by Dawn Brookes
They moved through to a quieter room, larger and more spacious than the one they’d left. This room was filled with state-of-the-art computers and large glass dials. Officers sat or stood at various sub-stations around the room. The group could hear the Chief clearly now.
“This is the main engine room that makes the ship go and is the heart of the vessel.” He spoke proudly. The room had a little natural light as a trickle of sunlight came through narrow windows near the ceiling. This area was above the waterline – just!
Before she’d learned very much at all, the tour ended hastily and the guests were escorted back to their original meeting place where the Chief answered various questions. Rachel excused herself, in need of fresh air. Having had her interest piqued, she mulled over what the connection might be between the frightened crew member and the man in the Russian party.
Chapter 9
After eating a hearty lunchtime salad from the buffet, Rachel took a stroll around deck fourteen above the lido deck where people splashed around in the many pools or sunbathed on loungers. The grill bar looked hectic and the smell of burgers and sausages made her hungry again. Rachel liked to keep herself in shape with regular gym workouts and jogging, so she walked past the enticing but deadly part of the deck.
Those things should come with health warnings.
Pausing at one of the side rails, she looked out at the deep blue Atlantic Ocean, appreciating that this would be her view for the next six days. She missed Carlos and decided to return to her room and email him.
“Rachel – where did you disappear to?” A voice arrested her in her tracks.
“Hello, Thomas. You were busy with your charges when I left, but I enjoyed the tour, thanks. I would have tracked you down later to extend my gratitude.” Rachel felt embarrassed for not having remained behind to thank Thomas for his hospitality earlier. Her mind had been occupied by the puzzling encounter between the Russian and the crewman.
“Oh, that’s no problem – my pleasure. The Chief made it informative, although a tad too cramped and noisy down there for my taste. Anyone who can work there for a full day with all that racket going on has my complete admiration and respect.”
Rachel took the opportunity to quiz Thomas. “Yes, incredibly noisy. Did you see that crewman passing by? He might have known one of the men in your group.”
“No, can’t say I noticed anyone in particular. I suffer from claustrophobia, so was focussed on the person in front of me. Boris kept bombarding the Chief with questions after being specifically asked not to. I thought the Chief was very patient with him. No-one in this group would know a crewman, though, Rachel – they are poles apart. Every one of this party oozes success and wealth – even the bodyguards will be better off than we are.”
He laughed. Rachel thought Thomas looked quite wealthy himself in his designer clothing alongside the Rolex on his left wrist, but didn’t comment.
Thomas continued, “Maybe they heard someone speaking Russian, as I understood from the Chief there are quite a few Russians working in engineering.”
Thomas didn’t appear to be hiding anything, and what he said made sense. Why wouldn’t they pass the time of day with one of their own countrymen?
“That’s probably it,” she answered. “A little mystery cleared up in my head.”
“Where are you heading now, Rachel?”
“I’m going back to my room to email my boyfriend.”
“A man should have known that one with such exceptional beauty would have a boyfriend somewhere.”
“Thomas, stop saying things like that! If I suspect for one moment you have ulterior motives for inviting me along to the tours—”
“Rachel, relax. I’m sorry, no offence intended. You don’t need to worry about me.” He looked around nervously, then whispered, “I’m gay – but would rather nobody in the tour party knew that. Russians can be very funny about these things, you know. They’ve not quite moved into the twenty-first century yet.”
“Whoops – so sorry, Thomas, I didn’t realise, and of course not. It’s none of their business, or mine for that matter. I don’t think you’re being fair on Russians, though; I’m sure many of them are very much in tune with the twenty-first century and would have no problem at all with your sexuality.”
“Whatever.” Thomas smiled cheekily and shrugged.
“Sorry again if I got the wrong end of the stick.”
“No worries, I do a good cover-up act after years of practice.” He sounded bitter. “I’ve only recently come out and am still getting used to saying it. It sounds ridiculous, but I come from a very macho background – my father was an RAF colonel, as was his father before him. Can you imagine they expected me to follow the family tradition and join up?” He cackled loudly.
“Does your father know?”
“OMG – No! He’d have apoplexy. As it is, he’s disappointed that his only son hasn’t followed in the family tradition. My mother knows – only told her six months ago when I started to get serious about someone. I dreaded the reaction, but there wasn’t one – she said she’d always known. Mothers!” He shrugged his shoulders and continued. “Anyway, enough about me. Why don’t you join us later? There’s a Salsa lesson at five. I promise to protect you from any amorous Russians.” He laughed, seeming more relaxed for having told her his secret.
“I’ve got your itinerary so will find you if I decide to take you up on your kind offer. Thanks again, Thomas.”
“Don’t worry about what anyone in the group thinks – Boris made it quite clear that you would be welcome to any of our activities. He believes I fancy you and I didn’t put him right.” Thomas winked and walked away, wiggling his hips playfully and looking triumphant.
Rachel grinned as she headed back to her room. Thomas was growing on her, and now she felt safe, she would be a lot happier joining in with him and his tour party. Still wary of Nikolai, she would play along with Thomas if required.
Sarah phoned while Rachel was emailing Carlos from her stateroom.
“Hi, Rachel – just checking in. Is everything alright?”
“Yes, everything’s fine. I joined the engine room tour this morning – interesting, but I agree with you about the noise. How do people work down there?”
“With difficulty. I’ve spent more time down there since being back on the ship than I would care to. First seeing a Russian yesterday, and then today his roommate was found dead in the room they shared.”
“Oh dear! How tragic. That’s all you needed on your second day back. Are you okay?”
“Yes, fine now, but it’s all a bit sad. The chap who died doesn’t really have any family to speak of, and the only people who will be mourning his loss will be his roommate and his fellow crewmen. He worked in engineering and was one of the guys I met yesterday because he interpreted for his roommate, who didn’t speak English.”
“Are there any suspicious circumstances? Has security checked it out?” Being a police officer, Rachel had been called to sudden deaths occasionally, and always had to rule out anything suspicious before allowing a body to be moved. Such deaths had to be referred to the coroner and sometimes this resulted in a post-mortem, while others would be discussed with a GP to ask if they were happy to issue a death certificate for natural causes.
“Not this time, Rachel. We’re not having any suspicious deaths on this cruise, so you just relax.” Sarah sniggered. “Seriously, though, it looked like a heart attack in the night. There’s no evidence of drugs or alcohol poisoning, which can occur, and no sign of violence or suicide, so I suspect we’re looking at a natural death. Chief Security Officer Waverley, who you will remember from your last cruise, has cleared the room and not found anything suspicious. He will do some background checks on the man and his roommate, but I’m sure there will be nothing untoward.”
“That’s a relief – I really do want us to relax, and PC Prince would like to enjoy this holiday, but I’m so sorry you’ve been thrown back in at the deep end. Hopefully
the rest of the cruise will be less eventful.”
“Let’s hope so, and at least you were nowhere near this one! I need to track down his roommate, though, because I’m concerned about him. I’ve just got back from engineering myself and he seems to be AWOL. He doesn’t speak much English at all and he depended on the deceased, Erik, for translation. He’s probably found a quiet corner to get drunk in.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, when I saw him yesterday, even in the dim lighting down in engineering, he looked pale. He was supposed to come to surgery for an appointment this morning for blood tests, but he didn’t show. Mostly when crewmen become anaemic, it’s due to the excessive alcohol they consume on board, and they develop stomach ulcers or, worst-case scenario, liver cirrhosis. I still want to run those tests.”
“Okay, now I get it. You’ll be right, then, because the first thing a heavy drinker would do if upset would be to get drunk.”
“Except that cruise ship procedure is so stringent. Most of the crew realise when to work and when to play. He’ll be lucky if he keeps his job after going missing from shift, although I will ask Graham to fight his corner if he is passed out drunk somewhere.”
“Is anyone looking for him?”
“Yes, actively at present – his friends are helping with the search. He went missing in the middle of his shift around midday but nobody reported it until I went looking for him an hour ago. His friends covered for him, hoping he’d come back. Security has been told to keep a lookout. I just hope he hasn’t done anything silly.”
“Like what?”
“Like throwing himself overboard.” Sarah sounded worried.
“Wait – did you say he went missing at midday? That’s when I was on the engineering tour. I saw a crewman looking scared, like he’d seen something frightening, and I’m sure he spoke to one of the members of the tour group, so he could have been Russian.”
“Can you describe him?”
“Yes, about six-foot, skinny-looking with clothes hanging off him, and he had bright-red wavy hair and a moustache.”
“Wow, Rachel – that’s him. Do you know which way he went?”
“Not really, but he went in the opposite direction to the engine room because we were heading towards it. Sarah, he looked terrified. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Me too – I’d better call Waverley. They’ll need to do a ship-wide search. Are you sure he looked frightened rather than upset?”
“Hard to tell, but I would say he looked like he had just had a fright or a shock. His eyes were darting around and he rushed past rather than walked. The death of his friend could explain it, but I do hope it has nothing to do with the Russian he spoke to in the group.”
“I’ll call Waverley. My money’s on him being in a drunken stupor somewhere below the waterline or in the crew bar, but if not, I’ll keep you informed. Shall we meet up again tonight in the jazz bar? This time I’ll be off duty.”
“Yes, that would be great – see you around nine.”
Rachel put the phone down with the distinct impression that yet again, this might be no ordinary cruise. She made up her mind to go to the salsa class and see if there was any more to that chance meeting between the Russian and the crewman in the corridor.
Chapter 10
Sarah put the telephone down after speaking to Waverley for over half an hour. The turn of events had troubled him, it seemed, so he’d responded by being brusque and dismissive. He’d told Sarah in no uncertain terms that he would find Jefgeny Popov within the hour.
“The captain will need to know that things might be more complicated than we first thought, but I don’t envision there being any relationship between a chance encounter with Russians in a corridor and Popov going missing,” he snorted. “Let’s hope your friend Rachel is wrong this time and the man is drunk in a corner somewhere.”
“Yes, I’m certain he will be,” Sarah replied, although she was anything other than certain.
“The team can make enquiries about this Russian group and carry out discreet background checks, although with diplomats in the party, we may run into problems. You realise that if it wasn’t your friend suggesting the crewman looked frightened, I wouldn’t be wasting any time on this.”
“Yes, Chief, thank you. Perhaps it will be nothing. I’d better get back to work.”
Sarah walked into one of the clinic rooms and sat down at a desk. Taking a deep breath, she hoped against hope all would be well with Jefgeny.
Shortly afterwards, the speakers in the medical centre burst into life as the captain made an unscheduled announcement.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman, this is Captain Jenson speaking. The chief engineer has requested we stop the ship for a short while so he can deal with a minor problem in the engine room. I would like to reassure passengers that the problem will not stop the ship from operating at its full capacity, but it is easier to fix with the engines switched off. We are currently in calm seas that will allow us to float without dropping anchor. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience and rest assured you will be informed once we are due to be underway again. Please continue to take full advantage of all the wonderful facilities and entertainment, and enjoy your cruise aboard the Coral Queen. Thank you.”
Sarah felt the ship’s engines stop. In the silence that followed, it was easy to see they were at a standstill from the porthole in her clinic room.
“Minor problem in engineering indeed!” Graham blustered. Entering the room red-faced, he was followed by Alex, Gwen, Bernard and Lauren. “There’d better not be another dead body to deal with.”
Sarah heard the strain in his voice and worried about his blood pressure with the stress he was exuding – not like him at all. The medical team was not used to crew deaths, although they were not unheard of. The occasional crew member fell or jumped overboard, but she had not come across this during her first year working for the cruise line. The occasional passenger death was far more likely, particularly on a world cruise due to the number of older people travelling with serious health problems. Despite an increase in younger people taking cruises these days, there remained a disproportionate number of elderly people on every sailing. She had only experienced one passenger death on board, plus the incident the previous year when a death had taken place in one port, but nothing like this.
“Don’t worry, Graham, they’ll find him off his head in some obscure part of the ship,” said Gwen.
“Let’s hope so. Anyway, the reason I’m here – Sarah, Gwen, we need to take another peek at the body – captain’s orders. Tell me you didn’t miss anything, Alex?” What Graham meant was that he hoped neither of them had missed anything.
Alex looked uncomfortable. “As far as I know, I didn’t miss anything – there was nothing untoward,” he replied, quietly. “Shall I do the passenger visits while you check?”
“Good idea, thanks.” Graham calmed down a little.
Sarah saw Alex’s head drop as he left and felt sorry for him.
Bernard and Lauren took over from Sarah, checking stocks and sorting out medicines. Sarah and Gwen followed Graham into the morgue. They stood back while Gwen pulled out one of the six shiny steel refrigerated drawers, available to store corpses when deaths occurred on board. This one contained the body of Erik Marinov.
Sarah gasped at the cold draught of air that enveloped them as the drawer opened. Erik was lying on his back, covered only by a plastic sheet that Gwen pulled back. A respectful silence descended, but it produced a macabre atmosphere.
“Dreadful business,” muttered Graham. Sarah had never seen him so stressed, but understood his concern that Alex might have made a mistake. They exposed the naked body and Graham began his examination. He scrutinised every part of Erik from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. “One bruise to his right arm. His roommate said he sustained it during an arm wrestling competition in the crew bar two nights ago.”
“To think he was a
live and arm wrestling recently, it’s tragic,” whispered Gwen to Sarah. Sarah nodded, but sensed Graham was not in the mood for chit-chat. He wanted to get his examination done as soon as possible.
He seemed satisfied he had examined the body thoroughly from the front. “Okay, Gwen, Sarah – pull him on to his side please.” They did so and Graham repeated the same examination of the rear of Erik’s body. “Okay, relax back, please.”
They released Erik on to his back and Graham looked relieved. “Thankfully, I can find no evidence of foul play. We can’t totally rule out suicide, but there was no evidence of drugs or medication in his room. We are back to probable cause of death as a heart attack.”
It was as the condensation from the refrigerator cleared around the body that Sarah’s attention was drawn to something else. She scrutinised a small birthmark on Erik’s upper left arm that revealed a faint mark in the centre.
“What is it, Sarah?” Graham snapped.
“Erm, not sure. Would you take a look, please?”
Graham shot around to her side and examined the birthmark too. “I can’t make it out. Gwen, can you get me a magnifying glass, please?” Gwen left the morgue and Graham stared at Sarah. “My God, I hope this isn’t what I think it is.”
They were silent as Gwen returned to the room and handed over the magnifying glass. Graham squinted with furrowed brow as he checked the mark, but they all realised what it was: a tiny speck from a needle carefully concealed within the darker part of the birthmark. The team were puzzled about what might have been injected into Erik’s arm, but there was little doubt what it meant.
This was murder.
