by P. C. James
“Very well. As I understand it, this is a tragic case. The young man was a refugee from Peru. You may have heard of the civil war between the government there and the Shining Path guerillas. It seems, when he was just a child, Jose’s family was killed by government troops in an attack on their village, which the soldiers believed had been supporting the guerillas. After this horror, Jose was adopted by an uncle and aunt in another village and, some years later, when Jose was a teenager, that village was attacked by the Shining Path. His uncle and aunt and practically everyone in the village was killed. Jose was fortunate enough to be on his way to school when the attack began and was able to run and hide.”
“Jeez,” said Somerville, “how much bad luck can one guy have?”
“Quite!” Captain Ferguson said.
“He was carefully screened before he was hired, I presume,” Pauline asked.
“Very carefully, I’m sure. The company can’t afford to be lax when we have paying guests.”
“Still,” Somerville said, “one of the guys in your crew might be a wrong ‘un and the dead man, Jose, may have recognized him. We need the background of all your crew, Captain, if we’re going to be sure this wasn’t murder.”
“I’ll have to get clearance from the head office for that. It will take a day or so.”
“But we can talk to your officers about Jose, right?”
“I think that’s a given. He’s dead and you’ve been asked to investigate on our behalf.”
“Good. Then I’ll start first thing in the morning,” Somerville said.
“Tomorrow is our first island stop,” Captain Ferguson said. “Don’t you want to be on the tour?”
“Oh! Right. Then the moment we get back.”
“I’ll have the maintenance and engineering officers available from two o’clock here in my cabin. Will you be taking part, Miss Riddell?”
“Certainly,” Pauline said. “Now we know more about the victim, we have so many new possible motives to consider.”
“Do you still think murder?”
“I think that’s a possibility but not the only one.”
The captain smiled. “I hope you won’t mind me saying that I find your saying there may be other explanations is good news, Miss Riddell.”
“I understand, Captain, but murder is still very much on my mind and if he was killed by a Shining Path extremist and that person is onboard this ship, we may be facing a more serious threat than any of us could imagine.”
“What is this Shining Path?” Somerville asked.
“They’re a particularly brutal guerilla organization, worse than almost any of the others anywhere in the world. They’re Communists but also violent fanatics. Hearing that Jose was fleeing from them only makes me more certain his death wasn’t an accident.”
“Remember though, Jose was escaping from these people,” Ferguson said, “and he was just a kid. Realistically, they aren’t going to send a hitman after him. If he was important, the Peruvian government would have him in a safe place surrounded by guards.”
“I hope you’re right, Captain,” Somerville said, “but what Miss Riddell just said scares me a bit. If there’s any chance…”
“There isn’t,” Ferguson said. “It’s madness to even think it.”
“Unfortunately, Captain,” Pauline said, “when searching for motives, we sometimes must think of the wildest things. I agree, a terrorist sent to kill Jose is extremely unlikely but until we have the solution to this mystery, I’ll be wedging my cabin door shut with the furniture.”
“I agree with you Captain,” Somerville said. “Even though Jose was fleeing from them, communist guerillas are too unlikely. But back in Toronto, and most big cities, I guess, I see a lot of young kids who have run away from home and they get caught up in criminal gangs. Even though he wasn’t running away from home in a traditional sense, Jose fits that pattern to a ‘T’. I’d say we’re more likely looking at drug gangs, or something like that, if there really is a hitman onboard.”
“All of these possibilities make me even more determined to get to the bottom of what happened,” Ferguson said. “Both of you need to get your investigations finished as quickly as you can, so we can all sleep easy in our beds.”
“What did you talk about tonight?” Freda asked, when Pauline rejoined her in the lounge.
Her voice had a resentful edge. Pauline understood she felt excluded but had no intention of having her sister be part of the evening debriefing where Somerville could use Freda against her. “We’ll talk outside,” Pauline said. “Tonight’s discussions were darker than is safe to share with the others.”
They made their excuses and headed out onto the deck where there were fewer people. The evenings were perfect times to be out and about, in Pauline’s mind, even though the sun sank quickly away. A purplish light in the sky outlined the islands briefly before darkness fell. Many sea creatures, dolphins chasing fish or maybe even whales, rose humpbacked to the surface of the luminescent water before sliding away into the depths. Most passengers missed it all, intent on the happy camaraderie that a shared experience and free-flowing drinks brought to people. Sometimes, she rather envied them that, but it soon passed.
“Well?” Freda demanded.
“More has come to light about Jose’s background,” Pauline said, and she recounted what they’d heard.
“Poor kid. I can’t imagine what that would have been like.”
“Quite so,” Pauline said. “Poor kid indeed. Now I don’t want to alarm you, Freddie, but I’m going to wedge my cabin door shut from now on. You should do the same.”
“Why?”
“Because those monsters may have sent someone to kill him. They may feel they have to punish people who try to escape their group and that killer, hitman as Somerville says, may not like us investigating Jose’s murder.”
“Oh!” Freda said. “I thought this would be fun.”
“Murder is never fun, Freddie. Grow up.”
“But it wasn’t murder, was it. It was just an accident. Only you thought it was murder.”
“I thought it was murder,” Pauline said stonily, “because it is murder.” She shook her head in frustration.
“I suppose,” Freda said, “I didn’t really believe you. The police and everyone were so sure and you, well, had doubts.”
“Always distrust people who are sure of things, Freddie. They haven’t looked at all the evidence.”
“It’s all very well moralizing, Polly, but what now? You’ve been announced to the whole ship as an investigator and I’m right there alongside you.”
“You’re right, it is too late to escape now. We have to see it through to the end. And I may as well tell you the full extent of your potential danger. There’s another possibility that I suggested to you at the outset and Detective Somerville outlined tonight. When he escaped from the terrorists, he may have become embroiled in criminal gangs in Lima or even Quito. Young people on the run often do. It could be that those people thought Jose had some knowledge, which could get them caught and it could be they, rather than guerillas, that have sent someone to silence him.”
“Can this get any worse?” Freda cried.
“None of this is certain, Freddie. They’re just possible avenues to be explored. We, however, need to be a bit more careful than usual for the next few days, that’s all.”
“That’s all!”
“Yes! Don’t go all hysterical on me or I’ll regret having you on my detecting team.”
“You can’t regret it any more than I’m regretting being on your team right now.” Freda cast an anxious glance around the empty deck. “Should we even be walking here alone?”
“There are two of us,” Pauline said, “and this deck is well-lit and overlooked by the men on the bridge. We’re as safe here as anywhere.”
“That’s probably what Jose thought when he wandered out onto an empty deck after sunset,” Freda snapped.
“Stop it, Freddie. There’s no sense
talking this way.”
“But it’s why you said you didn’t want to investigate in the first place. You said it was likely a sordid affair of Jose being involved with some criminals and they’d caught up with him. Now, because Detective Somerville says it, you’re saying it’s unlikely and I shouldn’t worry.”
“I said from now on you should wedge your cabin door shut and I’m not saying it’s unlikely because Somerville said it. I’m just saying we need to keep a sense of proportion. If there’s a gangland hitman, he won’t want to bring attention to himself by killing someone else, particularly when the police have ruled it an accident.”
“Urgh,” Freda growled, and stalked off toward the cabins leaving Pauline in sole command of the deck.
“What did I say about being extra careful,” she said, shaking her head. It was clearly a mistake involving Freda.
7
South Plaza Island
Pauline and Freda woke early and made their way to Rise and Shine stretch class. Pauline had an added incentive for joining this class today, beyond just getting all the exercise they could to fight the layer of flab they’d accumulate if they didn’t, judging by the meals and snacks that were continually being offered. Today, she wanted one last inspection of the railings and gate without anyone watching. Few people rose early on cruises, she’d noticed in the past, and just after sunrise would be especially quiet.
They were the only two in the class and, as Pauline had a pressing reason to finish it as quickly as possible, the moment it was over she thanked the instructor and marched Freda away.
“Quickly now,” Pauline said, as they headed across the deck to where Jose fell.
“Why are we doing this?” Freda asked, eying the roped off gate with dislike.
“I want to look again at that gate and the railing during daylight and before the maintenance crew replaces it with a more substantial fix.”
They stood for a moment in silence, inspecting the gate, which was behind ropes and a warning sign. Pauline lifted the rope and, stooping, passed under it to stand at the railing. She looked down to the spot where Jose’s body had lain the two nights before.
She turned to her sister, “Freddie, how tall are you?”
“Five feet, seven inches. Why?”
“You’re that inch taller than me,” Pauline said. “I’d like to test what that means with respect to the height of this gate.”
“I’m not leaning on it to see if I fall over,” Freda replied.
“I’m not asking you to,” Pauline said. “Just stand beside it so I can see where it comes on your hip. The doctor said Jose was five feet, nine and a half inches. I can measure down you, to see where it would come on him.”
Freda joined her sister at the railing and reluctantly allowed herself, holding tightly onto the railing at either side, to be positioned next to the gate while Pauline counted two-and-a-half inches down the back of her thigh.
“You see how low this would catch Jose and, being a man, with much more weight in the chest and shoulders and not so much in the hips—”
“Thank you very much!”
“I’m not making a comment about your hips, Freddie,” Pauline said. “I’m just pointing out the top rail of this gate would be well below Jose’s center-of-gravity. Once he toppled, he’d have little chance to save himself if he went over backwards, as I think he did.”
“What does all this mean?”
“It means it wasn’t an accident. Someone knew this gate was low and arranged this event to happen.”
“It could still be an accident.”
Pauline shook her head. “It’s too fortuitous. We know there’s nowhere else on the ship where this arrangement exists.”
“Why does it exist at all, I’d like to know,” Freda said. “It’s an accident waiting to happen.”
“I think it’s a simple mistake. The hinges should have been set higher up the railing post and for some reason the gate was hung without the mistake being properly appreciated.”
“The gate is in an out-of-the-way corner,” Freda said. “Its only use that I can see is for someone to go down this ladder to replace the bulb in the light down there.” She pointed to a large lamp intended to light the deck immediately below.
“Well, you can be sure the problem will be fixed soon,” Pauline said, “which is why I wanted to see it again today.”
“Now you’ve seen, let’s get away. I feel creepy just being here.”
“We have to get away quickly anyhow,” Pauline replied, “because I can see our excursion boats being lowered into the sea and made ready. If we don’t get to breakfast and dressed for hiking soon, we’ll miss the excursion.”
Later, when they were on the tender and heading for the island, Pauline said, “It’s like they used to say about the army, everything is ‘hurry up and wait’.”
They’d gobbled down breakfast, raced to their cabins, dressed with lightning speed and then sat idly on the boat deck for fifteen minutes waiting to get a seat on a tender that would carry them to shore.
The tender docked and they stepped out to the newly built stone pier on an almost flat island covered in desert-like vegetation.
“We’ll get scratched to death if the path hasn’t been cleared through those cactus things,” Freda said.
“We’re explorers, Freddie. We don’t care about stuff like that.”
Freda’s withering stare suggested Pauline was wrong.
Their guide gathered them around to explain why this island was important and to remind them of Captain Ferguson’s morning message.
“Normally,” the guide said, “we only stay here for half a day. With the changes to our schedule, you’ll have longer on the island if you wish to stay on after our hike.”
He paused to see if that raised any questions and when it didn’t, he continued, “This is the longer of the two walks so if you’ve changed your mind, or have gotten on the wrong boat, now’s the time to say. The guide for the shorter hike will be here in the last tender, which I see making its way over from the ship. We can transfer you over to the shorter hike.”
No one moved and he continued, “Excelente! You are all in the right place and ready to hike. Some background information before we leave: Some of the things we will see on this island include a subspecies of land iguanas, very unlike the marine iguanas you’ll see throughout your cruise. Normally, you’d see this at the end of the trip and the contrast between these and what you would have been seeing up to this point would be more striking to you. This time, you’ll have to hold the memory in mind to the next island in order to appreciate the contrast. Now, remember, these particular iguanas live only on this island. It was these small differences among the creatures of the islands that got Charles Darwin thinking about how species develop and, from that, how life on this planet developed. What we call nowadays the theory of evolution.”
“As well, we will visit some cliffs on the other side of the island,” he paused to let the groans from some of the party subside, before he continued with a grin, “Don’t worry, it isn’t a very big island. When we’re there we’ll see some of the spectacular seabirds that make the Galapagos Islands their home.”
To Pauline, the iguanas looked very much like the iguanas they’d seen the day before on Santa Cruz. Iguanas she hadn’t taken a lot of notice of because she’d been so focused on giant tortoises. The seabirds were more interesting for they included the darkly malevolent-looking frigate birds. Watching them swoop and soar overhead was fascinating, like seeing a pre-historic pterodactyl in flight.
“I thought the iguanas would be bigger,” Freda said, as they watched a group of them sunning themselves on a rocky outcrop.
“Disappointed already, Freddie?”
“Not at all. It’s just the tortoises were so unusual, not like we’re used to, and I’d expected the iguanas to be something different too, I guess.”
“Are we staying on the island after the hike is over?” Pauline asked.
Freda shook her head. “It’s too hot for me,” she said. “I should have acclimatized before I came on this cruise.”
“The sun is hot,” Pauline agreed, “but I find the air pleasant and the breeze even better.”
“If it wasn’t for the breeze, you would have been carrying me by now,” Freda said. “For me, it’s back to the ship, an excellent lunch and then some time in the shade.”
“Tomorrow’s first stop will be better for you because it isn’t a walking trip,” Pauline said. “It’s a ride in one of those rubber boats they have hoisted up on the deck. You’re not sure of the heat; I’m not sure about those rubber boats. The sea is pretty calm here, maybe that’s why they got lulled into calling it ‘pacific’, but I’m used to seeing those little rubber things on lakes, not oceans.”
“They’re called Zephyrs, Polly, and they’re perfectly safe. You see them on all the exploration documentaries.”
“At least they’ll keep us cooler than today’s hike is doing,” Pauline said, “which is what I was trying to say. We’ll need swimsuits instead of sunhats.”
That evening, Pauline, Somerville and Ferguson re-grouped in the captain’s cabin.
“I hope you enjoyed your first day on the islands?” Ferguson asked.
“Sure, sure,” Somerville said. “More to the point, I learned our friend Jose had a run in with a passenger the day we boarded the ship.”
“You refer to the misunderstanding with Mr. Weiss?”
“Call it what you like,” Somerville said. “It wasn’t mentioned before.”
“Mr. Weiss misunderstood what Jose was doing with the baggage. The matter was easily settled and amicably,” Ferguson said.
“You’re speaking of Arvin Weiss? The man who shares our table at dinner?” Pauline asked.
“The very same,” Somerville replied. “It isn’t only bus drivers he takes exception to, it’s guys carrying his bags, too.”
“What an annoying man Mr. Weiss is.”
“Agreed. But could his paranoia, you can hardly call it anything else, spill over into bodily harm?”