Set Sail for Murder

by Carolyn Hart

  Most important was the search for Sophia. I wished I believed she would be found. I remembered the open doors to Sophia’s balcony and the undulation of the drapes.

  I put it baldly, knowing I would have much to explain. “I was getting ready for bed when I suddenly realized that Sophia might well be in danger tonight because her husband plans to disembark in the morning in Helsinki.”

  His brows drew down in a tight frown. “What’s the connection?” His cool eyes studied me intently.

  “Last night Mrs. Lennox included her husband among the suspects in her fall at the Hermitage. Clearly, you believed he could have pushed her.”

  Not a muscle moved in his alert face.

  “If Mrs. Lennox were murdered tonight, he would be a prime suspect. If, however, he left the Clio in Helsinki and flew to London, there would be no convenient scapegoat. The only persons with a motive for her death would be the members of the Riordan family. Unfortunately, I told one of the Riordans—Kent—that Jimmy planned to leave the ship in the morning.” I looked at the walnut clock on Glenn’s desk. Already a quarter past midnight. “This morning. As I was getting ready for bed, I remembered that conversation. I thought it very likely Kent told the others. That meant tonight was the last opportunity to kill Sophia and hope Jimmy would be blamed. I called her cabin. There was no answer. I called Mr. Lennox, thinking she might be with him. I did not reach him. I called for you.”

  “You interest me.” His eyes narrowed. “Why did you think Mrs. Lennox might be with her husband?”

  “She hoped for a reconciliation.” Poor Sophia. Too hasty in her judgments, unable to understand hearts and feelings, seeking a love that wasn’t possible. “I spoke with Mrs. Lennox tonight in her cabin.” That sounded calm and reasoned, yet both of us had struggled with emotion. “I wanted her to have some materials her husband sent me before the cruise. They prove his fear for her safety was justified. I felt certain that she would agree after she read his letter. I’m glad to say that she did agree. She realized she had been distraught at the Hermitage and that she must have been pushed by a member of the Riordan family. She planned to contact Jimmy—Mr. Lennox—and tell him she was sorry.”

  He wrote quickly, flicked me an inquiring glance. “Did she do so?” His tone was neutral, his eyes suspicious.

  “I don’t know. I left her cabin then.” Had Sophia called Jimmy? Had she had time to call? What happened after I left? She must have answered a knock at the door, admitted someone. The list was short: Evelyn, Alex, Madge, Kent, Rosie, Val.

  I looked at the ornate face of the clock on Glenn’s desk. I could picture the clock in a Victorian drawing room and wondered to whom it had belonged and what it meant to Glenn that he brought it to travel the seas with him. The time was 12:18. Did time matter now to Sophia?

  I leaned forward. “We have to find Mr. Lennox. He must be told.”

  Glenn ignored my plea. “When did you last see Mr. Lennox?”

  I felt a terrible impatience to reach Jimmy. He had to know that Sophia was missing. “Thursday night. What difference does it make?”

  “You didn’t see him Friday? How did you know he planned to leave the Clio in Helsinki?”

  “He left me a message Friday afternoon, but I already knew he was going to make reservations. We talked about it Thursday night. I told Kent Riordan Friday morning.”

  Static crackled. Glenn turned to a radio set.

  “Officer Watkins, sir.” She sounded stiff and formal. “Passenger Lennox is here. He demands to know why I am in the hallway. He knocked on the door.” Her voice gave no hint of the swift search that was under way or the circumstances that brought her to Sophia’s door. “He wants me to open the door.”

  I wished I were there to catch Jimmy’s hands, help him. I heard his voice in the background, sharp and worried: “Where’s Sophia? Where’s Mrs. Lennox? She left a message for me. Dammit, where is she?”

  Glenn’s face furrowed. “Let me speak to him.”

  The young woman’s voice was polite. “Mr. Lennox, Staff Captain Glenn wishes to speak to you.”

  Jimmy’s voice boomed into Glenn’s office. “What’s going on? Where’s Sophia?”

  Glenn frowned. “Mr. Lennox, I am sorry to report that Mrs. Lennox’s whereabouts are currently unknown. Come to the reception area, please.” The staff captain’s tone was curt.

  “Unknown…” Jimmy drew in a harsh breath. “She’s not in the suite? Have you looked? Maybe she’s sick. For God’s sake, have this woman open the door.”

  “We have checked the suite, Mr. Lennox. It is empty. Officer Watkins will bring you to my office. Please give her the walkie-talkie.”

  There was a fumbling sound. Officer Watkins spoke. “Sir?”

  “Bring Mr. Lennox to my office.”

  “Yes, sir.” There was a click.

  A crackle of static sounded. Glenn turned toward a shortwave radio, bent his head to listen. “Officer O’Reilly, sir. All public areas have been checked, including lavatories. No trace of Mrs. Lennox has been found. A search is now under way in restricted areas.”

  Glenn’s face tightened. “Very well.” His voice was grim. The likelihood that Sophia was in an area restricted to ship personnel was remote. Glenn picked up the phone, dialed. “Sir, the search parties found no trace of Mrs. Lennox in the public areas. Staff areas are now being searched.” He listened. “Yes, sir. Immediately.”

  He hung up, turned to a public-address system, pushed several buttons, spoke with calm authority: “Attention all passengers. This is Staff Captain Glenn. I regret to interrupt your rest but a passenger is being sought urgently. Passenger Sophia Lennox is requested to report immediately to Staff Captain Glenn. Anyone with information about Sophia Lennox’s whereabouts should contact Staff Captain Glenn. Passenger Lennox was last seen at shortly after twenty-two hundred in her cabin. She is in her fifties, American, blond, petite, slightly built. When last seen, she was wearing a pale blue linen jacket and skirt. Anyone sighting Mrs. Lennox after twenty-two hundred is asked to contact Staff Captain Glenn immediately.” After a pause to let disoriented passengers shocked to wakefulness hear and understand, he repeated the announcement twice, concluding, “Thank you for your assistance.”

  I thought of the balcony to Sophia’s suite. In daylight it offered a magnificent view of dark blue water and the white froth from the Clio’s wake. Below the surface, the propellers churned, massive and inexorable, creating suction that pulled down and down and down.

  When Glenn clicked off the PA speaker, I pointed aft. “Could Sophia survive if she went over the railing of her balcony?”

  His eyes met mine and I read Sophia’s death sentence there. “We don’t know what happened. If Mrs. Lennox is not aboard, we have to assume she went overboard. We don’t know where or how that might have occurred.”

  He didn’t refute my conclusion. If Sophia fell or was pushed or jumped from her balcony, Sophia was dead.

  Glenn’s door opened. Jimmy pushed past Officer Watkins. “I heard the announcement.” His steps were unsteady as much from shock as from the wallowing movement of the floor as the ship plowed through big waves. “Have you looked everywhere?” Jimmy’s hair was tousled, his face pale. He looked rumpled in a navy sweatshirt and worn jeans.

  “We have checked the public areas, Mr. Lennox. We are now searching restricted areas. Sit down, please.” Glenn was courteous, but his look at Jimmy was brooding and thoughtful.

  “She has to be somewhere. Maybe she fainted. Maybe…” The ship rose and fell. Jimmy struggled to keep his balance. I gripped the edge of the desk.

  A tinny voice sounded from the radio. “The search has been concluded. Mrs. Lennox was not found in staff areas. Unless she is in a passenger cabin, she is not on board.”

  “Break out a larger search party. Recheck the entire ship.”

  I pictured crewmen moving swiftly through the night, looking one more time.

  Jimmy’s eyes were blank. “Sophia…”

 
I stood and reached for his hand. It felt cold in mine. Jimmy never looked at me. His face was anguished.

  Glenn ignored both of us, once again speaking into the telephone. “Sir, no trace of Mrs. Lennox. Staff areas have been searched as well.” He bent his head forward, listened intently.

  Jimmy jerked free of me, took a step forward. “I’ve got to go look. I’ve—”

  Glenn held up his hand.

  Jimmy broke off, waited. He clenched and unclenched his hands, impatient and desperate.

  Finally Glenn said, “Very well, sir. I will proceed.”

  Jimmy moved toward the desk, slammed his hands upon it. “She has to be on the ship.” His voice shook. “She must be on the ship. Somewhere.”

  Glenn slowly shook his head, his face grim. “The entire ship has been searched, Mr. Lennox.”

  Glenn’s grim face made his conclusion clear. Sophia was not on board. He gazed at Jimmy. “Where were you this evening, Mr. Lennox?”

  19

  The bar. On deck. Everywhere. Nowhere. When I got back to my cabin, I had a message from Sophia.” Jimmy’s eyes were anguished, his tone wooden. “She asked me to come and see her.”

  Glenn asked quickly, “What time was the message recorded?”

  Jimmy rubbed his temple. “At ten-eighteen, but I was out on deck. I couldn’t stand being in the cabin. I had a drink in the topside bar, then went up to the sundeck.”

  Glenn’s stare was neither believing nor disbelieving. “Was anyone else on the sundeck?”

  “I had it to myself.” Jimmy’s tone was somber, a man who’d stood alone in the darkness grappling with failure, the worst kind of failure: the end of caring. “I don’t know how long I stayed. A long time. I had no reason to go below. Finally I went down to my cabin, and that’s when I got Sophia’s message.”

  “What time was that?”

  Jimmy’s shoulders lifted, fell. “Late. Maybe around eleven.”

  Glenn frowned. “Did you go immediately to Mrs. Lennox?”

  Jimmy pressed his lips together, was long in answering. He stared at Glenn with pain-filled eyes. “No. I was angry. I almost called and told her she was too late. Instead, I fixed myself a drink. I was getting ready for bed when the phone rang. I thought it was Sophia again. I didn’t pick it up. Oh God, maybe if I had—”

  I shook my head. “That was me. I’d just called Sophia. When she didn’t answer and you didn’t answer, I contacted Mr. Glenn.”

  “I should have answered. I didn’t. I sat there and stared at the phone until it stopped. I didn’t pick up the message, but I kept hearing Sophia’s voice in my mind, what she’d said earlier. She said she was sorry. She said she loved me too much and she”—Jimmy glanced toward me—“was jealous and that’s why she was stupid about her fall. I kept thinking about what she said. Sophia never apologizes. She’s always right. It’s part of the structure that keeps her world intact. For her to apologize was unbelievable. That’s when I decided to go and see her. I knew what I had to do. She was—she is my wife.” There was a strange bravado in his voice. He wasn’t giving up. “I had to go and tell her…”

  “Tell her what, Mr. Lennox?” Glenn’s glance flicked from Jimmy to me and back again.

  I had a sense of impending disaster. “Jimmy, Sophia knew she’d made a mistake. She wasn’t thinking. She was upset.”

  “Let Mr. Lennox finish, Mrs. Collins.” Glenn was abrupt, irritated at my intervention.

  Jimmy blinked, stared at me as if just now fully comprehending my presence. “Henrie O, how did you know something was wrong?”

  I told him quickly, my decision to give Sophia the packet he’d prepared before the journey, my talk with her, Sophia’s understanding that the danger she faced came from the Riordans, her decision to call him, and finally, reluctantly, I described that dreadful moment in my cabin when I’d realized the Riordans likely knew Jimmy planned to disembark in Helsinki. “Don’t you see? If you left the ship, none of them would dare attack her. I was sure that put her in terrible danger tonight. But I can’t believe she opened the door to any of the Riordans. It doesn’t make sense.”

  Glenn watched us, his eyes thoughtful. “If your visit progressed as you describe it, Mrs. Collins, it is unlikely Mrs. Lennox would have been so foolish.” His voice was uninflected. Clearly he was skeptical of everything I’d told him. Skeptical of me. Skeptical of Jimmy.

  Glenn turned toward Jimmy. “What were you going to tell Mrs. Lennox when you went to her cabin?”

  Jimmy’s face might have been carved from stone, but he looked directly at Glenn. “That I was going home. Without her. I’d realized we couldn’t go on.” He took a deep breath. “How do you think that makes me feel? She needed me and I wasn’t there. If I’d come straight to her when I got her message, maybe she’d be safe. I didn’t go to her.” Jimmy struggled to keep his composure. “But nothing matters now except Sophia. What are you doing? Where are you looking? She’s got to be somewhere.”

  “We have not given up, Mr. Lennox. The ship is being searched again, everywhere. The ship is turning now. The Clio will return to her location at twenty-two hundred. At daybreak, we will mount a search. The captain has already alerted the authorities in both Russia and Finland. Air rescue units will assist in our search.”

  Another swell lifted the ship. Jimmy stared at Glenn. “The seas are rough.”

  Glenn didn’t answer. Instead, he stood. “We are doing everything possible to find your wife, Mr. Lennox. I suggest you and Mrs. Collins attempt to rest. There is nothing either of you can do tonight to help.”

  Jimmy looked combative, face hard, hands balled into fists. “How about the Riordans? Have you checked them? Found out where they were tonight? If anything’s happened to Sophia, one of them is responsible.” He glared at the telephone. “That announcement went into every cabin, right?”

  Glenn nodded, his face thoughtful.

  “Where are they?” Jimmy demanded. “Why haven’t any of them responded? I know they hate Sophia, but you’d think one of them would be decent enough—”

  The phone rang.

  Glenn bent, lifted the receiver. “Staff Captain Glenn.” He reached over, punched a button.

  Evelyn’s voice, high and strained, filled the small office. “Mr. Glenn, this is Evelyn Riordan.” She took a breath as if air were hard to find. “What’s happened to Sophia? She hasn’t been herself at all, short-tempered and upset and really angry with—well, you heard her last night. Making family decisions in public. That wasn’t like her at all. And I couldn’t believe it when she made you give her husband another cabin. That shows she wasn’t herself, suspecting Jimmy of trying to hurt her. Where’s Jimmy? He will be frantic. What can we do to help? I talked to the children. None of them saw her tonight. Please, tell us what’s happening.”

  Glenn’s glance at Jimmy was faintly ironic. He spoke soothingly. “A search for Mrs. Lennox is in progress. We have been seeking her since shortly before midnight. She is not in her suite. She has not been seen since twenty-two hundred. Are you certain no one in your party spoke with her after dinner?”

  “Oh yes. That’s the first thing I asked everyone. Oh, if only I’d gone to her cabin. I knew she was upset, but I didn’t feel well.” Evelyn sounded tearful.

  “So none of you know anything that will aid our investigation?” Glenn’s question seemed perfunctory.

  I looked toward Glenn and knew that in his own mind the search for Sophia was now an investigation into the circumstances of her disappearance.

  “I’m sorry. I wish we did.” Evelyn sounded sincere. “We want to help. We’ll do everything we can. Should we come to your office? Can we help look?”

  “That will not be necessary. I will speak with each of you tomorrow. Thank you for your call.” He reached down, clicked off the speakerphone. “Good night, Miss Riordan.”

  When he replaced the receiver, he looked at Jimmy.

  Jimmy scowled. “Evelyn’s clinging to a dream world. She refuses to face reali
ty. She’s going to convince herself that Sophia jumped or fell.”

  Glenn’s voice was patient. “At present, Mr. Lennox, we have yet to exhaust the search for your wife. When—if—she is deemed lost, we will mount a thorough investigation and consider all possibilities. Accident. Suicide. Murder.”

  I clung to the railing to keep my balance. The Clio had picked up speed, breasting swells. Stars blazed in magnificent splendor, bright as diamonds spattered on black velvet. Twin searchlights beamed down from the bridge toward the dark water.

  Jimmy gripped the railing, looked out at dark water. “Even if she’s there, we wouldn’t see her.”

  Narrow beams of searchlights illuminated a swath of water. It was an effort, the best that could be managed in the deep of the night.

  “Jimmy, I’m sorry.” I wished I could give him encouragement. I couldn’t. Sophia had to be in the cold, dark sea, somewhere along the Clio’s course.

  He was long in answering. When he did, his voice was flat. “Sophia’s gone.”

  “Yes.” Reality trumps desire. We might wish with all our hearts that Sophia would once again brush back golden curls with an impatient hand, give her quick, bright smile, move fast, always in a hurry, with thoughts to think, love to give, demands to make. Wishing wouldn’t make it so.

  “It’s my fault.” His voice was deep in his throat. “If I’d gone to her—”

  My fingers clamped hard and tight on his arm. “Stop there. You thought Sophia was safe because Glenn knew what happened at the Hermitage. You thought she’d be careful, keep her door closed. I’d swear she was fully aware of the danger she was in when I left her. I can’t believe she was foolish enough to open her door to any of them. When we know why she did that, we’ll know everything. As for blame, if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I might as well have engraved an invitation to murder. You see”—I looked toward him, tears streaking my cheeks—“I told Kent we were leaving the Clio, flying to London from Helsinki. You know he told the others. It’s my fault.”

  Jimmy slipped an arm around my shoulder, drew me close. “That’s not true. You did your best to protect her. You went to her, told her the truth. She knew who threatened her. But I should have been there.” He stood apart from me, moved back to the railing, gripped it. “I was her husband. I should have protected her.”