Death in Shetland Waters

by Marsali Taylor

  ‘You found it.’ The emphasis on you reminded me that the whole ship had just been searched by professionals.

  ‘They were looking for a man,’ I said lamely.

  ‘And you were looking for a gun?’ He glanced down at the tub, and back at my face, and I could see he didn’t believe a word of it. I felt the tide of scarlet running up my neck. ‘You need to explain this, Cass.’

  For a wild moment I thought of trying to keep Sean out of it. My brain half-formed something about Cat going missing, and looking for him among the shelves, but I knew I couldn’t make it convincing. No. I had to tell the truth. I did my best: my cousin’s stealthy withdrawal, his slipping downstairs and back up, and how I’d come to search and found the gun. Captain Gunnar watched me as I spoke, face expressionless. I couldn’t tell whether he believed me or not.

  ‘And what were you planning to do with it now? You were not bringing it to me.’ His glance slashed like a sword. ‘I will not have firearms on board. You know that.’

  ‘I was going to throw it overboard,’ I said passionately. It was rare that I acknowledged my scar to others, but I touched it now, bullet-straight across my cheek. ‘Guns cause accidents.’ My voice was rising again. I took a deep breath, and tried to control it. ‘Then I realised it had to come to you … I didn’t know it was you on the stairs. The potato was my excuse for someone else – for whoever it was coming down.’

  He looked away from me at that, considering. Then he lifted the gun out of the tub and examined it. I could tell he was used to firearms; he would have done National Service, and many country dwellers in Norway went shooting. His brows rose. He looked back at me. ‘A Glock automatic. This is a serious weapon, and loaded. You should not even be carrying such a thing.’ He gave the plastic tub a contemptuous glance. ‘The bullet would go straight through this.’

  ‘I didn’t know whether it was loaded or not. I just wanted to get rid of it.’

  Captain Gunnar sighed. He spoke quietly, but I could hear anger simmering under his voice, like a tide eddy under a calm sea. ‘Cass, this is all too sensational. I understand that you have been involved in investigations these last months, with your friend the policeman, but this is a sail-training ship. We do not need to create these excitements.’

  I gripped my hands tightly together behind my back, digging my nails into the palms. There was a heavy weight on my chest. He hadn’t believed me, and there was nothing I could say. ‘No, sir.’

  ‘I will lock this in my cabin until it can be appropriately disposed of.’

  I nodded.

  ‘Have you worked out the navigation plan for after we leave here?’

  My breath caught in my throat. Surely he wasn’t going to relieve me of my command. ‘Yes, sir. It’s all ready in the nav shack.’

  ‘Good.’ He allowed a weighty pause. My heart hammered. ‘I will ask Mike to supervise your watch with you.’

  Not fit to be in charge of a watch. It felt like he’d struck me. I spread my hands, but couldn’t think of any way to explain. ‘It really isn’t my gun, sir.’

  His face didn’t change. ‘Go back upstairs. There is no need for you to be down here. This is the galley girls’ world. If you want something, ask them.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ I said, and escaped.

  I paused to look back at the top of the stairs. Captain Gunnar was standing below, the gun still in his hands, watching to make sure I’d gone.

  I went.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I went straight to the rail and stood there, hands clenched on the smooth wood, gazing across the harbour and fighting the humiliation. Then, as the trainees began to gather on deck, I went down to the engine room. The familiar smell of diesel oil and hot grease closed around me as I clambered down the iron ladder. Anders was in his green boiler suit with a stained rag in his hands. He took one look at my face, wiped his hands with the rag and came forward to meet me.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘My cousin Sean had a gun.’ I tried to remember the name of it. ‘A Lock. A black thing, weighed a ton. He hid it down among the widow-makers, and I found it, but then Captain Gunnar came and found me with it.’

  ‘And he did not believe your explanation?’

  I shook my head miserably. We do not need to create these excitements. The words burnt too much to repeat. ‘He thought I was getting bored, after being involved in investigations with Gavin.’

  Anders pulled a sympathetic face, and put an arm around my shoulders. ‘But he knows you are not like that really. He is just annoyed about looking foolish in front of Special Branch.’

  I shook my head. ‘It’s worse than that.’ I was annoyed to hear my voice tremble, and took refuge in a burst of swearing. Anders’ arm tightened. ‘He’s putting Mike on watch with me,’ I managed. ‘He doesn’t think I’m fit for command.’

  I stepped away from the comforting arm and began to pace back and forth across the engine room. There was nothing to be said, and Anders had the sense not to say it. After a moment, I rubbed my eyes with my hand. ‘I’ll go up to my cabin.’ I took a deep breath, and tried to convince myself. ‘It’ll blow over. Like you said, he’s annoyed at having been made to look foolish. And the gun …’

  ‘I don’t think you need to worry too much about that,’ Anders said. ‘Everyone knows how you feel about guns.’ His hand clasped my shoulder, and let me go again. ‘The captain knows too. He will come around.’ He glanced at the engine-room clock. ‘Back on duty at four?’

  It was ten to three. I nodded. ‘I’ll go and tidy up.’

  I had just splashed my face with water and re-plaited my hair when the curtain at the door twitched. Cat and Rat vanished under the bedclothes in a flurry of waving tails and Sean came strolling into my room. ‘Sure, Cass, this is the height of luxury you have here, and me squashed into a berth a foot too short.’

  I turned to face him. He was looking too laid-back, speaking too casually. My senses went to red alert. This wasn’t the tearaway teenager I’d followed into trouble fifteen years ago. An adult self-assurance had taken the place of faith in his luck. He moved with the easy grace of someone whose body was in tune, ready to react to trouble. Dangerous … I didn’t know what he did now, but it sure wasn’t a desk job. He prodded my mattress, and gave his old smile. Above the curving mouth, his eyes were watchful. ‘This looks just the job. You wouldn’t care to change places, now?’

  ‘I would not,’ I said. I tried to think where I’d place him on a ship of mine. Not at all, my mind replied, but then I had a vision of him in an emergency situation, gun at the ready, keeping order in a panicked scramble for the life rafts, his blue eyes cold and narrowed. This boat’s full. I’ll shoot the next man who tries to push his way on board. I banished the picture, and made my voice as casual as his. ‘What’re you up to in the posh end of the ship?’

  ‘Oh, just paying me cousin a visit. I had a stroll round Stavanger, then got bored and came back to the ship. I’d have gone to the pub, but I’m not a millionaire yet.’ He sat down on my chair and looked round. ‘It’s real Edwardian elegance, this.’ One finger slid along the polished wood of my berth. ‘Is that mahogany?’

  I nodded. ‘Those were the days. And if you think this is grand, you should see the captain’s cabin. Maybe you’ve seen it already?’

  He gave me a sharp glance, then shook his head. ‘Not for the likes of me, dining with the captain.’

  It wasn’t quite what I’d asked. ‘Not respectable enough?’ I said coldly.

  ‘Oh, I’m a reformed character now, with a steady wage coming in.’ His eyes danced. ‘As sensible and stable as yourself.’

  Exactly. ‘Me mam and dad wouldn’t agree with that one.’

  ‘Ah, parents are only happy if you end up a doctor or a teacher. Look at our Seamus now, and him the head of his department in the high school in Dublin. Mam’s so proud of him her apron strings are like to burst, but all the fun’s gone out of him entirely.’

  ‘Until you go and liven
him up.’

  He laughed and conceded that. ‘Though a day at the TT races is the best his wife will allow him. Well, as sensible and stable as your stately captain, then, God bless him.’ He stretched his legs out until they almost touched the opposite cabin wall. ‘It’s funny the way the ship’s marked out, like. I wouldn’t have expected that, in this day and age.’

  ‘Marked out?’

  ‘Oh, you know, the areas that belong to different people. Here I am, making meself at home in the officers’ quarters, but normally we trainees wouldn’t be allowed to put our noses into the corridor. Then there’s the decks above here, where you all congregate, while we trainees keep to the middle bit. You never come down into our cabin-cum-dining room. Then there’s the bit below that.’ If I hadn’t known him so well, I’d never have heard in his voice that this was the important bit. ‘Where the pantry is, and all the ship’s stores.’

  ‘Galley girl territory,’ I agreed. I tried not to see Captain Gunnar’s face, nor hear his voice: I will ask Mike to supervise your watch with you. ‘And of course the trainees who’re helping out.’

  ‘I’ve not had to do that yet.’

  ‘Don’t worry, your turn will come.’

  ‘They go up and down too, do they?’

  ‘As required. The pantry’s down there, remember, with all the stores. Other people too – Jenn had washing hung down there. And the safety patrol go down.’

  ‘Of course. I’ve been down there meself on safety patrol. Do those tunnels run the length of the ship, now?’

  ‘All the way. But people don’t use them for that.’

  ‘No. No, they wouldn’t. And of course your sailmaker would go down there, for his bits and pieces of canvas, and your spare blocks are there too.’

  ‘All the repairs stuff,’ I agreed blandly. I feared he could read me as easily as I was reading him.

  ‘For all he’s stately, though, your captain looks a good man in a pinch. I’d go to him if I had any kind of problem.’

  Like finding a loaded gun down among the sail blocks. He must have seen us coming out of the banjer steps together. ‘I’d do that,’ I agreed. Very well, then, cards on the table. I looked Sean straight in the eye. ‘Anything I found that was bothering me, he’d get it straight away.’

  I saw his leg muscles relax. He gave me his most dazzling smile. ‘Very wise. That’s what higher command is for.’ He stood up, stretching his arms sideways and yawning. ‘So, we head out at five, and straight across the North Sea. Over the top of Scotland, down the side, and home.’

  ‘Ah, my home’s a travelling one now.’ I had a sudden pang of longing for Khalida’s little cabin, with my narrow quarter-berth running aft under the cockpit seats, and the simple cooker on its gimbals, and the brass fish gleaming against her mahogany bulkhead. Now we were embarked on Sørlandet’s summer season, I only had time to visit her quickly, check all was well, and return to my other ship, like a man with a wife and a demanding mistress.

  ‘You always had a touch of the gipsy about you. Well, I’ll go and see what’s doing on deck.’ I thought he was about to say something more, eyes calculating, then he seemed to dismiss the thought, nodded, and headed off.

  I listened to his footsteps, soft on the polished floor. He paused at the captain’s door for so long that I was tempted to go out and see what he was up to; then at last the steps moved on, out into the open air.

  I wasn’t on duty once the ship had left harbour; it was Nils’s watch. He threaded us out on his amended version of my course, through the little islands and on until the white tower of the Kvitsøy lighthouse was to the south of us, the red hat of the Geitungen lighthouse to the north, then westwards straight out to sea. Tea was a hurried meal before the all-hands muster. I had no appetite for it anyway. It was obvious that the captain had spoken to Mike, from the sympathetic look he gave me as we came into the room together, and he must have spoken to Agnetha too, for she gave me a speaking glance. I writhed inwardly, and left half of my stew hidden under a piece of bread.

  There was an edgy feel in the air, and it was obvious from the muttered conversations on deck around me that several people had seen the special forces squad come aboard, and drawn the most melodramatic of conclusions. Olav’s mystery man had become a semi-mythical figure. ‘He was a Russian hitman, on his way to assassinate the British prime minister,’ Nine breathed to Anna, who promptly passed it on to Maria and the Greek boys. ‘They didn’t find anyone,’ Sindre told the Ethiopian boys in Norwegian. ‘He slipped down a rope from the ship and swam ashore while nobody was looking.’ Captain Gunnar came out himself to spread reassurance: ‘We feared that there had been a stowaway aboard, but the ship was searched, and nobody found. You may now all relax and enjoy our journey across the North Sea.’

  Sean was at the back of his watch, on the aft end of the line, detached from the nearest group of youngsters, and looking around him so casually that I was instantly suspicious. As Jenn’s ‘moments of awesome’ began, he began to slide sideways, face still turned towards her as if he was just shifting position. He’d slid a good two metres along the rail when he looked up and saw me watching him. His eyes narrowed, and we stared at each other for a drawn-out moment, then he leant back once more, body slanted towards the crowd on the deck. Whatever he was planning to do while everyone was amidships and the captain’s cabin was deserted, he’d save it for another time. I relaxed and looked back at Jenn, then back to where Sean had been. He was gone. He’d slipped away like a cat, without moving the air round him.

  I wanted to go after him. I was just moving from my place when I caught Captain Gunnar’s eye on me, and subsided. I was in enough trouble. I stood there, fretting, as the long moments passed. Jenn was just rounding off the session when Sean slipped back, as unobtrusively as he’d left. The people nearest to him would have sworn he’d never moved. Only a suspicious cousin sensed his air of satisfaction. Whatever he’d gone for, he’d got it.

  We had ten minutes before we were due on duty. I made myself a mug of drinking chocolate and took it up to the nav shack, watching as my trainees assembled below. Nils met me with a grave face. ‘What’s this story about you waving a gun at the captain?’

  ‘Nonsense, of course.’ I managed a laugh. ‘I found a gun on board and gave it to him.’

  I could see he was going to ask more, and turned away, busying myself over the chart until Mike slid in beside me, his eyes not meeting mine. ‘You’ve got the course all worked up? Good.’

  By now my watch was lined up on deck. Samir was feeling sick, Erik announced. I gave a quick glance around, and saw him by the rails, instead of in his usual place in the front row, raring to go. ‘I need a volunteer for galley duty.’ Erik looked hopefully at the young men, but none of them offered. Olav stepped forward. ‘I’ll do it.’

  ‘Good man,’ Erik approved. ‘It’ll only be half an hour, just to clear up.’ That sorted, he went over to Samir, and asked a question. Samir nodded gloomily, and Erik sent him aft towards the sick bay. Sadie, our MO, would give him seasickness pills. I made a face; we were losing one of our best climbers.

  The forecast had been for mist, and now it had blown from the land, grey as cobwebs all around us. There was a breath of wind to curve the sails, but the sea was oily, studded with jellyfish, brown with a spirograph pattern or starred with sunflower yellow in a clear bell: brunmaget and glassmaget.

  Sailors hate mist. It blinds your sight and deadens sound, the two senses that first warn you of trouble. We were moving away from the Bergen shipping lane, but there were still vessels all around us, moving blips on the electronic chart. I clicked on one and found its details: the Bright Star (UK), steaming at fifteen knots on a heading of 312 degrees, destination Lerwick, ETA Monday 01.00, ship type: fishing. It was only half a mile away, yet I could barely make out its lights. We could do with an extra pair of eyes on lookout. We’d also need to stow these sails soon. Who were my non-climbers?

  Just as I was looking, Olav came out of
the banjer hatch. He had an air of excitement that made me uneasy; a man with news to share. He made straight for the aft steps and had just climbed to deck level when Captain Gunnar materialised beside me. His face was still closed against me, but his voice was less cold, and although he flicked a glance at Mike, it was to me he spoke.

  ‘Cass, I think we should stow the sails on the foremast now. We will need an extra person on lookout, one of the adults, to back up the younger ones.’ He turned to see Olav hovering. ‘You are on this watch, are you not? Please go and join the foredeck lookout. We have to switch the radar off while the sails are stowed, so it is particularly important that you watch and listen. For the time that the radar is switched off, our safety depends on you.’

  Olav nodded, and went, with a last glance towards me. I’d find out what he wanted at the first opportunity. Mike leant back against the nav shack as I called Erik up and began giving instructions: teams up the rig, with the foremast sails to be stowed first, so that the radar could go back on as soon as possible. ‘And Olav came up as if he wanted to speak to me just now,’ I finished. ‘While everyone’s getting their harnesses on, could you send Petter or Mona forrard to see what he wanted to say? Thanks.’

  The silence was eerie. The topsails were lost in cloud, the grey sails hanging like emanations of mist stretching down towards us. Cold drops clung to the ratlines, and clouded the bright brass of the handrail; the ropes were dark with water. Below me, the trainees were getting their harnesses on, backs to the still water, but with the occasional uneasy glance over a shoulder. Even their bright jackets were dulled by the dim air. Forrard, the grey mist coiled over the boat deck, and the foredeck was wreathed in it, so that Ludwig, Ben and Olav were just dark shadows, and frighteningly vulnerable. If something rammed us, they’d be the first to go overboard. I looked around me and found my standby helm. ‘Nine, can you nip down and tell Mona to get the lookouts to put lifejackets on.’ Beside me, Mike nodded approvingly. ‘Thanks.’