by J B Raphael
Jon jumped out of bed, shaking. He’d done it, but how did he feel? Elated at the thought of the diamonds, but fearful of the horrendous deed he had just committed. He looked down at her beauty, she certainly didn’t deserve to die. She still stared at the ceiling, he bent over and softly closed her eyes. Getting dressed, he now implemented his plan, stuffing all her cash into his pockets, he then started to remove her diamonds. Bracelet, necklace, watch and rings plus she wore a diamond anklet that he hadn’t noticed. He removed it. At three o’clock he lifted her off of the bed, and fireman style, carried her into the lounge area, through to the balcony and tipped her body overboard. He watched as it fell to the sea with only a minimal splash, and immediately was gone with the speed of the ship.
With his ill-gotten gains stashed safely upon him, he opened the door slightly to see if there was anyone about, then alarm bells rang in his head, FINGER PRINTS. His were not on record, but what if they were taken and matched in her suite? He closed the door and started to wipe, with a damp tissue, everything he had touched. The glass, the door knobs, the surfaces of the bed, the flush handle on the toilet, the champagne bottle, he was in a frenzy of cleaning everything. The window handle, the balcony rail, in all he spent an hour and a half cleaning and wiping. As he left at 4.45am he wiped the door knobs, sweating, but was confident that he had done a good job. He knocked on the door of his stateroom, he was sure nobody, not even ship staff, had seen him make his getaway.
“Well,” Lorna said, “is it all sorted?”
“Yes,” Jon replied, “it’s all done and dusted,” he added, and started to empty his pockets on to the bed. Lorna’s eyes bulged as she looked at the diamonds and cash.
“How much is there?” she asked.
“About a quarter of a million,” Jon replied.
“Wow,” she said, “good times, here we come.”
“All we have to do now is to act normally, like a couple on a cruise, okay?”
“Yes,” Lorna agreed.
“Now, I need to sleep,” Jon said.
He got undressed and Lorna saw the chafe marks on his back, “A hard night?” she asked.
He ignored her remark and settled down to get some sleep, but sleep didn’t come. He laid awake thinking of what he’d done, ‘cold blooded murder’ shouted in his brain, for what? Money. Eventually drowsiness overcame him and he drifted into a fitful sleep. Lorna heard him mumbling as she dressed. They left their stateroom at 10 o’clock, Jon took a ‘do not disturb’ sign with him to hang on the door of Clarice’s suite, he carefully wrapped it in a tissue, no finger prints, not even on an insignificant sign.
Jon and Lorna sat in silence with only coffee and toast, they had no appetite for a full breakfast. Suddenly they were brought back to reality by Zak and Sandra, “Morning,” they said in unison.
“Morning,” J & L replied.
“How’s it all going?” Zak asked.
“Not sure yet, couldn’t sleep last night, strange bed and the movement of the ship, might have a bit of ‘mal de mer’,” Jon laughed, trying to be normal and cheer himself up.
“Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but tonight we enter the Bay of Biscay,” Zak said, “ gets rough!”
“Oh well,” Jon replied, “thanks for the warning, I’ll get some sea-sickness pills from the pharmacy.”
“Good idea!” Zak replied.
Jon had made a small package of the diamonds and deposited it in the ship’s safety deposit box. Just a brown envelope with the gems wrapped in toilet tissue, he didn’t want it to look too valuable. He even said this to the receptionist who gave him the pass key, “It’s not much, I just don’t want to carry it around. Oh, by the way, the safe in my cabin doesn’t seem to work properly, but don’t worry there’s nothing in it now,” he said over his shoulder, “thanks,” he added. This made sure that if push came to shove, what he had said was on record.
On a cruise liner carrying about three thousand passengers, you very rarely see the same person twice, unless of course they sit at your designated dinner table. So Jon wasn’t bothered about having been seen with Clarice. But Jon suddenly went cold, sweating at the same time, DNA on the bed sheets, his was on record after a skirmish outside a pub. He jumped up and almost ran to Clarice’s cabin to remove the ‘do not disturb’ sign. Luckily the cleaner was down the deck hall, Jon could see his wagon and hear him singing. He snatched the sign, folded it as he almost ran away, and pocketed it, sighing with relief as he headed back to a very puzzled Lorna. He told her where he had been and why, she also looked relieved and took his hand as a comforter. The sight of all the diamonds and cash outweighed the fact that Jon had slept with another woman, she felt that she was now secure financially, pay off the credit cards, handbags, shoes and even a car were now on her imaginary shopping list.
The Bay of Biscay, as promised by Zak, was very rough and they both suffered from sea-sickness, as did 75% of the passengers. On the second day it became much calmer and life got back to normal on the ship. Their moods became better in their cabin, and they started to enjoy their holiday.
Gibraltar was the next port of call, but on the morning of the docking an envelope came under their door, it included a photograph of Clarice and asked ‘Have you seen this woman?’ Jon looked at Lorna and put his finger to his lips, “We know nothing, okay?”
“Yes,” Lorna said.
As the ‘Ajaxia’ edged on to the quay, Jon looked down from his balcony and his heart sank. Two police cars, four uniformed English coppers and two plain clothes officers were waiting at the end of the gangway, watching every passenger as they disembarked. Jon thought, not to go ashore might look a little suspicious, so he decided that they should look like a happy couple going to do some shopping and sightseeing. They reached the bottom of the gangway after their names were checked off by security, and were supplied with wristbands as identification. As they stepped off, a plain clothes officer stepped forward and said, “Mr Weston, Jonothan Weston?”
Jon’s heart went crazy, and his brain went into overdrive, “Yes,” Jon said, “how can I help?”
“I’m Inspector Taylor of the British Gibraltan Police,” he declared, at the same time showing him a photo of Clarice, “do you know this woman?”
“Yes,” Jon said, “I had a drink with her in the English Pub bar, three days ago. She’s American and tried to pick me up, well that’s what I thought. But I told her that I was on the ship with my girl friend, she then lost interest. I saw her again later in the casino but that was only for ten minutes, I lost £20 and left. My girl friend was very tired and declined to come with me,” he explained.
“Okay, sir, thank you very much,” the Inspector said, smiling. He even doffed a non-existent hat to Lorna.
They sauntered through Gibraltar, it was like going back to the sixties. They did a little shopping, but only a small amount, Jon didn’t want to be seen flashing any big money about. No cameras, no jewellery, no electrical goods or booze which was all cheap and tax free. Back to the ship after an enjoyable day, the police were still at the quayside, but the plain clothes officers had gone, only the two police cars and four uniformed men were at the bottom of the gangway. They embarked and walked into the main reception area, the two CID men were at the main desk. “Keep walking,” Jon said, “ to the Crows Nest bar.” In the Crows Nest they met Zak and Sandra and joined them, acting happy and carefree. They ordered a bottle of red wine, “The sun’s over the yard arm isn’t it?” Jon laughed, and poured wine for Zak and Sandra.
“I understand there’s a woman missing from the ship, some American, probably in someone else’s cabin!” Zak laughed, Jon and Sandra joined in the laughter. They finished the bottle and said they would see them at dinner.
At the dinner table, the honeymooners still only had eyes and hands for each other, and didn’t join in the conversation, which was mainly about the missing woman. David, the pharmacist, said that she had probably got drunk and fallen overboard in the Bay of Biscay. “She’ll p
robably surface, er, excuse the pun, and wonder what all the fuss is about in the morning,” Jon said, looking at Lorna.
“Or, she found a toy boy who murdered her for her diamonds!” Sandra laughed, as did everybody. Jon, although laughing, went cold and hot at the same time. Lorna took his hand and squeezed it tightly under the table. The tannoy announced that the ship would be held over for another day as the police were still making enquiries into the disappearance of a passenger.
Lorna and Jon agreed to act normally and to take a leaf out of the honeymooners book, and show affection whenever possible. Lorna said,” I know you’re under pressure, but can we take this idea to our cabin as well?”
Jon smiled, and kissed her cheek, “Yes, I think we can!” he said. But at the back of his mind he was very worried about the extra day’s investigation. His fears were buried when, the next morning, the tannoy announced that sailing time would be at 6pm. Jon’s heart lifted and he started looking forward to the rest of the holiday. At 6pm, the Ajaxia moved away from the dock and sailed majestically into the blue Med, “Fantastic,” Jon said. But he wondered how the Detective Inspector had picked him out by name as he came off of the gangway, but there had been no follow-up. “Thank ...,” he stopped himself saying ‘Thank God’, that would have been grossly blasphemous and evil.
After all the trauma and drama, the ship settled down to normal cruising. Dinner every night, one formal night, when Lorna and Jon really put on a show of being the loving couple at the dinner table, in the bars and on the dance floor. Their table companions commented on their behaviour, “You kids are having a good time,” Zak said, “how about joining us in the Crows Nest and we’ll make a real night of it, what do you say?” he added.
“Yes,” Jon agreed, “let’s do just that.” the evening went like a dream, and they finally said good night to Zak and Sandra at 1am. Sex was on the menu, Jon and Lorna didn’t stop at any position that existed! At 3am they fell into a deep sleep.
The Med was beautiful, and very blue, next port of call was Casablanca, Morocco. What a culture shock, camels, Arabs selling trinkets, but Jon was looking for particular plaque, ‘Ricks Bar Americain’ from the Humphrey Bogart film ‘Casablanca’. He had seen it years ago, and had always wanted to go there. Walking around the town centre he suddenly saw it, ‘The Icon Bar’, ‘Rick’s Bar’. They entered, it was packed with tourists, “Let’s get a drink, and go outside with the camera and take some photographs.” They found a fellow tourist who took their photopraphs!
Back on the ship, they decided to sit on the sundeck and get some rays, they had managed to find two sunbeds due to their early arrival back to the half-empty ship. Sunbathing had lost out to touring the shops. Being badgered by local dealers to buy their wares, pots, pans, fabrics, spices, shoes etc., wasn’t to their liking and the flies were a constant pest. They could have gone on the tour bus, but it would have passed ‘Rick’s Bar’ without stopping. So they just laid there holding hands, being lovey-dovey, so that anyone could see. The sun silhouetted the voice that said,” Hello sir, can I get you something to drink?” She was a very pretty Asian girl.
“Yes,” said Jon, “two large gin and tonics with ice and lemon, please.” The drinks soon arrived, he signed the slip, no money changed hands on board except cash tips, which were gratefully received.
They spent the afternoon laying in the sun, and being together, Lorna squeezed Jon’s hand, “I’m feeling very randy, would you like to accompany me back to our cabin, so that we can have a little sexual intercourse?” she almost begged.
“Yes,” said Jon, feeling a movement in his swimming trunks! They both jumped up and walked quickly, very quickly, back to their cabin. For two hours they experienced the most amazing sexual activity! Jon woke up after an hours slumber, in a cold sweat, he’d had a bad dream, a very bad dream about Clarice. In his dream, she climbs back over the suite’s balcony, still wearing her diamonds, and beckons him to join her down in the sea.
Lorna put her hand on his brow, and kissed his cheek, “Can I get you anything?” she asked.
“No, I’ll be all right in a minute,” Jon said.
At dinner Jon was his old self again, talking about ‘Rick’s Bar’ and Casablanca. Zak and Sandra had done the bus tour, but complained about the heat and no air-conditioning, “It was like a sweat box,” Sandra said.
“I wish we had just gone walk-about,” Zak added.
“That’s what we did, the locals and the flies were getting on our nerves, so we came back to the ship to do a spot of sunbathing.”
“I wish we had done the same,” they said in unison.
“Still, at least I can say that I bought these here!” and produced two plastic models of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, everybody laughed except the two pale honeymooners, who hadn’t heard a word of the conversation. Now things had progressed to them feeding each other!
“C’mon you two, join in, you’ve got the rest of your lives to do that!” They took no notice, Zak’s protest fell on deaf ears. David and Sangita just laughed and agreed in the right places, but didn’t put much into the conversation. After dinner they all decided to go to the nightclub. Part of it was a long bar, sitting on one of the stools was a very attractive woman in her 40’s wearing a dress with a side split that showed a very shapely leg. She smiled at Jon as they walked in, he thought, oh no, here we go again, but then thought to himself, one at a time ...... one at a time.
Lorna saw the woman, and steered Jon away from the bar, whispering “Don’t even think about it,” but there were no smiles or jokes, she was serious. She, somehow, found them, and sat at a table close to the four, and she was continuing to smile at Jon, adjusting her dress to show what was available. Lorna had had enough, she went over to the woman and said, “His name is Jon, he’s quite rich, but unfortunately for you, he’s mine. So cover up your thighs and keep your sexy looks to yourself, otherwise I’ll smash your botoxed face in, okay,” she turned and walked back to Jon, who just sat with his hand on his forehead, Zak and Sandra just watched in amazement. The woman stood up and walked out of the bar. This fracas had a double effect, it put another murder out of Jon’s mind and sent the woman on her way. She possibly had had a lucky escape!
Zak and Sandra clapped their hands and Zak said, “Good on you, girl.” Jon looked up, smiled and took Lorna’s hand, pulling her down to sit beside him. They continued to be the close loving couple.
At breakfast, approaching Malaga after two days at sea, the news went around the ship that a woman’s body had been washed up near Gibraltar, and the police were renewing their enquiries. Jon’s heart sank at the revelation, but he was well away from it all, or was he?
As the ship docked at Malaga, Jon looked down and his brain started to go crazy, the police were waiting at the gangway, two plain clothes and two uniformed. He rushed back inside and told Lorna, “We’ll stay on board today and sunbathe. Seen one Spanish town, and you’ve seen them all,” he said. At 11pm the ship sailed and Jon heaved a sigh of relief, as did Lorna. The cruise continued and the couple spent most of the time on board ship, getting a good deep tan. Jon realised there was very little chance now of police investigation. It was up to the Spanish police to do any work on the murder case. Just another body washed up as far as they were concerned.
Chapter Two Southampton
Jon looked down at the quayside, good, he thought, no coppers. Disembarkation went smoothly and quickly, the Golf was waiting for them after Jon handed in the parking permit and collected the keys. He had also retrieved ‘the envelope’ from the safe deposit box. They had been the only evidence that could have nailed him, but the police had missed it. They were soon on their way back to London and to a life of luxury with a quarter of a million pounds, at least. The diamonds wouldn’t be on any stolen list as no theft could have been reported, but he decided to sell them piece by piece over a period of weeks in different parts of the country, starting in Hatton Garden, with the biggest piece.