Chapter 21
“Arbuckle and Phillip and Gloria,” said Daisy, as she and Alec made their way towards Gotobed’s suite next morning,”but why Brenda and Riddman?”
“Lady Brenda because she saw Denton’s attacker. Riddman because he knew Pertwee and Welford better than anyone else.”
“Who else? Miss Oliphant?”
“Yes, Gotobed insisted. And Captain Dane’s sending Harvey to represent him.”
“Harvey and Riddman? Oh dear!”
“Not my choice. Are they still rivals? I was under the impression that Lady Brenda had returned to her first love.”
“Or opted for money.” Daisy sighed. “I shouldn’t think they’ll come to blows, but I’m sure the air will be thick with invisible daggers.”
Everyone else was already there when they arrived.
A couple of extra chairs had been brought in so there were enough to go around, set out in a semicircle with one facing them.
Harvey was seated at one end, Brenda at the other with Riddman beside her.
Brenda looked uncomfortable. The two men studiously ignored each other.
Daisy took the only free seat in the circle. Alec chose to stand, leaning on the back of the chair facing the group.
“Thank you all for coming,” he began. “The first thing I want to say is that we shall almost certainly never know for sure exactly what happened on this unhappy voyage. I have a theory which seems to me to tie all the loose ends together. Before you hear it, I must have an assurance from each of you that nothing you hear in here this morning will go any further, except, of course, Mr. Harvey’s confidential report to the Captain. Lady Brenda?”
“I shan’t tell, I promise. I know you all think …”
“Lady Brenda,” Alec interrupted, “if you had not held your tongue when asked, everyone on this ship would know what you saw the night Denton fell overboard. Mr. Riddman?”
One by one, they all gave their word. Alec continued.
“You have all been involved in one way or another. You may be able to point out weaknesses in my theory, or you may have ideas of your own. If so, I want to hear them. But before we go any further, Mr. Gotobed has something to say to you. Sir?”
Gotobed stood up and turned to face them. To Daisy, he looked rather like a Christian facing the lions.
“I’m telling you this,” he said heavily, “partly because it’ll help you understand Mr. Fletcher’s story, partly so you won’t think too badly of me when you see I’m not mourning Wanda as a husband ought. It seems I niver was her husband.”
There was a surprised murmur, in which, Daisy noticed, Miss Oliphant did not join. Gotobed glanced at the witch, who gave him an encouraging smile. He continued with renewed confidence.
“They say there’s no fool like an old fool. That’s me. I knew Fairchild was Wanda’s stage name, but I never enquired further, not even when that’s how she signed the marriage certificate. Her real maiden name was Pertwee. And when I married her, she was already the wife of Henry Welford.”
A collective gasp this time, again not echoed by Miss Oliphant. Gotobed resumed his seat beside her, and she took his hand. Silently, Daisy cheered.
“Now it’s your turn, Lady Brenda. Would you mind describing for those who haven’t heard exactly what you saw that night?”
Clearly and briefly, Brenda described seeing Denton tipped overboard. “You believe me now?” she asked.
“Mr. Denton has confirmed your report,” Alec told her. “He—or rather, his wife—has also described his clothes in more detail than you were able to make out in the dark. Not only was he smoking a pipe, he wore a fore-and-aft cap and a caped greatcoat.”
“Jeez!” Arbuckle exclaimed. “In the dark, he’d be the spitting image of Gotobed!”
“By Jove, yes!” said his son-in-law. “Hang it, old chap, d’you mean to say Mr. Gotobed was the real target?”
“It seems probable,” Alec confirmed. “I’ve been unable to dig up any reason why anyone should attack Denton, an inoffensive farmer. But Mr. Gotobed had made a will in his presumed wife’s favour. Others would have profited by his death.”
“Pertwee and Welford, I guess,” said Gloria, “and Wanda herself. Golly gee!”
“I suspect either Pertwee or Welford attacked Denton in the mistaken belief that he was Mr. Gotobed. Does anyone have a cogent argument against?”
People looked at each other. Heads shook.
“Good. The next bit is more complicated, more of a leap of faith. Pure speculation, in fact. I’m assuming that our precious pair had no intention of giving up the battle after their unfortunate mistake, which, remember, nearly resulted in the death of a stranger.”
“Waal, now,” said Arbuckle thoughtfully, “they wouldn’t want to make the same mistake again, would they?”
“Exactly, sir.”
“So that’s why Pertwee approached Mr. Gotobed in broad daylight and spoke to him,” Daisy reflected. “But surely he didn’t plan to chuck him in then, darling, in front of everyone, including us?”
“Hardly. No, his part was to identify the victim and keep him standing in one place. In deference to the ladies, I shan’t describe what Mr. Gotobed saw and reported.
What none of you know except Daisy and Second Officer Harvey—and Mr. Gotobed himself—is that Pertwee apparently fell over the rail because he was shot. ”
“So that’s why you asked me about guns!” said Riddman. “I thought you’d got a mite mixed up and forgot Pertwee drowned.”
“Drowning is probably what killed him, but he might have been saved if he hadn’t been shot first. As I see it, Welford was concealed with a firearm somewhere in the superstructure. There are plenty of good hiding places, and my sergeant discovered Welford’d been a marksman during the War.”
“Alec, you didn’t tell me!” Daisy cried indignantly. “That’s not fair.”
He grinned. “Sorry, love. I told you what seemed to me at the time the vital part of the wireless message. I forgot that minor point, which I’d skimmed over when reading it, and didn’t remember until I heard Denton’s evidence and my viewpoint switched a hundred and eighty degrees.
To return to our story: We have Welford hidden on the boat-deck, Pertwee keeping Mr. Gotobed occupied. ”
“And then the cross-wave hit the ship,” said Gotobed. “Either Welford was just pulling the trigger, or his finger jerked as he tried to keep his balance. Any road, his aim would be upset. And in the meantime, Pertwee and I danced our little jig as we tried to keep our balance.”
Harvey drew the obvious conclusion. “So the bullet meant for Mr. Gotobed hit Pertwee.”
“By Jove,” said Phillip, “the fellow was jolly well done in by his own accomplice!”
“That’s my guess,” Alec agreed.
“Welford must have been simply shattered.” Daisy could almost sympathize.
“I suppose he bunged the gun over the side right away, to get rid of the evidence. He couldn’t know the body would not be recovered.
But do you think he still wanted to kill Mr. Gotobed, darling, or did he decide to try blackmail as he’d proved such an incompetent murderer? ”
“Remember the bludgeon found in the scuppers. Perhaps by then a desire for revenge for his brother-in-law’s death may have added to his greed as motive.”
“You mean he blamed Jethro”—Miss Oliphant blushed, but continued with undiminished indignation—“Mr. Gotobed for Welford’s demise?”
“Criminals are even more liable than the law-abiding to blame someone else so as to avoid accepting their own responsibility,” Alec said dryly.
“It tends to make them incautious, which is a great help to us. Let’s move on.
Now we have a rough sea, a violent and bitterly cold wind.
Mr. Gotobed is not deterred. He goes out and, during a lull in the wind, climbs the steps to the boat-deck.
Welford, who has been spying on him, hoping for a chance, follows. ”
“We saw him,” Daisy said. “Not his face. He was very well bundled up. He could easily have hidden a bludgeon under his coat.”
“At the head of the companion-way,” Alec resumed, “Mr. Gotobed has stepped aside and stopped to admire the view. Welford reaches the top, takes out his life-preserver …”
“Life-preserver?” Brenda asked uncertainly.
“Sorry, the bludgeon. He raises it, preparatory to bringing
it down on his victim’s head. It’s heavy, weighted with lead. At that moment a tremendous gust strikes. With the weight high above his head, his balance is already disturbed.”
“If his hands had not been otherwise occupied,” Miss Oliphant said severely, “he might have been able to grasp the rail.”
“I guess the wind and the waves were your life-preserver, Gotobed,” said Arbuckle.
“Aye, t’weather was on my side.”
“In a sense,” Alec concurred, “though the villains’ stupidity in failing to take conditions into account was also responsible for their ruin.
“Now we come to the fourth incident. Mrs. Gotobed, as she was then assumed to be—perhaps it’s easiest if I refer to her as Wanda—Wanda, then, knew of the deaths of her brother and her actual husband. She knew Mr. Gotobed was under suspicion in their deaths.”
“I assumed it was his being a suspect that was upsetting her.” Daisy recalled Wanda’s horror. “But it must have been her real husband’s death.”
“Gotobed was suspected of killing Welford,” said Alec, “yet when offered alternative accommodation she chose to remain in the suite with him.”
“I thought it proved she trusted him and really did love him in her way,” Daisy said mournfully.
“That was the obvious inference when we were unaware of her connection with the deceased. We’ll never know her true feelings, though in view of her willingness to commit bigamy, I believe we can take it she was from the beginning part of the plot to commit murder.”
Daisy nodded. “When Denton was tipped over, she knew Mr. Gotobed had gone up to smoke his pipe. She probably alerted the others. But what I find terribly persuasive is that
she was so sure it must be Mr. Gotobed who had fallen in. At the time, I thought she was being either hysterical or theatrical, like Brenda.”
“I wasn’t!”