by Conrad Allen
A delicious meal was served and the detectives were able to relish it much more than on previous evenings. They had solved a brutal murder, returned stolen items to their owners, and arrested those involved. From now on, sailing on the Oceanic would be an unalloyed pleasure. It was only at the end of the meal, as they got up from the table, that Genevieve was able to whisper something to her husband.
“I didn’t want to draw attention to it, George,” she said, “but you have blood on your right cuff.”
“Don’t worry,” he told her. “It’s not mine.”
POSTSCRIPT
The Oceanic remained in service until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, when it was taken up as an armed merchant cruiser, a role she had been designed to fill at need. She was wrecked in the Shetlands just a week later, a sad end for such a luxurious and popular vessel.
Conrad Allen is the author of six previous mysteries in this series featuring sleuths George Porter Dillman and Genevieve Masefield investigating murder aboard some of the most famous luxury liners of the early twentieth century, including the Lusitania, Mauretania, Minnesota, Caronia, Marmora, and Salsette. He lives in England.
