Trahaym Bach Historical Society; Cardiff, Wales

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Ianto Jones rarely did field work. Between his fears and Jack's concerns, Ianto stayed close to the office. The car accident made it worse. But he needed to stop hiding. Meeting with Teri Pierce was a start. After a brief chat with Teri, Ianto realized connecting Maddox to the historical society wouldn't be as simple as computer work. Most of the society's files were paper.

He rang the bell and the door buzzed open. The walls were a dark red with russet wood at the baseboard and ceiling. Paintings on the wall were historical scenes of Wales. A Welsh red dragon adorned the wall next to a doorway. Teri stepped into the hallway.

"Nice to finally meet you." Teri smiled. "Jack said you spoke Welsh and were interested in Welsh mythology."

"Yep." Being connected to Lewella required both.

"Not enough people care."

"I've done a lot of research into my family history. I was inspired last year." Finding out his family was somehow connected to a supernatural being that took an interest in him made it necessary.

"My grandmother used to tell me wonderful stories." She motioned down the hall. "Are you going to explain what this is really about?"

"A device similar to the one Dr. Petrescu removed here was found in a local house. I need to find the connection between the society and the residents."

"Do you have pictures?"

Ianto removed his mobile from an inner pocket and brought up a picture of Laren and Maddox. Teri looked at the picture. "She looks so familiar. What's her surname?"

"McDougall."

"That's Scottish. Is she married?"

"Leslie McDougall Dacus."

Teri looked up from the picture. "That name I know." She nodded. "Leslie is Laren's sister?"

"Yeah."

"Reverend Dacus." Teri lowered her voice. "He's a piece of work."

"How is he connected to the society?"

"His church donates quilts and other traditional Welsh handicrafts. While we accept all kinds of donations related to Welsh culture and history," Teri hesitated, "Reverend Dacus believes their donations are of higher quality."

"He's a self-righteous arse?" Laren's description was more colorful. Her brother-in-law thought very highly of himself, his view of religion and had a low opinion of women in general. Everything Laren did to help her sister, including moving to another country, wasn't enough. Dacus expected Laren to join his congregation and behave accordingly.

Teri nodded.

"Is there any chance the device found in the basement arrived with his congregation's donations?"

"I doubt it. Their donations are quilts and general needlework."

Something about needlework reminded Ianto of one of Dmitri's reports. "Do you have pictures? Any embroidery? Anything framed?"

"Yeah." She said uneasily. "Why?"

"Dr. Petrescu needs to take a look."

Teri showed Ianto to a sitting room with shelves of binders and dark wood furniture. "Unless we're displaying them, we store items in very controlled conditions for preservation. The binders make it possible to plan displays and show materials between displays."

Ianto claimed a table. "It's organized by donor?"

"By contributor, type of item, age. It varies."

Ianto called Dmitri and explained what he was doing. "You reported an embroidered device."

"A ward at the house Martin Tew rigged. I identified it by the engraved frame, not the needlework," Dmitri explained.

Ianto asked Teri about frames.

"If it was part of the art and not damage." Teri hesitated. "Are you looking for something specific?"

"I'll switch to speaker phone." Ianto then set the mobile on the table. "Can you give me an idea of what I'm looking for?"

"Possibly. The engraving was indistinct in a photograph but appeared to be Welsh." Dmitri took a moment. "It might make you uneasy."

"We're not talking creepy paintings?" From Teri's expression, he suspected she already knew the answer.

"No, ma'am. The feeling often described as 'someone is walking over my grave.' That type of uneasy."

"Uh." Teri looked like she just thought of something. "I have time to give you a tour of storage, Dr. Petrescu. Would you be available?"

"Yes. I need to arrange a ride. I'll call John."

"Perfect."

Dmitri ended the call.

"What's wrong?" Ianto asked. "Reverend Dacus's church is not the only congregation that donates handicrafts."

Jack Harkness noticed Ianto's car wasn't in the garage when he returned to the hub for lunch. He checked his mobile. An earlier message mentioned Teri Pierce. Jack checked the time. If Ianto went to the society, he should have been back already.

Jack was debating calling when his phone rang. "I was wondering where you were."

"Run out of coffee?" Ianto's joke sounded forced.

"Yeah. I don't know how the coffee pot works." Jack gave it a moment. "What happened?"

"Teri offered Dmitri a tour of storage. He found something. He's not sure what. We need to transport several boxes."

"Why?"

Ianto explained about Laren, Reverend Dacus, and the possible connection to the piece Marvyn Tew used. "The Light and the Way donated the boxes. The society will have to list the donations as damaged and discarded to avoid problems."

That church was a cult with white nationalist ties. "I'll bring the van."

Hughes Flats

Gwen Cooper reviewed an update she received from Andy while taking a break from cleaning. The attempted abduction near Williams Haulage had several problems. Corsen Blethen refused to cooperate. The CCTV footage of the attack was clear enough to see the man attack her. It was enough to arrest Gerrell Thoburn, but not enough to hold him. He disappeared. Cowley surprisingly kept investigating and determined that Blethen wasn't an escort but taking donations to a women's charity. According to his report, he had no idea why she was in the area and she refused to say. He'd been unable to follow-up as she ditched her burner.

There were various reasons victims of crimes wouldn't cooperate. A background on Blethen showed she'd been a victim of domestic abuse as a teenager and spent two years in foster care. Her mother died and was possibility murdered when Blethen was in care. Her father was in prison for beating his girlfriend to death while awaiting trial on an unrelated case. It reminded Gwen of the missing children. A cult hadn't been ruled out. But any of that could explain why Blethen refused to cooperate.

Less than a week after being released from jail, Thoburn was found in Grangemoor Park near the Ely River. He'd been fatally shot. The head wound killed him, but he'd been shot three times in or around the groin first. Dr. Floyd once commented that if she had a male body in the morgue that had been shot in the groin, she could reasonably assume he raped someone.

Gwen couldn't help but wonder about the vigilante. All known victims were easily identifiable because of strange injuries. Except the man who attacked Blethen. It could have been the situation or that Rhys witnessed it, but Thoburn's injuries were different. Which suggested there could be more victims with different injuries.

Regardless of who killed him or even why he targeted Blethen, the question of Gwen had related to the abduction attempt. Why were Blethen and Thoburn anywhere near Williams Haulage? Neither the uniforms nor Cowley could answer that one. She needed more information on both to guess.

Anwen interrupted by sitting across the table from her. "We're feeling neglected."

Gwen smiled, closing her laptop. "I haven't been sitting here that long."

"At least twenty minutes." Anwen made a show of checking her watch. "You pick us up from school now so we don't feel like our parents don't love us."

"What would make you feel more loved?"

"Pizza." Anwen was trying to keep a straight face and failing.

Gwen laughed. "Try again."

"You've been cleaning for two hours. Do you really want to cook? Dad will be home soon."

"I'll cook."

Anwen tried for a look of horror. "First neglect and then child abuse."

Trefor stepped into the main room from their bedroom and called, "I want pepperoni."