Mersey Murder Mysteries Collection - Books 4-6

Chapter 3-1

Andy Ross took an immediate liking to Captain George Gideon. The no-nonsense, down to earth attitude and open personality gave the captain an air of dependability and trustworthiness in Ross"s mind.

“So, nobody saw or heard anything unusual from Senhor Gaspar"s cabin in the hours leading up to the discovery of his body?” Ross asked the captain as they sat together in Gideon"s stateroom c*m office. Ross and Drake had taken a quick look at the scene in Cabin 6 and then left Nugent, Lees and Booker to do their jobs without them cluttering up the small berth. They"d return and take a closer look when Nugent had completed his examination, so now was a good time to talk to the ship"s master.

“Not a peep, Detective Inspector,” Gideon confirmed. “I"ve already spoken to the deck steward responsible for Gaspar"s cabin; he swears he last saw Gaspar at around eleven o"clock last night when he took him his usual nightcap. It seems Senhor Gaspar was partial to a cup of hot cocoa at bedtime and Sal Romero, his steward, delivered it at the same time each night.”

“I see, and is this Romero Portuguese also, Captain Gideon?”

“No, he"s Italian and he"s been with me for two years. He"s solid and dependable with those dark Italian good looks the ladies like, if you know what I mean.”

“I understand,” Ross smiled. “So, he"s a hit with the ladies, then?”

“Right on, he is,” Gideon replied, his terminology a brief giveaway of his Australian background.

“You"re not British yourself, I take it, Captain,” Drake stated as she also noticed the Captain"s turn of phrase.

“Australian, Sergeant, like the old girl herself. Well, Australian owned and registered anyway. She was built in Glasgow, but she"s had a few owners along the way.”

“Okay, back to your passenger,” Ross returned to the dead man. “What do you know about him, if anything, Captain?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Gideon replied. “He arrived on the day we sailed, quite a late arrival, with a bona fide ticket purchased that day from the agents in Rio. His passport was in order, so he was shown to his cabin, where as far as I know, he spent most of the voyage.”

“He didn"t mix with your other passengers?” Drake asked.

“I don"t think so. You"d have to ask them, I"m afraid. He did show up in the dining saloon a couple of times, I believe back at the start of the voyage, but Romero told me he preferred taking his meals in the privacy of his cabin. One of the attractions of the Alexandra Rose is our cuisine, Sergeant. She may not be much to look at compared to similar ships but we have two Cordon Bleu chefs aboard and we have a reputation for serving up superb food, so it"s rather odd that he didn"t take advantage of that.”

Alexandra Rose“Maybe he just wasn"t much of a gastronome,” Ross commented.

“Or he had something to hide, or was afraid of something or someone,” Drake added.

“That"s quite a leap to make just because he didn"t eat in the dining saloon Sergeant,” Gideon said to Izzie Drake.

“Just theorizing, Captain,” Drake replied.

“Do you have his passport, Captain?” Ross asked.

“No, Inspector. We have no need to hold on to our passengers" passports. Once they clear customs at the port of exit, it"s up to them what they do with such things. It"ll probably be in his suitcase in his cabin, or maybe he put it in the safe in there. We provide our passengers with a small wall safe in each cabin. Nothing elaborate, just a simple key operated lock, but then again we don"t expect a rash of burglaries on board a ship of this size.”

“Of course not, Captain,” Ross agreed.

“Can I ask you a question?” Gideon said to Ross.

“Of course, Captain. What is it?”

“Well, we"re lying at anchor because of the fog at present but our passengers will be expecting to make port once it lifts. What happens if you find or suspect foul play? Will they have to remain on board? And there"s the crew to think about too.”

“I really can"t say at present, Captain. Let"s cross that bridge when we come to it. This fog is supposed to linger for a while yet, I"ve been led to believe, which will be helpful as we are going to need to talk to your passengers and crew about Gaspar"s death of course.”

Gideon groaned. “I had my first officer check the long-range weather forecast earlier. They reckon this fog will last anything up to another forty-eight hours. It"s blanketing the whole West Coast and most of the Western Atlantic up to three hundred miles out to sea.”

“That could work to our advantage,” said Ross. “Have the other passengers been informed of Gaspar"s death yet?”

“No. I"ve deliberately not announced it. I wanted to give you the chance to confirm death by natural causes first.”

At that moment, a knock on the door was followed by the arrival of Patrick Neary, closely followed by Miles Booker.

“Sorry to interrupt, sir,” Neary said to Gideon, “but Mr. Booker said he needed to speak to Detective Inspector Ross right away.”

“That"s okay, Mr. Neary. Please come in. You too, Mr. Booker.”

Booker wasted no time and immediately addressed Ross, as though the captain and first officer weren"t in the room.

“Looks like we have a murder for you to solve, Andy,” he said, quietly. “Nugent found a very small puncture mark on Gaspar"s arm. He believes someone injected the man with some kind of fast acting poison but he"s reluctant to try and name it at present. He detected a faint aroma of something sickly sweet around the man"s lips and mouth, but again he"s no idea what"s causing it and neither have I, before you ask. I did find something interesting though, while I was searching the cabin for any trace evidence while Nugent and Lees were working on the examination of the body,”

“Do tell, Miles,” Ross said as he waited for the Crime Scenes Investigator to go on.

“There"s a small safe in the cabin, and the key was tucked in the rear pocket of Gaspar"s wallet which had somehow found its way under the bunk. When I opened it I found these.”

Booker took his hand out of his right-hand pocket where it had been since he entered, revealing not one, but three passports.

“Ah,” said Ross. “It would appear our Mr. Gaspar is not quite what he seems.”

“That should be was, sir,” Drake chipped in.

“Okay, okay, pedantic as ever, Sergeant Drake,” Ross replied. “Can I see those please, Miles?”

Booker passed the three documents to Ross who spent a minute examining them before passing them to Drake, who read aloud for the benefit of Captain Gideon.

“Doctor Alvaro Gaspar, Portuguese citizen, Doctor Emilio Sanchez, Spanish, and Doctor Leonardo Barras, also Portuguese. Seems whoever he was, he liked to be known as Doctor, but doctor of what, I wonder, and which one is the real one, if any of them are?”

“Well, we haven"t seen the body up close yet and already we have a mystery,” Ross said, thoughtfully. “Why would he need three passports unless he was involved in something shady?”

“My thoughts exactly,” Booker agreed. “His clothes didn"t give me any clues, no monogrammed shirts or name labels to be found. There were no business cards in his wallet, no address book in his belongings, and cash-wise, his wallet contained around ten thousand Brazilian reals and a few hundred dollars in American Express traveller"s cheques. If he has any credit cards, I haven"t found them yet.

“This is turning into something of a nightmare,” Gideon commented. “Just who the hell was he?”

“Don"t worry, Captain. We"ll find out before long, I"m sure,” Ross replied, as another knock on the door heralded the arrival of the ship"s second officer, Robert Gray.

“Sorry to butt in, Captain, but the doctor is asking if Detective Inspector Ross and Sergeant Drake can join him in Senhor Gaspar"s cabin.”

“You"ll excuse us, please Captain?” said Ross as he and Drake made for the door. “Lead on please, Mister…?”

“Gray, sir, Robert Gray.”

“Are you Australian too, Mr. Gray?” Ross asked.

“No sir, I"m from Liverpool.”

“No Scouse accent, eh?” Ross commented.

“No, sir. The accent wouldn"t go with the job, but I can lapse into it if I need to in company with the lads at home I grew up with.”

“Right, let"s go. You"d better come too, Miles,” Ross said to Booker, who joined the two detectives as they hurried off to join Nugent in cabin 6.

The corridor housing cabin 6 had been sealed off by the time Ross and Drake returned to talk with Nugent. All passengers had been asked to vacate their cabins and were assembled in the ship"s main saloon, awaiting questioning by the police. Gideon had informed them, through their stewards, that a passenger had passed away unexpectedly, and the police wished to speak to them all. Though disgruntled, the small contingent of passengers grudgingly complied.

William Nugent was seated in the armchair situated in one corner of the cabin. Lees was taking photographs of the body from every possible angle.

“You summoned us, Doc?” Ross said as he and Drake entered the cabin, followed closely by Miles Booker. Gray diplomatically stayed outside, keeping unwanted onlookers away.

“Aye, Inspector Ross. I knew ye"d be wanting to know my preliminary findings as soon as possible.”

“Indeed, I do, Doc. So, what have you discovered?”

Nugent rose from his seat and walked across to the bunk where the dead man lay, now covered with a white sheet that Nugent pulled back in order to show Ross and Drake his findings.

“Come and take a look,” Nugent beckoned them to draw closer. “Look here at his right arm. There"s a definite tiny puncture mark, do you see?”

Ross and Drake nodded, and Ross asked, “A needle mark, Doc?”

“I"d say so,” said Nugent, “and before you ask, I can find no evidence the man may have been diabetic and taking insulin. If that were true, your man Booker would have found evidence of it and both Francis and I have searched the cabin thoroughly also. There is no insulin, no supply of hypodermic needles; nothing at all to indicate a diabetic was travelling in here. Plus, a diabetic would usually inject themselves in a more accessible place, the upper arm for example, not in the crook of the elbow, which seems like a desire to try and hide the puncture mark from someone like me.”

“You"re a mind reader, Doc. I was going to ask that very question.”

“Aye well, no mind reading at all, but I do know how your mind works, Inspector. We"ve known each other long enough, and worked together so often over the years, ye can be a wee bit predictable.”

your“Predictable huh?” Ross grunted.

“I think that was a compliment, sir,” Drake said, trying to prevent Ross becoming too irritated with the pathologist. “Doctor Nugent has obviously studied your habits and methods over the years and is now able to second guess you at times, isn"t that right, Doctor?”