Chapter 16 #2
shelter with the wind gust behind him. When he opened the door, a gale entered with him.
“Whew! We’ll promenade inside, Daisy!”
“Yes, that was enough fresh air for me. I suppose I’d better send a message to the wireless man to say I don’t think I’ll get up there this afternoon.”
They walked aft. As they approached the after door, Gotobed came up the companion-way from below. He was obviously intending to go out, bundled up in his ulster, a grey-and-white muffler dangling round his neck, and his fore-and-aft cap in his hand.
“You’d better tie your hat on tight,” Daisy advised, “and your scarf. There are gale-force gusts blowing.”
“It comes up suddenly,” Alec said. “Don’t let down your guard.”
“I’ll take care.” Gotobed wound the scarf around and knotted it, then put the cap on his head, let down the ear-flaps, and tied the string beneath his chin. “Ready for owt, I am!” Out he went.
Though he was in the lee of the enclosed deck, the cape of his topcoat billowed like a parachute as cross-currents caught it.
Expecting the wind, he was braced for it and battled his way—uphill as the ship rolled—towards the companionway to the boat-deck.
Daisy and Alec stopped to watch, as did several other indoor walkers.
The wind died as suddenly as it had arisen. Gotobed took a side-step, momentarily compensating for a force no longer there. Grinning, he turned and waved to them. He grabbed the handrail and started up the steps.
Daisy and Alec were turning away to continue their walk when another man, his face hidden by a woollen balaclava, crossed the deck outside. Again everyone paused to watch the brave soul who ventured where they dared not. For the moment
unhampered by wind, he scurried to the companionway and began the climb. They saw his legs through the gaps between the steps.
“I hope someone warned him about the gusts,” Daisy said, as they set off again. “He looked less hefty than Gotobed.”
She had scarcely spoken when a figure tumbled backwards down the steps and landed on the deck with an ominous thud, audible through the windows.
“Stay there!” Alec was already in motion. He dashed to the nearest door. Wind blasted in as he wrenched it open.
The ship rolled to starboard. The limp body began to slide.
Alec ran towards it, but as the tilt steepened, the Talavera did a skip and a hop, throwing him off balance.
In a horribly boneless way, the man in the balaclava slithered inexorably down the slope, under the rail, and into the frothing waves.
Captain Dane sat with his head in his hands. His tiny sitting room was crowded, with Alec and Gotobed seated, the second mate and an able seaman standing.
Harvey held what looked like a rounders bat or a policeman’s truncheon. “A.B. Foster here found it in the scuppers, sir, on the promenade deck.”
Alec reached for it. No hope of dabs after the sailor and the officer had handled it, even if he had had a fingerprint kit with him. It was much heavier than it looked, weighted towards the thicker end.
“It seems to be an ordinary bat, hollowed and filled with lead to make a bludgeon. A dangerous weapon.” And surely an unlikely weapon for an elderly millionaire to carry about with him. “How long could it have lain there without being spotted?”
“The scuppers are cleaned out at dawn, sir,” said Harvey, “before any passengers are about. So, hours but not days.”
Alec nodded. “Thank you. I may want a word with you later, Foster.”
The seaman saluted and departed. Dane raised his head and looked at Harvey.
“The Purser has gathered all the passengers in the Grand Salon, sir, except those who can’t leave their cabins. The cabin stewards are checking those. Mr. Timmins will have the missing man’s name any moment. He wondered whether you want to address the passengers, sir.”
“I suppose I must.” The Captain heaved himself to his feet. “I’ll tell ‘em we have a Scotland Yard man aboard; that should reassure ’em. If that’s all right with you, Fletcher?”
The question was perfunctory. Alec gave the only possible answer: “Certainly, sir, as you wish. I doubt it’s much of a secret any longer.
However, all most people are aware of is an unfortunate series of accidents.
Perhaps you might advise passengers not to go out on deck until the wind drops and the sea calms.”
Dane nodded acquiescence. “Make use of this room for the present,” he said, and went out with Harvey in attendance.
Alec turned to Gotobed. The Yorkshireman was solemn but seemed unperturbed by his invidious position. Consciousness of innocence? Or confidence that proof of even the fact of murder would be virtually impossible?
“I hope you understand the Captain’s concern, sir,” Alec said, “passing the buck” in Arbuckle’s useful phrase. “Twice, now, you have been the only person close by when a man fell overboard. Would you mind telling me again exactly what you observed on both occasions?”
Gotobed complied. Patiently he described his encounter with Pertwee and then moved on to the recent incident. “You saw me go out. The wind was terrific until I reached the companion-way, then it dropped. Nonetheless, I held on to
the rail as I climbed. I came to the top, took a step or two to my left, and stopped, still holding the rail, to look at the view.”
“You saw no one else on the boat-deck?”
“Not a soul, but I was hardly paying attention. The sea and sky were spectacular. I had no eyes for aught else. I started to turn to face forward, and as I turned, the wind struck. If it was fierce down below, it was brutal up on the exposed boat-deck, as you can imagine. Its onslaught flattened me against the rail. That was when I saw the man in the balaclava helmet toppling backwards down the steps, arms and legs flailing. The poor fellow hadn’t a chance. ”
“He fell from the top of the steps?”
“Pretty near, though I couldn’t swear he had reached the top. He was already falling when I first caught sight of him. He cannot have been holding the rail or not tight enough. Perhaps he was already off balance, in the act of taking a step forwards, poised on one foot, when the gust hit.”
Alec hefted the bludgeon. “And this?”
Gotobed shrugged. “If for some reason he was carrying it, the weight might have thrown him further off balance. It seems to me more likely it has nothing to do with him.”
“Possibly,” Alec conceded. The story was plausible. He might have swallowed it whole if not for Pertwee’s prior demise. “Perhaps we’ll have a better idea when we get his name.”
“Do you think … ?”
Harvey opened the door and stuck his head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Timmins thought you’d want to know at once, Mr. Fletcher. The missing man is Henry Welford.”
“Thank you.” The answer was more than half expected. “Please ask the Captain, before everyone disperses, to request that anyone acquainted with Welford or Pertwee give his name to the Purser.”
Harvey saluted and hurrried off.
After the second officer’s first few words, Alec had looked not at him but at Gotobed. No flicker of recognition crossed the Yorkshireman’s face. Either he already knew who had fallen, or he had never heard Welford’s name before.
In either case, there was little point in continuing to question him at present. If he had carried the bludgeon to an appointed meeting on the boat-deck, then he had his story well prepared and he was far too canny a customer to be shaken by interrogation.
“The name Henry Welford means nothing to you?” Alec asked, for form’s sake.
“Nowt,” said Gotobed, his lapse into Yorkshire a sign that he had relaxed his previous tension. Deliberately? “O’ course, he mebbe took passage under a false name. Who knows but what I’d ha’ recognized the fellow if I could’ve seen his face?”
“It’s conceivable,” Alec conceded. He stood up. “I’m sure you’ll understand, sir, that in view of your presence at two deaths, I must ask you to keep to your suite until the situation is resolved. I have no authority to confine you. This is a request, for your own safety as much as anything else.”
“Aye, lad,” Gotobed said heavily, rising. “You’ve your duty to do, and there’ll be no grudge borne.”
“Thank you, sir. I’m sorry it’s come to this. We’ll go down together—I must speak to Mrs. Gotobed.”
“She’s not well. I know I can trust you not to upset her.”
“I’ll do my best, sir.” Alec was not prepared to promise. He had some pretty upsetting questions to put to the blooming bride.