by steve higgs
He turned to look right at me now, fixing me with a hard stare. ‘Because I was being good to you, Mrs Fisher. You should thank me for it. There is no British consulate in Madeira and the native language is not English. It will be much easier for you to arrange legal council in St Kitts. Don’t worry though, you will be in jail soon enough.’
‘Will that be all?’ It was my turn to fix him with my own hard stare. ‘I’m still the innocent party, Mr Schooner. I’m still the guest held prisoner in the royal suite on the world’s largest luxury ocean liner because you cannot look far enough beyond your own ego to see that I am not the killer. What possible gain could there be for me in that man’s death?’
Mr Schooner came across the room at me, his face an angry, rage-filled sneer. ‘That is what I intend to find out,’ he snarled mere inches from my face as his proximity forced me back into the headrest of the chair.
Then he turned on his heel and stormed from the room, yelling, ‘Double the guard and bring me her butler,’ as he went out.
Poor Jermaine would be grilled about his involvement, his whereabouts today and probably about my movements as well. Luckily, I was convinced that Mr Schooner didn’t have any notion that Jermaine was my accomplice in the murders. It seemed more likely that he wanted to talk to him so that Jermaine could be engaged to act as a spy to report on me.
I was fine with that.
My stomach growled meaningfully. The lunch Barbie had bullied me into ordering in the bar in Funchal was long gone, but I didn’t think I could order food to the room just yet since there was still a dead body in the kitchen and I didn’t want to summon Jermaine to bring me something either because he would have to step over the body and the men taking care of it to get to me.
Odd though it might sound, the most logical option I could come up with was to call Barbie to take me to the gym. She would ensure I didn’t train on an empty stomach at least.
Barbara Berkeley
True to his word, there were now two guards outside my door when Barbie and I left to go to the gym, which they had emptied in deference to my visit and they arranged two more guards to come to the gym with me. The meat-headed, crewcut-wearing, silent sentinels lifted heavy weights in one corner, never taking their eyes off me although I had to wonder if they were actually staring at Barbie instead and lifting the weights in a bid to impress her.
Thankfully, upon hearing that I hadn’t eaten, Barbie provided me with a meal replacement shake that she said contained all the nutrients I needed and then insisted I perform a very slow warm up for thirty minutes so I didn’t immediately bring the shake back up.
The reprieve didn’t last long though. An hour of sustained cardio on about eight different machines reduced me to a wobbly-kneed, sopping wet, sweaty mess and now I really needed something more substantial than a thick milkshake to eat.
Dripping onto the floor, with the two guards across the room trying hard to not show their disgust, I looked up as Barbie sat herself in front of me.
‘We just need to do some warm down exercises now,’ she said.
‘Really? We’re not finished yet?’ I panted, stopping short of pleading but not far short.
Barbie smiled at me. ‘This is the easy bit and will stop your muscles stiffening and feeling sore when you wake up.’ I suspected that nothing short of sleeping for two weeks would prevent my muscles from feeling stiff when I woke up. In her hand though was a remote. She pointed it across the room and relaxing music began to play.
After ten minutes of stretching my arms and legs and back and shoulders and all my other bits, I had stopped sweating, though I was no less of a sweaty mess than I had been, but I had to admit that I felt better. Little perfect Barbie was something of a miracle worker when it came to fitness. Not that I was claiming I had suddenly turned my life around or dropped twenty pounds, but I did feel mentally refreshed and buoyed by surviving the workouts I had endured. She was harsh but she was encouraging.
‘I need to eat.’
‘And that is exactly what I need you to do. Your body needs to be refuelled now. Remember, food is fuel. When you are hungry it wants nutrients not calories. I will be along to your room with a meal shortly.’
‘Don’t I get to pick?’ I asked a little sulkily.
She paused midway through getting up. ‘What would you pick?’
Meeting her gaze, I had to reply with, ‘Whatever you told me I was allowed to eat.’
‘Super.’ Barbie bounced onto her feet, told the guards we were leaving and brought me a towel to swab the pool of sweat I was sitting in. I was so sexy.
The guards were just finishing up and tidying away the equipment they had been using. I had to wait for them before I went anywhere as they would escort me back to my suite. They were in no hurry though so I poked around by the door, looking at safety notices and signs because my eyes had to look at something. The gym staff, there were four listed, all had an eight by ten photograph of their smiling head and torso. Their names were listed beneath in each case. Barbie’s real name was Barbara. Oddly, it hadn’t occurred to me that Barbie was an abridgement.
The guards decided they were ready to take me back to my room, finally sauntering across the gym and out the doors, walking either side of me as we went back around the corner and along the corridor some one hundred yards to my door. I had been on this ship for three days and had seen about half of one percent of it so far. I couldn’t decide if I was desperate to clear my name so I could leave and never come back or so I could get on and explore the place. I went to Madeira today for heaven’s sake and never made it out of the dock. Would I ever get the chance to come back? That I had finally been to a place I had only heard about and had not had the slightest chance to look around seemed so unfair. It was as if the universe had chosen to conspire against me and thwart my every plan.
At the door to my suite were two more hard-looking men in uniform. They both looked like they were ex-military and maybe they were. All four of them eyed me with suspicious contempt as if trying to intimidate me. It was working. With all four sets of eyes boring into me while I waited for them to open the door and show me inside, I managed to quietly squeak, ‘I didn’t kill your friend.’
None of them replied to my comment, but the one that opened the door said, ‘Very good, madam,’ in a deep throaty tone.
Then the door was closed behind me and I was inside my suite once more, the sound of the lock clicking into place like a rope being put around my throat. Barbie would be along soon enough, but there were things that I needed to do before I ate, one of which was get a shower. I put my bag down, kicked off my running shoes and screamed like a little girl.
‘Can I assist you with anything, madam?’
Yet again his silent approach had caught me off guard, stopping my heart because I wasn’t expecting it. With one hand against the wall to keep me upright, I gritted my teeth at him, ‘Dammit, Jermaine. You have got to learn to make some noise as you walk.’
‘My apologies, madam. Is there anything I can help you with?’
I walked toward my bedroom. ‘I need to get access to a phone so I can call my husband. I don’t think…’ then I trailed off what I was saying. I had already involved Jermaine too deeply. ‘I could really do with using a phone.’
He made an apologetic face. ‘I’m afraid Mr Schooner was very insistent that you not be permitted any internet enabled devices. He believes you will communicate with your accomplices, or perhaps a fence for the stolen jewellery. I am under threat of dismissal if I assist you any further.’
I nodded, ‘I understand. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused you.’
He inclined his head toward me in acknowledgement, ‘My instructions are to report your activities to Mr Schooner.’ I could hear the regret in his voice.
‘You must do what is necessary, Jermaine. I promise I will try to cause you no more trouble.’
‘Is there anything else I can help you with, madam?’
I shook my head
trying to limit what I said for fear that my anger might spill out in Jermaine’s direction. He didn’t deserve to be spoken to harshly by anyone, let alone me. ‘I just need a shower for now, thank you, Jermaine.’ With that I turned and began pulling my top off as he left my bedroom and closed the door.
When I came back out, my hair still damp and threatening to turn into a puff ball if left unchecked, I found Jermaine had arranged my food at a table on my balcony. Hearing me coming no doubt, he was out there too, waiting to serve.
‘Good evening, madam,’ he greeted me.
‘Really, Jermaine? We snuck off a boat, pretended to be fortune tellers and then you smuggled me back on to then find a dead body in my kitchen. Must we pretend I am a princess when it is just the two of us?’
He looked slightly horrified. ‘Decorum dictates, madam.’
I rolled my eyes and let him pour my water. It was sparkling, what a treat. Barbie had dropped off my food while I was getting clean but had not waited around. There was no reason for her to do so, I was just some mad old woman with a noose around her neck. She was being as helpful as she could, they both were. Staring out to sea with my butler standing impassive and still just a few feet away, I realised I had barely thought about Charlie today.
What did that say about me? About our marriage? Admittedly, I had been caught up in some other events that had been quite distracting, but I felt… what? Lonely? No more than I had the last few years. What then? I couldn’t decide, but as I tucked into an exquisite sea bass on a bed of fennel with a passionfruit sauce, I wondered what was happening to me. My life had changed, but right now I had to wonder if the biggest changes were in the way I viewed the world.
It had been a long day and I was tired. There was something itching at the back of my head, something I had seen but I couldn’t quite connect the dots yet to work out what it was or what it meant. I needed to find out more about Jack Langley but I also wanted to look into Neil Hammond AKA Flint Magnum. I wasn’t satisfied with the reason he had given for his presence on the ship and what was with Mr Schooner? He knew about Flint Magnum and thus knew that he suspected Jack Langley was the jewel thief they were looking for. Why hadn’t he been able to move on him sooner, or search the man’s suite while he was ashore or being entertained somewhere. It seemed like a simple thing to do, but maybe he had already done so and hadn’t been able to find what he was looking for. Maybe the jewels had been in Jack’s safe. Or maybe there were no jewels.
Later, as I settled down to sleep, I was kept awake by the number of things I didn’t know. How was I ever going to prove my innocence if I couldn’t work out what was going on.
Then my eyes snapped open and I flew from my bed. ‘Where is it?’ I asked the air as I rummaged through my drawers and the detritus of bits and pieces I had placed on a handy tray next to the mirror on the dressing table. Just when I was about to call Jermaine, I spotted it.
The business card I found on the floor when I was looking for the bank card Flint Magnum had dropped had come back to the cabin with me and been emptied from my pocket into a drawer. It was a typical business card designed to fit neatly into the slot in one’s wallet or purse. The name on it was Samuel Lawrence and he worked for Axiz International Insurance Brokers. The title displayed below the name was Recovery Agent. I wasn’t sure what the job entailed but my guess would be that after they had paid out for insured losses, the recovery agent then tried to recover what had been lost. Did that make sense? I wasn’t sure, but then I had no idea who Samuel Lawrence was. I had seen Flint Magnum drop something, but I didn’t know that it was this card.
It was bedtime and I was tired and though I crawled back into bed imagining that the million questions tumbling around my head would keep me awake, they didn’t.
The Killer
Sunlight pierced my eyes as I sat up in bed to welcome the day. ‘Good morning, madam,’ Jermaine greeted me as he finished perfecting the way the curtains hung. ‘Miss Berkeley is waiting for you in the living room.’
I blinked a couple of times. ‘Okay?’ I hazarded while my brain tried to catch up. Then I remembered asking Jermaine about what time Barbie would be available in the morning. I felt bad that they had to empty the upper deck gym of everyone else just so I could use it and last night, going to bed early and sober, it had seemed like a good idea to get in there at the crack of dawn today. It didn’t feel like such a good idea now and despite Barbie’s reassurance that warming down correctly would prevent my body from stiffening, I felt pretty stiff anyway. ‘Coffee,’ I begged.
‘Very good, madam.’
As Jermaine scuttled off to fetch some go-juice, I settled back down into my cloud-like goose-down pillows. Maybe Barbie would be happy to wait.
Wait a second! Her name isn’t Barbie it’s Barbara. She shortened it, or people shortened it for her because that’s what people do. That’s why I didn’t find Jack Langley when I looked for him. His name isn’t Jack at all. It would be James or John or something like that or maybe Jack was a preferred middle name. My eyes now wide open, I sprang from my bed, slipped on the mat and fell on my arse. I guess I made a racket because Jermaine and Barbie both peered around the doorframe the next second.
‘Everything alright, madam?’ he asked.
‘I figured it out.’ I was getting myself up awkwardly from the floor, my flannel pyjamas tangling around my feet. ‘Jack isn’t his real name, it’s an abridgement. I need to get to a computer.’ Jermaine and Barbie were still standing in the doorway when I got there, their faces both set to a quizzical O shape. I explained myself a little better. ‘Jack Langley. His first name isn’t Jack, but it might be John or James. Chances are he kept his initial, but it could be that Jack is his second name.’
Jermaine nodded his head in understanding. ‘The computer might be tough,’ said Jermaine with some regret. ‘Mr Schooner had them disable it so it couldn’t be used for communication.’ Yeah, he did that, I remembered. Combined with confiscating my phone, it was why I hadn’t been able to talk to my husband in two days. Not that I had any idea what to say to him, but right now he was the least of my worries.
As if Jermaine had been reading my thoughts, he said, ‘Madam, I know I said yesterday that I couldn’t help you, but I laid awake half the night feeling guilty about it. I know you are innocent so I am going to help you in whatever way I can. Mr Schooner and his… men,’ he picked the word carefully, clearly considering that another word might be more appropriate, ‘confiscated my phone as well so I could not be tempted to lend it to you, but I have always had an old backup one. I charged it last night.’
It was a generous offer, but I didn’t want to confuse my head further by getting my husband involved. ‘Thank you, Jermaine. I don’t need to call anyone right now.’
A confused look washed across his face, ‘No, I mean. You can use it to look on the internet.’
‘I can?’ Now it was my turn to look confused. Barbie was fishing her phone out of a snug pocket on the hip of her skin-tight leggings. ‘I mean, I guess I know that phones can do that, but I don’t know how to do that with them.’ Did my phone do that?
Like a Neanderthal stood before advance beings, I watched as their thumbs flashed about. ‘JAMES LANGLEY,’ Jermaine spelt to Barbie. Half a second later they were both showing me their tiny screens.
The chase was on again.
The elation I felt at that moment, didn’t last long though as we quickly worked through as many permutations of his name as we could without getting any results we wanted. Disappointed, I returned Jermaine’s phone.
‘So, what now?’ Barbie wanted to know. ‘Shall we go to the gym?’
Dear Lord, no.
‘How about if we looked for just his last name and combine it with words like jewel thief or convicted? Would that work?’ I asked hopefully.
Jermaine shrugged, ‘It might.’
More flashing fingers. They were sat side by side on the couch in my living area, with me pacing in front of them nervous
ly. In truth, I realised more than a day ago that I was clutching at straws in my search for the man. If I assume he really was a jewel thief then what did that actually tell me? I still wouldn’t know who killed him or why. I doubted I would know the first thing about him. And what if he had never been caught? There would be no record of him, surely?
Pacing and trying hard to not bite my nails, it almost made me jump when Barbie said, ‘Oh.’ I turned to find her staring at her phone and Jermaine leaning in to see what was on her screen.
‘Barbie has found something interesting about a jewel thief.’ He began reading, ‘Shaun Metcalf was convicted of the theft of the Sapphire of Zangrabar when his fingers were found at the scene. Mr Metcalf, 37, denies having an accomplice, but the jewel was never recovered and Interpol argue that he could not have gained access or escaped from the New York Geological Society where it was on display by himself. Despite his wounds, he escaped and was arrested two days later when his wounds were matched to a police report.’ Jermaine sat back again and looked up at me. ‘It goes on to say that he was jailed for fifteen years. It’s an old newspaper article. I couldn’t see any reference to anyone called Langley though.’
I scrunched my forehead in misunderstanding. ‘Barbie, why did you say “Oh” when you saw the article?’
She looked up. ‘Because of the picture of Shaun.’
That added no clarity at all. ‘What about him?’ I asked.
Barbie smiled her usual sweet smile. ‘He’s in the cabin next to mine. He’s really nice.’
Jermaine and I stared at each other. The presence of another jewel thief on board just couldn’t be a coincidence. ‘Can I see?’ I held out my hand for Barbie to pass me her phone, but she got up instead and came to stand next to me, doing something complex with her fingers to make the photograph fill the screen.
A chill ran down my spine. I knew the man. He had carried my luggage when I first arrived, and the captain escorted me up to my suite. He was younger in the picture but the same scar I had seen when he first smiled at me ran through a younger eyebrow and onto the cheek below.