Killer Aboard: A John Otter Novel

by Sean Blaise

  “At approximately what time?”

  “I don’t know, I usually go for a refill around thirty minutes into the watch. 2:30ish?”

  “Therefore, in your entire watch, you have ten minutes unaccounted for?”

  “Are you accusing me?” Smith spat.

  “I’m not accusing anyone, just going by the facts.”

  “And who made you the judge and jury! Nobody started dying on this ship until you took command!”

  “Smith, we don’t need the crew to come apart. Calm down.”

  “Calm down? You’re accusing me of murder, how can I stay calm!” Smith exploded.

  “Smith, I will eliminate you from the list shortly. I’m sure someone saw you in the galley. Moving on, Lubanzi? Where were you when you heard the scream?”

  Without thinking Lubanzi blurted out, “I heard the scream, and I ran forward to the cabin and there was Monica.” The instant he said it, he panicked. He couldn’t let John know that he was already forward looking for the gun.

  “You were in your bunk when you heard the scream?” John pressed.

  Lubanzi had to continue the lie, “No, the galley.”

  “Why?”

  “To refill my drinking water. Why are you asking me?”

  “You ran forward from the galley then?”

  “Yes, I told you this already.”

  “Can anyone vouch for your story?”

  “No.”

  “Lubanzi, like Smith stays on the list until we prove the facts.”

  “Why are we not discussing the most obvious suspects, Greg and Jack? Greg practically killed Jack tonight when he heard the news. That looks suspicious as hell,” Smith said. Lubanzi and Charlie both mumbled their agreement.

  “Smith, there is no doubt Greg reacted suspiciously. I’ll move on to eliminating the students next. I know it will be impossible but try and get some sleep.”

  “What are you going to do?” Charlie asked.

  “Talk to Monica.”

  Chapter 43

  John opened his cabin door and found Monica sitting bolt upright. He sat down across from her. Placing his phone on the bed, he hit its voice memo app to record.

  John knew that what he did from here forward had to be by the book. There would be a massive investigation, and he needed to protect himself as well as the students on board. If he messed up his career was over.

  “Monica, can you look at me please.”

  She looked up, her eyes bloodshot, and her perfect makeup finally ruined. Streaks of eyeliner dripped with the tears down her cheeks. She was sobbing.

  “Monica, I’m going to record this conversation. Is that OK?”

  She dropped her head into her hands and broke down sobbing again. John gave her a minute before he proceeded.

  “Monica, I need you to say out loud that recording this conversation is OK. Can you do that, please?”

  Monica stifled a cry and seemed to stiffen up. Once composed, she looked up at John, “it’s fine, you can record it.”

  “Monica, I know this is painful for you, but you must tell me exactly what happened tonight. Did anything happen while you were on watch?”

  “Nothing happened. My watch was as long as usual, and I think everyone was ready to get off watch.”

  “Did Jennifer say or do anything odd when she came on watch?”

  Monica shook her head. “No, she didn’t say anything. I mean she’s been weird since the island.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Captain, everybody on board is talking about it. She’s changed. I don’t know- like depressed?”

  “Yes, I noticed it too. Do you know why she changed? You were her roommate, did she ever talk to you? About her personal problems?”

  “No, we weren’t close.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know why, we just didn’t click that way.”

  “You got off watch at 2200?”

  “A little before, Charlie is always up early to get the handover information.”

  “And where did you go?”

  “My cabin. I wanted to sleep.”

  “When did you wake up?”

  “It must have been a few minutes after 2am. Whenever Jennifer comes into the room, she lets the door slam. I asked her not to a few times, but I guess now it doesn’t matter,” Monica said.

  “Did she say anything to you when she came back in the room?”

  “No. I think she was in the head, throwing up again. I can’t blame her. Once I was awake, the motion made me sick too. I couldn’t go back to sleep. I kept feeling like I was falling out of the bed. So, I took my iPad to the galley to lie down there.”

  It was a common occurrence. The kids’ cabins were in the forward part of the ship, which meant more sea motion. That also meant more seasickness. The galley/classroom was centrally located and many of the kids who didn’t feel well spent the nights sprawled on the long-cushioned benches watching movies.

  “What did you watch?”

  “The Little Mermaid.”

  John smiled. “That’s a classic. So, when did you get to the galley?”

  “Maybe 0215 or so. I made a sandwich.”

  “And when you left the room, was Jennifer back in her bunk?”

  “I heard her leave the head, but she always had her bunk curtain closed. She was a private person with me; we never talked.”

  “Why do you think that is?”

  “I think maybe she was jealous of me. She was also shy, showering only when I was asleep. It was a little weird.”

  “When you were in the Galley, did you see Smith come in for coffee?”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Tell me about the moment you found the body.”

  Monica’s lip started to quiver, and her eyes became clouded with tears. She wrapped her arms around herself tighter. When she spoke it was almost a whisper.

  “My movie ended, and I was so tired. I felt like I could maybe get some sleep finally. I went back to my room. When I opened the door, Jennifer was just there. Almost falling out her bunk. The neck…”

  Monica was racked with a huge set of sobs, and John wondered if he could hold her together long enough to get what he needed.

  “Take your time Monica.”

  “Her neck was so red. The rope was just lying there. I just screamed.”

  “Did anyone see you go into your room?”

  “Yes, Lubanzi.”

  “Are you sure? How could he have seen you? He was in the galley at the time.”

  Monica shook her head confused.

  “No, he was already forward in the bow of the ship. I spoke to him before he went up there to secure the anchor chain. That’s why when I saw her, he was right next to me so fast.”

  “You’re saying Lubanzi was forward in the students’ quarters? Are you sure you aren’t mistaken? He could have come from the galley; you were in shock.”

  “Captain, no. I spoke to Lubanzi as he headed forward.”

  “How long was he up forward without you seeing him?”

  “Fifteen minutes at least, maybe longer.”

  John absorbed this information.

  “Thank you, Monica. For now, go ahead and lie down here and sleep, OK?”

  Monica wiped her bloodshot eyes. She lay down on the engineer's bunk and closed her eyes. John doubted very much that she would sleep. But now, he had a much bigger problem.

  Smith had said that she had gotten coffee and yet Monica never saw her there.

  More importantly, Lubanzi said he ran forward toward the screams, and Monica said he was already forward. Why was Lubanzi lying? And what the hell was he doing in the students’ cabin area at 3 am when he should be asleep?

  Chapter 44

  Jennifer was falling into the wreck. John kept reaching out for her and even though she was right there he couldn’t get a grip. Her hand was so small that it kept slipping out of his. She opened her mouth and screamed “save me John, save my baby!”

  John strai
ned again to reach her, but she was suddenly yanked into the deep by the darkness. John screamed for her and tried to dive deeper, but he felt the water pressure crushing his mask to his face. Suddenly he couldn’t breathe. John struggled to take a breath, but his tank was empty. He furiously snatched at his mask, but he was starting to black out.

  Smack!

  John woke up from the nightmare, smashing his head on the roof of the twin bunk. He checked his watch and realized he had enjoyed barely an hour of fitful sleep. He realized that he was also now covered in a sheen of freezing cold sweat.

  He struggled out of the top bunk above Bill, having given Monica his own cabin. Placing his feet on the floor, John couldn’t stop seeing Jennifer, sinking during the dive in his dream. He tried to shake the image from his head.

  John brushed his teeth and tried to wash his face. He looked like death himself. He grabbed the medical bags off the shelf and searched for what he needed for his next awful task. Gloves.

  With Charlie manning the helm, John waved Lubanzi and Smith into the Chart Room.

  “We have to take care of the body. It has to move,” John began in a low voice.

  “Move it where? Aren’t we supposed to not touch anything until the cops look at it?” Smith asked.

  “Normally, yes, but we don’t have that luxury. We are days from shore, and she will be about four times bigger by then and this whole ship will become unhabitable with the smell. We have to do something.”

  “Do you have the body bag?” Lubanzi asked.

  John held up the bag. “Smith, how is our food situation?” John asked.

  “We have plenty of food.”

  “I mean, can we survive without the refrigerated food?”

  “What, why?” Smith asked.

  “Because Jennifer has to go in there.”

  Smith shook her head. “You can’t be serious?”

  “What choice do we have? We can’t put her on deck, in this tropical heat the body will be putrid in hours. We can’t bury her at sea since a crime has been committed, and we need to preserve as much as possible for the police.”

  “She won’t fit.”

  “We have to knock down the wall between the freezer and fridge. What I’m asking is, can we survive food-wise if we empty the fridge?”

  “Yes, the bilge is full of canned food. We can eat that.”

  “OK, let’s get the students in there to help. Empty the freezer first, then we will fill up the plastic deck totes and freeze them. Put those ice blocks in the deck coolers with the frozen food and we should get another few days of cold storage at least. Smith, do you have a copy of Jennifer’s cabin key?”

  “Yes, it’s on my key ring.”

  “Give it to me. I am going to seal that room off once we remove the body and I want to be certain that no one can access it but me.”

  Smith handed over her keys.

  “Lubanzi get the kids, empty freezer first, and load it with plastic totes filled with water. Then I will run the freezer compressor full steam, which should give us ice blocks in maybe two hours.”

  Lubanzi headed toward the galley. Smith moved to follow him, when John held her back. Lubanzi opened the watertight door and closed it behind himself.

  “Smith, we have another problem.”

  Chapter 45

  “What is the problem?” Smith asked.

  “How well do you know Lubanzi?”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Answer me, Smith.”

  “What is this about?”

  “There is a discrepancy in his story.”

  “According to whom?”

  “First answer the question. You know him, but how well?”

  “We were kids in primary together. I’ve known him my whole life.”

  “Does he have a criminal history?”

  Smith began pacing the room. “You can’t seriously be accusing him of Jennifer’s death! Are you mad?”

  “All I am saying is, since he got on this ship, he has acted like he is running from something. He practically was chomping at the bit to get out of South Africa. Can you tell me why?”

  “I have worked for this school for ten years. Ten fucking years John! Nothing like this has ever happened before. I have sailed around the world on this ship four times! With five captains and you know what never happened? Murder! So why don’t we talk about you?”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “I mean how well do I know you? How well does the school? How did we find you? Just an online resume? For all I know, you could be a serial killer with a Captain’s license.”

  “Smith, get a grip! You’re deflecting. I asked you a simple question, does Lubanzi have a criminal record?”

  She stopped pacing and leaned back against the chart table, crossing her arms.

  “He has struggled with gambling in the past.”

  “Struggled how?”

  “Running up debts he can’t pay.”

  “Loan sharks?”

  Smith smirked. “Banks don’t loan to gamblers John; what do you think?”

  “This job, did you offer it to him, or did he ask for it?”

  “He has had it tough. When we were in grade six, both his parents were killed in a carjacking. He was sitting in the back when some asshole shot his mom and dad in front of him. Imagine that?”

  “That’s awful. But it doesn’t change.”

  “Change everything about you? Yes, it does. Who knows why the gambling started. Maybe he just wanted to feel alive again? When his parents died, he went from living in the white section of South Africa, to moving into a slum with his mom’s half-sister. She had five kids of her own already. He was forced to drop out of the school we went to. He was switched to the government school. As a white boy in that school, he got beat until he got big. Life was very hard for him.”

  “Smith, answer the question did you offer him the job, or did he beg you for one?”

  Smith sighed. “He called me and begged me to find him a position. He said he had to get out of South Africa.”

  John’s mind began to race. Could there be a connection between Jennifer and Lubanzi? She had plenty of money. Maybe he was trying to get her to help him? The possibilities were endless.

  “Now, let me ask you a question, John. What is the discrepancy?”

  John thought about telling her that Lubanzi was in the students’ quarters when Jennifer was killed. And that Lubanzi had lied about it. But looking at her face, he realized she cared for Lubanzi and he couldn’t trust her not to tell him. John wanted to question Lubanzi without him knowing it was coming.

  “I’m sorry, but for now, I can’t say.”

  Smith looked John hard in the eyes. “John something you might want to keep in mind. If you treat your entire crew like killers, you won’t have a ship left to command.”

  John pulled the gloves out of his pocket. He slipped them over his hands.

  “All I want is justice for Jennifer. Bruised egos don’t concern me much.”

  Smith looked at John’s gloved hands.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Dust her cabin for prints.”

  Chapter 46

  John didn’t exactly know how to dust for fingerprints, but he knew he had to get as much evidence preserved in that room as possible. He put on latex gloves, and first he removed the doorknob for the room. He figured that would probably have the most evidence. He put it in a plastic bag and placed it in his safe. He did the same with the murder rope. He tried not to look at the body bag on the floor that now contained Jennifer.

  He reminded himself that the body was just a thing now, not a person. But he couldn’t help but struggle with the idea. He looked around the room and tried to envision the struggle. Someone had come into the room and caught Jennifer by surprise.

  Which, he suddenly realized, was incredibly easy to do. The problem was each bunk had full blackout curtains covering them. This was meant to allow roommates with opposite
watch schedules to turn lights in the room off and on without disturbing the person asleep off watch.

  The bunks were like tombs, pitch dark and with the ocean noise from the hull moving through the heavy seas you couldn’t hear a doorknob being opened. Catching her by surprise had probably been pretty easy.

  John looked at Jennifer’s bunk again. He had already taken hundreds of photos of how Jennifer had looked before he and Charlie had placed her into the body bag. He even repositioned her to how she had been hanging, prior to him lashing her body in the bunk. By the time they reached shore, the evidence would be days old, and he wanted to give the authorities the best shot at catching her killer.

  But photos were one thing, now he tried to visualize the crime as if he had done it. Jennifer was on the bottom bunk, about three feet from the ship's floor. Someone came in, ripped her bunk curtain open, and put the loop over her neck.

  From there, they had to pull in a left direction to make the loop tighten. The person had made a small bowline loop and run the tail of the line through that loop, which meant that it only tightened if pulled in one direction, it would loosen if pulled in the other.

  John got down on the floor of the room and envisioned pulling the rope. He realized that whoever had done it, had to brace their feet on the base of the bunk to get leverage. He leaned down and with the flashlight, angled the light against the bunk floorboard.

  Sure enough, he thought he could make out the faintest image of a toe smudge halfway up the bunk. There was no way to be sure. If it was it had to be the killers foot. The top bunk ladder was on the opposite side of the bed at Jennifer’s feet, so there was no way it was accidently smudged while someone climbed up.

  He also caught sight of a small slip of paper, hidden between the mattress and the wall, right behind Jennifer’s pillow. With his gloved hand, he grabbed the piece of paper and pulled it out. The words were simple yet clear.

  “Keep your mouth shut or else.”

  It was a hasty scribble, almost like a doctor’s note. Someone had threatened her. He dropped the note into the Ziplock bag and stooped down again to the toe smudge.

  The smudge was faint, and John didn’t want to risk ruining the print with amateur work. Since he was now the only one with a key to this room, he had another idea.