by Kim Ekemar
I finally discerned the windswept trees on the plateau beyond the rocks, and the ground began to level. My body required its reward so I rested on a slab of stone. Where I was sitting the cliffs obscured the ship, and I could not confirm whether the fire had died down or not. Between the boulders I glimpsed only a fragment of the ice-capped sea, which at the horizon imperceptibly blended into a sky of the same hue. I squinted to see if I could find the man who had left me to be consumed by the flames, but no, Stuart and his lantern were nowhere to be seen.
I continued in slow motion up the slight slope. The winds had piled the snowdrifts high against the scarce trees. The winter storms had remorselessly contorted the trunks bordering my path into weathered withered dwarfs. The daylight in the gray mist was so faint that no shadows could be distinguished.
My movements were by now so listless that it was hard to tell I stirred at all. Again I was attacked by that invincible desire to sleep, sleep, sleep. Lie down and rest, only for a little while, my brain screamed at me. Slowly I became aware of a dark shadow a few hundred yards away. How strange … no shadows could be seen in the surrounding landscape. Yet there was an object ahead of me, beyond the trees, casting a shadow.
Another step. Another step. My eyelids fell down. A shadow ahead of me. There were no shadows. Yet there was a shadow. Shadow.
I forced my eyes open. Before me towered one more of those countless snowdrifts that the world consisted of. My feeble motions made the powder snow dance seductively. I had to rest. Rest. Shadow. I sank down on my knees and allowed myself to be embraced by the soft, marvelous, merciful snow. Only for a brief moment. I had to rest. The drift closed over my head and the lids over my eyes. A brief moment, I promised myself; only a brief …
My last thought before submerging into sleep concerned the shadow I had seen. Of course, it was the van we had abandoned. It was not a shadow. I had finally reached the van.
I drifted deeper and deeper into the drift and an unconsciousness I understood I would never manage to get out of on my own.
PART III
SHIPWRECK
Newspaper articles:
March 1, 1973 – February 15, 1974
The Harbor Daily Monitor, March 1, 1973
PUZZLING FIRE ON PRIMROSE HILL
The fire at the McPherson house that took place February 27 has taken on more baffling proportions. Of the six persons living in the house, the whereabouts of four have yet to be satisfactorily explained.
Paul B. Crimson, a writer renowned for his acclaimed war novel Velvet Nights, has not yet been able to leave his statement of the events due to the severe bodily harm he has suffered. The police hope an interrogation of Mr. Crimson can take place tomorrow morning.
Daniel McPherson, the owner of the property, returned yesterday afternoon from a business trip to Boston. He expressed great consternation over the fire, and that his wife and the friends living with them were missing. At the same time, he showed much concern about Mr. Crimson’s hospitalization and the fact that that latter had been found tied with a rope. Mr. McPherson claimed he has no clue to what could have caused these strange events. ‘That my home has been damaged by fire is insignificant,’ he stated, ‘compared to the well-being of my wife, Mr. Crimson and all those living under my roof who are now missing.’
Lorena Carvajal is one of those missing persons. There is still no clue to where or why she has disappeared. The last time anyone claims to have seen her alive was on February 21 when she picked up some groceries at the supermarket on the corner of Lexington and Main Streets.
Inocencia’s brother, a man a few years short of forty who goes by the name of Xavier, has not yet been properly identified. It is known that he bought a bus ticket to New York on the afternoon the same day the fire took place. It is not known whether he boarded the bus or not, since it arrived at its destination before the police were able to apprehend him for questioning.
His friend, known only as Vicente, apparently left town a few days before the mysterious fire. Before his departure Xavier was never seen except in his company. Xavier was the one who paid their checks at Captain Morgan’s Pub, their favorite hangout.
Yesterday the police also made public that one of our most esteemed citizens, the head of our local bank Mr. Peter Pringle, is missing since the McPherson fire. It has not been confirmed if this coincidence is connected with the puzzling events at the McPherson house. Mr. Pringle has been making his career at the bank for the last thirteen years, and is considered one of the most well-known and popular citizens in Harbor. His colleagues all express wonder over the fact that the reliable Mr. Pringle is missing from work - something unheard of in his years on the job. He has not been seen by anyone since he left in the direction of the McPherson residence on April 17. No one can offer an explanation for what his intended business might have been in this enigmatic neighborhood, where the neighbors disappear without a trace.
The Harbor Daily Monitor, March 2, 1973
MCPHERSON FIRE CLAIMS BANKER VICTIM
The Harbor police disclosed some sensational news yesterday afternoon when they announced they had found the suffocated corpse of the late banker Mr. Peter Pringle of the town of Harbor. Mr. Pringle was appreciated by all in our community as an honest and hardworking citizen – please see the Obituary section for further details.
It has not been revealed what caused Mr. Pringle to suffocate, and the police refuse to make any comments about the circumstances. However, this paper has learned that Mr. Pringle’s body was found hidden inside the house, which was probably intentionally set on fire to hide the misdeeds of which Mr. Pringle’s death is only one of the few to have come to light.
A national search warrant has gone out for the man now identified as Xavier Solera Marquez. Xavier entered our country twenty-three days before he disappeared from Harbor on February 27. He is the elder brother of the missing mistress of the McPherson household, a woman known throughout the community for her exceptional beauty and vivacious nature.
The companion who arrived with Xavier to stay with the McPherson family has been identified as Vicente Perengino Trejo. He entered our country on the same occasion as Xavier. As far as it has been possible to establish, Vicente left Harbor by bus for an unknown destination before Xavier decided to follow him by the same route. Both Vicente and Xavier originate from the country of Colombia, as does Xavier’s sister who became a naturalized American eight years ago.
The Harbor Daily Monitor, March 3, 1973
NAKED MURDER VICTIMS ON PRIMROSE HILL
The facts known in the mysterious McPherson fire are becoming yet more intriguing. Yesterday the two unclothed bodies of Inocencia McPherson and Brett Moorefield were found hidden under mounds of snow in the garden of the latter’s house. Both had their throats slit by someone who the police claim must be a professional murderer. The discovery was the result of an extensive search in the area, a work made all the more difficult by incessant snowfalls in the freezing temperatures that we have experienced lately.
The relationship the naked victims shared has not been fully determined. It is known they lived as neighbors for close to ten years, and that Mr. Moorefield was a welcome guest in the McPherson household. We have tried to get Daniel McPherson’s comment on the discovery, but through his attorney he has chosen to make a general statement that he has nothing to say at this difficult moment.
The police have not yet released the much-awaited report on the investigation based on Mr. Crimson’s statement. Mr. Crimson’s condition is now reported to be stable. It is expected that the man who so far appears to be the sole survivor of the McPherson tragedy will be the key to unravel the truth of the many momentous twists and turns of this strange tale.
The Boston Times, March 4, 1973
ICE AND FIRE HARBOR DISASTERS
The small picturesque port of Harbor, Maine, has been struck with disasters this winter. First by an exceptionally harsh season with the lowest temperatures recorded in the last 58 winters
, and local snow to last them another five. Then, as winter seemed almost over, another kind of disaster struck. When Daniel McPherson returned from a business trip he had made to Boston, he found his house burnt down, his wife dead and naked in the arms of his equally dead and naked neighbor, his boarder in hospital with severe shock and burns, his long-time maid missing and his brother-in-law - who is suspected to have instigated the events - on the run from the authorities.
At this time there is no known motive for the crimes committed.
Newsweek, March 10, 1973
COLOMBIAN DRUG SUSPECT
IN MAINE MULTIPLE MURDER CASE
While the usually quiet village of Harbor was stricken with grief over the multiple victims connected with a local fire, Federal Police were alerted to look for two South Americans connected with the crimes.
On February 27 a fire was reported in the house of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel McPherson. Six people were living in the house at the time, yet only one of them could be found on the scene – the boarding guest and renowned writer Paul B. Crimson of Viet Nam blockbuster Velvet Nights fame. He was found in his nightclothes, unconscious and with his hands tied, in a snowdrift outside the burning residence. As the days passed more victims came to light. First the local bank manager, Mr. Peter Pringle, was found struck in the head in a closet on the ground floor. Preliminary reports mention death occurred due to suffocation caused by the fire.
Then, as the local police began to dig deeper, the bodies of Inocencia McPherson and her neighbor Brett Moorefield were found hidden in the deep snow behind Moorefield’s house. They were found nude with their throats slit.
The murder suspect is Mrs. McPherson’s brother, Xavier Solera Marquez, reputedly a Colombian guerrilla leader-cum-cocaine trader. He was last seen shortly before the fire broke out when he left Harbor by bus for New York. His partner, Vicente Perengino Trejo, suspected to be in the same business, is reported to have left the murder scene two weeks earlier.
There is still no trace of the maid of the house, the Colombian-born Lorena Carvajal Camacho, who has been in the country for as long as the deceased Mrs. McPherson. There is concern she might have fallen victim to the same brutalities as her mistress. On the other hand, the police do not count out the possibility that Lorena Carvajal is not a murder victim but was in fact an accomplice. The police continue to comb the snowdrifts in the area in their search for Miss Carvajal.
Since Xavier Solera is a Colombian subject very little is known about him at this time. He allegedly formed part of the Colombian Revolutionary Movement that lost momentum a few years ago when Colombian government forces caught and later executed its most important leaders. One source claims Xavier to be a vengeful man and a cold-blooded murderer, something he showed proof of on many occasions in his guerrilla activities. According to the same source he also avenged the multiple rape of his sister by stalking the men that abused her and, after supervising their emasculation, killing them personally.
One of the theories that the police are working with is that Xavier Solera learnt his sister had an affair with Brett Moorefield. When Xavier found them in a compromising situation, he killed them both in an attack of rage. He then silenced the witnesses to his deed, with the exception of Paul Crimson who was the only one lucky enough to escape alive.
The FBI has sent out a nationwide alert for the apprehension of Xavier Solera, Vicente Perengino and Lorena Carvajal.
The Harbor Daily Monitor, March 13, 1973
ARREST MADE IN
MCPHERSON FIRE MURDER CASE
The police in New Jersey yesterday detained one of the missing links in the McPherson fire mystery, the maid Lorena Carvajal Camacho. Her immediate response was indignant protests that the police had made a wrongful arrest. When confronted with the fact that she was in effect the Lorena Carvajal the police had been looking for, for almost two weeks, she refused to give any further statement.
The New York Times, March 16, 1973
MCPHERSON FIRE MURDER SUSPECT
ARRESTED IN DRUG RAID
In a cocaine raid yesterday the New York police captured the presumed culprit of the so-called McPherson fire murders, Xavier Solera Marquez. Also arrested in connection with the raid, which took place in an abandoned warehouse, was Solera’s partner Vicente Perengino Trejo. Both are now being held by the police for extensive questioning. The arrests of Solera, Perengino and five other men were made possible by infiltration of police agents working undercover, although at this point the police refuse to offer any details.
Obituary in the Washington Post, July 8, 1973
PAUL BYRON CRIMSON
SEPT 15, 1947 – JULY 3, 1973
Paul B. Crimson was a gifted author haunted by the excesses of the Viet Nam War. Yet the war was also the event that propelled him to become an acclaimed writer lauded for his breakthrough book about the epoch, baptized Velvet Nights.
Last Tuesday Crimson was found in the bathtub of a small motel room outside Miami, Fla., where he died from an overdose of drugs. No suicide letter was found and the police have declared that there is no circumstantial evidence showing that Crimson had been subjected to any violence. The coroner later confirmed that the death was accidental. Crimson had been known for his drug habits, which he picked up during his prolonged stint in Viet Nam.
He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 15, 1947. He grew up in a middle class family supported by his father’s income as owner of a car dealership. If his grades were average in general he excelled in English literature. Old school friends remember him as quiet, inoffensive and shy.
At nineteen, on finishing high school, Crimson joined the US army. He had three months of basic training before he was sent overseas. When he had the chance to return after two years he instead opted for yet another year of war against the communists. In December 1969 he left the army with an honorable dismissal. Crimson later disclosed he had kept detailed diaries about his time and experiences in the Viet Nam war, and these eventually resulted in his highly praised masterpiece. Velvet Nights was published by Bradley & Brougham in 1971 and sold more than 250,000 copies during its first twelve months.
Crimson was earlier this year the only victim to escape alive from the killer in the McPherson fire murders. The alleged assassin was captured in New York last May during a police raid and has been identified as the Colombian cocaine dealer Xavier Solera. Crimson was renting rooms with Solera’s sister in Harbor when she and two other persons were brutally killed.
His publisher informs that Crimson was working on his second novel when his young life was so tragically ended.
The Harbor Daily Monitor, February 15, 1974
MCPHERSON FIRE MURDERER CONVICTED
Xavier Solera has admitted to the unlawful sale of cocaine, to locking up bank manager Peter Pringle after beating him and to tying writer Paul Crimson to a chair. He has denied he murdered his sister and her lover, or that he had any intent to kill the writer and the banker who involuntarily became involved. At the end of yesterday’s trial, the jury found him guilty on all charges against his denials. In its verdict the jury stated they had relied heavily on the extensive testimony from the late Paul B. Crimson that the police taped in connection with the murders. For his crimes Solera will serve two life sentences in a maximum-security environment.
When the fire broke out Lorena Carvajal took the van in the McPherson garage and drove off leaving Pringle and Crimson captive inside the burning building. When she was arrested the police found a wallet and valuables that had belonged to Brett Moorefield. The jury did not find it proven that she had assisted Solera in the actual killings, but that she had been at the murder scene. Throughout the trial she refused to submit herself to interrogation. Through her attorney she pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against her. For her assistance in keeping Pringle and Crimson captive and then leaving them to die in the fire, Lorena Carvajal received the sentence of eighteen years in prison. Judge Myron Cavendish concluded his sentence by saying she would mo
st likely have received a less harsh punishment if she had chosen to cooperate with the authorities.
In another recent trial Xavier Solera’s partner, Vicente Perengino, was convicted for his cocaine-related crimes. He received a sentence of twelve years’ imprisonment and lifelong extradition from the United States after serving his sentence. Perengino has been cleared from any responsibility in the McPherson fire murders.
Peter Pringle, the banker accidentally caught up in what the judge considered a family drama of hot-blooded jealousy, died of suffocation during the fire that started after he had been locked up in a closet. Paul B. Crimson was hospitalized for ten days for his injuries after narrowly escaping the fire.
Crimson, known for his acclaimed novel about the Viet Nam War, Velvet Nights, was found dead from a drug overdose in a Miami motel last July. His death was unrelated to the McPherson fire murders.
The Ship: Chapter XI
THE APPEAL
The woman in the interrogation cell shifted position and crossed her right leg over her left knee. She looked at her watch. It showed a quarter to three in the afternoon. A certain apprehension prevailed in the room. Nobody spoke. It appeared everything that could possibly be said between the two had already been uttered.
Outside the officer on guard peeked through the grille in the cell door. The woman blocked his view of the prisoner, and he could see only the back of her. Between them the cigarette smoke rose in languid motions in the hard light from the fluorescent lamp fittings. They knew the guard was standing by the door: watching them but neither looked his way. The guard shrugged and slammed the shutter closed over the opening.
