Calydonian Boar

The head stable lad at Channon’s stables phoned in today to say that one of Jones horses, Calydonian Boar, was behaving oddly. She would spook easily and for no apparent reason, and had thrown her jockey off several times during the early morning ride out on the top gallops. The lad had been present when Jones’s other syndicate punter had taken the ghosted photo. Jones was well liked by all the stable lads being a generous tipper, and was genuinely missed by all.

Why had he bothered to phone about an unseating, must happen all the time? Which in fact it does, but the lad went onto to say that all Jones other horses had been ‘not themselves’ recently.

How many other horses?

Four more according to the lad, all syndicated though.

That must be expensive?

It is, and especially when you have got a couple over at West Lockinge Farm as well!

That did not mean that much, but when he added…

‘Henrietta Knight’s stables, Best Mate’s trainer’ did the penny drop, or should I say pounds as I had him in the office sweepstake a couple of years ago.

Looks like I will have to take a visit to these yards.

For some reason I googled Calydonian Boar, to find not only was it a monster in greek mythology but there is a frieze depicting the hunt in the Ashmolean Museum in Beaumont Street. Not that far from Jones’s office in the science area.

Damn, should have asked for the names of his other horses although what it would have given me I have not a clue.

Car found

Our enquires appear to be showing some reward as we received a call from the Met to say that Jones’s car had been found in one of their car pounds in west London. It had been in a residents parking spot in South Kensington since before Christmas and had been towed away about a month later. It was registered in France which was why they couldn’t trace the owner.

It was only after they searched the interior did a bank statement come to light. A rather healthy one, especially as the car was a battered old 2CV. Car was pretty clean, in the forensic sense apart from a large number of betting slips and race cards. Both UK and French race courses.

Jones’s wife had no idea of his interest in Horse Racing and could not explain his visits to Deuville and Longchamp. She always thought that those trips abroad were to either Cern, which is huge and lies underneath France and Switzerland. Or to the The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble (Twin city of Oxford!) which is a smaller version of the Harwell one. She also had no idea about the bank account that the statement was for. Seems rather bewildered by all the revelations.

Lewis

Text message

A text from Lively this lunchtime.
'How many other scientific sites are there in the county that Jones may have contact with?'

I'm going to require an assistant at this rate.
Should I contact them all and ask them to keep an eye out for a ghost?

What about the horse racing fraternity, loads to the south of the county and over on the Berkshire Downs?

Lewis

Chemistry Research Labs

Chemistry

Plant Science

Lively!!!

Woke up this morning to the phone ringing. It was Lively, who I had not heard from since that novelist’s case over a year ago. I thought she had left the force. A lunchtime drink at the Vicky Arms in Marston was quickly arranged and at 12.30 she duly turned up. Her appearance had changed somewhat to what she described as ‘new age.’ I’d seen the likes of this before down at the Newbury by-pass protests back in ’96 but Lively??

Then the truth came out, she hasn’t left the force but had gone underground and infiltrated SPEAK, one of the Animal Rights protest groups, but worryingly, an extremely militant and direction action outfit. They are very prominent in the ongoing protests down South Parks Road over the construction of the new biomedical research building. You may have seen it on the news.

However she was in the city showing some new members of the group yesterday morning the area around the building site in preparation for the 24 hr vigil the group were having this coming Friday. She took the opportunity to take photographs of the surrounding building whilst they were walking around just to familiarise the newbies in case it became a running battle and they might have to leg it and hide. Police on horseback are not liked at all, GOOD!

But on downloading the pictures late last night, yes you have guessed it, who should turn up in not one, but three locations close the construction site, dear old Alan Jones. She knew on the grapevine that I was working on it as it had been believed that he had been undertaking research that involved testing on animals. The rumour on the net was that their group had kidnapped him, hadn’t I seen this?

Why should I?

‘Don’t you monitor the internet activity’ she said quizzically to me.

I told her what we had uncovered so far, Jones popping up here and there in odd photos but apart from the stables, all scientific sites where he had worked. The strange slow ghost like disappearance of his fixed stance.

She pulled out her camera and we viewed the images.
‘Looks like he’s pressing something and time has stood still’
She then past me an usb drive, downed her pint, and left.

Synchrotron!

Yet another sighting and this time not that far away from Mick Channons gallops being on the downs above. The Architect, taking site photos, captured him this time, waiting for a shot when no one was in the way. Lo and behold Alan Jones pops up to spoil the shot. I see this building is the largest science facility to be built in the UK for almost 30 years, and they have already got the booster synchrotron up to a speed close to the speed of light.

Somebody used the phrase ‘Heavy Jelly’ in the office when hearing about it, but the little knowledge I have gained so far is that should be reserved to the activities on the Culham site.

The project manager also confirmed that Jones and others had booked a slot in the facility when it comes on stream in 2007. He took me around and its vast inside, the circular concrete tube where the electrons will be blasted around is like a two lane highway with all these hutches coming off the perimeter where the experimentation will be conducted. Its one of these hutches that Jones has booked. Wonder what he was going to do?

We have all been looking at the photos and it appears that not only is he always in a fixed position, although this sighting he has reversed, he is gradually fading away. Are we into the realms of science fiction here?

Lewis

A betting man?

So what do you know about horse racing?

Me? Not a lot, but just after lunchtime we received a phone call from Mick Channon’s stables down at West Ilsley just over the border into Berkshire. Jones is a client of the stables and has shares in a number of the horses that train at the yard. They had been aware of his disappearance and had not seen him since Christmas because he was a frequent visitor there. Given that it’s a quick trip down the A34, not surprising. Where is his car though? A French registered 2CV apparently.

Well, one of their other punters and a member of the same syndicate that Jones has a stake in, was in the yard and taking a photo on his phone of one of their new horses to send to another member in Dubai, I think he said, when he captured Jones in the shot. Jones was not there of course, and the copy is grainy, but they swear it is him.

So a racehorse owner, and something that his wife, family and colleagues were totally unaware of.

A secret life!

This does indeed deepen.

Lewis