This is the start of a story from Darkness in Durrington
I knew Zac Moyes. He was a Eucharistic Minister, which means he administers the Eucharist if that's clear. He was also a Justice and Peace co-ordinator and, as far as I knew, an all-round good person. It was a double shock, therefore, when Micah discovered on social media that he had died from a heart attack and that the internet was awash with images of a voodoo doll with a tiny stake through the heart which the police had dug up in his garden.
The police don't normally go in for gardening so we assumed that they were treating his death as suspicious. Micah soon got the reason for the suspicion from browsing Inspector Ben Tillotson's laptop remotely.
“There was an anonymous tip-off that there was a voodoo doll buried in the garden. It didn't give any more details. Mind you it is very difficult to be anonymous these days. Phones and email are monitored, handwritten or typed notes are subject to all sorts of tests to prove their origin. This anonymous person knew their business. They used a spoof IP address to send a message to Sergeant Joanne Thallman's twitter account and she passed it on to old Ben.”
“I doubt if old Ben knows what a twitter account is,” I ventured to suggest.
“Neither do you,” Micah responded.
I was interested enough to ask Sekonda about voodoo dolls. She laughed.
“I think you need to talk to Yolanda, she is the expert on Voodoo in these parts but be careful, Craig, she is a very clever woman.”
Sekonda had her address. She is a mine of information.
Yolanda turned out to be a charming pensioner who welcomed me into her home. I cannot recommend her tea however.
“I am from the Worthing Journal,” I showed her my press card. It was a complete phoney but looked very impressive.
“Tell me, how is your brother getting on?”
She bustled about making tea for us.
“He's very well, thank you.”
“Quite over his illness then?”
“Yes, how did you know...”
“Craig McLairy, don't take me for a fool. I know about you and your detective agency. I know you've come to talk to me about voodoo dolls. I know your brother had a serious abdominal illness and was in hospital for a week. I'm pleased he is on the mend by the way.”
“Now show me these pictures and no more lies please.”
I showed her the pictures of the voodoo doll which had been on twitter and facebook.
“And this was found buried in the garden of poor Mr Moyes?”
“Yes.”
“He was a fine man. A man with no prejudices, Mr McLairy. I can bet you a hundred pounds he wouldn't have believed in voodoo dolls for a single minute and I'll tell you why. Voodoo dolls only exist in fiction. They are in books and films the white supremacists used to raise up hatred against people like me.”
She grinned. I can't recommend her dentist either.
“They don't like people of colour and they hate women in particular. The poppet was a figure in folklore in Europe long before there was such a thing as Louisiana or the enslavement of Africa. A doll was baptised with the name of the person they wanted to harm. Anything done to the poppet would happen to the person it represented.”
“Voodoo is about keeping in touch with the spirits of our ancestors. What you believe is not that different.”
“You must understand that the person who told the police about the doll must be the person who put it there. And Mr Moyes wasn't frightened to death nor is it a case of natural causes either.”
“You see, I could be a detective too,” she added.
“Will you help us?” I found myself asking.
“I've been helping you. If there is anything else I can do for you just tell me. Pray for me, Mr McLairy and I will pray for you.”
I told Micah that I wasn't sure what to make of all this.
“Whatever I'd been drinking it wasn't tea.”
“What do you mean?”
“I had the feeling if I'd stayed much longer I'd have agreed with anything Yolanda Moughan had to say. I might even have signed up to the voodoo religion.”
“I imagine Father Simon would have been less than pleased about that,” Micah smiled, then she was all businesslike again.
“I think you established quite a lot. The doll was intended to implicate Yolanda Moughan or her co-religionists. I agree with her that the planter of the doll and the murderer could well be one and the same person. I haven't been idle while you've been away. Let's take Barker for a walk and I can tell you all about it.”
To be continued
Paperback edition Some people prefer paperbacks and you can borrow them from libraries which is a plus.
No comments:
Post a Comment