Mersey Murder Mysteries Collection - Books 4-6

Chapter 4-2

Gideon smiled, pleased that Ross had paid him a compliment in a roundabout way.

“Well, like he told you, he owns a small business. His wife told us at dinner on the first night at sea that her husband owns a wine importing company. After years of visiting South America in general and Brazil in particular, he came home from a buying trip one day and announced they were going on a long holiday, the trip of a lifetime. She then gave us a long and at times tedious talk on their "sss Experience Tour" which lasted a month in reality and seemed half as long again at the dining table.”

Izzie couldn"t help herself, just failing to suppress a small bout of laughter.

“I see what you meant about general chit-chat,” she grinned.

“Strewth,” Gideon exclaimed, “Gigi Colbert could talk for France, let me tell you. Anyway, her husband made all the right noises in the right places, you know, like she"d say, "The rain forest tour was amazing wasn"t it, Cherie?" and he"d politely agree in as few words as possible and she"d then launch into the next episode of their experiences in Amazonia. Be warned, Inspector. When you talk to them, you might need a shave by the time you get away from Gigi.”

"The rain forest tour was amazing wasn"t it, Cherie?"Now it was Ross"s turn to laugh at Gideon"s humour, definitely more Australian then British.

“I"ll remember that, Captain, thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Gideon said before remembering one other point about the couple. “There was something a bit strange that took place one evening.”

“Oh? Do go on, please,” Ross urged him.

“Well, like I told you, Senhor Gaspar only joined us at my table once, and he kept staring at Gigi. She smiled back at him. I couldn"t help noticing that, and I thought maybe she was trying to flirt with him, but, well, I don"t know; maybe he was a little unsure of himself around women, or maybe even a little scared of them, but he refused to get involved in conversation with her and Monsieur Colbert kept glaring at him as though he didn"t appreciate the interplay between him and his wife; innocent though it was. Gaspar never came into the dining salon again throughout the voyage as I already told you. All a bit crook if you ask me. Sorry, Sergeant, that"s Aussie slang for a little odd.”

“It"s alright. I knew that, Captain but thanks for the explanation. We"ll remember to ask the Colbert"s about that.”

“I remember asking them who was minding the business while they were away,” Gideon went on, “and the husband explained that they"d left everything in the hands of their office manager. Of course, with Monsieur Colbert being away on buying and wine tasting trips regularly, it was important that they had someone they could rely on. Gigi confirmed he was a "very nice man" and I couldn"t help wondering just how "nice" she meant, if you get my meaning.”

“I think I do,” Ross nodded his head, knowingly.

Izzie said, “You mean Gigi Colbert might be something of a flirt, Captain?”

“That"s one word for it, Sergeant,” he confirmed, smiling as he spoke.

“Even so, it"s a strange way for them to act, and worth exploring further when we talk to them,” said Ross, thoughtfully.

“So that just leaves the Mexican couple,” Izzie Drake said to Gideon, who was quick to reply.

“Ah yes, Manuel and Gabriela, our two young lovers,” Gideon smiled as he spoke of the young couple. “We can thank Gigi Colbert for most of the information I"m about to tell you. She got them talking one night over dinner and though Manuel was reluctant to say too much at first, Gigi teased their story out of them, with Gabriela eventually doing most of the talking. They"re from the coastal resort of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico"s Pacific Coast. Manuel is, or rather was, a crewman on a local fishing boat. Gabriela"s family are quite well off, her father a wealthy property developer in the area which is a tourist boom area. Of course, her family had big ideas for their daughter"s future and didn"t take too kindly to her romance with a humble fisherman.”

Izzie Drake felt she knew just where Gideon"s story was heading.

“They"re runaways, aren"t they?” she asked with certainty.

“Yes, they are, Sergeant,” Gideon confirmed. “Seems they didn"t take kindly to being banned from seeing each other by her father, and, well, I"m sure they"ll tell you their story when you talk with them. They made quite a trek from the West Coast of Mexico to get to the East Coast of Brazil. They"re good kids. I like "em.”

Ross and Drake both realised at the same time that Captain Gideon was something of an old fashioned romantic at heart. Ross thought the skipper would have liked nothing better than to have conducted a shipboard wedding of the two young Mexicans, though he wasn"t sure if ship"s captains were able to perform that function in this day and age and he didn"t feel this was the appropriate time to ask the question. Gideon continued.

“Apparently the young guy saved almost all his wages for six months and then young Gabriela emptied her own bank account and they left Puerto Vallarta with little more than their passports and the clothes they were wearing. They caught buses, trains, hitched rides, anything at all until they pitched up in Brazil. Seems we were the first ship sailing that they could get passage on and so here they are. That"s about all I can tell you.”

Ross laughed at Gideon"s words.

“That"s all you can tell us? It hardly seems necessary to speak to them at all after what you"ve just told us.”

“Aw heck, what can I say? I just like the young "uns and wouldn"t want to see them caught up in something like this.”

“Yes, I can see that,” said Ross. “Anyway, let"s see what happens when we talk to them, eh, Captain Gideon?”

“We"d better get on with it then, eh, sir?” Drake asked, looking at her watch, aware of the fact that the forensic team would be on its way to the ship by now. She knew Miles Booker was waiting for their arrival but also knew Ross would want to be there when they began the examination of cabin 6.

* * *

As things turned out, the interviews with the passengers took up hardly any time at all. As she and Ross expected, they were able to learn little more from their interviews than they"d already been told by Captain Gideon.

Per Erikson was more forthcoming when spoken to in private. He confirmed he was indeed a mining engineer and had been working on a private mineral excavation team in Brazil for three months when the owners suddenly announced the company had hit hard times and the project had been cancelled. With only a small amount of severance pay to his name, Erikson had bought a ticket for the first ship leaving Rio he could find, the Alexandra Rose. He was happy when he knew the ship was heading for Liverpool where he had relatives, an Aunt and Uncle, who he hoped would afford him lodgings while he sought new employment. Easy enough to check, Ross decided, and though Erikson couldn"t be described as a particularly affable man, he gave the detective the impression of being an honest, hard-working man who had simply fallen on hard times in his chosen field of employment.

Alexandra RoseThe Colberts were, well…the Colberts. Angelique, or Gigi as she insisted they call her was as effusive as ever when they spoke with her for the second time. This time the conversation was all in English. She confirmed everything Gideon had told them about the Mexican couple and then spent five minutes, hardly drawing breath, expounding on what a nice man the deceased seemed to have been, despite them hardly having spoken to him. Ross, recalling Gideon"s words felt he had to ask her to explain the incident at the captain"s table.

“Oh that,” Gigi said, waving a hand in the air disdainfully. “The poor man must have been badly let down by a woman in the past, Inspector. I tried to make conversation with him at the table, to be polite you understand?”

Ross nodded to confirm he did.

“So,” Gigi went on, “Senhor Gaspar seemed reluctant to talk about himself at all. You know, ordinary things like where he was from, why he was on board the Alexandra Rose, that type of thing. He seemed to be growing quite angry with me, as though he felt I was cross-examining him and in the end he spoke to me quite rudely and left the table without excusing himself. Such bad manners I thought.”

Alexandra RoseRoss actually felt sympathy for Gaspar. If Gigi Colbert had spent even five minutes virtually interrogating the poor man without barely stopping to draw breath, he fully understood why the dead man had stormed from the dinner table. Of course, he refrained from saying so.

“So, that was the only time you spoke to Senhor Gaspar during the entire voyage?” he asked, instead.

“Apart from one chance meeting on the little promenade deck one morning when he was clearly taking the fresh air, yes.”

“I see, and did you talk for long?”

“No, Inspector. I wished him good morning and the man barely grunted at me in return and then he quickly left the deck and I presume he returned to his cabin.”

That was all they learned from Angelique Colbert on that occasion. Her husband was of even less use as a witness. He confirmed his wife"s story of the dinner table incident, confirming also that his wife was an irreverent flirt, though it was all innocent fun and that he never took it seriously. It was, he told Ross, simply a part of her personality, and she meant no harm by her behaviour, whether to him as her husband or to those with whom she engaged in such flirtation.

Finally, Ross and Drake spoke with the two young Mexican lovers. Again, Gideon"s information, as told to him by Gigi Colbert was accurate in every detail. Manuel and Gabriela had eyes only for each other. Though they"d been at the table on the night of Gigi and Gaspar"s apparent argument, neither could recall any such incident taking place. They explained that they had not seen Gaspar at all from that night. They both told Ross they hadn"t given the man another thought until they"d learned of his tragic death that morning. Ross ended his interview with them in less than ten minutes. It was clear he was going to learn little from the pair.

In the peace of the small dressing room after the couple had departed, Ross looked across at his sergeant, who, understanding his frustration tried her best to relieve the tension.

“Well, that lot were as much use a chocolate fireguard, wouldn"t you agree, sir?”

“Too right I would, Izzie. What a useless bunch of potential witnesses they are. If we can believe them all, no one liked the man, no one really spoke to him or engaged with him in any way, but no one felt any real animosity towards him, certainly not enough to warrant murdering the poor bugger.”

“So, what do we do now?” Drake asked.

Ross stood up and stretched to ease the tension in his neck and shoulders.

“Now, Izzie, we go and see what Miles Booker and his boys have found, if anything. I heard the police launch returning over ten minutes ago. The sound carried through the porthole here. Nothing else could sound like the Morse,” he said, grinning.

Morse“Right, sir,” Drake replied, as she also got to her feet. “Shall we go?”