Murder, London--Australia

by John Creasey

  “You can get other people to do the chores for you, telephone London and other places.”

  “Telephone Lond—” Roger sat up. “Did you? Today?”

  “Yes. To find out if there’s any evidence Smith was a Communist. We got some very interesting information from your man Kebble, who was going to ring us, anyway. Smith wasn’t a member of any party, but he kept notes – doodling kind of notes. Kebble found an old notepad tucked away in a drawer. Some notes said, ‘Expect call from Mr Raymond, ten o’clock.’ Then there were doodles, the kind of thing you’d scribble while taking instructions for a boss. One note was, ‘Imply attempt at take-over by Red C?’”

  Roger had never been wider awake.

  “See what that might mean,” Luke said.

  “I see. The Red take-over rumour started from Ocean House.”

  “That’s what your man Kebble suggested. Bright boy, Kebble. If he ever wants to come to a land full of sunshine, I’ll find him a job in the cop shop. Another note ran, ‘£1000 for the B-Bs.’”

  “B-Bs – Barring Brothers!” Roger exclaimed.

  “Who else? And Smith took a thousand quid in cash out of the bank that day.”

  “We’ve nearly got them,” Roger said.

  “You’re right we have.”

  They were within sight of Ocean House, now, at the corner of Hunter Street and Spring.

  “What else did you forget to tell me?” Roger demanded.

  “I talked to Fred Hodges this morning, too. He’s wormed a bit out of that Chinaman who nearly killed Doreen Morrison. The Chink was told to say he was a Commie and had orders from over the border, near Canton. Marcus Barring told him to say it. He didn’t obey because he thought if he was a Red he’d be deported. He’d rather live in a Hong Kong jail. So the Barrings and the Flags spread the Red take-over story.”

  “Well, well,” said Roger. “A very nice cover, and a very neat get out if any suspicions were aroused. The Flags employed the Barrings.”

  He finished as the car drew up outside the skyscraper. A man sprang forward and opened the door.

  “Barring arrived?”

  “He was seen at the corner of Spring and Hunter a few minutes ago, sir.”

  “Let him come up,” Shaw ordered.

  “Right!”

  A lift was waiting, almost as if it had been laid on for them. They stopped twice on the way to the top floor. The outer door of the Flag offices was ajar. Roger led the way. Raymond’s secretary gave a startled smile, but before she spoke Shaw held out his card.

  “Do you know Marcus Barring?”

  “I have seen him, sir, yes.”

  “If he comes in let him go straight through to Mr Raymond’s office,” Luke said.

  “But Mr Raymond said he wasn’t to be disturbed.”

  “He wasn’t expecting the police,” Shaw retorted. As he went on, with Roger a step behind, he added in an aside, “She’ll warn them, but it doesn’t matter.”

  He opened the door of the Chairman’s office as a telephone bell rang inside. Raymond Flag was at his desk, hand already on the telephone. Gregory was on the right, Mortimer on the left. They stared up at Roger, as if worked by strings. Raymond hesitated, and the bell kept on ringing.

  “That’s just to announce us,” Luke Shaw said.

  Mortimer sprang up. “You have no right to intrude like this.”

  “Yes, I know they are.” Raymond put down the receiver slowly, and settled back in his chair. His poise was quite remarkable as he spoke.

  “We are all tremendously relieved that the SS Kookaburra was not destroyed, or even damaged,” he said. “We are glad to be able to congratulate you.”

  Gregory asked heavily: “Have you caught Barring?”

  “We know where he is,” Shaw stated flatly.

  “Do you think he’ll commit suicide like his brother did in London?” asked Roger.

  “Or do you just hope?” mocked Luke.

  “Unless you leave this office at once, I shall telephone the Commissioner of Police and lodge a complaint that you have continually exceeded your duty and have been rude to the point of insolence,” Mortimer threatened. There was a pink tinge on his pale cheeks. “Go at once.”

  Neither Roger nor Luke Shaw moved. After a moment of tension, Mortimer stretched out his hand towards the telephone. Almost at once there were heavy footsteps outside, a woman’s voice was raised – and the telephone rang, startling Mortimer so much that he snatched his hand away. Roger and Shaw moved back towards the wall which was flush with the door. Raymond reached out for the telephone, but before he could lift it the door burst open and Marcus Barring appeared. He strode in and slammed the door. Almost with the same movement he pulled his knife from the waistband of his jeans.

  “So you told the police, you couldn’t go through with it,” he said raspingly. “I’m going to do what I ought to have done years ago – slit your throats instead of taking your filthy money.”

  He took another long stride forward. The three men in front of him seemed so petrified that they hardly remembered the two policemen.

  Barring said to Mortimer, “You first, you fat slug, you started it. You—”

  “What did he start?” enquired Luke Shaw, mildly.

  Barring spun round towards him, knife in hand, already thrusting. Roger went forward smoothly and with hardly a sound, stretched out and grasped Barring’s free hand, twisting so sharply that Barring gasped in pain. The fingers holding the knife grew slack. Shaw moved with almost casual speed, wrested the knife away, and tossed it on to the big desk. As it clattered, Roger pulled Barring round to face the directors, forcing the man’s arm up behind him in a hammer-lock.

  “When you’re talking to the Commissioner, Mr Flag, tell him we also saved you from having your throats cut,” Shaw said. “Then he’ll really have it in for us.”

  “Barring,” Roger said quietly, “did these men pay you to blow up the Kookaburra?”

  “You bet they did!”

  “Did they pay you and your brother to blow up the Koala?”

  “Yes, the swine, they did.”

  “Did they order you to kill Sheldon and the others in London? And Sanderson in Hong Kong?”

  “No one orders me about,” Barring said roughly. “Sheldon knew about the Koala, he was in on that deal. He knew about the Kookaburra, too. He got cold feet and tried to stop us, and—”

  “You crazy liar!” Mortimer screamed at him. “I deny it, we all deny every word. He hates our guts, he’d do anything to destroy us.”

  “He’s going to destroy you from the witness-box,” Luke Shaw said with supreme confidence. Roger had never heard him speak so bitingly. “I am going to charge each one of you with conspiracy to destroy a ship while at sea. That will do for a start. Handsome, I expect some of my chaps followed Barring up. Let ‘em in, will you?”

  When Roger let Barring go, the man made no attempt to escape or to attack the Flags, just stood glaring at them as if gloating over their downfall.

  Roger left the police headquarters with Solomon Barring, alias Ben Limm, about two hours later, and got into a police car. The driver knew where to go, and Solomon knew that he would soon be with Doreen. Now he relaxed in a corner as Roger spoke.

  “Your brother made a full confession, and I doubt if he left much out. Both your brothers were thorns in the Flag flesh for years, and Mortimer tried to buy them off. Two years ago the Line was having a bad time. There were two successive years of lower-than-average wool clip, and a recession which cut imports sharply. The idea of sinking the Koala for insurance – she was an old ship, over-insured – was attractive. It was to have been done near land, without any lives lost. Marcus says something went wrong with a timing mechanism of the limpet mine, and the explosion was premature.”

  “I pray
to God that’s true,” Solomon Barring said huskily. “But the way they killed Denise and Sheldon – what made them? What got into them?”

  He was in anguish because of his brothers’ crimes.

  “Marcus says that Sheldon, who was party to the first sinking, threatened to tell the whole story to the police if they tried anything with the Kookaburra. Mortimer had asked him to give extra insurance cover, he’d guessed why, and set out to stop it. He hoped he could prevent the whole business without paying for his part in the Koala disaster. We know what happened.” He paused. “There was digitalis on board, and Paul knew how to use a hypodermic syringe. We know what followed. Sheldon told your brothers that the two Morrison girls and the First Engineer, Neil Sanderson, knew about the plot. In London your brothers tried desperately to find out whether they did know, for neither man wanted to kill the sisters. Marcus and Denise had had an affair on the outward voyage, and Denise didn’t mind continuing it on land. The ‘Mr and Mrs Brown’ was false, of course, but there isn’t much doubt that Denise expected Marcus to marry her. Then his probing questions made her suspicious, and there was a quarrel. Something she said made Marcus think Sheldon had told her, and so Marcus killed her. Marcus hated the thought of killing Doreen but there was so much at stake. The Flags had promised them a ship of their own for a nominal sum.”

  “So it was for money,” Solomon said heavily.

  “Yes. The Flags bought the hatred out of your brothers,” Roger said, “but evil remained in them. Sheldon found out where they lived, and they frightened him into heading for home. He swore he wouldn’t talk to the police, but they didn’t think he would keep silent when he realised that Denise had been murdered. So Paul watched London Airport, but wasn’t sure he used the digitalis in time – Sheldon went to a telephone booth unexpectedly. We know what happened afterwards.”

  “My own—brothers,” Solomon said painfully.

  “There was one good thing,” Roger said. “Their fierce family loyalty remained, and they would not injure you. According to Marcus, Paul killed himself rather than be questioned and made to talk – he knew he would talk, he wasn’t one to hold out. I doubt if we’ll ever know for certain why Lancelot Smith killed himself. He was in the know about the Koala sinking, and it obviously tormented him.”

  “I think I can guess what happened,” Solomon said. “I knew him well at one time. He had a deep sense of loyalty and would loathe any betrayal of trust. The crimes would prey on his mind, but he could not betray the Flags. He would never forget that in spite of his appearance they gave him that job in London.”

  After a pause he went on, “Is there anything else?”

  They were in the thick of the traffic at the end of Elizabeth Street now; thick, noisy traffic of which they were oblivious.

  “The first indication of trouble was when your brother Paul received a note saying that someone on board the Kookaburra knew his part in the Koala sinking,” Roger said. “He started to go through all the cabins, looking at handwriting, and he took an elderly passenger’s wallet, to search it. This was found in his cabin and he was dismissed for suspected theft. Marcus walked off with him. Strange man, your brother Marcus. When he switched allegiance to the Flags he was absolutely loyal until he thought they had failed him. As recently as last week he called them murdering swine and swore they wouldn’t have a ship left, simply to try to draw my suspicions off them.”

  There was a film of tears in Solomon’s eyes.

  A minute later the car drew up outside the hotel. Roger saw Doreen Morrison on the steps of the hotel. As Solomon got out she came running, eyes glowing, arms outstretched, quite oblivious of the passing crowds.

  “Drive me to the Wentworth,” Roger said to the driver.

  At least Solomon and Doreen would not take long to forget.

  He was at the hotel foyer later that evening, when there was a telephone call for Mr Jack Parrish. He saw a tall, handsome man get up from a table where he had been sitting with an attractive blonde ten or fifteen years younger. The way Jill Parrish watched her husband told Roger that their honeymoon was a long way from over.

  He went up to his room later, and found a cable and a letter; the letter from Janet. He opened the cable first and read:

  Congratulations from everyone including the Commander stop Sam Hackett married in Tours. Kebble.

  Roger chuckled.

  He opened Janet’s letter, heart beating a little faster than normal, which was a remarkable thing for a man who had been married for nearly twenty-five years. The first sentence ran:

  Darling, I’m sorry about interrupting you at the airport, I haven’t forgiven myself yet . . .

  He had barked at her – and she was apologising. She remembered the incident so vividly but until this moment he had forgotten it. At least he need never tell her so.

  . . . and you’ll be an utter fool if you don’t take at least a week of the leave the Yard owes you, to look at Australia. I’d hate you to miss that – much though I miss you. The boys say they’ll write tomorrow . . .

  Roger read the letter again, stepped to the window, saw traffic heading for the bridge, the couples in the little park, the neon signs flashing; and in the distance, a glow of light in the harbour where the SS Kookaburra was tied up safe and sound.

  Series Information

  Published or to be published by

  House of Stratus

  Dates given are those of first publication

  Alternative titles in brackets

  'The Baron' (47 titles) (writing as Anthony Morton)

  'Department 'Z'' (28 titles)

  'Dr. Palfrey Novels' (34 titles)

  'Gideon of Scotland Yard' (22 titles)

  'Inspector West' (43 titles)

  'Sexton Blake' (5 titles)

  'The Toff' (59 titles)

  along with:

  The Masters of Bow Street

  This epic novel embraces the story of the Bow Street Runners and the Marine Police, forerunners of the modern police force, who were founded by novelist Henry Fielding in 1748. They were the earliest detective force operating from the courts to enforce the decisions of magistrates. John Creasey's account also gives a fascinating insight into family life of the time and the struggle between crime and justice, and ends with the establishment of the Metropolitan Police after the passing of Peel's Act in 1829.

  'The Baron' Series

  These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

  Meet the Baron (The Man in the Blue Mask) (1937)

  The Baron Returns (The Return of the Blue Mask) (1937)

  The Baron Again (Salute Blue Mask) (1938)

  The Baron at Bay (Blue Mask at Bay) (1938)

  Alias the Baron (Alias Blue Mask) (1939)

  The Baron at Large (Challenge Blue Mask!) (1939)

  Versus the Baron (Blue Mask Strikes Again) (1940)

  Call for the Baron (Blue Mask Victorious) (1940)

  The Baron Comes Back (1943)

  A Case for the Baron (1945)

  Reward for the Baron (1945)

  Career for the Baron (1946)

  Blood Diamond (The Baron and the Beggar) (1947)

  Blame the Baron (1948)

  A Rope for the Baron (1948)

  Books for the Baron (1949)

  Cry for the Baron (1950)

  Trap the Baron (1950)

  Attack the Baron (1951)

  Shadow the Baron (1951)

  Warn the Baron (1952)

  The Baron Goes East (1953)

  The Baron in France (1953)

  Danger for the Baron (1953)

  The Baron Goes Fast (1954)

  Nest-Egg for the Baron (Deaf, Dumb and Blonde) (1954)

  Help from the Baron (1955)

  Hide the Baron (1956)

  The Double Frame (Frame the Baron) (1957)

  Blood Red (Red Eye for the Baron) (1958)

  If Anything Happen
s to Hester (Black for the Baron) (1959)

  Salute for the Baron (1960)

  The Baron Branches Out (A Branch for the Baron) (1961)

  The Baron and the Stolen Legacy (Bad for the Baron) (1962)

  A Sword for the Baron (The Baron and the Mogul Swords) (1963)

  The Baron on Board (The Mask of Sumi) (1964)

  The Baron and the Chinese Puzzle (1964)

  Sport for the Baron (1966)

  Affair for the Baron (1967)

  The Baron and the Missing Old Masters (1968)

  The Baron and the Unfinished Portrait (1969)

  Last Laugh for the Baron (1970)

  The Baron Goes A-Buying (1971)

  The Baron and the Arrogant Artist (1972)

  Burgle the Baron (1973)

  The Baron - King Maker (1975)

  Love for the Baron (1979)

  'Department Z' Novels

  These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

  The Death Miser (1932)

  Redhead (1934)

  First Came a Murder (1934)

  Death Round the Corner (1935)

  The Mark of the Crescent (1935)

  Thunder in Europe (1936)

  The Terror Trap (1936)

  Carriers of Death (1937)

  Days of Danger (1937)

  Death Stands By (1938)

  Menace! (1938)

  Murder Must Wait (1939)

  Panic! (1939)

  Death by Night (1940)

  The Island of Peril (1940)

  Sabotage (1941)

  Go Away Death (1941)

  The Day of Disaster (1942)

  Prepare for Action (1942)

  No Darker Crime (1943)

  Dark Peril (1944)

  The Peril Ahead (1946)

  The League of Dark Men (1947)

  The Department of Death (1949)

  The Enemy Within (1950)

  Dead or Alive (1951)