t trust the bastard as far as I can throw him.

"Don’t you think that it might be a conflict of interest for us, given the fact that we were working for your husband?"

That’s why I came to you, to see for myself whether it would be a good idea, and from what I have seen so far, I really don’t think that it will be a problem for you at all, will it?

Well as I personally thought of him as an asshole, probably not.

A woman after my own heart, she laughed, echoing my previous thought, and then reaching out to hug me, she added, thank you.

Right then, I’ll get to it tomorrow morning, and meanwhile let me introduce you to Lily, who will give you a rundown of our charges, and sort out a formal contract.

Chapter Three

I was awoken the following morning by the sound of movement, and opening a bleary eye noticed a quite naked Sam poking through drawers, obviously looking for something to wear. As we were the same size, we had taken to not segregating out clothes, and consequently over the period of time that we had been together, they had all become mixed in together.

For those of you who are wondering. Yes, I am having a fling with Sam, but whether that will ever become permanent only time will tell. I think that somewhere deep inside me, I still prefer men, but the Thanet incident had affected me so deeply, that right now, I was looking for affection wherever I could get it.

My brush with Oliver Thanet had happened more than a