Jeff Deacon is the true identity of the mysterious corpse found in the graveyard. Jeff Deacon was formerly the butler to the Thorpe family at the Red House. He is unscrupulous and completely lacking in morals and seems to be totally lacking a conscience. First, he abuses his position of trust to arrange a burglary of the house where he works. Next, he cheats his partner in crime, hiding the emeralds from Cranton and attempting to put the blame entirely on him. He murders two men when he breaks out from prison, and he never reveals the truth about his past to his French wife Suzanne, whom he marries illegally, as he never divorced Mary. He also attempts to blackmail Will Thoday when Will encounters him in the church attempting to recover the hidden emeralds, as Will married Mary, believing her to be a widow. His bigamy is unsurprising - Blundell describes him as being "always after a skirt".