Death on a Dark Sea (The Inspector Felix Mysteries Book 2)

by R. A. Bentley

  'And from where you were sitting, were you able to see all the comings and goings?'

  'Yes, I'd say so, just about. You can't see very far down the corridor that goes forrard because there's a mast in the way, but you can see people going into it or coming out.'

  'And who did go into it? Can you remember?'

  'Señor Pérez did, and then Julia did. But the Julia went a bit later because we talked awhile first. I said I was worried about Maurice getting punished for what he said at dinner, and Julia said he'd probably just get told off and stopped from going ashore but she'd look in on him when she saw about the coffee and tea. Then she took our orders and went forward.'

  'And how long was she gone?'

  'It wasn't very long at all – just minutes – and then she came rushing straight across the room and up the stairs – the companionway, I mean – and we all wondered why. And then she cried for help and lots of people ran up after her, including me, although I didn't go immediately.'

  'Was there anyone else with you in the saloon when you went upstairs, apart from the Bainbridges?'

  'No, they'd all gone up.'

  'What did you find on deck?'

  'What do you mean exactly?'

  'Well, was Señor Pérez still in the water, for example? Just to get an idea of the point things had got to.'

  'Oh, I see. They were letting the little boat down onto the deck and then they put a stretcher into it and Mr Baker and someone else lifted Señor Pérez onto it and took him into the deckhouse.'

  'Do you remember seeing Maurice LeFevre there?'

  'Is that his name? No, I don't think so. But it was very dark and people kept coming and going, so he might have been.'

  'What about Miss Harrison?'

  'Yes, she was with poor Julia, who was crying.'

  'Did you see Effie Smith, the Señora's maid?'

  Ruby looked doubtful. 'I don't know.' She glanced at the others. 'I don't think we've ever seen her, have we?'

  'Alice shook her head. 'No, never.'

  'I have,' said Robert. 'If she's rather small and wears a black and white uniform, I saw her crossing the saloon this morning. I don't think she was there.'

  'Thank you, Mr Baker. Miss Cotton, you say Luther Baker was on deck. Did you see him go up?'

  'Yes, he went up a minute or two before me.'

  'Do you recall him saying anything, before he went up?'

  'I'm not sure. He may have.'

  'What about "What in tarnation!"?'

  'Why yes! He did say that, I'd forgotten. He actually said, "What in tarnation is going on up there?"'

  'Thank you, Miss Cotton. That was very helpful. Sergeant Rattigan will type that up, and if you're happy with it, we'll ask you to sign it. Now, Mr and Miss Baker. Can you tell me what you did, from the moment you left the saloon? When exactly was that?'

  'I don't know what the time was,' said Alice. 'I didn't look. It was before the row started.'

  'Could you hear the row?'

  'Yeah, we could hear Mr Harrison shouting.'

  'So you came up the aft companionway, and then what?'

  They stared at each other.

  'We stood at the rail and talked and watched the lights on the shore,' said Alice.

  'And we tried to pick out the Musket in the dark,' said Robert. 'But we couldn't.'

  'We could see some riding lights,' said Alice, 'but we weren't sure they were hers.'

  'Where were you standing — port rail or starboard?'

  'Starboard.'

  'What else did you talk about?'

  Alice looked uncomfortable. 'Oh, you know, this and that.'

  Felix turned to Ruby. 'I'm so sorry, Miss Cotton. You can go now, of course. And thank you so much for your help.'

  'Yes, all right. Thank you,' said Ruby hesitantly, and departed.

  Felix watched her go below. 'You were talking about Ruby?' he suggested, with just a hint of world-weariness.

  'Yes,' said Alice.

  'No,' said Robert, simultaneously.

  'We were too,' said Alice. 'You said you liked Ruby but she didn't like you, and I said she'd turned into a silly flapper and wasn't worth bothering with. She was nice in high school.'

  'I don't think she's silly,' said Robert, blushing.

  'And what did you do, when you'd finished this elevated conversation?'

  'We went forrard.'

  'No we didn't,' said Alice. 'Not straight off, because then Mr Harrison came pounding up the companionway and went aft, and then we went forrard.'

  'Wanting to avoid him?'

  'Yeah, I guess.'

  'How close were you to the companionway, when he came up?'

  'Pretty close, close as we are to you.'

  'Do you think he saw you?'

  'I don't know. I don't think so. He was looking the other way.'

  'He didn't speak or anything,' said Robert. 'He just went aft.'

  'You watched him go? Did he go to the taffrail?'

  'More or less. Beyond the chartroom anyway.'

  'How far forrard did you go? Which side of the ship?'

  'Right to the bows,' said Alice. 'On the starboard side.'

  'Why on the starboard side?'

  'Because that's where we'd been standing, looking at the shore.'

  'We didn't go quite to the bows,' Robert reminded her. 'There was the hatch.'

  'Oh yeah, there was a hatch open. Someone was down there talking, so we turned back.'

  'Could you hear what they were saying?'

  'Not really; we came back.'

  'Was it a man or a woman? Could it have been Señor Pérez?'

  'It was a man. It was a bit muffled. I suppose it could have been him, yeah.'

  'Was he speaking in a low, threatening monotone?'

  'I don't know — maybe. Not very loud anyway.'

  'We didn't want to eavesdrop or anything,' explained Robert. 'That's why we came back.'

  'Noble of you. Were there any lights?'

  'Yeah, from the forrard companionway.'

  'And from some skylights,' said Robert.

  'Was there a light from the hatch with the voices?'

  'No, that was dark,' said Alice.

  'There was a little light,' said Robert, 'maybe from a torch or something. I think someone was holding it because it moved about.'

  'Interesting. And was it very dark on deck?'

  'Pretty much, away from the lights,' said Alice. 'We had to pick our way, in case of ropes and things.'

  'All right. Now, this is important. Which side did you come back on?'

  'The same — starboard side.'

  'And while you were doing that, did you see anyone else, especially over on the port side?'

  Alice looked at her brother. 'Not really. I mean, yeah, sort of.'

  'There was someone,' explained Bob, 'but he was just a shape. You couldn't tell who it was. We were nearly back at the aft companionway by then.'

  'Man? Woman? Big? Small? Moving? Standing still?'

  'A man, quite big, moving,' said Alice.

  'I didn't see him moving.'

  'He was moving when I saw him. Then he sort of disappeared.'

  'I thought he was probably a crewman or someone, chucking out the garbage,' said Robert. 'There was a splash.'

  'Did you see him actually throw it, this garbage?'

  'No, I just guessed that's what he was doing, because of the splash. I heard the splash and looked back and I saw him standing there.'

  'Yeah, and then he disappeared,' said Alice.

  'Big splash?'

  'Not especially, just a splash.'

  'How far away from you would he have been?'

  'Fifty, sixty feet?'

  'So had you been closer and on the port side it might have sounded louder.'

  'Yeah, I guess so.'

  'Did he say anything, this man?'

  'I sort of thought I heard someone, just before, but it could have been from anywhere. Maybe from that hatch.'

  'Cou
ld you make out what was said?'

  'No. But it was a man speaking.'

  Felix glanced at Rattigan, who inflated his cheeks and expelled his breath through closed lips. 'And you didn't think to come and tell us about this?'

  They looked blankly at him and each other. In their dark, circular spectacles they resembled, he thought, a pair of startled owls.

  'No, not really,' said Alice. Suddenly she clapped a hand to her mouth. 'Oh my goodness! It wasn't Señor Pérez, was it — being thrown in?'

  'It might well have been, yes.'

  'But nobody cried out or anything,' protested Robert. 'It didn't look like a murder.'

  'Wouldn't there have been a struggle?' frowned Alice. 'We didn't see a struggle. I didn't anyway. There was just this one man.'

  'What about after the splash, did you hear anything else, from the water?'

  'No,' said Alice. 'Well, there might have been, but I honestly can't remember. We were on the other side, of course.'

  'You, Mr Baker?'

  'No, not really. Like Alice says, there might have been, but you get lots of noises at night — fish jumping, wash coming in and so on. You don't usually pay them much attention. I did hear someone earlier, though, thinking about it, when we were walking forrard. I heard them talking in here, in the deckhouse, or maybe behind it. The port side of it, that is.'

  Felix turned and gestured behind him. 'Out there, do you mean?'

  'Yeah, that's what it sounded like.'

  'You didn't say anything to me,' said Alice.

  'Well it didn't seem very interesting. It was just someone talking.'

  'Two people?' asked Felix.

  'Yes, I think so.'

  'Did you recognise the voices?'

  'One sounded like Mr Harrison, but when we went in the chartroom, he was there.'

  'Mr Harrison was with the Captain?'

  'Yeah, they were talking too,' said Alice. 'But when we walked in they stopped.'

  'How about Señor Pérez, or someone with a Swedish accent, could it have been either of them, behind the deckhouse?'

  'I don't think it sounded much like Pérez,' said Robert. 'He sounds pretty Spanish. Sounded, I mean. I don't know what a Swede sounds like. I'm pretty sure one of them was Mr Harrison. No-one else speaks quite like him — real English-sounding. I thought he sounded cross, but he wasn't shouting like he did in the study.'

  'That's interesting. Did the other person maybe sound like the Captain?'

  'No, it wasn't him.'

  'Was it Colonel Escobar?'

  'I'd forgotten about him. I suppose it could have been. Yeah, maybe it was.'

  'But you didn't actually see anyone?'

  'No.'

  'And then what did you do, when you got back to the aft companionway?'

  'That was when we called on the Captain.'

  'Did you see him on deck, before you called on him?'

  'No.'

  'Not anywhere on deck?'

  'No.'

  'Might this other shadowy person have been the Captain? The one you saw.'

  Robert considered this. 'I suppose it might have been, but I think we would have seen him coming back. Anyway, when we walked in he was sitting down, packing his pipe.'

  'And talking to Mr Harrison,' added Alice.

  'I'd say the shadowy person was bigger than the Captain anyway, wouldn't you?' said Robert.

  'Yeah, he seemed quite big. Broad-shouldered.'

  'I'll tell you who he looked like,' said Robert suddenly. 'The fellow that dove in. Not Escobar, the other one.'

  'That was Sven Olofsson.'

  'Yeah, I reckon it was him. Isn't he supposed to be the murderer?'

  'I can't comment on that, I'm afraid. So you walked into the chartroom, and then what happened?'

  'We talked. But soon after that Julia called out and we all went to her.'

  'What about Escobar?'

  'He was there too. I think he came from aft.'

  'Then he jumped in as well,' said Robert.

  'Yeah, that's right.'

  Felix stood up. 'All right, I think we'll leave it there for now. You've both been very helpful. Thank you.'

  'I'm really sorry if it was the murder we saw, Inspector,' said Robert contritely. 'We didn't think anything of it.'

  'Modern youngsters!' grumbled, Rattigan. 'They don't know which way up they are. If there was a war now —'

  'They'd grow up fast. Don't be an old sourpuss and drink your ginger.'

  'I'd rather have a pint. What do we do now — arrest Olofsson? It must have been him they saw, given his size. That makes three witnesses, two of whom named him, and there was the splash.'

  'Yes, there can't be much doubt that he was on deck. But most of the talking seems to have been earlier in the sail-locker or outside of here, which is where the bloodstains are. And Robert seems pretty sure it was Humphrey he heard.'

  'Humphrey killed Pérez and Olofsson came up to investigate?'

  'Robert doesn't think it was Pérez, remember. He'd surely have recognised him if it had been.'

  'Humph. I doubt those two would recognise themselves in a mirror.'

  Felix chuckled. 'They're not so bad. There's quite a lot of information there when you unpick it. At least they appear truthful, except, perhaps, in matters of the heart. And Simmons, don't forget, has granted them his ultimate accolade.'

  'Always polite?'

  'Got it in one. Finish your key-bashing, Teddy. I've calls to make.'

  The Captain was hunched forward in his chair, toying with his empty pipe and staring morosely at the floor. Felix tapped lightly on the door, making him start. He straightened, took his cap off – revealing an entirely bald pate – replaced it more firmly and reached for a packet of pipe-cleaners. 'Come on in, Inspector. Wool gathering, I'm afraid. How are you getting on?'

  'We're making progress, sir. It's a bit of a poser, but we'll get there in the end.'

  Simmons threaded a cleaner into the pipe's stem while answering. 'You know, I'm a philosophical sort of fella normally – you have to be in this business – but any way you look at it, it's a bloody disaster. My employer's dead, I've most likely lost my crew, and my ship's harbouring an unknown killer. All in a day's work for you, I suppose.'

  Leaning, arms-folded, against the chart table, Felix gazed sympathetically at the ancient mariner. It occurred to him that the man probably hadn't slept for more than an hour or two since the previous evening, and must be all in. 'One does become accustomed to it,' he admitted, 'but we're flesh and blood too, you know. We've all shed tears over one case or another.'

  'Humph, not this one, I doubt.'

  'I doubt it too, but justice must be served. We've discovered the nature of the weapon, by the way, although not the weapon itself. You might not care for this, but I'm afraid it's probably the old chisel you used to open your plumbers' sealant. There were traces of the same material in the wound.'

  Re-packing his pipe, Simmons slowly nodded, as if attempting to absorb this latest enormity. Felix fancied he looked embarrassed and wondered what was coming.

  'Well if that don't that take the bloody biscuit!' he said at last. 'One thing though, it can't hardly have been Sven. That's a relief anyway.'

  'How do you work that out?'

  'Because, Inspector, I regret to say I inadvertently left that chisel and the tin somewhere below, probably in the aft bathroom. I did remember later, but we was under instructions to stay out of the way, so I decided to leave it there until after the party. I never went back.'

  'Can you be sure that Olofsson didn't?'

  'He couldn't have, because he didn't know it was there. As far as he was concerned I'd cleared up. He was with me in the workshop anyway until he turned in, and he'd never have dared to go aft on his own. He was terrified of Pérez. They all were.'

  'Can you give me some idea of what the chisel was like — size, shape, age? We don't really expect to find it now, but you never know.'

  'It was a long half inch,
not that old, plenty of blade left. I used it quite a bit until recently, easin' doors and so on, but then I hit a screw and chipped a corner, so I put it to one side to re-grind. When we did the plumbin' last night I couldn't find the old screwdriver I normally use and grabbed the chisel instead. It was a rush job.'

  'So it could still have been fairly sharp?'

  'Sharp enough, I daresay. Queer sort of thing to use, though, with so many knives aboard.'

  'Sailor's knives, do you mean?'

  Simmons shook his head. 'Not so much those. Most have a rounded tip. You don't want somethin' with a point on when you're workin' aloft. Some of the fellas might have a sheath knife but not for deck work. Mostly we carry one of these.' He took a folding one from a hook on his waist and handed it over. 'It's what we calls a riggin' knife. See the blunt end? The pointed thing is a marlinspike. You could do a bit of damage with that, I s'pose, but I doubt it would kill a man — not long enough.'

  Felix examined it. 'I've got something similar on my own knife. People think it's a hoof-pick but it isn't. Is it like a fid?'

  Simmons grinned. 'You're learnin' Inspector. Not quite the same though.'

  'The chisel blade would be longer, presumably?'

  'Yes, more than double.'

  Felix pushed open the door. 'Thank you, Captain. That ought to help us quite a lot. If the ship is sold, will the new owners keep you on?'

  'Another rich bastard? My nerves wouldn't stand it. Reckon it's time to swallow the anchor.'

  'Any family?'

  'Naw.'

  Passing down the aft corridor he encountered Nash.

  'No sign of the chisel, sir, but I've found Olofsson's sealant. It's in the aft bathroom. It doesn't look quite the same as red lead but it smells similar. I suppose it's mixed with putty.'

  'So the Captain has just informed me — where we'd find it, I mean.' Following Nash into the room, Felix scrutinised the now-closed tin. It was in plain sight on a shelf over the washbasin mirror. Somehow he'd failed to spot it earlier; although, he reflected, he probably wouldn't have noticed a monkey playing the flute either. Smears around the lid confirmed the contents. 'Dabs?' he asked.

  'I was just about to fetch Yardley.'

  'Yes, do that. He'd better do the whole room while he's at it. I'm afraid he'll find rather a lot of mine.'