Mersey Murder Mysteries Collection - Books 4-6

Chapter 5-1

Miles Booker scratched his head, a sure sign the Senior Crime Scenes Officer was frustrated. Ross and Drake walked in to cabin 6 to see four of Booker"s crime scene technicians hard at work, though Booker appeared to be unhappy about something.

Second Officer Gray, now their official chaperone/liaison with the captain, dutifully waited outside.

“Something bothering you, Miles?” Ross asked immediately.

Booker slowly nodded.

“Yes, it is, Andy. This whole place is just too damn clean.”

“Explain, please.”

“Well, we"re pretty much convinced a murder occurred here, but this cabin shows no signs of anything being out of place or unusual. My lads are now going over everything a second time, but so far there isn"t a hint of trace evidence to be found. I"d have thought the victim might have put up some kind of a struggle if he was being attacked and he would certainly have resisted being injected in the arm, but there isn"t even a hint of it. The only fingerprints in the cabin are his, and even his night time drinks mug is still on the bedside cabinet. That would have been the first thing I"d have expected to be knocked over in a struggle, plus the bedside lamp.”

“The killer might have cleaned up afterwards,” Drake ventured a thought.

“Possible,” Booker agreed, “but I just have a gut feeling.”

That was something Ross understood only too well and he was prepared to go along with Booker"s feelings for the time being.

“Miles, are you suggesting Gaspar might have been killed elsewhere and his body posed in his bed?”

Before replying, Booker spoke to his technicians with a collective question.

“Anything yet, lads?”

Four heads turned in his direction, each one shaking solemnly in the negative, at which point Booker looked at Ross and finally answered his question.

“I"m saying it"s a distinct possibility. I"d like to examine the other passenger cabins if possible, before they return to them.”

“No problem,” said Ross.

The passengers were being kept in the main salon for the time being, much to their collective chagrin, but wouldn"t be allowed back in to their accommodation until Ross okayed it.

Without being told, Izzie Drake left the cabin and obtained the master key to the passenger"s cabins from Robert Gray. She quickly returned to the others, holding up the pass key, and Ross handed it to Booker.

“All yours, Miles,” he said. “While you and your team get to work, I think we"ll make a start interviewing the crew.”

“Good luck with that,” Booker replied. “You could be in for a long haul.”

“I"m not sure about that. Most of them, according to the captain, have no contact with the passengers and keep to their own quarters when not on duty. It"s likely anyone dressed in greasy overalls or such like would be quickly noticed if they were caught wandering around the passenger accommodation.”

“Unless they lured Gaspar to another deck and killed him there,” Izzie suggested.

“True, but they"d still have had the problem of getting the body back to his cabin unnoticed. Even with help, that would have been a difficult thing to achieve.”

“Very true, sir,” she agreed.

They left Gray assisting Miles Booker. By now, they were both well acquainted with the route from the cabins to the bridge. As they walked, Drake made a wry observation.

“You know, sir, this is a bit like the old Agatha Christie story, you know, the one on the Orient Express, except we"re on a ship instead of a train. We"ve got a similar scenario, a set of passengers, a dead body and no apparent motive or easily identifiable suspects.”

“Ah, yes, I see what you mean, Izzie. But, in this case we also have a crew of about thirty or so people to contend with. Old Poirot only had the passengers and a steward as far as I recall, and of course, it was fiction. I confess to not reading the book but saw the film with Albert Finney as Poirot.”

“Well, we"ll just have to prove we"re better than Hercule, won"t we?”

“Sure thing. As long as I don"t have to grow a ridiculous moustache in order to solve the case.”

Izzie laughed.

“I don"t think a moustache would suit you somehow.”

“Me neither,” Ross chuckled. “And Maria would hate it. She hates the things.”

“So, we"d better get on with it before you need a shave then, hadn"t we?”

“Cheeky bugger,” Ross said as they approached the ship"s bridge.

Captain Gideon was once again very cooperative, and this time suggested Ross and Drake used the crew"s recreation room as their interview room. Ross was happy to go along with Gideon"s suggestion and the skipper offered to be the first interviewee. He left his first officer, Patrick Neary in charge on the bridge and requested a few minutes in which to brief his third officer who would arrange for the crew members to visit the recreation room one at a time.

Ross agreed and realised they hadn"t as yet met the Alexandra Rose"s Third Officer, who Gideon named as Penelope Jenner. Ross was surprised to learn the Third Officer was a female.

Alexandra Rose"s“Ah, do I detect a spot of old-fashioned sexist stereotyping there, Inspector?” Gideon grinned at him, obviously enjoying Ross"s slight embarrassment.

“Erm, no, not at all. I"m all for equal opportunities. Just a bit surprised to learn you have a female officer on a…a…”

“An old rust bucket like Alexandra Rose, is the phrase I think you were looking for,” Gideon said, smiling as he spoke.

Alexandra Rose,“Well, in a way, yes, I suppose,” Ross looked embarrassed.

“It"s okay,” Gideon consoled the detective. “A lot of folks are surprised when they learn Penny"s on board, but the owners insisted we need a female officer around in case any of our female passengers have problems only another woman can help with. I tend to agree.”

“Yes, of course. I see the logic in that,” said Ross, feeling slightly less of an i***t.

“Don"t worry sir,” Drake stepped in to console him. “I can imagine how the old coppers must have felt when women detectives first began being accepted into the police force.”

“Oh, shut up Izzie. You make me sound like someone from an extinct species, "the dinosaur detective" or something like that.”

Drake laughed again and Gideon joined in.

“Best get on, eh, Inspector?” the captain suggested.

“Er, yes, definitely,” said Ross, eager to get away from the subject.

Izzie Drake knew very well that Andy Ross was one of the least sexist men she"d ever met, but she hadn"t been able to resist having a little fun at her boss"s expense, but now it was time to get back to work.

While Gideon disappeared to find and speak to Penelope Jenner, Ross asked Izzie to phone Paul Ferris.

“Let"s give our new Detective Sergeant something worthwhile to do,” he said. “Give him the names on the passports found in Gaspar"s wall safe and ask him to contact the relevant passport issuing authorities. Let"s find out as much as we can about the names on those documents. It"s obvious that at least two of them have to be fakes, and it"s possible of course that all three are false. Tell him to ask the issuers in the country of origin if they have copies of the passport photographs. That way we can try to ascertain the real identity of our victim. The names on those passports might be those of real people. Photos will soon tell us if they"ve been doctored to produce the fakes.”

Drake immediately called Ferris; giving him the details of each passport which she"d already carefully copied into her notebook, and Ferris confirmed he"d start work immediately.

* * *

The interview of Captain George Gideon was pretty much completed within ten minutes. Ross has already learned most of the captain"s background from his earlier conversations with the man and his knowledge of the murder of Gaspar was scant, to say the least.

“No, I never knew him before the voyage,” he responded to Ross"s questioning. “Remember, we only make the Liverpool to Rio and return voyage twice a year, Inspector. We"re not like a bus service on the same route all the time. After we eventually sort out this mess our next trip is Liverpool to Cape Town, and that"s one way only, because we then sail from Cape Town to Singapore. You get the picture?”

“Yes, I see. I did kind of think all your trips would be return voyages. I can see I got that assumption wrong.”

“Afraid so,” said the Australian. “We"re not a cruise liner, and passengers generally don"t sail with us like they would on a cruise ship, you know, for a holiday. We"re a working cargo ship, Inspector and if someone wants to book a berth to go where we"re going, that"s fine, and that"s the purpose of a cargo liner.”

Ross pondered for a moment, wondering if the ship"s cargo could have a connection with Gaspar"s death.

“Exactly what is your cargo, Captain Gideon?”

“Mostly plastic toys for the British wholesale market,” he replied. “Lots of cheap labour in Brazil, you know. They can make "em cheap over there and then the British retailers sell the damn things at ridiculous prices and make thousands of percent in profits.”

“Right, and what else?”

“We also have a consignment of women"s clothing, again probably made in some Brazilian sweat shop, and a cargo of medical appliances, described on the manifest as being comprised of a number of prosthetic devices. That translates to artificial limbs, Inspector, arms, legs, feet, hands and so on. I"ve carried such cargoes before, nothing suspicious there I assure you.”

“Just thought I"d ask,” said Ross.

“I was on the bridge when the body was discovered, of course. I"d been there for almost twelve hours solid as we fought our way through this God forsaken fog bank. Whatever happened to Senhor Gaspar, I was nowhere near his cabin at any time during the night. In fact, the entire bridge crew and I can give each other alibis, if that"s what you"re seeking.”

“We have to check, Captain. You know that,” Drake added as she sensed a little hostility growing on the previously affable ship"s captain.

“Yeah, I know, Sergeant. I apologise. It"s just this damnable delay in making port. The owners will blame me regardless of the reason, and it will affect the crew"s bonuses too. Believe me, there"s nothing worse than trying to handle a disgruntled ship"s crew. I"d rather wrestle a nest of vipers.”

“Okay, well, I"m sorry I can"t help you there,” said Ross, “but I think we"d better move onto the rest of the crew.” Looking down at the printed list of crew members, he selected Patrick Neary next.

Gideon departed and was soon replaced by First Officer Patrick Neary.

The First Officer basically echoed Gideon"s statement. Both he and the captain had been on the bridge most of the night and early morning. Neary confirmed he"d been born in Waterford in the Republic of Ireland thirty eight years before, but hadn"t set foot in his home country for over ten years. He loved his life at sea, had been married once, divorced soon afterwards, and when not at sea he enjoyed the single life and owned a small beach front apartment in the ship"s home port of Sydney.