The Sodden Sailor (A Nick Williams Mystery Book 11)

by Frank W. Butterfield

  Mai nodded. "Thank you."

  "Where are my manners?" She laughed. "I am Lady Grantham."

  A tall, lean man with thinning hair that was combed back and plastered to his head walked up and said, "And I am Sir Alexander Grantham, Governor of Hong Kong. It is a pleasure, indeed." He bowed slightly.

  Mai said, "Thank you, Sir Alexander. It's a pleasure to meet you both. May I introduce my brother, Captain Daniel O'Reilly?"

  The captain walked up and offered his hand to the governor. He shook it and replied, "A pleasure, Captain. Welcome back to Hong Kong."

  Captain O'Reilly smiled and then nodded to the governor's wife. "Lady Grantham."

  She smiled. "Captain."

  O'Reilly turned and said, "May I introduce, Mr. Nicholas Williams, of San Francisco, a friend and my employer?"

  I walked forward and offered my hand to the governor. He paused slightly and then shook it. "It's nice to meet you, Governor."

  He nodded and said, "My wife."

  She offered her hand, which I shook. "How nice to meet a fellow American, Mr. Williams. I hope you are enjoying Hong Kong."

  I smiled and said, "Very much. May I introduce Mr. Carter Jones?"

  The governor walked over and offered his hand to Carter. "Mr. Jones. This is a privilege. Thank you very much for your generous bequest to Queen Mary Hospital. It is quite timely, as I'm sure you know."

  Carter nodded. "You're welcome."

  Lady Grantham offered her hand. Carter, who'd never quite gotten the hang of shaking a woman's hand, managed to do so easily. "Another American. How nice. And how are you enjoying Hong Kong?"

  "Very well, ma'am. Thank you." His Georgia accent came out and he was pegging a full five on his scale of southern charm.

  I saw that the other couple included Dr. Rice-Harris. She walked up, beaming, and offered her hand to me. "Mr. Williams. How wonderful to see you again." She introduced her husband, Dr. Benjamin Harris.

  Once everyone had met everyone, the governor said, "Before we sit to dinner, I'd like to clear the air about a few matters at hand." He looked at me. His genial manner disappeared. "The people of Hong Kong thank you for your assistance in bringing Dr. O'Reilly back to the colony. And we would very much appreciate it if you would leave as soon as possible."

  I nodded. "We're leaving tomorrow."

  He nodded, still not smiling. "We'd also prefer that you contact the British consulate before you attempt to return in the future." He paused, his dark eyes looking directly at me. "For any reason."

  I nodded again.

  The governor turned to Carter and smiled. "Mr. Jones, you're welcome to stay in the colony for as long as you care to do so."

  I looked up at Carter. He was running his hand over his jaw, which was always a bad sign. I hoped we weren't about to have another international incident.

  But, instead of taking a punch at the governor, Carter simply said, "If my husband isn't welcome, then I'm not welcome. Simple as that."

  No one said anything for several long moments. Finally, the governor turned to Captain O'Reilly. "I am afraid I must ask you to leave the colony as well, Captain. I trust you will be departing in the morning?"

  The captain nodded but didn't reply.

  He turned to Mai, who had a curious expression on her face. "Dr. O'Reilly, I hope we will see much more of you now that you are home. Your work—"

  With a surprisingly sharp tone, Mai interrupted the governor. "I'm sorry, no."

  Sir Alexander drew back, as if she'd hit him. "No?" he asked.

  "I'm sorry, but I doubt I shall ever return to Government House unless it is in an official capacity. Your hospitality is rather lacking, Sir Alexander."

  He sputtered, "My word—"

  Mai looked at me and smiled. "How about we go and find one of my favorite old dives?"

  I grinned, walked over, and took her arm. "That would be swell."

  Without saying another word, we walked over to the door. I opened it and we proceeded down the hall. I could feel her shaking as we walked.

  I heard the governor say, "Well, I've never—"

  His wife said, "You know how temperamental they can be."

  I knew that Carter and the captain were following us. Then I heard the click-clack of a pair of heels on the marble floor. "Dr. O'Reilly," called out Dr. Rice-Harris. "Do wait for me. I don't want to miss out on a dive."

  Her husband called out, "Lizzie! Elizabeth!"

  She replied, "I'll be home before dawn, Benny," as I reached over and patted Mai's hand.

  Without missing a beat, the butler opened the front door for us and bowed as we walked by. The hotel car was nowhere to be found. Dr. Rice-Harris said, "We can get a couple of taxis right outside the gate. Follow me." And we did just that.

  . . .

  The dive was no longer there. But one of the cab drivers suggested a different spot that turned out to be just right. The food was amazing. They even managed to find something that Carter could eat. We sat, ate, drank beer, and talked about nothing and everything.

  Lizzie, as she'd asked us to call her, peppered me with questions about Rosalind Russell, an actress Carter and I had met the previous summer on a ship from San Francisco to Honolulu. I told everyone about the odd little shrine to Joan Crawford that I'd come across just a few weeks earlier when working on another case.

  We put Lizzie in a taxi around half past 11 that evening. She'd made Mai promise to visit her at the hospital. And she'd given Carter, the captain, and myself kisses on the cheek and said she would come visit us in San Francisco as soon as she could.

  We pulled into the hotel at midnight. Mai had called the suite around 9 to check in on Jerry. Miss Hawkhaven had volunteered to remain as late as Mai wanted to stay out. She said Jerry and Peter were getting along wonderfully and she didn't want to separate them. I'd told Mai to tell Miss Hawkhaven to order anything they wanted from the kitchen. That had been relayed but with some very maternal restrictions as to quantity and variety.

  We left Captain O'Reilly at his room. I quietly opened the door to our suite. Peter was asleep on one sofa. Miss Hawkhaven was reading a novel. She stood and smiled. "How was your dinner at Government House?"

  Carter said, "I'm sure it will be in the papers tomorrow."

  "Oh dear. That bad?"

  I nodded and, with a grin, said, "We stormed out after we were asked to leave town."

  Miss Hawkhaven burst out laughing and then covered her mouth. "Oh, that's terrible. I don't know why I'm laughing."

  Carter said, "Dr. O'Reilly was quite something."

  Miss Hawkhaven asked, "Where do you go next?"

  Mai looked out the window. "I'm not sure."

  "Well, then, you simply must come and stay with us for a while. Until you get settled. Mum simply insists and really won't take no for an answer. We live in this enormous house and have scads of room for Jerry to run around. He and Pete are already fast friends. You simply must."

  Mai shook her head. "We cannot impose."

  "But you won't be imposing. You won't want to stay forever. I imagine you'll be wanting to work in the camps. I work in a clinic in the hills by the border. There's a place to begin."

  Mai asked, "Are you a doctor?"

  Miss Hawkhaven laughed. "Dear, no. I'm not nearly smart enough. I'm just a nurse."

  Mai shook her head. "Never just a nurse."

  "Do say you will. Mum will be ever so angry with me if you don't."

  Mai laughed. "You have no idea how refreshing it is to be around you British again. I never thought I would say that."

  "Is that a yes?"

  Mai nodded.

  "Wonderful. I'll send my uncle to fetch you in the morning. I simply must get home. I work at Queen Mary tomorrow but I'll see you in the evening. Uncle John will call for you around 10. Is that all right?"

  Mai nodded. "Quite all right. Thank you, Miss Hawkhaven."

  "Oh, you must call me Mary, Dr. O'Reilly."

  "And you must call me Mai."r />
  . . .

  Once they were gone, I said to Mai, "I'm going to give you a check to help you get things started. And, since we're practically family, I'm sure you won't say no."

  Carter added, "You really can't. You're practically our sister."

  Mai looked from Carter to me and back again. "I don't know what to say."

  "Say that you'll stay in touch with Carter when he writes because he will. But I won't. I'm awful at staying in touch."

  Mai laughed. "I will. I promise."

  I walked into the bedroom, wrote out a check for ten thousand, and carried it back into the living room. "Here."

  She looked at it and before she could say anything, Carter said, "We're family."

  She nodded. "Yes, family. Thank you."

  . . .

  The next morning, we arrived at the airport at a quarter until 7. It took a small fleet of cabs to get us and all our people and luggage there. Fortunately, the news of our expulsion from Hong Kong hadn't made the rounds, so there were no photographers.

  Carter and Tony got everything loaded, including the small carton of forty or so copies of Friday's newspaper that Cheung had put together for us, in the hold while Captain O'Reilly and Mai spent a few moments off by themselves. They were both crying. Jerry was leaning against the portable stairs. He asked, "Can I see your airplane, Mr. Williams?"

  Murphy and I had been watching O'Reilly and Mai. I asked, "You wanna give the kid a tour with me?"

  He sighed and walked over to the stairs. "Sure. Come on, boyo. Let's go have a look at The Flying Fireman."

  I followed them up the stairs. As we got to the top, I turned and looked out. From where we were parked, I could see the harbor. It was a crystal clear morning. The water was a sparkling blue in the distance. I could feel an affection for the place rise up inside of me. I knew we would be back. Probably not soon, but we would be back.

  Right then, I heard Carter say, "That's it." He locked the hold and the two of them made their way up the stairs. Tony walked by with a wink and Carter stood next to me. "It's a beautiful place, ain't it?"

  I nodded. "We'll be back."

  "We will. But first, we have to continue my infamous tour of the Pacific. Next stop, Sydney."

  I laughed and followed him into the ship.

  Epilogue

  Aboard The Flying Fireman in the air

  Sunday, February 20, 1955

  Early afternoon

  After Christine had served lunch, Carter and I had decided to have some fun together in the aft bedroom. Carter was leaning over tying his shoes when I said, "I need a cigarette," without thinking much about it. I walked over to the window and looked out. We were flying over some piece of land that was mountainous and covered with jungle. It might have been New Guinea. I had no idea.

  Carter walked up behind me and said, "You sure?"

  I turned and looked up at him. "Sure about what?"

  "Needing a cigarette?"

  "I guess. For the first time since 1940, I have no idea where my lighter is."

  Carter picked up his coat from the bed. He dug into one of the pockets and held up my lighter. "Looking for this?"

  I smiled. "Where'd you find it?"

  "In the hotel in Hawaii. You left it on the table by the bed the last morning we were there. I grabbed it as we were leaving."

  I shook my head and reached for it. He lifted it up over his head, pressing it against the ceiling of the plane.

  I said, "You know what happened to you the last time you got between me and my smokes, fireman."

  Carter laughed and handed me the lighter. "One sucker punch from you is enough for me in this lifetime."

  I looked around. "What about my Camels?"

  "What about them?"

  "Did you grab those?"

  He shook his head.

  "You better hope someone on this airplane has a pack of cigarettes, fireman."

  He laughed and pulled out a red pack of cigarettes from the same coat pocket. I'd seen them before but never smoked them. The label said Craven "A".

  I opened them up and took the first available one. I lit it, sucked it in, and could feel that reassuring feeling that I always got from smoking. Once I'd had two puffs, I handed it over to Carter, who took it. I lit another one from his. We stood there in a light blue haze for a moment.

  "Where'd you get these?" I asked.

  "At the hotel in Hong Kong. What do you think?"

  I took mine out of my mouth and examined it. "They'll do. But Camel is still my favorite."

  He sucked in and then exhaled. "Why do you think you forgot them?"

  I shrugged and took in another drag. Now that I had one in my mouth, I didn't really care.

  . . .

  We landed in Darwin, Australia, at around 5 in the afternoon, local time. Captain Morris had said we could probably make it all the way to Sydney based on his calculations but preferred to be on the safe side. We decided to stay overnight and refuel in Darwin.

  The town was right at the top of Australia. All I knew about it was that it had been bombed by the Japs but was never taken.

  When the immigration official knocked on the door, Captain Morris opened it with a whoosh. The hot, humid air of the late summer day quickly filled the cabin.

  As we'd done in Tokyo, we were all seated at the table with our passports out in front of us. The man introduced himself as Hawkins and went around the table, taking down our passport numbers. When he came to Murphy's Irish passport, he asked, "Are you employed outside of Australia?"

  Murphy nodded. I said, "He's my employee, Mr. Hawkins. He works in San Francisco."

  Hawkins nodded without smiling and made a note on his list.

  Once he was done, I asked, "Where would be a good place for us to put up overnight?"

  He looked around the table and thought for a moment. "Can't do better in town than the Hotel Darwin. Right in the middle of everything. Ask for Martha. She'll take care of you blokes." He looked at Christine and grinned. "Sorry about that, Miss."

  She smiled and replied, "No worries."

  . . .

  Martha Brownley was a formidable gal. She was about 40, stood almost as tall as me, had severely cut blonde hair, and was friendly. To a point.

  "So, I can put you all up for the night if you don't mind sharing beds." I was pretty sure she winked at me when she said that but I couldn't tell for certain. "I only have three rooms available."

  I thought for a moment. I was by myself. Everyone else was in the hotel bar. "Three rooms?"

  "That's right. They all have two double beds. You say there's eight of you. That right?"

  I nodded.

  "That should do you fine, then."

  I shrugged. "We'll work it out."

  She turned the register towards me and said, "Sign here."

  I did and then looked up. "I don't have any Australian..." I didn't know what their currency was.

  "Pounds, love. You have American dollars?"

  I nodded. "And Hong Kong dollars."

  "Well, you can buy yourself some pounds at the Commonwealth Bank first thing tomorrow when they open. Don't worry, love. I trust you." She did wink at me that time.

  . . .

  Once I had the keys, I walked into the bar and explained the situation. After some discussion, we decided to put the two captains and Christine in one room. Tony volunteered to take the extra bed in our room. That put O'Reilly and Murphy in the same room with Newland.

  . . .

  After a leisurely dinner, we made our ways upstairs to the rooms. The plan was for everyone but Carter and me to head out to the airport after breakfast. We'd go to the bank as soon as it opened and then head over when I'd paid the hotel bill.

  Once we were in the room, I realized how uncomfortable it would be with Tony sleeping in the next bed after he'd come on to me in the sampan on Friday night.

  I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom trying to decide the best way to bring up the issue when I heard him sa
y, "Listen Carter, before we sack out for the night, I need to apologize for something."

  "What's that?"

  I quickly spit and began to rinse my toothbrush so I could join in. He had beat me to the punch.

  "While we were out on the bay, I put the move on Nick."

  I walked into the bedroom to see Carter looking amused but with his arms crossed. He'd already taken off his shirt. I suddenly realized that, at some point, we were going to have to buy pajamas, something neither of us had ever done. Brushing that thought away, I said, "He was a perfect gentleman once I made it clear I was in love with you." I walked over and stood next to Carter.

  Tony grinned at me. "Not really. I had to be convinced."

  Carter nodded. "Well, as long as nothing happened." His tone of voice made it clear to me that he was having a ball with the situation. I didn't know if Tony would be able to hear that, or not.

  Tony nodded. "Nothing did. But I stand by what I said to Nick. I have a crush on him."

  Carter slowly nodded. "I understand. I do, too."

  Tony slowly smiled. "Yeah."

  Carter put his arm around me and squeezed. "Maybe we could start up one of those groups, like they have for drunks."

  I rolled my eyes as Tony's smile widened. "Yeah." He snapped his fingers. "What do they call that?"

  "An addiction," was Carter's answer. Before I could say anything, he added, "And I don't want the cure, whatever it is."

  . . .

  I woke up suddenly. I looked at my watch. It was half past 3 in the morning. I was drenched in sweat. The room was stifling. I stood and walked into the bathroom to get a drink of water.

  I heard Tony whisper, "It's hot, brah."

  "Yeah," I replied as I filled my glass with water from the tap. I drank it all and then refilled it, drinking the second glass just as fast. I put the glass on the counter and walked over to the door, which opened to the outside. Even though I only had my BVDs on, I pulled the door open.

  The night was still and quiet. I could hear insects everywhere but no people. Tony walked up behind me. He was close, but not too close. He whispered, "It gets like this sometimes at home. When the trade winds have been blowing and they stop, it's really bad."

  I said, "I was stationed in New Guinea. I remember this heat."