“Come And See”: Part Thirteen

~ beetleypete

This is the thirteenth part of a fiction serial, in 732 words.

Patrick Killane sent Jimmy a letter about the power of attorney. He had to take it into the bank and show it to them. Lesley arranged for him to have an afternoon off, and the bank manager saw him privately, in a small office at the back of the branch. “You will be able to draw on your mother’s account should you need to, Mister Walker. Also access her deposit savings account”.

The man slid a sheet of paper across the desk. It showed that Jimmy’s mum had almost one thousand pounds in her current account, and close to eleven thousand pounds in her deposit account. Jimmy caught his breath. He could buy a small house for that much, and it intrigued him how his mum had managed to save it. He asked the bank manager if his absent father could access that money.

He smiled, and shook his head. “As I understand it, your parents are divorced. In that case, he has no claim on any money whatsoever. Please bear in mind that should your mother recover, it will be up to you and your lawyer to explain to her why you have gone ahead with the power of attorney. I trust you will not be taking out much more than you need to pay your bills and live normally?” Jimmy was rather annoyed at the man’s tone, so he thanked him for his time, and left.

After a late night and a long day, Joanne Drummond was briefing her team before they went home that evening. She had already been in to see the Chief Inspector, and he had told her to carry on with the usual routine for now.

“Okay, so we have a victim, George Greaves. His real name was George Gardiner, born in Bristol, in ninteen-nineteen. He was fity-one years old, and recently moved to the town from Birmingham, after being released from prison. He had served three years for fraud. George was well known to us, it seems. He was originally arrested as long ago as forty-two, during the war. He had been selling Army rations to black marketeers. He served time for that in military prison, before being dishonourably discharged at the end of the war”.

Jo moved away, signalling Sergeant Bernie Cohen to come up and speak. Bernie held up some papers. “Fraud, Deception, Theft, Burglary. George was a busy boy. Three more spells inside before the last one, and just occasional cash-in-hand jobs in between. According to Mandy, his regular pro, he was running a nice little scam being some sort of Evangelist. She says he used to pay her with cash from his collection box every Sunday. She also tells me he boasted about a few of the old women leaving him money or property in their wills. Derek has already looked into that, and one of the worshippers gave him a list of five women who agreed to make him a benficiary”.

Walking over to stop him continuing, Jo waved her arm. “Okay you lot, off home for now. Thanks for all your hard work so far. We will get onto that list tomorrow”.

Jimmy had something to do before Lesley got home that evening. He made a few notes in his book, then placed that in the carrier bag with the knife he had used on George. Taking the bag out to the garden shed, he lifted the grass box on the front of the lawn mower, and hid the bag underneath. No chance Lesley would find it there.

While he was waiting for her to come home and cook the dinner, Jimmy settled down with a new book he had bought in a second-hand shop. It was about the history of biological warfare, and he was fascinated to discover that the idea went back to ancient times, when rotting carcasses were used to pollute water supplies, and the tips of arrows were coated in human faeces to infect wounds. He was still reading it when she came in. “How did you get on, love? Everything okay at the bank? Dinner won’t be long, just sausages, egg, and chips tonight”.

He nodded a yes to each thing she had said, as he had got to a good bit about how Roman soldiers would place their swords into decomposed bodies, so that anyone wounded by them later would die of Tetanus.

39 thoughts on ““Come And See”: Part Thirteen”

  2. I was surprised at his new interest. How can he keep hidden in a small town with low crime? The detective will immediately check out all the evangelists in his ‘congregation’.

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  3. All this research doesn’t bode well for some and methinks the bank manager may have to watch out… let’s see where the police investigations go…it could get hot for Jimmy quite a nasty little man… xx

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    1. George only had his congregation, and the police interviewed them the next day, based on information from the prostitute They would have been forthcoming about leaving him the money, but only one of them had a relative capable of killing George. It was more or less a case with one suspect. Proving the theory is another matter though.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  11. (1) Reverend Greaves was initially welcomed by Saint Peter at the pearly gates. But once George’s life had been passed in review by heaven’s winged detectives, God dishonourably discharged him.
    (2) By George, if Mr. Gardiner didn’t fancy himself the Gardener of Eden!
    (3) Black marketeers go for black eyed peas. White musketeers go for vanilla beans. George had to segregate the rations.
    (4) “Fraud, deception, theft, burglary, chopping down cherry trees. George was a busy boy!”
    (5) George Greaves found that he also needed Mandy on Monday:
    ♬Oh, Mandy
    Well, you came
    And you gave without taking
    But I sent you away
    Oh, Mandy
    Well, you kissed me
    And stopped me from shaking
    And I need you today
    Oh, Mandy♬
    (6) Rotting carcasses were used to pollute water supplies. They didn’t have BPA back then?
    (7) Tips of arrows were coated in human faeces to infect wounds. Dog poo wouldn’t do?
    (8) “Roman soldiers would place their swords into decomposed bodies, so that anyone wounded by them later would die of Tetanus.” That paints a sworded picture!
    (9) Space age lingo describes decapitation as rapid unscheduled disassembly.

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      1. Since he is not about to stop, they do not have to prove he killed one. All they have to do is keep out a keen eye on him once they put him in the person of interest category. But then you may have other plans for all of them so we will just keep reading. Warmest regards, Theo

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