Silhouettes of a Moving Statue

By Richard Pinkerton

Pirates terrorise the South Pacific in a submarine, led by the infamous Tiny Flynn as well as a crazy man who believes he’s a vampire; Captain Rigourmortis. Colin Hewes, second in charge of the Rex Cassidy Investigators, leads a team undercover to bring down the pirate scum.

Meanwhile Rex leads the rest of the team on a dangerous search for Captain Bjorn Van Heath's long lost treasure.

Who is the mysterious Black Friday, a man in a hockey mask? Is there really an ancient pirate’s curse on the RCI? And is there really such things as ghosts?

Sequel to "The Mystery of the Moving Statue".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Pinkerton
• Release date: Apr 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463558560

Richard Pinkerton

I am in my early 50s and have been writing now since I was 12. I prefer to write light-hearted drama but have written a little fantasy horror and science fiction too. I have an entire series of high school novels (19 of them so far) set in New Zealand (The Mob from TAC series), which I will gradually publish if there is a demand. I prefer to use a mix of quirky and outrageous characters you would never come across in reality and also your every day Joes. My writings are aimed at teenagers mainly, but also young adults. I have also written a series of detective novelettes, most of which can be found on my website. The majority require work, to be able to be published here, mainly due to copyright issues. Please do leave feedback or contact me if you want to know more about my books.

Book preview

Silhouettes of a Moving Statue

The Ghost of Bjorn Van Heath

(Book 15 in the Rex Cassidy Investigators series)

Published by Richard Pinkerton at Smashwords

Copyright 2020 Richard Pinkerton

Other books by Richard Pinkerton

Dead End High

Dead End Town

Time Warped

The Mob from TAC series

The Rex Cassidy Investigators

The Curse of the Witchdoctor

The Secret of the Devil’s Triangle

The Gruesome Murders at Manhattan High

The Case of the Cattle Rustlers

The Mystery of the Moving Statue

The Secret of the Phantom Clown

The Case of the Landmark Terrorists

The Great Prison Break

Doppelganger Madness

The Angel and the Hag

Aliens in Atlantis

The Revenge of Dr Dream

The Return of Fingers McGraw

The Angel Cassidy Rescue

The Legacy of a Roving Buccaneer

The Return of Fingers McGraw II

The Isle of Bad Dreams

CHAPTER 1:

Pete Does some Digging

Rex and Vanessa were relaxing out on the grounds of the Rex Cassidy Investigator’s Estate, sipping on glasses of orange juice and watching their youngest two kids playing on a blanket with toys. Their table overlooked flower gardens and a stream. It was a tranquil place that Rex and his wife enjoyed coming to. It was a beautiful day. The water of the stream sparkled and the trees rustled in the light breeze.

The peacefulness was broken when Tucker Pyles bowled across the grass towards them. ‘He’ll be here in five minutes.’ Their overweight colleague plonked himself down at a chair at their table, which seemed to barely be able to support his weight.

‘It’s been a long time,’ Rex said. ‘How old were we when he left school? I think I was sixteen.’

‘Yeah,’ Tucker said. He eyed the plate of crackers and cheese on the table, hungrily. ‘And I haven’t seen him since. We’ve been online friends for years, but he’s rarely on there and never posts any photographs. I wonder what he looks like now.’

Vanessa sipped on her juice. ‘I don’t think I ever met the guy, right? He’d left school before I arrived at Te Arawa College. What was his name? Vin Diesel?’

‘Vin Deemas. But because his name was similar, we called him Diesel. But you’d remember him if you saw him. He broods a lot. Never smiles. I only ever saw him laugh once. He has jagged teeth.’

‘Jagged teeth?’ Vanessa laughed. ‘Seriously? What, did he file them or something?’

‘Nup,’ Tucker smiled. ‘Would you believe it was due to a car accident when he was a kid? His face got smashed up and his teeth shattered.’

‘Come again?’ Rex snorted.

‘Surely his teeth would have just got knocked out?’ Vanessa said, pushing her long dark hair over her ear.

‘That’s what he told me. I didn’t argue.’

‘Surely he’s had them replace by now though,’ Rex said. ‘Who’s want to go around with teeth like that all your life?’

‘I don’t know.’

Tucker’s eyes were back on the cheese and crackers.

‘Would you like one?’ Vanessa asked, her sapphire-blue eyes twinkling.

‘UBBAAAAA!’ Tucker cried out and snatched one off the plate engulfing it in one mouthful. He smiled as he crunched on it.

‘So, I guess we should come inside.’ Rex stood up. ‘We’ll see if Diesel’s teeth are still the way they used to be or whether he’s had a few pieces shattered since.’

‘I’ll deal with the kids,’ Vanessa said. ‘See you guys in there.’

Tucker grabbed the plate of crackers and they left. They passed by the estate pool and entered the party room, which opened out onto the pool area. Pete Cook was in there at one of the tables with a laptop computer, a pile of books and magazines. Pete wasn’t one for study and as far as Rex was aware, he wasn’t going for any qualifications. He was content to be part of the Rex Cassidy Investigators, working on cases.

Tucker was the first one to comment and stepped up behind their short, spikey-haired colleague. ‘What the hell, Pete? Is that a history book? What kind of ubbhead are you?’

Pete turned his head to give Tucker a dirty look. 'Since all the news recently about piracy I thought I’d do a little research.’ He turned to Rex. ‘I just can’t believe it’s started up again. I thought we'd done away with that shit years ago.'

Rex nodded. It had been all over the news recently about modern-day pirates operating. And not just small operations. Something big.

Pete tapped at one of his magazines. 'Yeah, so the news has been saying. They're saying that a submarine of some kind is involved this time. We should investigate.'

Rex chuckled. 'Leave it for the cops... or the coast guard or the marines or whatever.'

'Ah come on, Rex. It's been over a year now since Angel's death. Isn't it about time you got yourself involved in another case? You know Tiny Flynn's out there somewhere - him and some of the other creeps we put away. It seems we lock these guys up and they escape.'

'That's half the problem,' Rex said. 'The system can't seem to keep them locked up. And then the odd few like the Fingers McGraws and Tiny Flynns of this world all want to come looking for revenge. I don't want that anymore. I have too much at stake now. I have kids now and of course, Vanessa to protect. There is no way I am ever gonna let anything happen to them. Not after what's happened in the past.'

Pete winced. 'But we've seen neither hide nor hair of McGraw or Flynn. Maybe this time they've decided just to remain hidden and avoid the consequences of having to deal with you.'

'I'd like to think that's the case, but I'm not holding my breath. You know how much Vanessa means to me and what I went through when she was in that coma for three years. There's no way I'm gonna let anything happen to her… or the kids either.'

Rex shuddered at the thought. Vanessa was the most precious thing in his life and all he cared about was making her happy and she had been so happy over the last year. It felt so good to see the joy in her again, which had been missing for so long after she'd awoken from her coma to find him married to Angel.

'I understand,' Pete said. ‘It's great to see Vanessa back to her adorable happy self again, the Vanessa who always lights up the entire place just by her presence. The Vanessa who makes everyone smile just by being there. But even she says you should get back into detective work. Even she says the world needs Rex Cassidy.'

'She's a darling,' Out of the corner of his eye he noticed another of their colleagues enter the room and head in their direction. 'She knows how much being a detective means to me, but she means more to me than that and so do my kids.'

Mad Dave Harris stepped up to them and rubbed his goatee. The tall skinny Englishman had recently joined the Rex Cassidy Investigator, after having been involved in the mob. Instead of working on the side of crime, he was now fighting against them. ‘Gordon Bennett, Pete, I didn’t see you as the studious type.’

Pete grunted. ‘Don’t you start. I’m just doing a bit of research for a possible case we could take on. Taking down those modern-day pirates who have been terrorising the oceans recently. We did it before with that lot pretending to be a tour operation in England. I reckon we can deal with this lot too.’

Mad Dave grinned. 'From what I heard, you guys really did a great job of bringing down that lot.'

Pete chuckled. 'You should have been there, Dave. One of the ships was this cruise ship set up with masts and sails that did nothing. It was captained by this ridiculous guy who thought he was a real 16th-century pirate. His name was Bjorn Van Heath.'

Pete pointed to a page in one of the open books. 'I've just been reading about his ancestor, the original Bjorn Van Heath the pirate. They say he was a vicious buccaneer, a man who showed no mercy. If he invaded a ship, no one escaped alive. He hoarded a heap of treasure.'

Tucker intervened,’ Which we found when we took down that pirating operation in England.’

'Yeah and it cost the Bjorn Van Heath we knew his life,' Pete said. 'The guy was reckless. Set off a booby trap and got himself impaled.' He tapped the book. 'It says here that Van Heath invaded a ship with a fortune of doubloons on it. He made the Captain of the vessel walk the plank, but just before he walked off, he cursed Van Heath and his crew. '

'So, what happened to him in the end according to that book?' Rex asked.

'Nobody knows, but it does say that things started to go wrong aboard the ship and his men started dying of scurvy. Half the crew mutinied because they wanted to get off the ship. Van Heath and his loyal men managed to quell the mutiny and killed all the mutineers. But things kept going wrong. They ran out of water and ended up with only rum to drink. Van Heath's men had enough. While he was drunk, the men fled in a small boat leaving Van Heath on his own. These men survived to tell the tale, but Van Heath and his ship were never seen again. What's interesting is I did an Internet search to find out more and apparently thirty years ago, there was this guy who reckoned he'd found a series of cryptic clues to some of Van Heath's hidden treasure.'

Rex reeled. In their previous case, involving Van Heath they’d also uncovered a series of cryptic clues, which had led to the treasure they ultimately found. 'What? Another one?'

'Yeah! The guy claimed it was a code to his final stash, with all the doubloons. But the guy was electrocuted in his kitchen and no one has ever been able confirm his claim about the riddles.' He looked up at Rex. ‘Remember how we were told that Bjorn Van Heath had a habit of writing clues to the whereabouts of his treasure rather than drawing maps? That's how we found that stash of treasure in those underground tunnels beneath Prindle's Square.’

‘I remember,’ Rex said.

‘So, this could be legit. could be the real thing.’

Rex rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 'Wow. Too bad the riddles were never recovered. Pete, did the Internet say who the guy was who was electrocuted?'

'Some guy named Jackson Priestly from Sussex England.'

Rex pondered on the possibility of finding that riddle, but in the end snorted. ‘Nah! It's too much of a long shot. The clues are probably long gone. If they were still in his house, someone would have picked them up by now and probably disposed of them.'

'Maybe not such a long shot.' A gleam was in Pete's eyes. 'I did some further investigation. The original house Priestly died in is still owned by his family. His son lives there now.'

'Still seems like a long shot to me.'

'Still...' Pete said. 'It might be worth checking out, right?'

Rex slowly nodded his head. 'Sure. Why not?'

* * *

‘Diesel!’ Tucker said as he opened the front door to the house. ‘It’s bloody awesome to…’ His words trailed off.

The man who stood before him had to be about 6 foot 6. He had long dark flowing hair and was dressed in jeans and a heavy metal T-shirt. Maori tattoos went from the left side of his face, down his neck and arms, although he wasn’t Maori. He was white, in fact, pale while. He peered at Tucker, sending a shiver down his spine. It felt like the grim-reaper was here to take him away.

Nevertheless, that pointed nose and piercing eyes were unmistakably the guy Tucker knew for a short while at school. ‘Diesel?’

‘Hello, Tucker.’

There were no doubts now. When he spoke, Tucker could see his teeth and they were still jagged like they always were.

‘Wow,’ Tucker said. ‘You’ve shot up.’

‘And you’ve got fatter.’ He still didn’t smile.

‘Come in.’ He glanced at Diesel’s suitcase at his feet. ‘Bring your suitcase in.’

Diesel grunted, picked up his suitcase and followed Tucker in.

‘Man, Diese, it’s sure good to see you again after all these years. You look bloody scary with all those tats on you. But you do realise you’re not Maori, right?’

‘You can have Maori tattoos and not actually be Maori, you know.’

‘I know, but still…’

Tucker led Diesel into the communal living room where the RCI often hung out when they weren’t in their own private accommodations.

‘Hey, everybody, I’d like you to meet Diesel… well, most of you already know him.

Colin Hewes and Jo Ashley were the first to jump from their seats to greet him. The four of them had hung out at high school. Both Col and Jo grinned from ear to ear, but Diesel kept the same solemn look on his face.

‘Man, Diesel, it’s been so long,’ said the burly Colin Hewes. ‘So good to have you come stay with us.’

‘Diese!’ Jo shook his hand. ‘Good to see you. Nice tattoos.’

‘Thanks. Thought you’d like them.’

Jo examined the side of Diesel’s face. ‘They look pretty authentic.’

‘And Jo would know,’ Tucker said. ‘He’s Maori.’

‘Yeah,’ Diesel scowled. ‘I know!’

‘Still just as cheerful as ever, I see,’ Colin said.

Diesel hesitated when Rex stepped up.

‘Hi, Diesel,’ Rex said and extended his hand.

Diesel slowly extended his hand.

‘Relax!’ Tucker said. ‘We’re all friends now.’

‘Yeah… I can hardly believe it,’ Diesel said. ‘You guys used to hate each other’s guts.’

‘Things change,’ Rex said. ‘And I see you’ve changed too. Even taller than me now. By about three inches I make it.’

‘Yeah.’

Tucker had to admit, all this old high school buddies were looking good. All of them had muscles. Joseph was a mean lean sporty guy who loved his rugby while Colin was more the pro-wrestler type, being a little weightier but with solid muscle. Diesel himself, although looking in good shape was leaner. Rex stood out the most though with his muscular physique, even though he wasn’t as tall