As if to confirm Selby's words, beyond the unnervingly silent Miss Birkin, the outer door of the airlock ratcheted open.
There was nothing any of them could do as the sea flooded into the chamber, filling it in seconds, crushing the old woman to a pulp before she had a chance to drown.
As the messy remains of what was left of Constance's aunt were drawn out of the airlock in a swirl of ocean current, a terrible realisation crept over Ulysses.
Glenda's murderer had come with them. Someone, hiding in plain sight in the party of survivors within the Marianas Base, was the killer and had dared to strike again, even given the hopelessness of their position, surely realising that there could be no escape for them either now.
What had seemed to be their sanctuary from all the horrors that the abyssal depths held for them, had now become their prison.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The Accused
"We only left her alone for a moment," John Schafer was saying, "a minute or two at most."
The young man looked completely wrung out as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. The stress of the situation, having personally taken responsibility for the safety of his fiancée and her aunt, had begun to get to him like never before. And this feeling was only made worse by the fact that one of his charges was now dead, and having suffered such a horrible death.
Constance Pennyroyal was slumped on the floor against the airlock door, sobbing into her hands. At least her anguished cries of grief had subsided for the time being, but, to Ulysses' mind, the heart-rending stifled sobs seemed almost harder to bear.
"We heard something - a crash, a cry - and went to see what was going on," Schafer went on. "We only left her alone for a moment."
"It's the killer," the purser said darkly. "Whoever killed Miss Finch is with us, here, in the base, hiding somewhere amongst us."
"A stowaway, you mean?" Lady Denning asked.
"You can tell yourself that, if you like," Selby said, "but there was no one on board before any of us boarded back at the sub-dock on the Neptune."
"How can you be sure?"
"You'll have to trust us on that one, your ladyship."
"Trust you? But someone amongst our party is a killer! How can we trust anyone anymore?" She took in the faces around her one at a time, alighting on Major Horsley's bristled red-veined face. "Even those people we thought we knew."
"The killer's here?" Dr Ogilvy repeated, as if struggling to comprehend what he was hearing. "But if that's the case, we're all doomed!" He seemed to be paying particular attention to Harry Cheng as he had his say.
"We're not done yet," Ulysses said, one eyebrow arching and the corner of his mouth following suit, a wry smile beginning to form on his face. "It's quite simple, really. As it stands none of us are going to get out of here alive if we don't keep to the plan. The killer hasn't shown themselves to be suicidal, otherwise we wouldn't be in this position now."
"How can you be so calm and detached about all this?" Schafer asked, as if he was revolted by Ulysses' lack of demonstrable emotion. "Especially after what happened to Glenda."
Ulysses fixed the younger man with a hard stare. "Whatever it takes to get through this," he said coldly. "Anyway, as I was saying, the killer could have put an end to all of us any number of times, if they hadn't valued their own life. No, there's a purpose to these killings and as long as we stick together, and stick to the plan, there's nothing our mystery killer can do to harm us. Isn't that right, Captain?" Ulysses asked directing a wicked grin at McCormack, his ally in all their plotting so far.
"Mr Wates, seize this man," the captain said, pointing an accusing finger at Ulysses.
"Captain?"
"McCormack?" Ulysses said, in disbelief, his nascent smile being replaced by a knot of confusion.
"I said, lay hands on Mr Quicksilver!"
"You cannot be serious," Ulysses pressed on, incredulous. "That blow to the head must have been worse than we first thought."
Just as confused as Ulysses, but with years behind him as a devoted naval officer, Wates moved forwards, almost as if reacting by instinct upon hearing his captain's command, and put a cautious hand on the dandy's arm. All the while he kept looking to his superior for affirmation of his actions.
In response, Nimrod moved to stop Wates.
The rest of the group seemed frozen in a state of shock, either by this unexpected development taking place before their eyes, or by the sudden death of the harmless old spinster, or simply at the bizarreness of the situation they all found themselves in.
"It's all right, Nimrod," Ulysses said.
"But, sir, I must insist."
"It's all right, Nimrod. But Captain McCormack there is no need to have Mr Wates lay his hands on me."
"Oh, I would beg to disagree."
"In that case, then, I am sure that you won't mind explaining to me precisely why you are placing me under arrest. That is what you're doing, isn't it?"
The situation seemed ludicrous to Ulysses. What did the captain think he was going to do with him even if he had him under lock and key?
"What is it I am accused of?"
"Happily, sir, if only so that these God-fearing men and women here present learn what sort of a viper has been lurking in their midst all this time, and know that they can now rest easy, assured that a murderer has been banged to rights."
"I've been called a few choice things in my time," Ulysses said in a way that implied he might have found this misunderstanding amusing if it wasn't for the direness of their predicament, "but a viper and a murderer, never!"
Appalled gasps passed around the group, followed in some cases by a wave of palpable relief to know that the killer had been caught.
"And to think that I entrusted you with the task of uncovering the identity of Miss Finch's killer!" McCormack sounded like he was in danger of losing it again, as he had done with Carcharodon, when they were back aboard the Neptune.
"Come on then, man," McCormack's employer said, pressing him. "I know that Quicksilver and I haven't always seen eye to eye but I'm on tenterhooks to know the reason why you believe him to be the killer."
"Miss Birkin was right all along," McCormack replied cryptically.
"W-What do you mean?" It was Constance who spoke. She had been listening just as intently to the exchange as everyone else and fixed the captain now with a piercing gaze, made all the more furious by the redness and puffiness of her eyes.
"She told me, back on board the Neptune, when we were trying to get everyone across the Grand Atrium."
"She told you?" Ulysses was getting exasperated himself now. "Told you what?"
"That you were the killer."
Ulysses remembered how the suspicious old woman - "too full of conspiracy theories" the Major had said - had looked at him, ever since they had met together following the wrecking of the ship, how she had refused to board the Nemo when she knew that she would be travelling with him.
"But wherever did she get that ludicrous idea, the daft old bat?"
"That's my aunt you're talking about!" Constance suddenly shrieked, catching Ulysses off guard.
His face reddened in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I meant no offence -"
"She told me that she had seen Miss Finch with the killer. You saw her tell me as much," McCormack interrupted, the anger and frustration apparent in his voice, "read her lips, no doubt."
Ulysses recalled the moment quite clearly now.
"It was at that point that I took her to one side, to stop her upsetting anyone else. She told me that she saw you with Miss Finch only a matter of hours before she was found dead inside the AI chamber, after you left the casino with her that night. But by then the damage had been done. And now she is dead. You killed her to silence her, because she knew too much."
"But this is ridiculous," Ulysses said again. "Your evidence is nothing but circumstantial. It wouldn't stand up in a court of law."
"In case you hadn't noticed, Ulysses, we're no
t in a court of law," Schafer said darkly.
"Et tu, Brute?" Ulysses threw back, angry and upset at the apparent change of allegiance of a man who was the closest thing he had to a friend amongst his fellow passengers-cum-refugees, other than his manservant.
"Where were you when the airlock was activated?"
"Well, assuming that it had only just happened," Ulysses paused, his mind racing, trying to work out his whereabouts at the time when the old busy-body's fate had been sealed. "Why, I suppose it was around the time we all heard the crash and went to help Carcharodon and then found you in the lab."
"So, you attacked me too," Carcharodon shrieked. "You admit it!"
"Why don't you just shut up for once, you blustering old buffoon?" Ulysses railed.
"And you have witnesses?" McCormack asked.
"I was with Cheng, Haugland and the rest up until that point."
"Up until that point?" McCormack parroted. "There was never a time when you were alone?"
"There was that time when you told us all to split up, after we heard the attack on Mr Carcharodon," Dr Ogilvy pointed out nervously.
"What?" Ulysses couldn't believe that the doctor was actually attempting to corroborate McCormack's story. "We weren't apart for more than a few minutes."
"Time enough for a man like yourself, in the peak of physical fitness to return here and do the dreadful deed," McCormack said coldly.
"This is preposterous!" Nimrod said, adding his voice of dissent to the argument.
"But why would I risk returning here, to do that, when I thought that John and Constance would be here?"
"Perhaps you planned to do away with all of them," Ogilvy suggested, excitedly.
At that Constance recoiled into the safety of Schafer's embrace, turning horrified eyes on Ulysses. That look alone cut him to the core.
"What happened to innocent 'til proven guilty?" Ulysses challenged.
Captain McCormack looked around at the others. "Haugland? Can you confirm all this? Where is Haugland? Has anyone seen him?"
"I can confirm that Mr Quicksilver did leave us for a time," Cheng said impassively, his face a hardened, emotionless mask. "But then so did his manservant, Mr Nimrod."
"Precisely," Ulysses said, his speech becoming impassioned as he realised that this wasn't some bluff, something that was all going to pass as some ridiculous misunderstanding. "I wasn't alone."
"Is this correct, Mr Nimrod?" McCormack asked, his expression one of steely concentration.
"When our party separated I went with Mr Quicksilver," Nimrod confirmed.
"Then you had an accomplice!" Constance screeched.
All eyes now turned on Nimrod and for the first time since their descent into chaos had begun, Ulysses' loyal family retainer looked suddenly out of sorts, a startled expression claiming his features.
"That would explain why you weren't worried about taking on all three of them," Ogilvy chirruped excitedly.
"I did not kill anyone!" Ulysses growled, the volume of his words increasing as he did so. "I did not plan to kill anyone. We did not plan to kill anyone!"
"Then if you didn't, who did?" Carcharodon challenged.
Ulysses opened his mouth to speak, but no words followed. Who indeed? Who would have wanted to kill Glenda Finch and now Miss Birkin? And who had the opportunity and the wherewithal to achieve the brutal task?
"Seize those men!" McCormack ordered.
Ulysses went for his sword-cane but Mr Wates already had a hand on him. In moments both Wates and Swann had Ulysses held tightly by the arms and shoulders so that he couldn't escape, and Nimrod found himself restrained by Selby and Clements. There hadn't seemed much point in him trying to get away when his master was already restrained and they were both outnumbered. They would work out a way out of their predicament together, given time.
"So what do you plan to do with us now?" Ulysses sneered.
The captain took a moment to respond, taking that moment to look around the dive preparation chamber again.
"Put them in there," he commanded, pointing at a circular hatch-door in the side of the hemi-spherical chamber.
It seemed pointless protesting now, so Ulysses and Nimrod allowed themselves to be pushed through the hatch and into the storage locker beyond. The door slammed shut behind them with a resounding, and very final sounding, clang and Ulysses heard the thud and clunk of locking clamps being secured. Peering through the round porthole he could see that Swann and Clements had been placed either side of the hatch to stand guard.
"Well, Nimrod, old chap, who'd have thought it would end like this?" Ulysses said, trying to smile, in spite of everything.
"Not I, for one," Nimrod said with abrupt annoyance.
Turning on the spot, Ulysses surveyed the room that had become a temporary brig for the two desperadoes and one object stood out more than any other.
It dwarfed the two of them. Twice as tall as a man and almost as wide as it was high, it looked for all intents and purposes like a huge, all-enclosing diving suit. However, due to its size, no man would be able to fit his body precisely inside the arms and legs of the suit. Instead the pilot had to climb into the back and secure himself within a cramped pilot's cabin inside the torso of the suit and the spherical fish-bowl helmet. Searchlights were mounted on the broad shoulders of the suit and the pilot actually viewed the sub-aquatic world beyond through a number of circular portholes positioned around the helmet-dome.
"I assume you have a plan to get us out of here, sir," Nimrod said as he too took in the room.
"Oh, you know me, Nimrod," Ulysses said, grinning wickedly, eyes remaining fixed on the suit in front of him. "I'm just making this up as I go along."
There was a sharp electrical click and Captain McCormack's voice crackled from an intercom panel in the wall.
"When was the last time you saw Haugland?" he demanded, his tone accusing.
"What? McCormack, have you lost your mind?" was Ulysses' less than helpful reply.
Now that he came to think of it himself, he hadn't seen the Norwegian since his party had split up after hearing what they now knew was the attack on Carcharodon. A cold feeling filled his belly, a knot of ice tightening inside him. He could see where this was going.
"If you've done anything to him," McCormack was saying, the tone of his voice making it clear that his sorely tested patience was rapidly running out, "God help you!"
With, as seemed likely, the double murderer and his accomplice secured away and with an armed guard on them, Captain Connor McCormack organised certain members of the remaining group of survivors into three separate search parties. And although he now had Ulysses and Nimrod imprisoned, the atmosphere of distrust, that the attacks and the killings had engendered in everyone, had not entirely lifted.
So, just to be sure, with that doubt planted in his mind and wondering if there was someone else lurking within the base, the stowaway that Selby assured him did not exist, McCormack made sure that as many people as possible were armed before they set out to look for Haugland. The leader of each party was given a pistol and ammunition taken from a secure locker onboard the Ahab. The rest had to make do with what could be procured from the divers prep room. Inside one of the storage lockers, the purser had found a number of cumbersome, hand-held harpoon guns, bolts already loaded, a pair of fire-axes, and even a number of sticks of dry dynamite, although these were not considered an appropriate means of defence. Every other weapon, however, was gratefully accepted by their recipients.
"Right, are we ready then?" Major Horsley asked in his customary bellow, as the group began to divide up.
People were naturally gravitating towards those they most trusted or who they perceived as being most like themselves.
"Ready?" Horsley asked again, looking round the group. "Tip top," he said beaming, apparently concluding that they were indeed all ready. "Let's be on our way then, what?"
He set off towards the door that led out of the dive prep chamber and into the rest of
the complex beyond, harpoon gun held high before him.
"Major, wait!" Captain McCormack called after him. "We need to plan the search carefully."
"Haugland could be lying somewhere, bleeding to death! What more do we need to know? Time's a-wasting."
And with that, he was gone.
McCormack shook his head wearily and muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath.
"So, what now, McCormack?" Carcharodon said in that oh-so irritating, wheedling tone of his.
"Well, sir, I would suggest that you stay here, along with Miss Celeste. You've both had a nasty shock."
"Don't patronise me!" Carcharodon snarled. "Talk about pot and kettle! What about you? If you're fit to run around playing heroes, on some wild goose chase looking for Haugland, then so are we."
"But I didn't think you'd want to," the captain threw back, almost defeated by the shipping magnate's constant harping criticism.
"Who are you to make such a judgement of me?" Carcharodon tore into the near-exhausted McCormack. "I'm not going to sit around here, like an idiot, waiting to be attacked again! I want to know what's going on as much as you do. It's bad enough that I'm an invalid, stuck in this chair. I am not going to be treated like a vegetable as well! I have never stood for that, and I'm not about to start now!"
"I meant no offence, sir. I was merely suggesting -"
"Suggest all you like. Miss Celeste," Carcharodon said, looking up haughtily, but more importantly past McCormack, and clutching one of the harpoon guns tightly in his balled fists, "we're leaving. As the Major pointed out, there's no time to waste."
And with his cowed aide pushing his chair, with heavy trudging steps, Carcharodon and Miss Celeste exited the chamber, Carcharodon calling, "Major Horsley. I'm with you!"
"Lady Denning, would you care to -"
"No I would not care to remain behind either, Captain, if that is what you were about to ask. As Mr Carcharodon put it so plainly, I am as eager to know what has happened here as anyone else. Besides, I might have knowledge that would be of use to a search party," she added cryptically.
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