"UNKNOWN NUMBER." [Preview available]

Episode summary:

"Old Lester Lightfoot hears a disturbance outside the front of his house one night and upon investigation finds that someone has thrown a broken mobile phone into his front garden. It has no battery or Sim card and Lester tosses it on his hall table to dispose of properly in the morning. But at Midnight the phone starts ringing and the dead are apparently calling!"

Episode Warnings: 

Alcohol – Smoking - Strong language – Violence [including suicide] – Mild sexual references – Mild horror.

Author’s notes about this episode:

[1] Can you spot why this particular episode is considered unique amongst the adventures of Jericho and Team 74? 

[2] Contains references to suicide.

[3] The original Title for this episode was: ‘THE MIDNIGHT CALLER.’

[4] A ‘Jericho Tibbs’ original story.

[5] Illustration is an original photograph found in the Public Domain with no photographer listed or copyright status. If you know anything about this please contact the author via his website: https://stephenjohnwilliams.blogspot.com

[6] There is NO Alexandra version available.

Episode details:

Concept date: 11^th April 2017

First published: 14^th November 2017

Status: COMPLETED BUT UNPUBLISHED.

Location: BOOK SERIES 0 – EPISODE 0

Revisions: 1 [last revised February 2019]

Version: In review.

Published Episode No. 00

Previous episode: NONE

Next episode: NONE

Age recommendation: 12+

Average reading time: Approx. 30 Minutes.

Angel-in-charge: Margret 

Team Assigned: Team 74

Human Time: 2017AD-1438AH 

Mission: 2 - 374911 - 4 - 2017

 Episode Preview:

 Mr. Lester Lightfoot was a man of habits; he woke every morning at six o’clock, showered and ate breakfast, then at seven o’clock walked his Scottish terrier: Wellington, around Victoria Park for exactly half hour. 

 He then returned home to his small apartment; Lester had worked for the local council for over forty years and had taken early retirement, just a few months ago – now he struggled to fill his time. He had worked in various departments over the years; starting at sixteen in the Transport offices, then moving to Property maintenance and finally ending his service collecting Council Tax payments. 

 Lester was an introvert; he had made few friends over the years and if he was honest with himself, only married his wife by accident! Their only child; a son, lived in Australia with his family and had little time for his aging parents – David Lightfoot was an Accountant with a taste for the expensive lifestyle, which he pretended to live - on other people's money. To quote the old saying: ‘he borrowed from Peter to pay Paul’. The Lightfoot’s had not heard from their wayward son in over two years and Lester wasn’t that unhappy about the situation - but he would have loved to see his Grand-daughter. He sat drinking coffee, watching through the window of his sitting room; at the large wrought iron gates of Victoria Park which lay immediately opposite.

He liked to watch the parade of people passing in and out of that beautiful Victorian gateway – the gates were quite magnificent; with crowned lions and Unicorns holding majestic sceptre's of state. He remembered how his wife; Irene, loved to walk their dogs in the park over the years. He sipped the coffee and glanced at the calendar/clock upon the wall; she had been gone now for almost six months. Lester eased himself back into the sofa and watched Wellington sleeping under the window ledge.

 Irene had not wanted another dog after ‘Beckett’ died. But Lester had wanted to give a loving home to a deserving canine; he smiled as he recalled the many arguments between them over another dog. But Irene had got her way and Lester never replaced ‘Beckett’ until after she left. 

 Lester picked up his mobile phone and saw there were no calls or messages recorded for today, he tapped the screen and noticed that he had received nothing for three days. He sighed and slowly lifted his legs upon the sofa and drifted into a troubled sleep filled with odd dreams about strange people and dark places.

It was someone shouting around the park gates that broke Lester’s troubled slumbers and he awoke slowly and noticed that it was already dark; he glanced at his mobile and saw that the time was almost eleven o’clock – he had been asleep for about five hours. He peered through the window and something caught his eye falling into his small front garden.

 At first, he thought some drunk had thrown a beer tin or bottle over his fence, so he thought it was safer to let Wellington do his business in the rear garden tonight – it was far too late to walk him through the park.

Lester could see no movement in the street outside or hear any more voices.

He let the dog out and collected a small hand torch from a kitchen cupboard; then he watched Wellington in the rear garden for some minutes, giving the dog some food and biscuits when he returned. Lester than headed for the front garden and shone the torch around neat flower beds, grass and pots.

Nothing obvious appeared in the sharp light; but a gust of wind slapped Lester and he shivered, turning around and headed for his front door, that’s when he saw the mobile phone a few meters from the doorstep.

He picked it up and held the torch light against the battered object; it had a couple of small cracks on the screen – it wouldn’t switch on and Lester turned it over to see the phone had no rear cover, sim card or battery. He sighed and locked the front door behind him, placing the phone upon the hall table – he would dispose of it tomorrow - properly, not slinging the damn thing into someone’s bloody gardens.

Lester shuffled into the bedroom and undressed for bed, he watched with a smile as Wellington jumped upon the bedroom chair and curled up for the night. Lester pulled the sheets over and tried to sleep, but he tossed and turned for some minutes before the dreams returned; ugly, vile people and dark towers crowded into his dreams. He groaned loudly in his sleep, waking Wellington who watched as his master moved continuously under the covers; he called out Irene’s name several times and fell into a deep sleep.

End of Preview.

"UNKNOWN NUMBER" CONTINUES IN 'TEMPORAL DETECTIVES' BOOK SERIES 0 [EPISODE 0.]

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

“All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.” 

CAUTION:

“SOME OF THESE EPISODES CONTAIN VERY STRONG LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, HORROR AND SEXUAL REFERENCES. Some are RECOMMENDED suitable for persons aged 15+ years only.”

THE AUTHOR.

Copyright © 2011-2025 0Stephen Williams. No reproduction of any part without permission.