Play@YSDC

Leo made a few notes about the described contents of the jar in his PNB before slipping it back into his pocket. "Yeah, I saw the news article about the builder. Nasty business, that. Are you not buying that story?"

"Hang on..." he interjected, picking up his phone and texting Izzy and Nightingale. Do either of you know anything that could go horribly wrong from burning a bunch of personal items important to someone and placing the ashes in a magic jar? I am drawing a blank.

"I am so sorry..." Leo took a sip of tea. "Now...the builder...why did you scoff like that? I recognize that noise you just made. My Gran makes it every time I lie to her."

Skipper is dilligently and meticulously drying cups, not overly quickly though. "I'm only the civvy photographer, Guv, the boss is the young lady plod in the other room. But you don't need to panic or anything, you are just a possible witness, or maybe you can help us with some info, point us in the right direction like. You're not a suspect or nothing like that. On my honour as an old navy lad." Skipper frees up a hand to give Dansen a quick salute.

"Anyway, this is all just about a missing big pot. The DC will explain." He resumes drying of dishes.

Leo, while you text, Archie frowns at Des.

"Just like my grandchildren - always on the bloody phone...” he mutters.

When Leo has finished, the old man ponders the question.

"Well, they reckon he had money troubles - that's why he ran in front of that bus. But I ain't buying that - he was pretty well known around here and it was common knowledge he was doing alright - just landed a big contract up in Birmingham. All he was gonna do was turn the pub into housing, knock down the skittle alley and build on the plot. Plenty had done up old buildings in the village before and plenty have done it since."

Skipper, Dansen waits patiently for you to finish drying up, his face a picture of bemusement.

"Pot? I don't know anything about drugs! Never touched the stuff."

Jordan, looking at the records, the Nutter's fortunes appear to improve at the start of the 2016 season, the same year they moved to the Nennington Arms.

Suddenly, Izzy's phones alerts her to an incoming text from Leo.

"Do either of you know anything that could go horribly wrong from burning a bunch of personal items important to someone and placing the ashes in a magic jar? I am drawing a blank."

As her phone, still on silent, buzzes, Izzy can feel the vibration through the soft leather of her bag, and wishes (not for the first time) that women's clothes came with actual pockets. She takes it out, half expecting it to be a text from Alice, ready to mentally file it under 'reply later', but when she sees the sender is Leo she realises it must be something relevant. She reads through it, and racks her mind for anything that she may have picked up from the Nightingale, or from Peter, about that sort of magic.

"Jordan," she whispers, "carry on looking for anything useful, but be quick. They'll probably be done with the tea soon."

Magic: 60%

1d100

Jordan nods and continues his examination of the records, making sure to put them back before the tea is done.

Izzy recalls the conversation with Harold and immediately fires a reply back to Leo, detailing the discussion and her thoughts. She hopes that he takes the revelation of a potential revenant a lot more seriously than Skipper did, given that Leo is the only other person in the team who would fully grasp the risks and implications.

As Jordan puts the records back, ideally as they had been originally left, Izzy asks him for a quick update of anything relevant that he may have found.

"By the way, I'm not expecting that Mr. Dansen knows anything about a potential revenant, but then again you might have your own ideas on what he could tell us. To be honest, I'm just hoping he has an idea of where it might be now."

That is, she sends to Leo the spoiler'ed 'For Izzy's eyes only!' info

Skipper snorts, politely amused. "Actually, not pot as in weed, spliff. An actual pot. What the Antiques Roadshow tv boffins would call an urn."

He sighs as he finishes the drying. "Ah, Fiona Bruce, I have always had a soft spot for her."

"I'm not sure," whispers Jordan. "He stopped being defensive as soon as he saw your warrant card."

Leo knows he lost a few points with the geezer for the phone use, so he rests it on his knee, allowing him to know when and if he hears back.

"Yeah, good point. The people rolling in it aren't usually the ones to top themselves. It's the people who get sacked or get some terminal illness. Not Terrance Skinner."

Leo leans in, doing all of the "I'm listening to you" techniques they teach you at Herndon, but he can't help but glance down when the phone vibrates. "I am so so sorry...hang on just a minute..." When Leo reads the reply, he begins to get a sick, cold feeling in his stomach.

"Mr. Buttress..." he paused, trying to stay calm. "Do you remember..." Leo swallowed. "Do you remember if that developer died before or after you and your friends put the ashes in the urn?" He looked at Des and back at Archie. "Take your time."

Leo decided that his colleague would appreciate this information sooner rather than later, so he opened the text, scrolled to the top of the pertinent part, and passed it to Des while they waited for Archie's response.

After he had already handed her the device, his strategic error suddenly became clear. Please, God, don't let me get a match on Grindr while Des has the phone.

Once again, Archie huffs as Leo checks his phone.

"Oh, long after. Poor Lee died in 1982; the builder died... ooh, about 2003? 2004? Summat like that."

Skipper, Dansen looks even more confused.

"An urn? Um, okay... Well, let's get these teas made and you can explain - 'cos I'm lost!"

Des looked at Leo’s phone, brow furrowed as she read the message. She looked up at Archie.

”’Ere, do ya remember any Asian fellas hangin’ around when ‘e died?’ she asked bluntly.

"Thanks, Mr. Buttram. That makes me feel better."

The fact that years passed between the two events causes Leo to relax visibly, sitting back in the chair. He looks thoughtful as he takes another sip of the tea. If there were a revenant on the loose, the body count would be a lot higher than just one, and it would have occurred closer to the "ceremony."

Leo saw where Des was going with her question, so he took a deeper sip, waiting to hear the response. When Des is done with the phone, he takes it back, texting Izzy and Nightingale. "Conditions may be right for that to occur, but location of jar is unknown."

Skipper grins as he helps with the tea. "Best leave the explaining to the boss lady, but all will become clear I'm sure. Honestly, I couldn't explain even if I wanted to anyway."

He calls politely in the direction of Izzy and the Doc, "Tea in one minute."

Des & Leo - Archie waves away Leo's offer of help.

"No, our Rita's coming 'round in an hour ; she'll sort this lot out."

What do you two want to do next?

Izzy, Jordan & Skipper

"Someone's nicking antiques?" responds Dansen. "Well if someone's bringing the league into disrepute, I sp'ose I'd better look into it. Which team do you suspect? What evidence do you have?"

Skipper - The room looks pretty much like a single man's living room, if somewhat tidier than the norm. A quick glance at the shelves shows a number of collectable figurines and there's a few sci-fi novels lying around, but from your seat, nothing jumps out as particularly unusual.

"Cheers," says Jordan. He helps himself to some tea, deferring to Izzy to explain it.

Skipper offers everyone a biscuit, gives Dansen a reassuring nod, but otherwise stays quiet and waits for Izzy. He does enjoy a biscuit and his cup of tea though.

"Thanks, really appreciate it." Izzy takes her mug of tea and adds a spoonful of sugar, and takes a biscuit for good measure, dunking it without a moment's hesitation. She quickly checks her phone to see the latest from Leo, then glances to her colleagues, trusting that they'll know to stay quiet about the supernatural side of things, as she comes up with a plausible lie that isn't so far from the truth as to be completely unbelievable.

"We've been asked to make some routine enquiries regarding what we believe to be stolen property, specifically a fairly valuable urn. Last known to have been in the possession of the local skittles team, but we have reason to suspect that it was bought without the purchasers realising it was originally stolen. The sellers were based somewhere down in Cornwall, and the original owners have made a complaint that was passed on to us."

She sips her tea, and pauses for a moment, hoping the story doesn't sound too out of left field, before continuing. "As I said earlier, you're not in any trouble, but we're speaking to a number of local figures who may be able to assist us. Would you happen to know the item that we're referring to, at all?"