The White Ghost

by James R Benn

  I wiped my hands on my trousers and sighed. What had Deanna done to deserve this? Her eyes were open, gazing at the sky, seeing nothing. I closed them. I found her wide-brimmed straw hat and placed it over her face. The flies had begun to descend, and I didn’t like the idea of them crawling over her. Didn’t like the idea of seeing that in my dreams.

  It had gone silent in the alley, but it was only my thoughts that crowded out the sounds from the street, the eager onlookers, the debaters, the drunks, and maybe a killer watching the aftermath of his handiwork. I rose, and a wave of noise—combined with a foul stink of alcohol, heat, garbage, and sweat—hit me. I pushed people back and spotted two sailors and a GI in front of the bar, bottles of Ballantine’s Beer clutched in their hands. Jack was nowhere to be seen.

  “Hey, you guys,” I said, shouting at them from the entrance to the alley, not wanting to leave Deanna’s body unattended. “Is there a telephone around here?”

  “Yes sir,” the GI said, indicating the comm wire strung along the street. “There’s a harbormaster’s office on the dock. They’re connected to the base switchboard.”

  “Get down there on the double. Call the hospital and tell them we have a body to transport. You two, lose the bottles,” I said to the sailors, beckoning them over to where I stood. “You’re on guard duty. No one gets in the alley.”

  “Is it true it’s a dame, Lieutenant?” asked the freckle-faced sailor who looked like he should be in high school instead of on Tulagi with the two stripes of a petty officer second class gracing his denim shirt.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Deanna Pendleton. She was a nurse who came down from Vella Levalla.”

  “She was the one everybody thought was Amelia Earhart, right? I heard about her,” he said, his voice a quiet drawl. “What happened?”

  “She was murdered, knifed by the looks of it. Did either of you see anybody with her?” I asked. I watched their reactions. A dead body was one thing. It could have been an accident, a fall, heatstroke, any of a number of calamities. But when murder is mentioned, it’s always a shocker.

  “Jeez,” the young sailor said. “No, we woulda noticed her. Nothing but Chinese girls around here.”

  “I think I saw that skirt,” his pal said, leaning in to take a look. “From behind. I didn’t see her face ’cause she had that big sun hat on. But I remember the polka dots.”

  “Was she alone?” I asked.

  “No, I don’t think so,” he said slowly. “I’m pretty sure there was a guy walking next to her. But to tell you the truth, Lieutenant, I wasn’t studying the guy much at all.”

  “Could it have been the navy officer who was with me?” I asked.

  “That skinny guy? I dunno. Maybe. I can’t even be sure the fellow was actually with her. They coulda just been walking in the same direction. Hard to tell with all the khaki hereabouts.”

  “Where’d you see her?” I asked, changing tack.

  “Down that way,” he said. It was in the direction of Rui Chang’s house, where Jack and I had been headed. “We walked down the street to check things out, you know? There was nothing down that way, so we turned around and headed for this bar. I spotted them a little before we got here. Hey, you don’t think—?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Maybe. That could have been right before he killed her. How long ago?”

  “We ain’t been keepin’ track of time, Lieutenant. We got twelve hours of liberty, you know? But maybe an hour ago, a little longer. Can’t say for sure.”

  “Okay, fellas, stay put until I get back, okay?” They nodded and I went into the dive with the record player. The bar girls spoke some English, but the bartender was a better bet. He was positioned to see out the wide-open windows, and probably kept an eye on the foot traffic. He spoke decent English.

  “No, no white lady come in here,” he said, shaking his head more than he needed to. “We have no trouble here. Honest establishment.” He was still shaking his head emphatically as he drew out each syllable of the last word.

  “Hey, I’m not the shore patrol, okay? I only want to know if you spotted the woman in the white blouse and blue polka-dot skirt.”

  “European lady?” he asked.

  “American,” I said. “Was she with anyone?”

  “European ladies do not come here,” he said, starting up the head shake after a brief rest. “Plenty sailors, nice Chinese girls, but no white ladies.”

  “Were the Japanese good customers when they were here?” I asked, trying another tack.

  “It was very bad,” he said, and his head settled down as he sighed. “Bad for business. Worse for girls. Japs take what they want, you understand?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “This white lady, she was a Coastwatcher, from Vella Lavella. A brave woman.”

  “Really?” he asked. I nodded, and he leaned on the bar, glanced around to see if anyone was listening, then spoke in a low whisper. “She come in here, ask where Rui Chang lives. I say I don’t know. Not good for business if Changs hear I tell anyone about them.”

  “Was she alone?” He nodded, a quick affirmative. “How long ago?”

  “Hour and a half, maybe more,” he said. “I didn’t see her again.”

  “Even though she must have walked right by?” With the shutters wide open, the street scene was in plain view.

  “Mister, people walk by all day, every day. Big blur to me. I am sorry. If she was a Coastwatcher, she was brave lady indeed. If I could help, I would.”

  “Then tell me where Rui Chang lives,” I said, leaning in to whisper myself. He told me, the same house Jack had been leading me to. I figured he was on the level if he dared to share that dangerous dope with me. Not that it helped much.

  I worked the street as best I could, asking shopkeepers and anyone who didn’t turn away at my approach about Deanna. Most didn’t understand, or played at it. I got the idea pretty fast that this was a company town and that the Changs were top dog. Again, not that it helped one bit.

  I returned to the alley to find the GI who’d gone to the harbormaster’s office waiting with his sailor buddies.

  “I made the call, Lieutenant,” he said. “They’re sending an ambulance.”

  “Good,” I said. I wanted a doctor to examine her for anything I’d missed, and to take a close look at the stab wound. It appeared damn professional to me. “How’d you know they were patched in to the base hospital?”

  “Signals company, Lieutenant,” he said. “We strung all this comm wire you see around here. Call ourselves the Tulagi Telephone Company.”

  “The PT base at Sesapi, too?”

  “Sure. Hospital, Base HQ, the Government Wharf, the district commissioner’s house, this place, and a bunch of smaller units.”

  “The Coastwatchers, too?” I asked.

  “Oh yeah. Captain Sexton has a field telephone like everyone else. There’s a switchboard at headquarters and all calls are connected through that.”

  I spotted the ambulance seconds later, the Red Cross bright against its olive drab paint job. I told the sailors to get back to their drinking and asked the GI where the signals company was stationed.

  “In the old police station, Lieutenant, on the south shore. Corporal Wilbur Warren. Ask for me if you need anything.”

  I told him I might. Something was buzzing through my mind about telephone lines and lies. I needed to puzzle out how the killer intercepted Deanna right when she’d be alone. There really hadn’t been a lot of time; if she’d found Rui Chang’s residence, she would have been safe there, as far as I knew. And after that, she would have been with Jack. Safe? Yeah, safe. Jack was a lot of things, but I didn’t see him sticking a knife into a woman. My back, well, yeah.

  The hospital sent a driver and a medic, just in case. But all the medic had to do was help get Deanna’s body on a stretcher and drape a sheet over it. I told them to get her into the
morgue, if they had one, ask Dr. Schwartz to take a look, and tell him I’d be by later. Then I went to find Jack.

  He was where I first spotted him, leaning against the railing outside the restaurant. I filled him in on the details, telling him it had at least been quick.

  “What’s going on, Billy?” He seemed at a loss, his eyes searching for an answer. It was an unusual look for Jack. “Why Deanna?”

  “I don’t know the big picture yet,” I said, leaning my elbows on the paint-chipped rail. “I think Daniel Tamana saw or heard something between Henderson Field and arriving on Tulagi. He spoke to Deanna and went in search of Sam Chang. Whoever killed the three of them knew what Daniel was up to.”

  “But why wouldn’t Daniel speak up right away?” Jack said. “Why endanger Deanna?”

  “The odd thing is, she didn’t seem in danger right away. Remember, Daniel was killed his first day on Tulagi. But both Sam Chang and Deanna were killed some time after that.”

  “So he was an immediate threat,” Jack said. “The other two a potential threat. What changed to make the killer silence them both?”

  “Chang would have been released from the hospital at some point, so if he knew something—”

  “No, Billy,” Jack said. “If he knew something, he knew it, hospital or not. That doesn’t add up. What would he do once he got out, that’s the question.”

  “Come here, to stay with one of his sisters, I’d guess.”

  “Which is where Deanna was headed as well,” Jack said.

  “To see one of the Chang sisters,” I said. “And you.”

  “Look, Billy, let’s get this out in the open. Do you think I killed her?”

  “I don’t have evidence to say you did. But you were there, and you’re connected to her.” I wasn’t sure Jack was the type to drive a blade into a woman’s heart. Break it, certainly. I noted there was no trace of blood on his right shirtsleeve. The knife thrust up into the heart wouldn’t have sent blood spraying everywhere, but some trace would likely be on the murderer’s hand and clothing.

  “What about Tamana?” he asked.

  “I could see you in a fight with Tamana,” I answered truthfully. “Especially if he made some crack about getting run over by a Jap destroyer. I get the sense it would be easy to get under your skin about that. You didn’t like losing your boat, and two men dead to boot. You don’t want to be sent home, a failure, to face your old man while Joe Junior, the golden boy, gets his share of the glory in Europe.”

  “Don’t call me a failure, goddamn it, and leave Joe out of this!” Jack turned to me and grabbed my arm. “And my father, too, if you know what’s good for you.”

  “Like I said, Jack, I could see you getting into a fight no problem.” I shook his hand off of my arm. “You’ve got a short fuse.”

  “Okay,” he said, avoiding my eyes. “Point taken. What do we do now?”

  “The bartender told me Deanna had asked him where Rui Chang lived. He didn’t tell her, but we should check and see if Deanna found her. Or I should. You need to get back and talk with Cluster, right?”

  “I have a little time,” he said. “Want me to take you to Rui?”

  “Nah, you go ahead and get back. No reason for you to get any more involved than you already are. One question, Jack. Do you own a knife?”

  “Yes, I do,” Jack said, his mouth set in a grim line. “I still have the sheath knife I wore that night in Blackett Strait. Right now it’s in my footlocker back at the hospital. I thought I wasn’t a suspect, Billy.”

  “Doesn’t mean I don’t have to ask questions, Jack. You’re still someone with a connection to three murder victims. Don’t get all huffy about it. And don’t touch the knife.”

  “Billy, if I were going to kill anyone with a knife, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to use my own. In case you hadn’t noticed, there are weapons everywhere around here.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said, my hands up in mock surrender. “You’re right, but I have to have an answer in case anyone asks. Otherwise they’ll accuse me of playing favorites, and you’ll come under suspicion all over again. I’m only doing my job here, Jack.”

  “I guess I can’t blame you for that,” Jack said, sounding like he’d still like to. He removed his service cap and ran his fingers through the bushy hair hanging over his forehead. “First Kirksey and Marney, then Deanna. I got them killed on the 109, and if I hadn’t asked Deanna out today, she’d still be alive. Someone has to answer for this, Billy.”

  “They will. That’s why I’m here, Jack.”

  “You make sure you find out who killed Deanna and the other two, Billy,” Jack said, tapping his finger on my chest. “And don’t get in my way while you do it. I’m getting another boat and the Japs are going to pay for what they did. Bet on it.”

  With that, he was gone, leaving me on the wharf to wonder if Jack Kennedy had to put half a world between himself and his family to start acting like a man. Back home, he’d been shielded from any need to be responsible for others. Out here, it was different. No lawyers or police commissioners to call on when the going got tough. Jack knew how to take care of himself well enough. He’d been in and out of hospitals for his bad back and stomach problems plenty of times, and had done it alone, God help him. But I doubt he’d ever done much for anyone outside his family. People did things for the Kennedys, not the other way around.

  This wasn’t a mess he was walking away from, and I felt a bit of Boston Irish pride in his newfound grit.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The first thing I needed to do was tell Hugh Sexton. He deserved to hear the news firsthand. Then Captain Ritchie.

  Driving to Sexton’s place, I began to notice all the communications wire. It was strung up along the road, on palm trees and hastily erected poles, occasionally branching off to a nearby building. Every military facility on Tulagi was connected via the headquarters switchboard. The wire was so much a part of the background I hadn’t really noticed it.

  Did Deanna make a call and unwittingly ask the killer to meet her in Chinatown? Or had someone overheard her plans with Gordie and Archer and arranged a rendezvous? However the killer found out about her visit there, it was seeking out the Chang sisters that triggered the killing, I was sure of it. There was no other reason for the killer to have waited so long to go after Deanna. He’d thought he was safe until she made that move. Jack didn’t need to feel guilty about meeting her in Chinatown; he’d been secondary to her real reason for going.

  I climbed the hill to Sexton’s headquarters and was glad to find him alone. I had no desire to handle any more shock, grief, and anger than I had to. He smiled when I entered the room, but the grin didn’t last as he took in the look on my face. I gave him the basic facts, quickly. Always best to get everything out right away, my dad always said. It’s hard getting the news of a friend’s or loved one’s death, and sometimes people want to deny it, say it must be a mistake. But the more details you give them, without being unnecessarily gruesome, the quicker they accept the truth of what you’ve come to tell them. I found he was right about that, and that it was easier on me, too, whenever I handled things this way. Which may have been his point.

  “Bloody hell,” Sexton said, slumping in his chair next to the map table. “When is this going to end? It’s awful enough losing people to the Japs, but to be murdered on a Chinatown street in Tulagi, that’s appalling.”

  “Listen, Hugh,” I said, wishing I had a precise answer. “I saw John Kari driving through Chinatown just before we found Deanna. He was in a hell of a rush.”

  “Do you think he—?”

  “I don’t know, but I have to talk to him. He may have seen something important and not even be aware of it,” I said. Or, he may have killed her. I almost hoped so, since that would mean I had a real suspect.

  “Quite right,” Sexton said. “I think under the circumstances I should del
ay their departure for twenty-four hours. Do you still wish to go with them to Rendova?”

  “Yes, unless something further develops here. That should give me enough time. You sure there’s no problem?”

  “No, not if it’s only for one day. Weather’s supposed to improve tomorrow, so I’ll tell them that’s the reason for the postponement. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Tell me more about Fred Archer,” I said, recalling my conversation with him here the other night. He hadn’t taken Deanna’s rejection very politely. “Is he the type to fly off the handle?”

  “Fred?” Sexton said, with a raised eyebrow. “You don’t think he’s involved in this?”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” I said.

  “Billy, it takes a certain kind of man to survive as a Coastwatcher. Fred had a reputation from before the war. He wasn’t known to treat his workers with kindness. He paid them what he owed, no question about that. But he’d use his fists if he thought they were slacking off. I heard he once challenged any man who didn’t like how he ran his plantation to take him on in a bare-knuckle fight. No one stepped forward.”

  “He sounds like the type to settle an argument with violence of one sort or another,” I said.

  “It’s hard to judge islanders by our more civilized standards,” Hugh said. “Often it’s one plantation owner or manager and a larger crew of natives. And they can be quite cut off, like Silas Porter’s place on Pavau. The only way in there is by boat, or footpath over the mountain. No way to summon help if you’re hurt. Silas had a reputation as a hermit. Kept to himself, and quite happy about it, until the war came along. It’s not a life every man takes to. Plenty come out to the islands to make their fortune and end up slinking back to Australia or England, dead broke.”

  “I get it,” I said. “But I’ll still have to check Fred’s whereabouts. Jack said Deanna was getting a lift from Archer and Gordie to Chinatown. I’ll need to see if that story checks out.”

  “Understood,” Hugh said. “He and Gordie left for Sesapi to liaison with the PT boat skipper scheduled to take them to Ranongga. They’re due at the communications center later to get their teleradio equipment packed up. Then they’ll return to Sesapi and remain there organizing supplies this evening. I’ll get in touch and let them know you’ll be coming.”