Bertrand Fortescue
21/08/11 13:05
The Delivery
Peter Devlin
Home shopping, customer credit and home delivery have
been with us for many years now. Harrods of London and J C Penney
have both had such a facility for many years.
Early one morning there is a ring at the doorbell (or
possibly the tradesmans' entrance). Once answered it proves to be
James Sheridan, the regular delivery driver for Harrods. He has a
large wicker basket full of goodies as ordered earlier that week.
However, the wrong items seem to have been delivered.
Possibilities
1 The basket contains the expected groceries and a severed
human finger (left hand ring finger, female, with engagement ring
included). It is neatly wrapped in brown paper and tied with
string, in a manner similar to a small parcel of butcher meat. It
has only recently been separated from its owner, not with
surgical precision but with skill nonetheless.
There is a letter inside a sealed envelope. Composed of
letters cut from the Times, it says Bring the 1000 to the train
station in time for the 19.45 express train to Dover.
The hallmark and inscription inside the ring allow it to
be traced via Herzberg Jewllers to its purchaser Basil Milton, a
minor aristocrat living in Belgravia. Basils intended, Miss Mary
Sheldon, was kidnapped two days ago during a walk on Hampstead
Heath.
The identity of the kidappers is a mystery. They have an
unwitting accomplice who works for Harrods and it is he who
accidentally put the kidnappers demand in the wrong basket. If
apprehended he did not even know the contents of the parcel or
about the kidnapping, he was simply bribed to add a package to
a delivery.
2 The wrong basket has been delivered. It contains a picnic
meal for two (including a fine bottle of claret) and the first
sealed clue for a forthcoming weekend treasure hunt. The intended
recipient is Clytemnestra Poppelwell, a scatty heiress-to-be. If
the baskets are swapped back Clytemnestra will be keen to have
her rescuers join the treasure hunt with her.
The treasure hunt has been arranged by Bertrand Fortescue,
a simply charming London socialite. He is the bastard son of
Arglye Poppelwell, Clytemnestras father. He plans to bump off
Clytemnestra during the treasure hunt, faking an accident. Then,
when old man Poppelwell finally dies of terminal gout, he will
inherit the family estates and fortune. He sees little trouble
in doing so as all of Clytemnestras friends are airheads just
like she is.
3 The basket contains a polished mahogany presentation
box 4 x 4 x 4. The inside is green velvet lined and contains an
odd grey/blue spherical rock formation just slightly larger than
a billiards ball. A handwritten card describes it as An unusually
hard opaque silicate formation, highly decorative and resistant
to accidental damage. The ideal paperweight.
The rock is a Cthonian egg, discovered by Ms. Erma Smits,
a moderately well known sculptor. She has been supplying small
original sculptures to the more exclusive stores for sale as
gifts and curios. Erma lives in Yorkshire where she finds natural
rock formations to be the ideal starting point for her pieces. She
unwittingly found the egg in the effluvium of a flash flood which
caused her local river to burst its banks. Some distance upriver
from her home is a tributary fed by The Spout, a fast-flowing
stream that emerges from the base of a large cliff face.
Someone has chosen the paperweight as a birthday gift for
the scholarly recluse in their life. It now represents a good
financial investment as the morning papers all contain the tragic
news that Ms. Erma Smitts, respected sculptor, was killed just
yesterday when her ramshackle cottage collapsed during a minor
earthquake. Other articles tell of small aftershocks which have
been occurring in the last 24 hours.
Copyright (c) 1997 Peter Devlin
pdevlin@scotsys.co.uk
Peter Devlin
Home shopping, customer credit and home delivery have
been with us for many years now. Harrods of London and J C Penney
have both had such a facility for many years.
Early one morning there is a ring at the doorbell (or
possibly the tradesmans' entrance). Once answered it proves to be
James Sheridan, the regular delivery driver for Harrods. He has a
large wicker basket full of goodies as ordered earlier that week.
However, the wrong items seem to have been delivered.
Possibilities
1 The basket contains the expected groceries and a severed
human finger (left hand ring finger, female, with engagement ring
included). It is neatly wrapped in brown paper and tied with
string, in a manner similar to a small parcel of butcher meat. It
has only recently been separated from its owner, not with
surgical precision but with skill nonetheless.
There is a letter inside a sealed envelope. Composed of
letters cut from the Times, it says Bring the 1000 to the train
station in time for the 19.45 express train to Dover.
The hallmark and inscription inside the ring allow it to
be traced via Herzberg Jewllers to its purchaser Basil Milton, a
minor aristocrat living in Belgravia. Basils intended, Miss Mary
Sheldon, was kidnapped two days ago during a walk on Hampstead
Heath.
The identity of the kidappers is a mystery. They have an
unwitting accomplice who works for Harrods and it is he who
accidentally put the kidnappers demand in the wrong basket. If
apprehended he did not even know the contents of the parcel or
about the kidnapping, he was simply bribed to add a package to
a delivery.
2 The wrong basket has been delivered. It contains a picnic
meal for two (including a fine bottle of claret) and the first
sealed clue for a forthcoming weekend treasure hunt. The intended
recipient is Clytemnestra Poppelwell, a scatty heiress-to-be. If
the baskets are swapped back Clytemnestra will be keen to have
her rescuers join the treasure hunt with her.
The treasure hunt has been arranged by Bertrand Fortescue,
a simply charming London socialite. He is the bastard son of
Arglye Poppelwell, Clytemnestras father. He plans to bump off
Clytemnestra during the treasure hunt, faking an accident. Then,
when old man Poppelwell finally dies of terminal gout, he will
inherit the family estates and fortune. He sees little trouble
in doing so as all of Clytemnestras friends are airheads just
like she is.
3 The basket contains a polished mahogany presentation
box 4 x 4 x 4. The inside is green velvet lined and contains an
odd grey/blue spherical rock formation just slightly larger than
a billiards ball. A handwritten card describes it as An unusually
hard opaque silicate formation, highly decorative and resistant
to accidental damage. The ideal paperweight.
The rock is a Cthonian egg, discovered by Ms. Erma Smits,
a moderately well known sculptor. She has been supplying small
original sculptures to the more exclusive stores for sale as
gifts and curios. Erma lives in Yorkshire where she finds natural
rock formations to be the ideal starting point for her pieces. She
unwittingly found the egg in the effluvium of a flash flood which
caused her local river to burst its banks. Some distance upriver
from her home is a tributary fed by The Spout, a fast-flowing
stream that emerges from the base of a large cliff face.
Someone has chosen the paperweight as a birthday gift for
the scholarly recluse in their life. It now represents a good
financial investment as the morning papers all contain the tragic
news that Ms. Erma Smitts, respected sculptor, was killed just
yesterday when her ramshackle cottage collapsed during a minor
earthquake. Other articles tell of small aftershocks which have
been occurring in the last 24 hours.
Copyright (c) 1997 Peter Devlin
pdevlin@scotsys.co.uk