by P. C. James
“A braggart?” Pauline offered.
Pedro frowned. “I don’t know that word. Do you know machismo?”
The others nodded.
“Well,” Pedro said, “like that but without any reason for it. He was not a manly man and his machismo was false. I can’t explain better.”
“You didn’t like him?” Somerville asked.
“No, sir, I did not.”
“Was it only his wrongly assumed machismo or was there more?” Pauline asked.
Pedro shrugged. “I didn’t know him until we met the crew. I am a naturalist and not one of the technical or hospitality crew. I don’t say he picked a quarrel with me during the training, but it felt like he did. He made unpleasant comments about me to others, in my hearing.”
“Why was that?” Ferguson asked, “And why didn’t you alert one of the ship’s officers?”
Pedro’s expression turned even more sullen. “I didn’t know him, but he learned my father was a schoolteacher in the nearby village to his and I was a university graduate. Those two facts seemed to be enough for him to hate me. Those are the reasons he gave anyway.”
“But this dislike never led to violence, did it?” Pauline asked.
Pedro hesitated, and then said, “One evening, after the training sessions had ended for the day, he pushed me against a wall and punched me, trying to get me to retaliate. I didn’t. It made him even more contemptuous than before. I avoided him as much as I could after that.”
“There’s nothing in any of what you remember of your life near the village where Jose lived that could help us understand what happened to him?” Somerville asked.
“Nothing except I understand why it happened to him and not to someone else.”
“Then you think it was murder?” Pauline asked.
“Do not put words in my mouth,” Pedro said. “I only say I can understand why he might meet a violent end when others didn’t. I know nothing of murder.”
Ferguson looked at the two investigators and, seeing no further questions coming, said, “Thank you for being so honest with us, Pedro. It must have been very difficult for you.”
When Pedro had left the cabin, Ferguson asked, “Did any of this help you, Miss Riddell, Mr. Somerville?”
“I think we need to know a lot more about Pedro and what has been happening among the crew,” Somerville said. “He may have been honest, but he may be holding back something that could blow this case apart.”
“I agree we need to interview more crew members to get a better understanding,” Pauline said. “And I think Pedro does believe Jose was murdered, but I shall wait until we know more before I decide whether this is a defining moment in the case.”
“There’s one other thing I learned from Pedro earlier today,” Pauline said and quickly outlined the information Pedro had given.
Somerville was excited. “I knew it,” he said. “That Rod guy’s as crooked as they come. I shouldn’t say this, but Betty needs to be alive to her surroundings or someday she’ll find she isn’t alive at all.”
“Detective Somerville,” Ferguson said. “In this room, we may speak plainly, of course, but you must not say such things outside here.”
Somerville grinned. “Don’t you worry, Captain, I can keep my mouth shut when I need to. But this information is what we need to sweat that guy a bit. What do you say, Miss Riddell?”
“Certainly, we should interview him, Detective, but I’m not the sort who ‘sweats’ people. I find talking to witnesses works just as well.”
“Maybe in those middle-class dramas you involve yourself in but in the real world there are people who would find talking to old ladies a hoot. They’d play up to them, telling them whatever they want to hear. They’re pretty damn good at being all things to all people.”
“Nevertheless, Detective, I insist, when we talk to him, we do so in a civilized manner.”
“Well, sure, ma’am. We’ll be as sweet as candy. On my honor.”
Pauline was not convinced by this profession of good behavior and was more than ever determined to get to Rod before Somerville. Overnight, she had to come up with a plan.
12
Morning at Sea
As it happened, she didn’t need to do anything, for Rod did something they would never have suspected of him, though perhaps they should have expected because he was a fitness instructor before he married. Nevertheless, they were surprised when he turned up for the ship’s exercise class at six am the next morning.
As they met him making his way up the stairs on the way to the class, Pauline asked, “I wondered if we might talk privately for a moment, Rod, after the class?”
“What about?”
“About Jose,” Pauline said.
“I’ve already told that detective all I know, which is nothing. And I’ve told him twice. If you’re going to the class, I’m leaving.”
This announcement about Somerville so angered Pauline she was momentarily speechless. Fortunately, Freda was able to step into the breach.
“Please don’t do that,” Freda said, quickly. “We aren’t out to trap you. Just understand.”
They reached the highest deck, where the center was brightly lit, the instructor already waiting.
“My regulars are here, I see. Welcome back, ladies,” she said, with a beaming smile, “and welcome to a new face too, sir.”
Rod’s dark expression seemed even more sinister in the shadows on the edge of the lighted circle but his nodded reply was friendly enough.
All three took up station by one of the mats laid out on the deck. The instructor always laid out six mats but in the three days Pauline had attended, today was the first time there were more attendees than just her and Freda.
The best part of the class, to Pauline anyway, was while they stretched, the sun rose swiftly over a new island each morning. Today was no different. Darkness gave way to a purplish haze in the shadows created by the low mountain, until the island’s features, indistinct at first, were laid bare in the bright sunshine. Today’s island was a dry, dun-colored hill rising out of the sea, lightly covered in scrub vegetation like so many of the islands they’d seen. It was no wonder that, at first, people had thought of them as ‘the land that time forgot’. They looked ancient and primeval, as did the creatures that lived on them. It took a Darwin to recognize they were exactly the opposite of that.
The moment they left the class, Pauline took up her earlier question with Rod. “Someone mentioned seeing you having a quarrel with Jose. What was that about?”
“The detective asked me the same thing. I’ll tell you what I told him. I didn’t have a quarrel with Jose and even if I had, it would still be no business of yours.”
“We’re only trying to set the cruise company’s mind at rest,” Freda said. “They just want to be sure it was an accident.”
“Well, I can’t help you there so if you’ll excuse me, this is where I leave you,” Rod said, gesturing to the door that led to the first-class suites.
When he’d gone, Pauline said, “I’d hoped if we got to him first, we might do better with a woman’s touch.”
Freda grinned. “I think he’s off women right now. Marrying for money hasn’t been as painless as he imagined, I think.”
“Hush, Freddie. We don’t know he married for money.”
“If that’s how your detecting mind works, Polly, I’m not surprised it takes you forever to get the right answer. Men marry young women for children and old women for money. You don’t need to be a detective to work that out.”
“That doesn’t mean there can’t be love, or at least affection, involved,” Pauline said primly.
“Well Rod’s affection evaporated quickly ‘cos he’s been as cross as a bear with a sore head since this honeymoon cruise began.” Freda paused, and then added, “How does one know if a bear has a sore head, I wonder?”
“I expect it’s when they’re cross, Freddie, and you’re right about Rod. If I’d expected a suspicious death of an
yone on this ship, Betty would have been the victim and Rod would be the chief suspect.”
“But it isn’t Betty. The thing is, though,” Freda said, “we could easily believe Rod had killed Betty because he seems exactly the kind of man who would kill someone, which is why it’s so easy to believe he killed Jose.”
“And he doesn’t want to say why he was quarreling with Jose – if he was quarrelling with Jose.”
“Do you doubt it?” Freda asked.
“Only one person claims to have seen him and that’s Pedro, who also had a history with Jose that we’ve only just discovered. He only announced he’d seen Rod quarrelling with Jose after we began questioning him,” Pauline reminded her.
“Oh, yes. That’s true. I hadn’t thought of it like that. So, Rod, who looks like an elegant movie villain, may be telling the truth and Pedro, who looks like a nature-loving choirboy, may be leading us astray.”
“Possibly,” Pauline said. “But to get a better idea about that, we need someone else who saw this quarrel.”
“Do you think it was Rod and Jose talking that Isaac and Ruth heard?” Freda asked.
Pauline shook her head. “It can’t have been. According to Pedro, Rod was arguing with Jose in the late afternoon. Isaac and Ruth heard people after dinner when it was dark.”
“I think we should confirm with Pedro what he remembered,” Freda said. “It could be just different words, afternoon and evening, for the same time. We have to be sure.”
“Well, you’re my detecting partner,” Pauline said. “You check with him. I feel I’m wearing out my welcome there.”
“You were right,” Freda said, as she rejoined Pauline in the lounge after talking to Pedro. “It was still light when Pedro saw Jose arguing with Rod.”
“There must have been other people about,” Pauline said.
“Don’t forget, it would be the time the afternoon excursion came back on board. People would all be down on the rear deck meeting their friends and enjoying the champagne we’re constantly being plied with on our return.”
“True but not everyone,” Pauline said. “We were there and the deck wasn’t so very full. Not nearly everybody aboard was there and not even for the free champagne. A lot of people were elsewhere on the ship and someone should have seen this exchange, if it happened.”
“We can’t question all the passengers.”
“Nor can we broadcast a request to the whole ship,” Pauline said. “It’s very unsatisfactory, this way of investigating.”
Freda laughed. “You didn’t realize how much help you usually get from the police, did you?”
“To be honest, I did know,” Pauline said ruefully, “but, as you say, haven’t appreciated it enough until now. They can do things we amateur sleuths can’t do.”
“We can ask questions of everyone,” Freda said.
“You’re really getting into this, aren’t you?” Pauline said, smiling.
“I am. Maybe, now I’ve stopped working, I’ll be a detective too. I’ll pick up your mantle back in the Old Country.”
“Just don’t advertise using my name or I’ll sue,” Pauline said, and then added with a grin, “You see how much I’ve learned since I came to North America?”
“Actually,” Freda said, suddenly serious, “I’m thinking of going back to nursing. I retired because Keith’s health had forced him to retire early. There doesn’t seem much point now, does there?”
Pauline hugged her sister briefly. “Don’t rush into anything. Give yourself time.”
“First we have to discover ‘who dunnit’ here on this ship,” Freda said. “Who are our suspects?”
“Number one has to be Pedro,” Pauline said, “and for all the reasons we’ve talked about. Number two is Rod, he’s strangely reticent about his whereabouts at the time of Jose’s death and won’t give a satisfactory answer to the question about the argument with Jose. If it happened. Number three, for me, is Arvin…” She held up her hand to stop the objection she could see Freda about to make. “You can tell me why you don’t think Pedro did it when you tell me who you think did it,” Pauline said. “And number four is Mr., or should I say, Señor X, one of the crew we haven’t yet unmasked. Someone who knew Jose from before and had a reason to kill him. Now, you can tell me who you think ‘dunnit’.”
“I think it has to be your Señor X because I don’t believe anyone we’ve spoken to is murderer material.”
Pauline grinned. “What you’re saying is you want all the patients to get well.”
“Of course, I do. Who wouldn’t? But I have a sensible reason for saying this. It isn’t just well-wishing.”
“And what’s that?”
“None of the people we’ve spoken to have known Jose long enough to want to kill him. Don’t you think?”
“It’s true they don’t have any good reason that we’ve discovered and the short acquaintance would normally suggest they’re unlikely suspects but Jose seems to be the kind of person trouble gravitated to. I’m not convinced of the passengers’ innocence yet.”
“What do suggest?”
“What you said, we ask questions of everyone we meet, and as quickly as we can,” Pauline replied. “We can start right now in the lounge tonight and continue at breakfast in the morning.”
As Freda happily chatted to the passengers in the lounge, Pauline excused herself saying she would be back in a few minutes. She quickly made her way down to the deck where the guest relations and other offices were.
She was fortunate because the woman she’d come to see was behind the desk looking bored.
“Good evening, Nina,” Pauline said. “Can I ask you some questions?”
“I’m here to assist guests,” Nina said.
“As you know, I’m helping the captain confirm that awful tragedy really was an accident,” Pauline said. “We, Detective Somerville and I, have questioned many of the male crew members. We feel it more likely that, if Jose was helped over the railing in any way, it would have to be by a man. He was a strong young man himself.”
“I too think that is most likely,” Nina said guardedly.
“However, I wondered if you’d heard anything among the female crew members that might help us?”
Nina shook her head. “No,” she said. “I don’t think any of us knew him. We’re all very new onboard, you know.”
“I understand,” Pauline said. “If you do hear of anything, I hope you’ll let me know. I can be very discreet.”
“I can be very discreet too, Miss Riddell,” Nina said.
Pauline had hoped a woman-to-woman approach would lower the barriers between them but decided it would take more than that in the case of someone who grew up behind the Iron Curtain. She nodded and returned to the lounge. A different approach was going to be needed to hear the female side of the crew’s story.
Overnight, new information from the mainland had arrived and Ferguson called the two detectives early to his cabin for them to review it while Hidalgo was available to talk. One piece in particular caught Pauline’s attention.
“Señor Hidalgo,” she said, “this newspaper article about the school soccer team and it’s triumph in Lima suggests Pedro almost certainly traveled to the village where Jose lived. Do we have anything that says if Jose was on his school’s team or maybe a village team that could have brought him and Pedro into contact?”
“We haven’t anything like that at this time,” Hidalgo’s reply crackled over the radio making him hard to understand.
“We must find out,” Somerville said loudly, as though volume would make the radio reception better.
“I’d already thought of it and they’re working on that.”
“It really is beginning to look as if Pedro had an earlier relationship with Jose and he might be our man,” Somerville said. “I don’t say murderer but involved in the incident, quite likely.”
“I hope not,” Ferguson said. “He’s one of the nicest young men on board: helpful, kind, and hard-working. I’d
be sorry to find he has a hand in this.”
“It’s early days, Captain,” Pauline said. “Jose may not have played soccer and never met Pedro. It may not be likely, but it’s possible.”
“Every boy and man here in South America plays soccer, Miss Riddell, as I’m sure you know. It’s inconceivable Jose didn’t.”
“Captain Ferguson is right,” Hidalgo said. “Another batch of newspaper articles is on its way right now. We’ve just received one that says Jose played for his school and his village soccer teams and would almost certainly have played against Pedro at some time.”
“This is growing more serious,” Ferguson said. “Pedro didn’t tell us this.”
“We still don’t know they actually met, Captain,” Somerville said. “I play hockey and baseball, have done all my life. I barely knew the people on the teams I was on at school, let alone the players on the other teams.”
“But this isn’t Toronto, Detective,” Pauline said. “These are two small villages not three miles apart, and in a region where people must travel to meet each other. Very like the one where I grew up, in fact. You may not have known your neighbors in the city, but I knew people from miles away because they were family, schoolfriends, or others we met in school and village events. There’s much wider interaction when there are much fewer people nearby.”
“Still,” Somerville said, “we need Pedro to explain himself. If he says he didn’t meet Jose while they were each on separate soccer teams, then we’re not a lot further forward.”
“I think we’re closing in on something like a conclusion,” Ferguson said, “and I don’t like it at all.”
“Understandable.” Pauline said. “We need to question Pedro again to arrive at the truth of this.”
“I’ll have him found and brought here right away,” Ferguson said. “If there’s any chance this is something more than an accident, I want it known now.”
The three continued discussing the latest information sent from shore and relaying yet more requests for information to Hidalgo while they waited for Pedro to arrive.