Avard Hale Goes To London, Books by Clarence Parker

Table of Contents
Preface		5
Acknowledgments		7
Introduction		9
Prologue		11
1	Welcome To London	25
2	The Mystery Surrounding The Unsolved Killing	35
3	A Surprise Meeting As The Investigation Unfolds	43
4	The Brass Rubbing Of Shakespeare	55
5	Tour Of Windsor Castle As The Investigation Continues	65
6	Searching For More Clues While Touring London	75
7	Stratford Upon Avon With Reference To Windsor Castle	83
8	The Re-enactment Of The 1944 Atwood Murder	101
9	Scotland Beckons	113
10	The Medieval Banquet	129
11	The Prelude To The End	147
12	The Beginning Of The End	165
13	The Long Awaited Ending	179
14	The Epilogue	189

My desire to become a writer goes back to my childhood. From the time that I was a teenager, I felt the need to explore ideas and to also record them.

My need to write became more urgent during the time of my mother’s tragic death at the age of 73. While starting to write the book about her accident and death, I realized that I had potential to indeed become a writer.

When I first started to write about Mother’s death, I was in my early 40’s and 73 seemed kind of old to me. Today at almost 72, I find that 73 is a very young age and in Mother’s case and also mine, a very young and energetic age.

My plans are to go on writing and publishing many more books. By the fall of 2007, I will have completed 7 of my own books and also published 3 books by other authors. These I have also added to my website.

I have learned that in writing books, it is very important to have good reviewing and editing of your drafts by others. After working on a book for several years, I find it almost impossible to remain objective.

I have been very fortunate to have my sister-in-law, Hélène Pépin Thomas as an excellent editor and author’s assistant for most of my books. She is a natural and has been the main reason why I have been able to move forward in bringing so many of my books to completion after struggling with them for many years.

This is the second in a series based on the humorous mystery adventures of Avard Hale. The seeds have already been planted for books three and four. As previously noted in the preface, the momentum for writing these books came from having written a true story. This story was of the senseless killing of my mother by a drunk driver and the subsequent miscarriage of justice.

My intent for writing this book was to tell the true story about Mother’s death while using fictitious names.

I later rewrote the book using actual names. I have not yet tried to have this book published. I may publish it at a later date or I may decide to just keep it for my family and in particular for my grandchildren and a few friends. The objective for writing this book is that some day they might realize that sometimes there are gross miscarriages of justice in our democratic society.

While writing my first book, I used the fictitious name of Avard Hale. Avard is my middle name and Hale, a variation of my mother’s maiden name. In writing my mystery books, I adapted Avard Hale as the main character’s name. In a way, I have given Avard Hale many of my eccentricities and I have also made up a few more.

In my true-life experience, I along with my brother (a former RCMP officer) became extensively involved with the investigation of the events associated with our mother’s death. We tried to determine what actually happened to her. Our investigation helped to raise my naturally mysterious conscience level.

"Boy, this is sure messy work, Dad!”

“You can say that again, Junior! Anyway, it looks like we’ll have a bit of a mess for a while, at least until we start to see some real progress.”

Avard Hale and his son Junior were in the process of renovating the first of two houses that their new company, Hale and Associates, had purchased the month before. Their objective in refurbishing the Bloomfield house was to resell it in hopes of making a profit.

Hale and Associates was made up of Avard, his son Junior, Avard’s brothers-in-law (Jonathon and Dallas Daly) and Junior’s friend Michael Bath. Since acquiring the properties, today was the first day that they actually had a chance to start on the renovations.

* * *

“Look what I just found Dad,” said Junior as he pulled away a section of the wall.

“What is it Junior?” inquired Avard as he walked over to where Junior was working.

“It’s a large knife. I found it in the crevice between the wall and the floor. If you look carefully right here, you can see how the knife could have slid down underneath the wallboard when it fell into this crevice. No one would have ever found it without removing this wall.”

* * *

“Very good. Junior and I expect to have all of the old wallboard off in the upstairs bedrooms by this evening. How are you guys making out, Dallas?”

“I’d say that we should have the downstairs stripped down by this evening as well.”

“Oh, by the way Dallas, Junior found this interesting knife while stripping down a wall. It must have fallen down behind the partition and was never found until now.”

With that, Avard passed the knife over for Dallas’s inspection. The other men also gathered around to take a look.

“That’s quite a knife,” commented Dallas.

“I don’t think that I’d argue with a guy that came at me with that one,” interjected Jonathon.

“The knife looks kind of old.”

“It’s got a date of 1945 and the name of Jeremy Bloomfield.

* * *

This being the year 1974 means that the knife is about 30 years old,” said Junior.

“I noticed that same name in the pile of papers that we found in the den,” interjected Michael.

“Maybe Junior and I could take a look at those papers this evening and maybe we could even find something out about this guy. It does however seem kind of queer to be reading other peoples mail.”

“You know Junior, I know Jeremy Bloomfield,” interjected Dallas. “He came to visit Gordon after the war was over and I actually talked with him several times. He managed to get here and pay for his passage by working on a freighter. He seemed a little on the tough side like the woodsmen that I’m used to working with. He only made a few trips here back then, as it was very expensive for him to come from England. But just this last year, he actually flew over as he is now a wealthy Londoner.”

* * *

Michael and Junior however were intrigued with the old letters that they had found so they spread a box full of them out on the kitchen table. They poured through them over the next couple of hours while concentrating on the ones dated in the nineteen thirties and forties.

* * *

I didn’t get them all read but from what I have read, I think that I have a fairly good idea of what he was doing in that time period. It appears that he was born in 1922 or 23 and that he spent all of his younger years in the London England area. His father’s brother’s name was Aubrey Bloomfield who had an only son named Gordon Bloomfield. Jeremy and Gordon corresponded with each other quite a bit. Jeremy’s father’s name was William and from what I have read, it appears that William was quite hard on Jeremy. Many people of today would call that child abuse. William worked in the docks and I suppose that working there would have made him pretty tough. Jeremy confided to Gordon in quite a few of his letters that he would break out and away from their cycle of poverty some day no matter what it took.”

As the sun was setting on 15 Hyde Park Garden Mews, in London England, Maude Atwood was organizing her four poodles for their evening stroll in Hyde Park. For their outing, Maude had appropriately dressed herself in a long loose fitting purple dress. Black and purple were Maude’s favorite colors. She had on a big red hat with a long black feather sticking out of it. She was also wearing lace stockings with rotational arrows. Dressed as she was, she definitely stood out. Maude was definitely an eccentric but she loved being whom she was and she didn’t make any bones about it.

* * *

As no one was speaking today, Maude continued on her way and circled around to the two ponds, the Long Water and the Serpentine located in the center of the park. Ducks were seen floating on the ponds and there were dogs that were barking and trying to scare them away. Their barking seemed to give the dogs a sense of importance. She now stopped at one of her special secluded benches overlooking the ponds and as always her mind went back to the year 1944.

“Oh, all the troubles the year 1944 brought me!” thought Maude. “For me, that year will forever be etched in my mind like it just happened yesterday. My father was murdered that spring and just a short time before that and while I was sitting here with Jeremy, I received another very cruel blow. That blow was so painful for me! I could never understand why Jeremy had broken off with me on that day. I loved him so much and in a way, I still love him today but more now as a good friend.

* * *

During their stay in London, Avard and Doris were staying at the Park Court Inn located in Hyde Park Gardens. This fine old hotel was situated adjacent to the main thoroughfare, Bayswater Road. Hyde Park was just a short walk away from the hotel. From Avard’s pre-trip study, he had also learned that the hotel was situated on the main bus route and the Lancaster Gate subway access was also just a short walk away.

Although London was like most big cities, it had it’s own character. There were many brick houses, many row houses and an obvious lack of greenery around the homes. However, where there was green space it was well taken care of. The people of London had a real appreciation for lawns, flowers, shrubs and trees. The city also had many fine large parks and as Avard and Doris liked getting out for walks, they wanted to be near one of the largest and best parks in London.

* * *

Soon they were walking up the street enjoying the sights and sounds of London. As Hyde Park was only a short walk from the hotel they were soon strolling hand in hand through the park. Their meandering took them past Speakers Corner but no one was speaking today. They headed towards the southeast end of the park and in the distance they could see Buckingham Palace. They then turned and walked up Serpentine Road towards the two large ponds situated in the center of the park. The park was full of young lovers going hand in hand also. There were however the usual loafers, drifters and eccentrics.

“Look at that lady with the four dogs, Avard. She sure is dressed differently than most of the other people. I really like her purple dress and big red hat. Those four little poodles sure look like they’ve been pampered!”