by John Molloy
"Excuse my ignorance, but what is it called?”
"It's your favorite… peach soufflé!"
Red faced and almost choking, he picked up the menu and glanced at the desserts. "You're absolutely shameless, but I love you with sinful pleasure.”
She leaned over and whispered in his ear, “No dearest Henry, the pleasure was all mine”
Instantly they broke into spontaneous and uncontrollable laughter.
After gaining a modicum of composure, Vera picked up her handbag and took out a brown envelope. "Here Henry is a list of ports of call for the Rangoon. It looks to me you might be ready for a port in Japan called Shimizu. She will be calling there with a cargo of grain from Australia."
"The Yard has assigned us one of their men, he’s their marine specialist and he's taking me in hand for training. He hopes to have me ready in a couple of weeks, so that port of Shimizu would be within our time range. We have to reckon on the flight out and organizing the changeover."
"Henry, the changeover is something Captain Leavy-Hobbs will want to know about. He will want to know how you are going to get this assistant steward to go, you know he will have to have some very convincing reason to leave a ship."
"To be quite honest I have no knowledge of that yet, but as soon as I get all the information about what will happen I'll let you know. I believe we have some British agents in that part of the world and it will probably be their job to organize that."
"Captain Leavy-Hobbs is going to have to tell Lord Percy. There’s a board meeting this afternoon and he'll be in attendance, so I'll be in touch to give you, what I can presume will be his very disturbed reaction."
"I'm shifting accommodation this evening. I'm moving in with one of my detective team. It will be my new official address while this operation is ongoing. I'm also starting with this marine chap in the morning so I may not be in touch for a day or two. I'll phone you at the office."
"Yes Henry, next time we will have to meet away from the office. How about my house?"
"Suits me admirably, I just can’t wait," he said, with a wicked glint in his eye.
"I will echo those sentiments to the power of three." She leaned into him as they walked through the restaurant door and onto the street. He could feel her curved body through the light cotton dress as she kissed him and squeezed his hand. "Call me soon Henry."
Chapter Fourteen
James Eagleton was waiting outside the Yard at eight thirty when Henry arrived.
"Morning Henry."
“And a fine good morning to you, James."
Henry pulled a fold of paper out of his pocket and handed it to James. “This is a list of the ports the ship will be calling to and the approximate dates of arrival. She said you can allow as much as two to three days for arrival.”
James scanned down the list and saw where Shimizu was underlined and marked “changeover?” The port preceding it was Albany, Australia. “You seemed to think that this port of Shimizu in Japan would be the most likely one for the changeover? Well Henry, I think we will have to strive hard for Albany in south west Australia. Reasons why, firstly our men abroad might encounter some difficulties working undercover in Japan, and would encounter no such obstacles in Australia, it would be like working here in Britain. We already have men on the ground in Australia and it would be a simple job for them to arrange the shift over.”
“I understand, James, but how will you manage to have this crewman removed?”
“It will be a very simple affair. Our men will befriend him ashore and offer to buy him a drink in a nearby bar Then, they’ll slip a drug into his drink which will cause abdominal pain much like a grumbling appendix, and he will then be brought to hospital where his condition will have to be monitored for a few days. This operation will take place probably the day before sailing and you will have already been to the shipping office to apply for a ship out. Our men will assure you the place on the ship and the local police will be informed of the whole operation. You can also assure Carlisle Brent Shipping that the crewman affected by the drug will suffer no long-term effects and will be either flown home or shipped out on a British ship. Also, you will have to get a good description of the two assistant stewards, the suspect, Gary Conrad and his mate, the crewman who will be drugged. We have to make certain there can be no mix up with these two. Taking all into account, we have about three weeks before flying you out to Perth and then down to Albany, so you’ll be there about four days before the earliest possible arrival date of the Rangoon.”
“If it’s all right with you I’ll go to Runcorn tomorrow and be back in two days. I’ll wait until I come back to go to the shipping company and fill them in on the latest arrangements. I’ll also get the information about the stewards then.”
James Eagleton folded the paper. “Do you mind if I keep this and confer with the senior boys about doing this in Australia. I think we have a fair bit done and I suggest I drive you back to Vincent’s and let you get the evening train to Runcorn. I’ll cover here until you get back.”
“Suits me fine James, but I’ll get an early afternoon train.”
Henry had mixed feelings about going back home he hadn’t heard from Denis in a while and was afraid that any news about Katherine was not going to be good. He phoned to let them know what time he was arriving and Katherine insisted he stay with them. To his utter amazement she sounded just like her old self and he was buoyed with joy as he read the paper from front to back on the somewhat monotonous journey.
It was early evening when he arrived to Katherine’s loving welcome. He spent a pleasant evening with the couple before retiring to his room he had a few moments with Denis.
“Denis, there seems to be a remarkable improvement in Katherine, I just couldn’t believe I didn’t hear Shirley’s name mentioned and I was afraid to say her name myself thinking it might spark a reaction.”
“You see how normal she seems tonight, well Henry, that might last for a week and then she’ll relapse into a deep depressive mood and start talking to and about Shirley. It can become frightening at times to hear her talking out loud as if Shirley was in the room with her.”
“Oh Denis, I was so overjoyed to see her so calm and chatty this evening how does she manage her normal day?”
“She goes to the shops as normal and meets her friends and to anybody that she chats to or has coffee with she seems quite normal. Her doctor has changed her medication again and hopes with time she may come to some type of resignation with herself and grief.”
“I’ll give you an address and phone number of where I’m staying in London and you can reach me there at any time. If I’m not available if you phone you can safely leave a message.
Denis got a note book and took down the number.
“Keep that safe because if I get sent on a job away I may not see you for a few months, I’ll write to you both.”
He tossed and turned in bed realizing he couldn’t even tell them he was joining the Rangoon, the risk would be too great. He couldn’t even write to them from a foreign country. He would have to send his letters to Vincent’s address and get him to post them on, and vice versa they could write to Vincent’s and he would forward them on to the ship. He fell into a disturbed sleep and was relieved when he saw daylight and knew it was time to rise.
After breakfast, Denis went to work and Katherine left the house to go to the shops. This was his chance to search for some old photos of himself.
He felt like a burglar rooting through drawers for the old family albums, when his mother passed away Katherine got all the family heirlooms and old photographs were among her most precious possessions now. He eventually found them tucked away in the bottom drawer of the big old linen chest. He knew the picture he wanted, it was the one taken at the police training school, he was eighteen and a half but it would do nicely he thought. He went back down to the kitchen and was sipping a mug of coffee when Katherine arrived back.
She sounded cheerful as she unpacked the
shopping. Maybe if I could stay here and spend more time with her, it would it help her to recover from this terrible depression, he thought. However, quickly dismissing the notion; he knew he had a job to do and catching the killer would be his way of helping his sister come to terms with her loss.
Henry stood and packed his few bits and pieces into his overnight bag. “Now pet, I’ll have to be on my way. I’ll be in touch; I’ll ring and let you know all.”
“Please do Henry, and be back soon.” He hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.
“Love you Kathy take care of yourself.
Chapter Fifteen
Back in London, Vincent was half way through his evening meal when Henry arrived into the kitchen. The aroma of fried bacon sausage and eggs was mouth-watering. “Vincent don’t stir I couldn’t disturb a man from a feed so delicious.”
“You know I’m not supposed to be eating this sort of food, with my weight this is strictly off the menu. Herself is away to her sister’s for a few days so I’m bending the rules a bit. Help yourself there’s plenty in the fridge and the pan is hot.”
“Thanks Vincent, I’m famished with the hunger and a big fry up is just what the doctor ordered.”
“James said to ring him when you got back and he’d collect you as usual in the morning. Any developments at the home end?”
“I didn’t tell anyone, even family, of my intentions of going to sea, but I gave them your address and told them to write here. Will you post on their mail and I’ll send my mail to you and will you forward it onto them? I’m asking a lot of you Vincent.”
“My dear fellow you are asking nothing, I’ll be only too happy to look after all that.”
When he had finished his food, Henry phoned James to tell him collect him in the morning. After a long day’s travel he was soon off to bed for an early night.
At seven o’clock sharp, the thin tone of a Ford Anglia’s horn sounded outside the house. Henry gulped a last mouthful of tea, picked up a brown manila envelope and ran out to the waiting pride of nineteen fifties British motoring.
“Good morning Henry, how did your visit go, are the parents coping any better?”
“Sadly not. I think my sister is slipping into a world she has created for herself.”
Oh, I am so sorry to hear that.”
“She’s on quite a lot of medication and hopefully, it might keep her stable long enough to give her time to come to some kind of terms with her loss. I feel a bit guilty going away when she could do with me being around her, I feel I might be a comfort to her.”
“It’s a big decision for you as you could be gone a year or more, but it’s not too late to hand this over to someone else if you feel your need to be at home is paramount”
Henry was silent as they parked the car and walked to the office.
Henry pulled the envelope from his inside pocket. “Here’s a photo of yours truly as a teenager and a couple of recently taken ones for the passport.”
“So you’ll definitely go ahead, you’re sure you can make the commitment?”
“Regardless of the consequences, if I didn’t do this I couldn’t live with myself for the rest of my life, so they’ll be no turning back now.”
“Great Henry, it’s full steam ahead then. I’ll look after the paperwork. I’ve also made an appointment for you to get your vaccinations, you have to have these. You can come with me to the doctor tomorrow there’s one for smallpox and a couple of others, but they have to be back dated. You know you’re supposed to be on a ship somewhere out in the Pacific right now. We haven’t decided which ship yet. Our men will get the list of ships due to arrive in Albany during the next three weeks. You will be on one of those and will be hospitalized with a fictitious illness. But don’t worry, you’ll be ‘recovered’ when the Rangoon arrives and the assistant steward is sent ashore.
Henry was looking more than a little fazed. “There’s a lot more to this than I’d ever have realized. Imagining I’m supposed to be sailing around the Pacific right now, sort of gives me the creeps.”
“When we decide what ship you should be sailing on, you will only have a couple of weeks before you leave for Perth.”
“I hope I don’t get seasick. It’s so long since I actually sailed with the Royal Navy reserve fleet.”
“Don’t worry about that; Nelson was reputed to have gotten seasick every time he went to sea! I’ll go with these photos and I’ll be back later to let you go to the shipping offices to get the information on the man you’re going to replace.”
“Sorry James, I can’t be seen there, Miss Twist warned me off for security reasons. I’ll phone and arrange to meet her away from the office in a few days’ time.”
“Right Henry, I’ll leave that to you. I’ll be back after lunch.”
When she picked up the phone, Vera was overjoyed to hear from him and told him she would have as much information about the assistant steward as she could get. He told her he would explain the procedure of making the transfer when he met her, and that she need not be overly concerned. He also told her he would phone again in two days and make arrangements to meet her at her home that same evening. He realized how much he missed her, and then felt guilty, thinking that maybe their trysts were purely sexual. When he told her how he was longing to see her, he could hear her breathing become louder. “Oh Henry, I can’t wait,” was her emphatic reply.
James Eagleton breezed into the office to find Henry poring over his precious atlas again.
“Well old chap, it’s nice to see you engaged in serious research.”
“I’ll never make a convincing seaman without a good grasp of where the ports of call are and the distances between each. I’ve even been calculating roughly how long it will take to sail from one port to another.”
“That’s splendid Henry. I’ve been talking to some of our boys at lunch. I’ve got a bit of news. These boys of ours are active all the time, and to give them their fair due, they are making this a priority. You’ll get plenty of support and backup when you are away.”
“That’s great to know, and what is the latest news?”
“The shipping list from Albany for the next four weeks puts you as a crewman on an Irish ship called ‘The Irish Plane’. She’ll have left Albany about two weeks before the Rangoon arrives, so it should fit in with our planned operation. You will have a discharge in your seaman’s book as having sailed as second steward on the ship.”
“I have been busy too. I phoned Miss Twist and she’ll have the name and description of the crewman who’s going to leave the Rangoon.”
“We will want his home address as well, if the description is not sufficient our men will make inquiries around his home area, they can’t leave anything to chance they have to make certain they remove the right man. Now that a date is set we will have to move in accordance and make sure everything is one hundred percent watertight. And you must do what good actors do. You need to become Henry John Tyler in your own mind. Take on the role, as it were.”
“You’re so right James, and I should keep repeating that name to myself so it sinks in.”
“You will be called only by your surname by the captain and officers on board ship, so I will help by calling you Tyler from now on, instead of Henry. Tyler will be what you’ll hear, or just plain steward. Your own shipmates will refer to you as Henry, and you’ll be on first name terms with most of them. You know ‘Tyler’, you’ve captured the imagination of the lads at the Yard who are handling your preparation, and they’ll be following your progress right throughout this whole operation. We have yet to work out communications but by the time you’re ready to go we’ll have something in place. I’m sure there will be telephone facilities in some of the bigger ports. The only thing is I’d have to book calls twenty four hours in advance. I think that could pose more of a problem than a help. Perhaps they will come up with something more reliable - we’ll just leave it to them.”
“Right Eagleton,” exclaimed Henry with a laugh.
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br /> “Yes Tyler allow me,” and curtsied slightly as he walked out of the office ahead of Henry. “I’ve made the appointment for your vaccinations at eight thirty tonight. We can go direct from here.”
“Yes that’s fine I’ve nothing on. We might go for a pint after, what do you say James?”
“Sounds like a great idea.”
There was only a small scratch where he got the smallpox vaccination, but the doctor told him it would get very sore and also he would get a temperature and might have to go to bed for a day or so. He also got a jab for yellow fever, which the doctor assured him probably wouldn’t show much adverse effects. ”While you’re here now I might as well give you the once over.” Henry reluctantly agreed, but afterwards when he was assured he was perfectly healthy he was grateful to the caring physician. Now he could take on the wide world with added confidence.
After leaving the doctors, they spent the remainder of the night in a local pub, swapping frivolous chat and sinking pints of bitter before merrily making their way to a nearby fish and chip shop for a fish supper.
Nursing a bit of a hangover next day, Henry remembered today was the day to phone Vera. It took her a while to answer the phone. “Henry, I’m very busy and can’t talk now, one of our ships has docked this morning and it’s always hectic when a ship is paying off. Can you be at my house at nine this evening?”
“Aye, Aye Madam, I will be there.”
That evening he felt like a teenager going on a date; all spit and polish.
Vincent remarked as he left the house. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you were romantically involved with our Miss Twist.”
“She’s just that little bit mature for me,” he lied. “But I suppose there was often a good tune played on an old fiddle, so I might not be back too late, depending on my virtuoso.”
As he walked away from the house he thought how disappointed Vera would feel if she heard him compare her to an old violin. He began to regret his show of male bravado.