Jasper

**‘Jasper’** is the alias of an associate of Matthew Heawood who worked as a captain in the British Army’s Intelligence Corps. While initially an ally of Heawood’s, it later emerged that Jasper was on the payroll of Obed Marsh.

## Early Life

'Jasper' and Matthew Heawood met each other at college. Whereas Heawood pursued journalism, Jasper joined the army and by 2013 his career had moved into military intelligence. This meant that whenever Heawood used him as a source on the podcast, he had to hide his identity with the alias, ‘Jasper’. Throughout the Mystery Machine podcasts, his anonymity is maintained except on two occasions: once when John Silence, under interrogation, showed he knew who Jasper was by saying his name and rank (the former being bleeped out by Heawood); and then by Heawood himself when, startled by Jasper in Pleasant Green, he started to use Jasper’s real name but caught himself - “Ste- uh, Jasper!” (suggesting it might be Steve or a variation thereof).

Jasper’s capabilities reveal themselves throughout the podcast series - he’s fluent in Arabic and has high enough clearance to help Heawood travel internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic on unlisted ‘ghost’ planes.

## Intelligence Operative

Heawood first contacted Jasper as a source for the podcast when he suspected his friend and colleague, Kennedy Fisher, had been kidnapped by Ezra Weeden while tracking Melody Cartwright in Iraq. Jasper was unsuccessful in retrieving Fisher but she eventually returned to Britain, believing that she had been in hospital with numerous injuries because of a road accident.

Heawood later contacted Jasper while investigating a possible connection between the disappearance of Henry Akeley and the nearby Orford Ness. Heawood had guessed that the number station they encountered with Akeley’s radio equipment might have originated from there. However, Jasper suggested it sounded more like an MI6 operation than a military one.

In following up on Fisher’s recovery, Jasper planted seeds of doubt about her story by explaining that her version of events didn’t tally with the searches he’d done - one of the first things he checked was for non-Iraqis admitted to hospitals. Jasper terminated communication quickly when Heawood mentioned the ECHELON code phrase, ‘Pleasant Green’. However, he made contact again when, while out in Iraq, he became aware of the discovery of the body of Barbara Sayers in Al-Qayyarah and, more worryingly, evidence pointing to Kennedy Fisher as her murderer. Jasper’s advice to his friend was to cut ties with Fisher in order not to be charged as an accessory after the fact.

Heawood eventually decided to travel out to Iraq to investigate Barbara Sayers’s death for himself. Despite helping Heawood, Jasper continued to argue that the balance of evidence points to Fisher’s guilt and that Heawood was overly optimistic about his friend’s innocence. Jasper and Heawood travelled to where Sayers’s body was discovered and then to the neighbourhood in Mosul where taxi dashcam footage indicated Fisher’s involvement. At this point, Heawood spotted and tried to chase down a woman matching Fisher’s appearance in a local café, Jasper sent him back to his hotel in order to calm the café after Heawood’s “kerfuffle” and ask further questions about the woman. Jasper then disappeared and became uncontactable, worrying Heawood.

Jasper made contact again with Heawood who, in the interim, had found Melody Cartwright. Jasper, who had been keeping tabs on Heawood and knew about Cartwright, arranged a quick flight out of Iraq on a ‘ghost’ flight for both Heawood and Cartwright, explaining that it was time for them all to make themselves scarce. It later emerged that the café Heawood had seen Daisy Marsh in had been obliterated by an explosion. Cartwright immediately suspected that Jasper was behind the fire but Heawood didn’t want to jump to such a conclusion.

## Harlequin

Jasper continued to provide ‘ghost’ flights for Heawood when he originally travelled with Cartwright to Paris and then had to continue on alone to London. While in Paris, Heawood was approached by Department operative, John Silence, but Jasper apprehended Silence and allowed Heawood to interrogate him.

While Heawood was in London, the Mystery Machine team became aware of the threat of the ‘Harlequin’, an assassin with an almost mythological past. John Silence relayed a warning about this threat through Dr. Eleanor Peck and this led Kennedy Fisher to investigate this threat with the help of ‘Slide’. ‘Slide’ was able to uncover the Harlequin’s identity by tracing a money transfer from one of Obed Marsh’s shell accounts, labelled ‘*Hanswurst*’ (German for ‘harlequin’) to an account registered in Ukraine under Jasper’s real name.

However, by the time Fisher could raise the alarm, Heawood had been captured by Jasper in Pleasant Green. When Heawood realised Jasper’s true allegiances, his old friend protested that the  €2m offered by Marsh was simply much better financial recompense than he was receiving from the British government. Jasper initially misunderstood Obed Marsh’s contract, believing he’d been contracted to kill Matthew Heawood, but when he learned that Kennedy Fisher was his target (Heawood merely providing the bait), he offered to let Heawood go.

Somehow, Heawood managed to overpower Jasper and escape in time to interrupt Marsh’s Babalon Working ritual in Pleasant Green, a key aspect of which was the sacrifice of Kennedy Fisher. When this was foiled, the ritual, the village and everyone involved, including Heawood, disappeared. It’s believed that Jasper was killed as a result of the failed ritual, however, there is no conclusive evidence.

## Appearances

* *The Lovecraft Investigations*
	+ The Whisperer in Darkness
		- "Episode 4"
		- "Episode 7"
	+ The Shadow over Innsmouth
		- "Footsteps"
		- "Apartment 6"
		- "Harlequin"
		- "Rubaiyat"
		- "Pleasant Green"

## Notes

* Heawood’s slip of almost calling Jasper by his real name is likely a nod to the actor portraying Jasper and his real name - Steven Mackintosh.
* Steven Mackintosh’s lead role in Julian Simpson’s 1999 film, The Criminal, was named Jasper Rawlins.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 TWiD: "Episode 4"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 TSoI: "Pleasant Green"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 TSoI: "Harlequin"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 TSoI: "Rubaiyat"
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 TSoI: "Footsteps"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 TSoI: "Apartment 6"
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 TSoI: "Saint Germain"
8. ↑ TWiD: "Episode 1"
9. ↑ TWiD: "Episode 7"
10. ↑ TSoI: "Haumea"
11. ↑ TSoI: "Melusine"