Chapter 6
2055 Words
“We"re not getting far out here, sir,” Ross said to D.C.I, Agostini on his mobile phone.
“No suspects, Andy?”
“None that are obvious, and that means we have to consider everyone on board as being our potential killer.”
“Sounds as if our murderer is a clever bastard.”
“I agree, sir, but then again, they all think they"re clever until they make the slip-up that leads us to them.”
“Well, if you don"t think you can do much more out there, you"d better come on back to headquarters. I presume the ship is still fog-bound?”
“Yes, she is. Captain Gideon says the long range forecast is for the fog to lift sometime tomorrow. If that happens, the Alexandra Rose can make her way in to port, but then we have the dilemma of what to do about the passengers.”
“Quite so, Andy. We can"t force them to stay on board until we solve the crime, and we can"t lock them all up until we find the killer either. So, we might be faced with having to let a killer just walk away unless we can find a solution to the problem.”
“I"m glad you see it that way, sir, because Sergeant Drake has come up with an idea that might work”
“Oh, really? Go on, I"m listening.”
“Let me put her on the phone. She can tell you herself.”
Passing the phone to Drake, Andy Ross stood gazing out of a porthole while she outlined her idea to Agostini. All he could see was fog, fog and more fog.
“Sir,” Drake began, “when we first arrived on board, the captain told us that one of the things they considered when Doctor Hanning examined the body was that he could have died from some rare infection, a bug or a virus the doctor had never encountered before. What if we play on that possibility? If we can get the local health authorities on our side, and I"m certain Doctor Nugent could swing it for us, we could have the ship quarantined, pending being given a clean bill of health.”
“A brilliant idea, Sergeant. The passengers won"t like it of course, but they won"t be able to do a damn thing about it. I"ll talk to Doctor Nugent and then see you and Inspector Ross when you return.”
“Thank you, sir.” Drake said proudly.
She handed the phone back to Ross who next arranged that two detectives from his team plus a couple of uniformed officers should be stationed on the Alexandra Rose until the murderer was apprehended. Agostini agreed and Ross suggested that Detective Constables Dodds and Curtis be the first to be assigned to the ship. The D.C.I said he"d arrange for them to be waiting at the pier head when Ross and Drake returned, together with a couple of uniformed officers, ready to take over for the night. Ross would have to brief them on what he expected from them before they left the dockside.
Alexandra RoseCurtis and Dodds were alternately thrilled and a little disappointed when D.C.I. Agostini informed them of their latest assignment.
“That"s great, sir. I"ll be only too happy to go out there and keep an eye on things,” said Curtis, enthusiastically.
“Me too, sir,” Dodds agreed, inwardly a little angry as he"d have to forego a date that night with a pretty nurse he"d met at the hospital. Then again, the overtime money would come in handy. He"d call Susan and promise her a slap-up meal the next time they went out together.
* * *
Doctor William Nugent was only too pleased to help when Oscar Agostini made the phone call to elicit his help in retaining the passengers and crew of the Alexandra Rose on board. The idea appealed to a certain streak of devilment in Nugent"s personality, despite its questionable ethics, which he and Agostini felt they could live with for the sake of the greater good.
Alexandra Rose“Aye, well, I"m still performing the autopsy on your victim, Chief Superintendent, so there"s still a faint possibility there may be a highly virulent disease on board that ship,” he spoke conspiratorially. “Of course, I won"t be able to announce anything too soon, so you have time to get your people back before we order her into quarantine.”
“I"ve got two detectives going out there now, to keep an eye on things until tomorrow. We can always issue any of our people with Hazmat suits as a blind if we need them to keep a permanent watch on board of course.”
“Aye, of course you can. So, it"s agreed then. I"ll complete the post-mortem and report my findings to D.I. Ross and we"ll issue the quarantine order as soon as it looks like the fog"s about to lift.”
“I really appreciate your cooperation Doctor Nugent,” said Agostini. “I couldn"t think of any other way to make sure everyone stayed on board while we complete the investigation.”
“Any time, Chief Superintendent,” said Nugent, ending the call and returning to Autopsy Room Two, where Francis Lees was waiting to continue the post-mortem examination of the unfortunate passenger from cabin 6.
* * *
Ross and Drake were relieved to be back at headquarters, having been relieved by Dodds and Curtis as arranged. The two detective constables, together with two uniformed officers, would ensure first of all the security of Gaspar"s cabin, and secondly, they would hold a watching brief to make certain that no one attempted to leave the Alexandra Rose.
Alexandra RoseCaptain Gideon had been highly cooperative and had allocated the two detectives the cabin next to Gaspar"s both as sleeping accommodation and to use as a base of operation while on board. The two uniformed constables, Mallender and Watts, would use the cabin at the end of the accommodation passageway nearest to the exit to the deck.
“How do they manage to spend weeks at a time working on board a ship, do you think?” Izzie asked her boss as they sat in his office, going over what they"d learned so far. “I mean, it really does become quite claustrophobic after an hour or two, don"t you think sir?”
“I tend to agree with you,” Ross replied, “and the simple answer is, I don"t know. It never felt as closed in when we were on H.M.S. Wyvern during the Decker case did it?”
H.M.S. Wyvern“Maybe because we spent a lot of the time on deck while we were on the Wyvern,” Drake hypothesised.
Wyvern“Still, not as bad as being on a submarine for weeks at a time eh?”
“That"s true,” Drake agreed.
A knock on the door was followed by the entrance of D.C.I. Agostini, eager to learn what, if anything, the pair could tell him about the case so far.
“Hello, sir, come in and take a seat,” Ross said, smiling at his friend and superior officer.
“Thank you, Andy.” Agostini sat in the visitor"s chair. “So, what do we have that I don"t already know?”
“Not a lot, sir. The whole thing is something of a conundrum so far. It"s a bit like a locked room mystery but without the locked room, if you know what I mean?”
“Do explain, please.”
“Well, in a way, the ship is the room. Someone killed Senhor Gaspar, but as yet, we"re not sure how, and whoever did it managed to leave his cabin free of any trace evidence. Miles Booker and his team are disappointed with themselves, but we can"t expect them to find something that isn"t there.”
“I see what you mean. Carry on, please.”
“Apart from his deck steward, everyone found him to be an objectionable person.”
“Any special reason for that?” Agostini asked.
“He was a big tipper apparently, sir,” Drake replied instantly.
“Ah,” was Agostini"s knowing reaction.
“Really, sir, we"re very much waiting for Doctor Nugent"s results,” Ross went on. “We"re sure Gaspar was murdered but how, we"re not sure. We need that information so we know what type of weapon or delivery system we"re looking for. Plus, we need to ascertain the man"s true identity. Three passports tend to indicate something to hide, if you ask me.”
“I agree, Andy. I take it you have Ferris working on that problem?”
“As we speak, sir,” Ross replied.
“Good. Let"s hope he can come up with a positive I.D. At least if we know who the murder victim really was, we might be able to work out who would want to kill him.”
“If anyone can find out, it"s Paul Ferris and his trusty computer,” Drake added.
“I"m sure he"ll come through for us,” Agostini said, confidently. “Keep me posted, Andy, okay?”
“Will do, sir,” Ross replied as Agostini rose and left the office. He and Drake decided now would be an opportune time to see if Paul Ferris had made any progress. They both found themselves yawning as they left Ross"s office. Neither detective could believe how tired they felt. This case was already proving to be an arduous one and it was still the first day.
The newly promoted D.S. Ferris however, was less than happy when Ross and Drake walked up to his desk and stood either side of him as he sat, staring at the screen of his computer monitor, a look of something approaching bewilderment on his face.
“You don"t look too happy, Paul,” Izzie Drake said, before Ross could say the same thing.
“It"s not that,” Ferris replied. “I"m more mystified than unhappy.”
“How come?” Ross asked, knowing his team"s resident computer expert and collator rarely came across a problem he couldn"t solve.
“Well sir, it"s these names you gave me to look into, those from the passports you discovered in the dead man"s cabin.”
“Yess?” Ross said, drawing out the word "yes," “What about them?”
“Emilio Sanchez, Leonardo Barras and of course Alvaro Gaspar are all genuine.”
Drake interrupted.
“You mean this guy had three identities?”
“No, that"s not what I mean. My initial inquiries have revealed that all three names refer to little known specialists in various fields. Barras is an oncologist, Sanchez is an anthropologist and Gaspar is a biologist.”
“This gets weirder by the second,” Drake observed.
“I agree,” Ferris concurred. “Now, so far I"ve been unable to find any photographs of any of these men on the internet. It"s as if they are all highly secretive or at the very least, they"re very protective of their own privacy. The only way we"re going to see if our man is one of them is if I can get hold of their genuine passport photos.”
“Which means we"re counting on what you discover from the Spanish and Portuguese passport issuing authorities,” Ross said with a hint of frustration.
“Correct sir, which could take a day or it could take a week, depending on the level of cooperation I receive.”
“Damn,” Ross could hardly believe the ill-luck that seemed to be impeding their initial inquiries.
“Sorry sir,” Ferris apologised.
“It"s not your fault, Paul. It"s just so b****y frustrating, like everything to do with this case so far.”
“Maybe tomorrow will be a better, more productive day for us, sir,” Izzie Drake said, hopefully.
Unfortunately, it soon became clear that the mystery surrounding the death of the man they knew as Alvaro Gaspar was becoming as dense and unrelenting as the fog that hung in a pall over the city, and more importantly, over the stranded Alexandra Rose.”
Alexandra Rose
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