Queen of Hearts

by Rhys Bowen

  “Thanks awfully, but no,” I replied. This time I couldn’t stifle the grin.

  “That’s what all the girls say. They tell me American girls are easier. God, I hope so.” And off he staggered, down the passageway.

  I was going to turn in myself but my own head felt a bit fuzzy from the cocktails so I went out onto the deck and stood at the railing. An almost full moon was shining on the black water, highlighting the whitecaps of the wake. Sounds of the orchestra playing that slow waltz floated out to me. I stood there, staring out to sea, feeling melancholy and with a deep ache of yearning inside me. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I caught a movement. I thought I saw something come flying out of the side of the ship. Something large, hurtling down toward the water. For a moment I didn’t quite believe what I had seen and thought it might be a trick of the moonlight, but then I heard the splash as it hit the waves far, far below.

  Chapter 8

  ON THE BERENGARIA

  LATE NIGHT, SATURDAY, JULY 14, 1934

  I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. I leaned out as far as I dared and peered down into the blackness. The moonlight was playing tricks on the water but surely something was bobbing there in the bow wave—something that looked like a person’s head? Wasn’t that hair floating out? Long, dark hair?

  I didn’t know what to do. For a moment I stood there, frozen. I’d feel stupid if I raised the alarm and I was wrong, but then what if there really was a person in the ocean? I remembered the man yanking me back when I had leaned over the railing at the dockside. What if someone as drunk as Algie had leaned too far and fallen? I ran back inside. What was one supposed to shout?

  “Man overboard!” I yelled into the stairwell. Then I remembered the long hair. “No—woman overboard. I mean—person overboard. Help. Quickly. Someone fell into the sea.”

  There were a few people heading down the grand staircase, leaving the ballroom. They sprang into action. Two men came up onto the deck with me while a third went to find a crew member.

  “I was standing just about here,” I said as one of the men opened the teak chest nearby, brought out life belts and started hurling them over the side.

  “Not much hope of finding someone again in the darkness like this,” he said. “Are you sure it was a person and not someone just throwing rubbish over the side?”

  “Not sure at all,” I said, “but I thought I saw hair floating on the surface.”

  “But nobody cried for help? No splashing?”

  “No. Nothing.”

  An officer now arrived, accompanied by other crew members.

  “This was the young lady who saw it happen,” the man who had thrown the life belts said.

  “How long ago was this?” the officer asked, peering down into the black water below us.

  “Not long. It just happened. A few minutes ago.”

  “We’re traveling at twenty-six knots,” he said. “In a few minutes a person would be miles behind us. I’ll tell the captain.”

  We stood at the railing, staring helplessly into blackness and sure enough we felt the ship’s engines cut and then we were turning. A searchlight was brought out onto a deck below us and eerie light played onto the water. A lifeboat was lowered but I think we all knew it was pretty hopeless. How would you ever find someone again in the vastness of this ocean, when we had been traveling away from them at a mile every couple of minutes? I felt sick and found that I was shivering. One of the men noticed this.

  “You’re cold, young lady. Let’s get you inside. There’s nothing more we can do up here. We leave it to the ship’s crew now. Come along. We’ll get a brandy.”

  The costume ball had ended and the ballroom was deserted. No sign of my mother and her party. The men escorted me through the ballroom to the Palm Court, sat me down and put a snifter of brandy in front of me. “Drink that up. You’ll feel better,” one of them said. Actually all I wanted was to go to bed and curl up in a little ball, but I suspected that someone would want to ask me questions at some point, and sure enough before I could finish my brandy a ship’s officer came up to us and said that the captain would like to speak to me. I followed the officer down long passageways, until he tapped on a door at the end of the hall, then ushered me through and I saw that I was on the bridge.

  “The young lady, sir,” he said.

  The captain had been standing at the helm, while other crew members were at the windows, looking out.

  “Take over for me, Higgins,” the captain said. “One last circle then we have to call it quits.”

  “Very good, sir.”

  The captain turned to me then I saw recognition in his eyes in spite of my cat costume. “Ah, Lady Georgiana. It’s you. I was just told a young woman, dressed as a cat. Please do take a seat. This must have been most distressing for you.”

  I nodded. I was still shivering as I sat on the chair a crew member had brought over to me.

  “So you saw someone fall from the ship and into the sea? Are you sure of this?”

  “The problem is that I don’t know exactly what I saw. It all happened so quickly. I just caught the movement out of the corner of my eye.”

  “Did anyone else see it?”

  “No. I was all alone on the deck at the time.”

  “And you don’t think you imagined it? The moonlight can play tricks out on the ocean, especially after a night of drinking and dancing, maybe?”

  I shook my head. “I definitely saw something.”

  “Tell us exactly what you thought you saw.” He pulled up a chair beside me.

  I frowned, trying to re-create what I had seen. “I was standing up on A deck, looking out to sea and I thought I saw something come out of a window farther down the ship and I watched it fall into the sea. I heard a splash and when I looked down it seemed to me that long dark hair was floating on the surface.”

  “You’re sure it was a person that you saw?”

  “Not at all sure. It could have been a big object. A big bundle.”

  “A bundle, you say?” he asked sharply. “What made you use that word?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. It just came out.”

  “And when you looked down into the ocean you didn’t notice anyone struggling or splashing or calling for help?”

  I shook my head. “No movement at all.”

  “No white face? White limbs?”

  “No. Just a dark shape and the hair floating out.”

  The captain glanced across at the officer who was standing beside me.

  “Would you say that whoever or whatever this was fell straight down or maybe jumped out first?”

  I thought again. “I couldn’t say. I just caught movement and had an impression of something falling. Something quite large and dark.”

  “And where did it fall from, do you think?”

  “I believe it must have been from my level,” I said. “From A deck, quite a way to the right of where I was standing. I suppose it could have come from one deck below me, but I don’t think so.”

  “Toward the stern, you mean?”

  “Yes.”

  “So that would be a part of A deck where there is no promenade deck. Where the cabins have windows that open directly onto the side of the ship?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Make a note of who has those cabins on the starboard side, Jones,” the captain said.

  “Do you want to speak to their occupants right away, sir?”

  The captain shook his head. “No, I think not. If our search doesn’t turn up anyone in the sea tonight and nobody is reported missing by morning then we’ll have to take the next step, but at this moment I don’t want to alarm the passengers unnecessarily. Brooks should be reporting back from the lifeboat any minute. Personally I think it highly unlikely that we’ll find anything. Looking for a needle in a haystack w
ould be an easy task compared to this.”

  I had been feeling sick and scared ever since the incident, but now I was conscious of another feeling. Somebody was watching me. I felt a tingle go up my spine as I turned around, trying to see if there was anyone else on the bridge with us, but I saw nobody.

  “I think you’d better go to bed, Lady Georgiana.” The captain patted my hand. “Thank you for your quick action, but there’s nothing more you can do tonight. In the morning you’ll have to make an official statement.”

  I got to my feet, a little shakily.

  “Johnson, escort Lady Georgiana back to her cabin,” the captain said, “and have her show you exactly where she was standing and what she saw.”

  A young seaman took my arm. “This way, my lady,” he said and led me from the bridge.

  As I went I heard an officer say, “What do you think, sir? Any connection?”

  “Could well be,” I heard another voice say softly—a smooth, deep voice that spoke in little more than a whisper. “If she says she saw something, then she did.”

  “So we should check the princess’s suite right away?”

  “Absolutely.”

  I turned back to look but the door closed as I was halfway down the steps and I heard no more. The princess’s suite? I remembered that Princess Promila had not shown up at dinner. Surely they didn’t suspect that she had met with foul play?

  The young seaman led me out onto the A deck promenade and I pointed out exactly where I had been standing and what I had seen. Then he escorted me to my cabin. There was no sign of Queenie, which wasn’t surprising as she hardly ever managed to stay awake for my late nights and had been moaning like Banquo’s ghost every time she had put in an appearance. I managed to get out of the cat suit and took off the black nose and whiskers before I got into bed and pulled the covers over me. What a strange night, I thought. How awful if someone had fallen overboard by accident after a little too much to drink. But then why had there been no signs of a struggle if someone had fallen into the water? Why no shouts for help? Had someone decided to commit suicide and thus decided not to struggle as they sank into the waves? It didn’t seem likely. And what if I’d only seen something completely harmless, like someone throwing an unwanted object out of the window? But what object could be that large? And what could have floated out like long human hair on the water?

  The alcohol in those cocktails and the subsequent brandy was starting to make the room swing around. I closed my eyes and wished that sleep would come. I was just drifting off when I heard a tiny noise—the click of a latch being turned, or a key being turned in a lock. Someone was coming into my room. I was instantly awake and alert. Surely I’d locked my door, hadn’t I? And only the steward had a passkey. A sliver of light showed as the door opened inch by inch, then a dark shape was silhouetted against the light. A tall man, dressed in dark clothing, was coming into my room.

  In an instant I was on my feet, looking around for some sort of weapon. How annoying that everything was bolted down on a ship. There was no vase, no bedside lamp, no jug on a washstand. All I could think of was the fruit knife in the bowl of fruit on the table and that would be hardly sufficient to ward off a determined intruder. Nevertheless I reached for it and felt the coldness of the mother-of-pearl handle as my hand closed around it.

  “Don’t come any closer, I’ve got a knife and I’m not afraid to use it,” I said bravely.

  I heard a deep chuckle as the intruder came at me, grabbed my wrist with the knife in it, holding it up while he pulled me to him with the other arm and silenced the scream I was about to give with a kiss. For a second I was too stunned to react. Then all resistance melted away in an instant. I knew those lips well. For a long moment I forgot to be annoyed with him, then I pushed away from him as his arms wrapped around me.

  “What the devil do you think you’re doing, scaring me half out of my wits?” I demanded.

  Darcy was smiling down at me. I could see the glint in his eyes in the light shining in from the passageway.

  “Sorry. I had to stop you from screaming somehow and this seemed like the best way.”

  He went to the door and closed it as I switched on the light over the bed. He looked at my hand that still clutched the fruit knife and started to laugh. “That was the knife you were going to defend your honor with?”

  “It was the best I could do, given the circumstances,” I said. I sank down onto the bed and he came to sit beside me.

  “What are you doing here, Darcy?” I asked. “I thought I spotted you on the dock but I decided I must have made a mistake because I haven’t seen you since.”

  “Nobody’s supposed to know I’m on the ship,” he said, putting up a finger to touch my lips in a gesture that sent shivers down my spine. “I didn’t even know you were on board until I saw the passenger list. Then, of course, I couldn’t contact you, which was infuriating. I shouldn’t have come here now but I wanted you to be forewarned in the morning when you’re summoned to a meeting and find that I’m there.”

  “But why the secrecy? Are you running away from the law or on some kind of mission?”

  “Rather more of the latter,” he said, “but I’m afraid I can’t tell you about it at the moment. How amazing that it was you who saw the person go overboard. I nearly choked when I was on the bridge and saw you brought in. I had to duck down the steps in the corner so you didn’t see me.”

  “It’s funny but I sensed you were there,” I said. “I think after what I’d just experienced I might have fainted dead away if I’d seen you.”

  He shook his head. “Not you. You’re made of sterner stuff.”

  “The problem is that I really don’t know what I saw, except it looked like long hair floating out in the ocean. Do you think a person went overboard?”

  “We won’t know until someone is reported missing,” he said. “The captain has done a good job of retracing our course but I’m afraid anybody in the ocean could have drifted or been swamped by a wave or just given up by the time we got there. And if there was no sign of a struggle, as you said, then they may have been unconscious or even dead by the time they hit the water.”

  I shivered. “Don’t. It’s too horrible. One minute we’re all having fun at a ball and the next something like this happens.”

  He put an arm around my shoulders. “So—you were having fun at a ball without me, were you?”

  “If you really want to know it was awful. Mummy chose a black cat costume for me that made me look like a black drainpipe with whiskers, Cy Goldman kept trying to force cocktails down me and an awful chap called Algie Broxley-Foggett was dressed as a knight in fake armor and insisted on dancing with me, knocking over everyone in the process. So no, I was not exactly having fun.”

  Darcy grinned. “Broxley-Foggett? He was at school with me. Scrawny little chap when I was in the sixth form. Absolutely clueless sort of fellow. I believe he set the dorm on fire once, trying to practice smoking.”

  “Yes, that would be Algie. He also set the curtains on fire when I was at a hunt ball with him once. He’s being sent out to America to make a man of him.”

  “Lucky America,” Darcy said. “He’ll probably bring about another Wall Street crash.” He stopped talking and gazed at me, smiling. “It is so good to be here with you, if only for a few moments. What are you going to be doing in America? I had no idea. I thought you were still at Kingsdowne when last I heard.”

  “I’m traveling with my mother. This is strictly hush-hush, but she’s trying to get a divorce and now it appears she’s going to be making a film with Cy Goldman and Stella Brightwell.”

  “Is she, by George? So she sees herself as a film star now. What happened to the German?”

  “He wants to marry her, and I don’t know how he’ll feel about his future wife on the sliver screen. But I don’t think she could resist the chance to be famous and ador
ed again. Mummy does love being adored.”

  “Don’t we all.” He took my face in his hands, drew me toward him and kissed me. Then somehow we fell back together onto my bed and it was more than kissing. It was almost as if I was in a dream, a small voice somewhere in the background whispering that I should stop now before it was too late and yet knowing I didn’t want to.

  Suddenly a great shaft of light fell onto us and a big black shadow stepped into the room.

  “I came to see whether you wanted undressing, miss,” said Queenie in a peeved voice, “but I can see you’re already undressed.”

  Chapter 9

  AT SEA ON THE BERENGARIA

  MORNING OF SUNDAY, JULY 15, 1934

  When the steward came into my cabin the next morning he acted as if nothing was amiss. I don’t mean about Darcy and me. Darcy had left reluctantly but in haste after Queenie’s arrival, warning her not to say a word about his presence on board or I would sack her on the spot. I had fallen asleep with a smile on my face, knowing that he was close by, on the ship with me.

  “Good morning, my lady,” the steward said. “Another beautiful day. We are having a most fortunate crossing this time.”

  Most fortunate? Not for some unlucky person, I thought and wondered if anyone had been reported missing by now. I was just finishing my tea and biscuits when Queenie appeared, looking bleary-eyed.

  “The one time I manage to stay awake is the one time you don’t want me around,” she said, glaring at me with hands on her broad hips. “I said to myself, ‘She’ll never be able to get out of that blinking cat suit without help so I’d better make sure I don’t nod off.’ So I sat up on me bunk until I heard the last waltz played. And then when I came in I saw you’d got the cat suit off very nicely by yourself. Or with a little help from the gentleman, maybe.” She gave me a knowing look as she came across the room and picked up the cat costume that was lying on the floor. “Who’d have thought he was on board with us? That’s a turnup for the books, ain’t it? Or did you know and weren’t saying nothing?”