The Strange Ghostly Tale Of Slippery Jake The Regency Rake. Chapter 25 They Try It On Again With Strange Consequences.

Chapter 25:

They Try It on Again With Strange Consequences:

It was the start of December. There were just three weeks to Christmas. The term had ended thank God. The Bull was draped with festive bunting. Christmas was really a pagan festival. Combined with the first of January it was designed to carry people through the dark days of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Better to be full and bloated plus knocked out with alcohol, than face those dark cold, and wet winter days without any crutch.

Maybe it was not a bad time to plan a robbery. The Bull was really busy. The robbers had been in and were taking a hard look at the premises. The Detective Chief Inspector had his suspicions. Slippery knew for certain. He could 'read' those people as they walked around the Bull. He knew who they were and had plans for them.

It was the first weekend of December. The Detective Chief Inspector had his policewomen and men ready. This included the two young detectives. There was also an armed response unit on hand. British Police do not customarily carry firearms. A truncheon or baton and sometimes a taser were carried. If firearms were suspected to be used, a specialist arms unit would be called up. That is the way I hoped it would stay in the UK. The intelligence was that this gang used sawn-off shotguns, and possibly revolvers.

The police would be ready if they attempted a break-in. Old Slippery would also be ready.

It was a cold miserable early December. There was a persistent sleety drizzle. At around 2 am they struck. They knew what they were doing. They neutralized the alarm system and managed to get through the bolted doors at the side, by skillfully breaking the glass. This was all being observed by the police. Who were waiting in vans nearby and carefully took up position both inside and outside the pub?

There were five of them, yes armed with shotguns and pistols. The armed response unit was also ready. The robbers carefully went down the stairs and made straight for Slippery's sword. Kevin and Sandra had found a discrete spot to hide in the Cellar Bar, plus time to set up their full range of equipment, including the thermal recording gear.

Old Slippery was also there waiting for them, regally sitting on his downstairs chair, stroking his goatee beard which had reappeared yet again. The sword was resting on his lap. He was assiduously sharpening the rapier with his whetstone, especially the pointed end.

The five of them approached the chair. They looked at the sword. They looked at the ghost. Yes, a little nonplussed, but one went straight away to grab the rapier. Old Slippery grabbed his faithful blade and thrust it straight through the heart of the advancing thief. He died at once on the spot. This is what he had planned all along. This was the ploy that had put him in good stead during his duels. He was lightning fast. The rapier easily cut through the robber's padded jacket straight into his heart.

In the meantime, the police had run into the room along with the special arms unit. The thieves let blast with their shotguns at Old Slippery. The bullets just went straight through him. He laughed. The special arms unit then let fly with their Glock pistols and their Heckler & Koch G3s S assault rifles. All the thieves lay dead. The Detective Chief Inspector knew that the Chief Coroner and his team would fudge the issue of the sword wounds for the time being. This would create quite a media stir again, however, the Detective Chief Inspector wanted Old Slippery kept out of the frame if possible. The ghost who could mind read all the Detective Chief Inspector's thoughts was pretty pleased with this too.

Old Slippery made a regal bow and an exaggerated twirl of his actual three-cornered hat in the direction of the police then faded away. Most of the police officers present had already experienced the ghost. Those that had not, were updated and informed. All the reports would again fudge his role in these proceedings.

What happened next could be thought of as being even stranger. This was straight out of Dante's Inferno.

The police were standing over the dead bodies making arrangements to have them moved. Old Slippery reappeared on his chair in an instant. He raised both hands up high. Then the spirits of the dead thieves appeared from their bodies. They rived in pain. Their mouths were frothing, distorted, and grimacing. They were all admitting loud groans. The wall at the back seemed to open up. Flames started to spurt up from the depths below. Everyone in the room could feel the heat. With a wave of the Old Ghost's left hand, the spirits of the dead were dispatched to the flames. They quickly floated across the room. They were soon sent to the lowest circles of Hell.

Old Slippery made a gesture to the living in the room. His right index finger pointed downwards with a smile. Then he waved his hand across the assembled group and also gestured toward Sandra and Kevin. He clearly pointed his right index finger upwards, giving a huge smile. So we were all destined to go to heaven? Then he himself vanished again.

Had this happened? What had really taken place?

The Coroner had a close look at the dead bodies of the robbers. He was more than confused. The Coroner noticed the twisted and contorted expressions on their faces. This was not consistent with being killed by gunshots. He did notice some strange marks on the skin of one of the dead robbers. The heart had been perforated with what appeared to be a really fine blade. This did not seem to be a typical sword blade as such. He was a very experienced coroner with years of police service in London. He had not seen anything like this before. He deduced that the gunshots had killed most of the thieves. However, this one individual with these very fine marks? He was not sure. There seemed to be some peculiar signs of healing around the marks that must have taken place after death. He was fully familiar with the situation at the Bull Public House. He was not going to cover anything up though. However, he did leave these findings out of his final report, although he did keep a separate copy for himself of his findings to cover himself if questions were raised about this incident later.

He also noticed that their body temperatures were really low, consistent with being exposed on a glazier or polar ice around minus 40c. Their body temperatures should have dropped to room temperature at this stage.

He only told the Detective Chief Inspector, who said he was wise not to include these additions.

Not only the Detective Chief Inspector, but everyone else had forgotten or had their memories wiped of the strange descents into hell. They all had nightmares though, about all of this, for years afterward.

This did not happen at first. It took a couple of days to take hold. Everybody involved in the incident was told not to talk to outsiders about this. Specialists in this field were brought in, therapists, etc. They took some convincing at first, they assumed too this was some mental delusion. However, video evidence from Sandra and Kevin convinced them all of this had actually taken place, plus visits to the Bull Public House where they actually witnessed Old Slippery. They too were sworn to secrecy.

Both these young people were knocked sideways by these events but quickly recovered as they managed to keep a professional view of all the proceedings. They had captured, or were allowed to capture, the 'fiery decedent to hell'. They would remember that for the rest of their lives.

Again Beryl was annoyed. The paneling in the Cellar Bar Restaurant had been damaged by gunshot for the second time. I was called in again. The same excellent firm was employed. Everything was quickly made 'good'. The panels were replaced with authentic copies at a reasonable price and I got free beer for a while as well.