The Floating Corpse

by James Walker

  I nodded. “I understand, Catty. Well…I hope we can spend some more time together while I’m here.”

  Bless her heart, she gave me a seductive smile and replied. “Oh, you can count on that, me bucko! We’ll just have to be sneaky.” Then she grinned ear to ear. “That’s what makes it so fun! I’ll talk to you later.” With that, she went out of the room. “Make sure everything is put back and locked up when you leave!” She called out from the hallway and then I heard her go out the door.

  I laid half under the covers for a while, just feeling swell.

  I followed my end of the plan and walked through the front door just as Uncle Will was coming down, I assumed, for coffee. As fortune would have it, Catty came from the hallway to the kitchen bearing a steaming cup of coffee on a silver tray.”

  “Morning Mr. Gillette. Morning Mr. Frohman.” She greeted us cheerily. She held the tray out to my Uncle who took the offered cup with thanks. Then she turned to me. “How was your walk?”

  “Fine, Catty. It’s a beautiful day.”

  “Would you care for a cup of coffee?”

  “Love one. Thanks.” I replied nonchalantly. I was quite proud of the way we were pulling it off.

  “Coming right up,” She replied and headed back to the kitchen.

  As soon as she was out of sight, William reached over with his free hand and clamped down on my ear. Pulling me close, and nearly tearing my earlobe off, he hissed in a low voice, “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

  I pulled his fingers off my ear and tried my best to look indignant. I might have pulled it off if I hadn’t answered in a low voice so Catty wouldn’t hear. “What is the matter with you? What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t act the fool with me, Collin. You know very well what I’m talking about! Your pants are covered with orange cat hairs!”

  I tried to look at him like he was crazy. “So what? There are dozens of the little beast around! What do you expect?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “That is true, but I have only one orange tabby. A tom called Maurice—who stays on the Aunt Polly and favors the guest suite to sleep in! That and the fact that Catherine is wearing a dress that would cost her well over two month’s salary and she’s still wearing the same shoes as she did yesterday --that do not match the dress -- leads me to a very disturbing conclusion!”

  As my luck would have it, Ozaki came trotting over just then. He glared at me too.

  “What is the matter with you? You no come here to sreep last night? You get drunk and pass out again? Maybe you no take Catrine home no more. You no can get past the bar!” He giggled.

  “That would be quite a feat,” William growled, “since his motorcycle is parked exactly where he left it yesterday!”

  I knew I had been made, but William shushed Ozaki and was all smiles when Catty brought me my cup of coffee. I thanked her and Ozaki said to her. “I put vases in pantry. They need a good cleaning. Do now, prease.”

  “Right away, Mr. Ozaki.” She replied sunnily, as she turned to go do his bidding.

  Ozaki looked up at uncle with wide eyes. “She is some happy today!”

  Uncle Will, tilting his head, growled through clenched teeth. “We will continue this discussion in the study!” It felt like it did when I was at boarding school and was summoned to the head master’s office for disciplinary action. I knew I was caught, but I didn’t think William would disown me, or even toss me out. I decided then not to defend myself, as I didn’t want to discuss my mixed feelings for Catty with the two of them. At least, not until I had a chance to talk to Catty about them. I’d take my tongue lashing and keep my trap shut.

  Uncle Will wasted no time. As soon as Ozaki pulled the door shut behind us, he lit into me. Striking his most imposing stances, he glared down at me and slapped a hand on his desk hard enough to make me wince.

  “Collin Thomas Frohman! Of all the despicable acts! Your mother would be appalled. Even your father would never be so crass! Not only is that girl in my employ, she is very special to us and I will not see her treated in such a callous manner. That young woman has suffered enough at the hands of an unscrupulous man and deserves better. How dare you bring your bachelor debauchery into my household!”

  I know I said I was going to keep my mouth shut and take it like a man, but this was too much. Even before I thought it, I barked, “Shut up!”

  So violent was my outburst that Uncle will’s eye flew wide open and Ozaki even dropped into a position to defend himself. I took a deep breath and said, in a stern voice, “It wasn’t like that at all…”

  Suddenly, the telephone on the desk trilled, cutting me off mid-sentence. We all looked at it and when it rang a second time, William went to reach for it. Before he could pick it up, it stopped. We stood staring at it for a moment then heard Catty’s voice calling my uncle’s name from the great room.

  We walked over and opened the door and I heard Catty say, “There is a telephone call for you, sir. It’s Chief Inspector Rowan.”

  “Thank you, Catherine.” He replied and closed the door. Striding over to the desk, he picked up the devise. “Hello, Chief Inspector. Have you any news?”

  The smile slid off my uncle’s face and he paled. “Oh, no…where…when did this happen? Have you determined a cause of death?”

  I knew then that things went from bad to worse. Uncle Will listened for a few minutes, and then exploded into the mouthpiece. ” Then it was foul play! Will you kindly dispense with that nonsense! Push those childish fairy tales from your head and THINK man! There is no monster!” He listened some more, all the while tapping his fingers on the desk and rolling his eyes. Finally, in exasperation, he said, “Very well, Chief. Where is he now? Excellent, I will meet you there as soon as possible. Good-bye.” I could hear the phone click from the other end, but there was still noise coming out of the receiver. Instinctually, I knew it was the sound of Catty crying, and I was out the door before the other two reacted.

  I dashed through the hallway next to the staircase and found Catty slumped on the floor next to the hutch, crying her eyes out and wailing like it was the end of the world. She didn’t even seem to notice me as I knelt down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Uncle Will came up behind me and set the telephone receiver back in its cradle. I realized that she must have dropped the phone when she heard what Uncle Will and the inspector were talking about. She knew and cared for, whoever they had been discussing.

  Uncle Will shouldered me aside and gently lifted Catty to her feet, whispering soothing words to her the entire time. She collapsed in his arms and sobbed her heart out. I look to Ozaki, who mouthed the word ‘Marquis’ and slid a finger across his throat.

  Mrs. Wood, having heard the commotion, hustled out of the kitchen with motherly concern on her face. She looked to my Uncle, who said softly over the top of Catty’s head, nearly just mouthing the words. “They found Marquis today…he’s dead, I’m afraid.”

  The shock on Mrs. Wood’s face was doubled when Catty pushed herself off of William’s chest and snarled through her tears. “I heard what the Chief said! He was killed by the river monster; the one you said didn’t exist!”

  I wanted to put my arms around her and hold her close, but Mrs. Wood beat me to it, taking her by the shoulders and cooing at her to calm her down. After a moment, Catty regained her composure and said to my Uncle.

  “Forgive me, Mr. Gillette. I know it wasn’t your fault. I…I…just can’t believe he’s gone. What could have happened?” Again, she broke into tears.

  Uncle Will put a gentle hand on her cheek and said, resolutely, “I do not know—yet! But I promise you Catherine, I will get to the bottom of this!”

  “Come, Catty dear,” Mrs. Wood said. “Why don’t you sit down for a moment?” She went to lead her off to the kitchen, but Catty stopped and looked at me as if she saw me for the first time. Despite the audience, I took her hand and said gently, “I am so sorry Catty.”

  She nodded and put her hand on my cheek. “We
’ll talk later.” Her eyes said everything she wanted to say to me. I nodded and Mrs. Wood led her away. I turned to my Uncle, who was looking at me speculatively. I think he was just starting to realize how wrong he was about Catty and me. I wanted to know what happened to her brother.

  “Marquis was floating in the current this morning, parallel to the inlet where the pay roll robbery took place. He was dead from a serious wound.”

  “What kind of wound?” I asked. “Gun shot? Stabbing?”

  William heaved a sigh and shook his head. “We will have to rely on Doctor Blum’s report for that information.” He sighed again, “Though the Inspector insisted that he was chewed on, of all things! Unfortunately, Catherine heard his most gruesome descriptions.”

  . “Chewed on? As in eaten by the river monster?”

  “Do not waste your breath or my time on that drivel, Frohman. We need facts!” He turned Ozaki. “See that Mrs. Wood takes Catty home after she is settled and then meet us at the boat house.”

  Ozaki put his hand up and waved it in a negative gesture. “No. You two go on. There is much to do here.” he hesitated and gave us both a stern look. “Take care of each other. Something very smelly is going on.”

  I smiled and patted my chest. “Don’t worry, Uncle Ozaki, I have my gun.”

  He snorted. “Three days—three dead. You take two guns.”

  To make haste, we rode our bikes down to the docking area instead of taking the tram. We quickly readied the Helena, Uncle Will’s smaller boat, and got underway, with me at the helm. Soon we found ourselves weaving our way through a small flotilla of boats. There were of all sizes and shapes, from rowboats to draggers. Every boat had men at the railings, looking out over the water and ready with everything from spears to shotguns. I even saw one man with a crossbow hiked to his shoulders. The river was so thick with craft, we could hardly go at a quarter throttle. The hunt for the river monster was in full swing!

  “Damn, Uncle. Word spreads quickly in this town!” Then a thought occurred to me, though I was a bit embarrassed to voice it, “Why was Catty listening in anyways?”

  “That was an accident, I think, Frohman. Catherine must have set the receiver down when she went to tell me of the Chief Inspector’s call. I fear she did not replace the receiver when she returned to cleaning the vases on the hutch. She must have heard the Inspector tell me of her brother.”

  I shook my head and veered starboard to avoid a sailboat heading in our path. “I wonder who told all these men Marquis was killed by the monster!”

  William replied, “That is the flaw of the telephone. Though I will attest they are a marvelous convenience, they are hardly private! It is quite possible the operator, herself, was listening in. I imagine most conversations between Rowan and me are prized for their gossip potential.

  “I also doubt, very much, that whoever discovered Marquis were very discreet.”

  Just as we tied up at the now empty town dock and stepped onto the pier, shots rang out across the water and we looked over to see a group of boat converging on one spot and firing into the water with great abandon. When the gunfire tapered off, William shook head and turned away.

  “Blithering Sapheads!”

  22

  Walking up from the pier as we rounded a building onto Main Street, we could see a small crowd of people milling about the front of the doctor’s office. I recognized Catty’s brothers among them, and William pointed out his parents to me. We surmised the family was waiting for the doctor to finish his examination so they could claim the body. No one had noticed us yet, so Uncle Will and I scooted across the street and made our way down the back of the buildings. I thought it unlike my uncle, not to say a word of solace to the family, but when I asked him about it, he muttered something about ‘distractions’. I, myself, had no desire to meet Catty’s parents just then. Not under these circumstances.

  The door to Doctor Blum’s office was locked, but, at William’s soft knock, it opened a crack to reveal the Chief Inspector. After peering behind us to be sure we were alone, he opened the door enough for William and I to slip through, then locked it.

  Again, the room smelled of death and chemicals. Doctor Blum was behind his desk and Rowan had flopped down in the visitor’s chair. Each had a drink and I hoped they saved some for me.

  I looked over to the curtained off area and saw the soles of Marquis’s feet on the table through a gap. Though I can’t say I had any fondness for him, I could feel pity for his dying so young and for the effect it would have on Catty and her family.

  “Why the tight security?” my Uncle asked the Chief as he shed his gloves and hat. “Is that crowd out front giving you trouble?”

  “No, nothing like that. I just want to keep a tight lid on this. Despite your denials, there is a killer in that river!”

  I could see a smirk of disgust forming on my Uncle’s face, but he said nothing as the Chief rambled on. “The only ones that know he was attacked so far are Gordon, the harbormaster — who saw Marquis floating on the water and fished the body out — and me! Thank God, the man had the sense to call me directly and together we brought the body here. I’m not worried about him, he’ll keep his mouth shut if he wants to keep his job! Now, I just have to figure out how to break it to his family without starting a panic.”

  William kept a straight face, but I had to hide my smile behind my hands. William leaned on the edge of the desk and said, “Hmm…well…of course, you swore the telephone switchboard operator to secrecy. Otherwise…”

  Rowan’s eyes flew open and he sat up straight. “Oh, No!”

  I couldn’t resist needling him, “Oh yes! The river’s so thick with monster hunters that we could hardly get through on the way over.”

  “And now the fools are shooting at anything that moves in the water.” William added blandly.

  “Damn it!” Rowan swore, before tossing back the rest of his drink. He jumped to his feet. “I’d better get out there before it gets another one! All hell will break loose!”

  He turned to the doctor, “I want to see a written report on my desk by the end of tomorrow, Doc.” He nodded to my uncle, “For once, I’m sorry to see you proven wrong, William.”

  Uncle Will shook his head in disgust, “You are not still going on about a rampant creature, are you?”

  “Wait until you see the wounds, William.” He looked over to the doctor. “Right, Tom?”

  We all looked to him, but he just shrugged and sipped his drink. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Besides,” Rowan turned his attention to me. “if he wasn’t obviously a victim of some freak of nature, then I’d be pulling you down to the station for a few questions!”

  “Me?” I protested, “Why me?”

  He looked me straight in the eye. “I heard about your dust-up with him the other night. So, just where were you last night?”

  The question caught me off guard and all I could think of was keeping Catty’s name out of it. Thankfully, my uncle came to the rescue.

  “I can vouch for Frohman. He was at my home until about ten o’clock last night then he spent the night on the Aunt Polly.”

  “How can you be sure he stayed on board?” Rowan asked. I don’t think he really doubted my uncle’s word, since he was convinced Marquis was killed by the monster, but he wanted to take a jab at me.

  William didn’t answer him, and the Inspector went on to say. “Doesn’t matter. I know I’m right. Have a look and you’ll see!” Rowan put his hat on and grabbed his coat, but before he could rush out, William stopped him.

  “Where is Marquis’s boat? Was it near the body?”

  Rowan looked a bit set back, but he replied, “As a matter of fact it wasn’t. We recovered the boat near Essex, a few miles down the river. It was drifting. The body was found upriver, about halfway between here and the train bridge. Gordon found him this morning when he was out surveying the moorings. The body… Marquis… was hung up near the shore. I figure he must have been p
ulled overboard before he could set an anchor...or run.”

  “So, where is his boat now?”

  Rowan shrugged and checked his watch. “Most likely it’s at the town dock by now. I sent Gordon to fetch it, so he’d be out of town and less likely to let the cat out of the bag.” Then he remembered that the situation had gone way past that point. “I have to go. I’ll talk with you later William.” He was grimaced. “Last thing I need is trouble on the river tonight! The train is coming through in the wee hours and I need every man I have!”

  Doc Blum looked up at my Uncle as soon as the Chief was gone. “Why so concerned about the boat, William?”

  “I am not concerned about the boat, per se, but about its position. The fact that it drifted so far south tells me it must have been in the middle of the river, where the current is strongest. The victim, on the other hand, was found in the shallows, where the current is weakest.”

  I wasn’t following his line of reasoning, “Are you saying that Marquis wasn’t on his boat when he was killed?”

  “Not at all Frohman. There is not enough data to form a hypothesis! Yet it does create a…calculated influence on the circumstances.”

  The doctor echoed my sentiments when he groused, “Whatever the hell that means!” as he heaved himself out of his seat.

  “Let’s get this over with!” Blum said gruffly. “Those folks out front are waiting.”

  “Just a minute!” I blurted out as I remembered something. “We saw his boat last night! It was drifting near sideways on the river about half-way between your place and the train bridge!”

  “When?”

  “Me and Catty saw it with the telescope just before it got dark. About eight or eight-fifteen.”

  “And neither of you thought it worth mentioning before now?” William asked, exasperated.

  I ignored his tone and shrugged. “Catty didn’t seem too worried. She thought Marquis was probably drunk and passed out.”

  “Did you see him?”

  I shook my head. “No, but it was dim light and far from us. I figured he was in the cabin.”