The Dead of Jericho

'But-'

'Yes, I know. If you've got some little typist next door who can't spell, you give her the sack. And quite right, too. That's her job, and none of us want to sign illiterate letters. But I'll say it again: whoever wrote this letter knew exactly what he was up to. And it's just the same with the punctuation, if you look a little more closely. Full stops and question marks are all cock-eyed-but they don't affect what's being said.' Morse banged the table with a rather frightening intensity. 'No! Jackson did not write that letter.'

He wrote two words on the pad in front of him and passed the sheet over. 'What do you make of those?'

Lewis looked down at egog and metantatopi, but managed to decipher neither of these orthographic monstrosities.

'You've no idea, have you?' continued Morse. 'And I don't blame you, because that's the sort of thing your illiterate johnnies sink to. The first word's supposed to be "hedgehog", and the second's "meat and potato pie"-and they're both genuine! Chap from the examination board told me. Do you see what I mean?'

Yes, Lewis was beginning to wonder if the chief hadn't got something; but wasn't he assuming that Jackson was illiterate? If someone found a book on your shelves entitled Teach Yourself to Spell, it didn't automatically mean…

But Morse was still going on. 'And then there's this business of the money, isn't there? If Jackson thought he'd got a soft touch for a nice little bit of blackmail, I reckon he'd have asked for one helluva sight more than a measly-'

'Perhaps he did, sir.'

The interjection stopped Morse in his tracks, and he nodded in reluctant agreement. 'Ye-es. You know, I hadn't thought of that.'

'Don't you think, anyway, that it might be better to find out about this? Find out whether Jackson could write?'

'You're right! Get on to that woman at the Post Office down there, Mrs. Whatsername-'

'Mrs. Beavers.'

'That's her. Get on to her and ask her how Jackson signed for his OAP. And since she's such a nosy old bugger, ask her who Jackson was doing a bit of work for before he died-apart from Anne Scott. Do you know what, Lewis? I reckon you'll find that Jackson was doing one or two other little jobs as well.'

***

Three-quarters of an hour later Lewis learned that Jackson was able, just, to render in alphabetical characters a tentative, resemblance to 'G. Jackson' on his OAP slips. But it wouldn't much have mattered if he'd not even been able to manage that-so Mrs. Beavers asserted. There were one or two of the old 'uns who got by with an 'X', provided that it was inscribed on PO premises in view of one of the staff, or vouched for by some close relative or friend. Mrs. Beavers herself had often had to read or explain to Jackson some notification of change or renewal, or some information about supplementary benefit or rate rebate. And Jackson had readily understood such things-and acted upon them. He was, it seemed, far from unintelligent. The fact remained, however, that to all intents and purposes Jackson was illiterate.

Mrs. Beavers was just as well up with the odd-job needs of the local community as with the literary competences of her clientele. Mrs. Jones in Cardigan Street, had found occasion to hire Jackson's services in planning and rehanging several doors that were sagging and sticking; Mrs. Purvis in Canal Reach had asked Jackson if he could rewire the house for her-the estimate from the Electricity Board was quite ridiculous. Then there was that couple who'd just moved into Albert Street who wanted pelmets made for the windows…

Lewis listened and made his awkward notes. It was, he had to admit, pretty well as Morse had said it would be; and when he reported back to Kidlington the only thing that seemed to interest Morse was, of all things, Mrs. Purvis's rewiring.

'Rewiring, eh? I wonder how much Jackson knocked her back for that? My place needs doing and someone told me it'll cost about £250.'

'Well, it's quite a big job, you know.'

'£250 isn't really a lot these days, though, is it?' said Morse slowly.

'Not enough to keep Jackson quiet, you mean?'

'I keep telling you, Lewis-Jackson didn't write the letter!'

'Who do you think did, then?'

Morse tilted his head slightly and opened the palms of his hands. 'I dunno, except that he-or she-is well enough educated to know how to pretend to be uneducated, if you see what I mean. That letter would have been just the sort I'd have written, Lewis, if someone had asked me to try to write a semi-literate letter.'

'But you're a very well educated man, sir!'

'Certainly so-and don't you forget it! And whilst we're on this education business, I just wonder, Lewis, exactly where Mrs. Purvis went to school when she was a girl.'

It seemed to Lewis the oddest question that had so far posed itself to his unpredictable chief, and the reason for it was still puzzling him as he brought the police car to a halt in front of the bollards that guarded Canal Reach.

Chapter Thirty-One

She sat down and wrote on the four pages of a note-sheet a succinct narrative of those events.

– Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Morse had known-even before he'd noticed the rows of paperback Catherine Cooksons and Georgette Heyers along the two shelves in the little sitting room.

'His name's Graymalkin,' Mrs. Purvis had replied, looking down lovingly at the grey-haired Persian that wove its feline figures-of-eight round her legs. 'It's from Macbeth, Inspector-by William Shakespeare, you know.'

'Oh yes?'

Lewis listened patiently whilst Mrs. Purvis was duly cosseted and encouraged, and it was a relief when Morse finally brought forward the heavier artillery.

'You know, you're making me forget what we called for, Mrs. Purvis. It's about Mr. Jackson, of course, and there are just a few little points to clear up-you know how it is? We're trying to find out a little bit more about the sort of odd jobs he was doing-just to check up on the sort of income he had. By the way, he was doing some work for you, wasn't he?'

'He'd finished. Rewiring the house, it was. He wasn't the neatest sort of man, but he always did a good job.'

'He'd finished, you say?'

'Yes-when would it be now?-'

'And you'd squared up with him?'

Mrs. Purvis leaned down to stroke Graymalkin, and Lewis thought that her eyes were suddenly evasive. 'I squared up with him, yes, before…'

'Mind telling me how much he charged?'

'Well, he wasn't a professional, you know.'

'How much, Mrs. Purvis?'

'£75.' (Why, wondered Lewis, did she make it sound like a guilty admission?)

'Very reasonable,' said Morse.

Mrs. Purvis was stroking the Persian again. 'Quite reasonable, yes.'

'Did he often do jobs for you?'

'Not really. One or two little things. He fixed up the lavatory-'

'Did you ever do any little jobs for him?'

Mrs. Purvis looked up with startled eyes. 'I don't quite see-'

'Mr. Jackson couldn't write very well, could he?'

'Write? I-I don't know really. Of course he hadn't had much education, I knew that, but-'

'You never wrote a letter for him?'

'No, Inspector, I didn't.'

'Not a single letter?'

'Never once in my life! I swear that on the Holy Bible.'

'There's nothing wrong in writing a letter for a neighbour, is there?'

'No, of course there isn't. It's just that I thought-'