Murder on the Rocks (The Ralph Chalmers Mysteries Book 7)

by P. J. Thurbin

  “Look, after we talk to the police, we could just take a quick walk up the cliff road just to see, and then we can go right back to the boat. We could still be off by mid-afternoon.”

  “Only if you promise that all we’ll do is take a quick look and that’s all. But I know you, Ralph. You’re just like the camel who promised his master that he only wanted to put his nose in the tent. Then by morning he was warm and snug inside and his master was outside shivering in the cold.”

  “Just a quick look. I promise,” he said.

  “Okay. But only if we are out of here by two at the latest.”

  The next morning they made their statements as requested.

  They had agreed to say nothing about what had happened in Tangier or about Miles Stigart, their photo shoot, or their suspicions about Colonel Stigart. They decided that it all sounded a bit weak anyhow in the cold harsh light of day.

  ***

  Ralph and Katie walked up to the Cliff top to try to find the spot where the dead man might have been standing just before he either fell or was pushed. It was hot. They sat on a ledge looking out to sea in the midday heat. Suddenly they heard a shout. Turning they saw two of the Stigart brothers running towards them, and it did not appear to be a friendly welcome. Katie thought that one of them had a gun.

  “Whatever they want, I bet it’s got something to do with you taking that photo yesterday,” Ralph shouted as he stood up and grabbed Katie by the arm. By that time one of the men was less than 50 yards away and the other had run across to cut off their escape route down the path to the town.

  “Quick! We can get into the caves over there. With a bit of luck we can find a tour party. They wouldn’t dare cause trouble if people are around,” Ralph urged.

  With that they ran into one of the entrances in the cliff face and down a long winding tunnel. They soon came across the same cave they had been in when they took the tour.

  “It’s ‘Stay behind cave’,” Katie observed. They ducked inside and Ralph slammed the iron wartime military door shut.

  They stood there panting trying to hear if their pursuers had followed them. It was all quiet and after 5 minutes had passed, Ralph tried to open the door.

  “There’s no handle,” he whispered.

  “We should have thought of that,” Katie said. “I guess if those men were here for the duration, once the authorities shut that door, that was it. They didn’t want those locked inside to change their minds and simply walk out.”

  “There must be some way out,” Ralph insisted as he walked around their bolthole. “Anyhow, someone’s bound to walk past and we can call out to them.”

  “Don’t you remember what the guide told us? That they made it soundproof so the Germans wouldn’t hear them? So now Mr Holmes, what do you suggest? Maybe you should have modelled yourself on Harry Houdini instead so you could get us out of here.” Ralph ignored her and set about trying to think of a way out.

  “There’s a slit in the rocks they used to stick out their radio aerial. If we had a hand mirror we could flash a signal. A passing ship might see it.”

  “Except that we don’t have a hand mirror,” Katie pointed out. “Any more ideas?”

  “Maybe. There’s some aluminium foil in that rubbish over there on the floor. I’ll try to fashion a mirror using that and my reading glasses.”

  “Katie watched as Ralph tried to wrap the foil around the glasses. It was old and papery, but after a few failed attempts, he finally got it to adhere. He held it to the slit where it could catch the light and managed to flash out an SOS signal.

  “Now we just need to hope that a passing ship sees it,” Ralph said as he stood there flashing the code.

  They passed the time speculating as to what the Stigart brothers had been up to in Tangier and why they had been so camera shy. Katie was convinced that Miles and his brothers were afraid the photo would get into police hands.

  “Who knows, their pal who was driving the truck could be a known arms dealer or a smuggler or a drug baron. Whatever it was, they were up to no good,” Katie said.

  “I doubt there’s any connection between whatever they were doing and the man on the rocks,” Ralph said. “But whatever it was, it must be worth a lot of money to someone.” Katie agreed.

  They must have been there for quite some time. The sun had begun to go down and Ralph no longer had sufficient light to flash his makeshift mirror. He only hoped that someone had already spotted it and alerted the authorities. After what seemed like an age, they finally heard a noise in the passage outside. As the door opened they were relieved to see two soldiers and a policeman.

  ***

  Back at the police station, they explained to Inspector Walters what had happened. When they were in the cave they had decided that if they ever did get out of there they needed to tell the police what they had witnessed in Tangier. They knew it was not much to go on, but perhaps the police already had information that they were unaware of and could fill in the gaps. Katie gave the SD card from her camera to the Inspector who handed it to one of his men and promised to post it back to them in the UK. The Inspector told them that they had had the yacht Loch Ewe under surveillance for some time, and that the brothers were suspected of smuggling. He admitted that to date nothing had been found on the yacht in spite of snap searches. Finally the Inspector told them that they were free to go and suggested that they set sail for the UK as soon as possible. He wished them bon voyage.

  Since by the time they left the station it was too late to leave, they decided check back in to the hotel for the night. They got showered and dressed and set out to savour the food in that Greek restaurant that they had found in the old town.

  The next morning, just as they prepared to cast off, Ralph received a text message from Dean Granger at the University.

  “It seems like Granger can ferret you out even when you go away on holiday,” Katie said wryly. “What does the bugger want now.”

  “He says the VC wants to see me as soon as we get back. I guess they ran a piece in The Times about that French EU commissioner that we pulled off of those rocks and it must have mentioned our names.”

  Ralph knew that there were a lot of Spanish students at the University and the last thing the VC wanted was bad press. Ralph sent a brief text back saying that they were on their way. What he failed to mention was that it would be at least a week before they would dock at Bideford in Devon. He was not about to jump on a plane and leave Gypsy Lady behind in Gibraltar. He would deal with the consequences when they got home.

  __________________

  Chapter 4

  England looked peaceful and green as their train to London rolled through the sun dappled Devon countryside. After days of grabbing meals on board as Gypsy Lady pitched and tossed it was a great relief to be able to eat from a linen covered table and enjoy Windsor soup and a perfectly cooked Dover Sole. As they sipped their after lunch coffees and sat back to enjoy the journey, Katie handed Ralph her Ipad.

  “I hate to spoil your day, Ralph, but you might want to read this before you talk to Granger. It’s a copy of an article in The Times.” Ralph turned the small screen away from the sunlight.

  EU Commissioner Murdered in Gibraltar

  The latest talks on the decommissioning of Eta arms caches in France and Spain have been marred by the murder of the French delegate. Police have confirmed that the body of Renne Suoriet was recovered from the sea after a courageous rescue attempt by Professor Ralph Chalmers from Kingston University in London. The Professor and his wife were on the yacht Gypsy Lady when they saw a man on the rocks off Gibraltar Point. They managed to get the man aboard but he was already dead. Police believe that Monsieur Souriet may have been murdered in an attempt to derail the talks to agree a schedule for the decommissioning of the caches of arms, belonging to Eta, that are believed to be hidden in France and Spain. The police have not yet made any arrests and no terrorist organisation has claimed involvement. Neither the British, French or Spanish govern
ments have made any statements beyond thanking the couple for their heroic attempt at a rescue. The couple are believed to be sailing back to the UK in Professor Chalmers’ yacht Gypsy Lady.

  “So now we are not only heroes but married ones at that,” said Ralph as he handed the tablet back. “No doubt Granger will go ballistic and the VC will have to think hard about how he can marginalise you in all of this, Katie. He might even be forced to admit that you were part of his kingdom.”

  “You never know. But I won’t be holding my breath.”

  They had plenty of time to talk about what had happened in their lives and how they saw the future in terms of their careers and their personal relationship.

  On the personal front, they agreed that they were happy with things the way they were. They were of one mind about the sanctity of marriage. It was something that had been ingrained in both of them during their upbringing. They just weren’t ready to take that step just yet. Neither doubted the exclusivity of their relationship, but nor were either of them ready to actually live together or get married, notwithstanding that The Times had presumed as much. Ralph had still not given up his dream to sail across the Atlantic, or even further afield singlehandedly. He still hungered for an excitement that had not lessoned as a result of the tight spot they had just experienced in Gibraltar or some of the other adventures and misadventures involving thugs and mafia types at various other places around the world. Katie reckoned he would never truly be content to settle down to a domestic life. Katie enjoyed her independence as well. There were still places she wanted to go and things she wanted to do that Ralph had no interest in. She also wanted to get more into riding again. Leasing Majestic when she was in Devon was all well and good, but she had decided that it was time she actually bought him, and she knew that was a big commitment in terms of both time and money. They agreed that the cottage in Devon and the odd few weeks together on board Gypsy Lady was sufficient togetherness so far as any living arrangements were concerned.

  ***

  Once they reached London they caught a taxi to Katie’s mews house in Chelsea. She was eager to see what he thought about the outline she had made of her teaching programme for the upcoming term. She was excited at the prospect of starting a new job with a clean slate and thought that University College London was the perfect place to do that.

  Once Ralph made sure that Katie was all settled in, he left her and headed to Surbiton. When his taxi dropped him at his apartment he found that he was glad to be home. When he stepped inside, he was relieved to see that his new housekeeper, Mrs Riley had sorted the mail; he hated walking into his house after being away and finding an accumulation of junk mail. He looked in the freezer and smiled when he saw that she had thoughtfully replenished his stash of lean cuisine ready meals. Spaghetti Bolognese would do fine, he thought, and a bottle of cool Becks Beer. He popped his meal in the microwave and sat back to look through his mail. He must have dropped off. He awoke with a start to the ringing of the telephone. For a moment he thought he was still on board Gypsy Lady when he stood up and staggered before he realized that he had not yet regained his ‘land legs’. He picked up the phone. It was his friend Peter.

  “So what’s it like to be a hero old chum? We thought you two had gone down with the ship. No seriously we were all worried.”

  “Good to hear from you Peter. We just got in. No sorry. I guess we should have telephoned someone. We didn’t think about it, to be honest. And once we got to Bideford we just did a quick clean-up of the boat, locked things away and caught the train.”

  “How’s things here? You and Marcia obviously made it back safe and sound.”

  “Well you know how it is. Nothing ever changes at Kingston. Except as you can guess, you two caused quite a stir with your latest escapade down in Gibraltar.”

  “I’d hardly call it an escapade,” Ralph explained defensively. “Anyone would have done the same if they saw some bloke washed up on the rocks and thought they could help.”

  “I’m not sure old Granger and the VC see it that way. The VC is itching to sign an agreement with a couple of Spanish universities as part of his plan to push us up in the European standings and now his Spanish counterparts are hinting that you may have had something to do with that poor bloke’s murder. Evidently they’re branding you some sort of latter day Scarlet Pimpernel down there. I hear the VC’s beside himself with worry that all the bad publicity could jeopardize his chance to get on the honours list.”

  “What nonsense,” Ralph scoffed.

  “You and I may know that, but you know how it is. These political types scare easily.. Still I expect you’ll handle it in your usual inimitable style,” he laughed.

  “What about you and Lance, and Cynthia. Did you catch any of the flack?”

  “No, not really. Now that I’m an exalted Dean Granger treats me like I walk on water and nothing much can touch Cynthia over in her ivory tower there at the Museum. And our Kiwi friend must lead a charmed life. That or else he’s been in so many scrapes they see him as a permanent liability but not a real danger.”

  “Well, at least I’m glad none of my bad Karma seemed to have rubbed off on any of the rest of you.”

  “Hey look why don’t we all get together one evening and swap war stories. You can tell us about your daring deeds and we can tell you who got caught plagiarizing on their coursework.”

  “Give me a couple of days to get used to the usual grind first. What about the Black Lion? I’ll check with Katie but I’m sure she’ll be fine with that.”

  “Oh that’s right. And how was Mrs Chalmers on the return voyage? No seasickness, I trust,” he chuckled.

  “Very funny. And I don’t expect Granger and the VC cared too much about that little reference in The Times to Professor Chalmers and his wife much, either,” Ralph remarked. “Katie isn’t exactly the flavour of the month around the campus, you know.”

  “I think I’d have to marry her just to put them in their place,” Peter laughed.

  “Very funny.”

  “Cheers, pal. We’re just glad you and Katie made it back safely.”

  Ralph told Peter to give his love to Marcia and the two old friends rang off.

  ***

  Back in his office at Gypsy Hill, his secretary, Janice caught him off guard when she burst into tears when he walked into her office.

  “We were all worried sick about you Professor Chalmers. My husband Tom saw something about storms and rough weather and we knew that you were out there somewhere.” She wiped her eyes. “But I knew you’d be alright. You always manage to get through these things.”

  “Thanks, Janice. I’m sorry we didn’t get in touch, but it’s not that easy from the middle of the Bay of Biscay. He noticed that she had recovered her composure and decided the best thing was to change the subject. “Anyhow, thanks. I never worry about anything here at the office when you’re holding the fort.”

  “There was a call from Margaret, Dean Granger’s secretary. She said that Dean Granger wants to see you urgently but I told her I wouldn’t know when you were free until I spoke with you.” Ralph had to smile. He was always accusing Margaret of trying to shield Granger, but Janice was just as protective of him.

  “I have a lecture at two and a tutorial at four. So I guess if you want to, give her a call and let her know it’ll have to be this morning if he wants to see me today.”

  “Actually, Margaret said that Dean Granger wanted to see you as soon as you got in. So shall I call and tell her that you are here?” Evidently the gossip mongers were already at work, Ralph mused. By now everyone in the Faculty if not the entire University knew that he was in trouble with the Brass.

  “No thanks, Janet. I’d best just pop over to his office before I get stuck into my prep for this afternoon.”

  Ralph headed down the corridor. He knew that Margaret would have seen him pull into his parking spot and he wanted to pre-empt Granger’s call. The door to Granger’s office was closed. Margaret knocked before
she opened it and showed Ralph in.

  “Come in Ralph. It’s good to see you’re back safe and sound.” Granger’s bonhomie threw Ralph for a second. They had known each other a long time and the Dean was acting decidedly out of character. Theirs was a professional rather than a familiar relationship. More often than not, Ralph and the Dean found themselves manoeuvring for position like two boxers testing each other out whenever they had cause to meet one to one.

  “I only got in last night and I wanted to see you first thing. It looks as though the papers made a meal out of what happened in Gibraltar.” He waited for the onslaught. He wondered if Granger would simply try to blame him for everything from his reckless behaviour to ruining the University’s reputation. It was a familiar scene that they had played out many times over the years.

  “Look, Ralph, you did what you had to do. It must have been quite a job to get that poor chap out of the water. Well done.”

  This new approach threw him. Ralph believed in the old adage, and there was no way that he believed that the old leopard had changed his spots. He wondered if perhaps Granger was trying out some new management technique on him. He waited to see what was coming next.

  “The thing is, I need your help. The VC is quite rightly upset at losing the chance to link up with those two Spanish Universities. But of course it doesn’t really affect us over here in the Business School. It was all centred on the Aeronautics and Arts areas; not our territory. I want the VC see us as innocent bystanders. It’s probably best if you just keep a low profile about all of this. I’ve already explained that you and Doctor Harper and Dean Cavendish were all on holiday together and that it was nothing to do with any sort of politics.”

  It was the first time Ralph had heard his friend Peter referred to as Dean.

  “So you just want to let sleeping dogs lie.” It was not a question. Ralph was simply attempting to work out exactly what Granger had in mind.

  “That’s right. Just let it all simmer down. Some of the other Deans are trying to make a meal of it, but I managed to fight your corner for you.” He went to the door and stuck his head out.