The Atlas Murders (9 page)

They lay together and kissed and
caressed each other tenderly. Neither wanted the magical night to end. But
soon, as a peaceful haze of satiated bliss descended upon them, they succumbed
to the inevitable calling of the spirits of slumber.

The next morning a note on
the kitchen table read:

 “Thank you Henry,
wonderful so wonderful,

 Love

Vera”

He was on cloud nine as he
drank fresh java coffee and devoured golden toasted bread spread with deliciously
perfumed cover honey.

Taking a final sip from the
coffee cup, he thought to himself, I must remember to ask Vera who Medea is.

Chapter Twelve

When he arrived at Scotland
Yard, he found Vincent and Tom in the office engaged in a serious discussion. Vincent
was leafing through a sheaf of papers on his desk. "Ah, here it is. I have
the name of a detective who is our expert in all things nautical. His name is James
Eagleton and he is normally based in Glasgow but our boys have enticed him to
come here for a few weeks to help us. He is expected to arrive tomorrow so we
should be able to get things moving quickly. We've discussed this case with our
senior men. One man in particular, who would we consider our best, suggests you
will have to adopt a completely new identity. It would be too dangerous to
attempt this kind of operation under your own name. How do you feel about that?"

"Yes Vincent, it seems
the best way to go as there is a slight possibility someone might recognize my
name and put the whole operation in jeopardy."

Tom read from another report
on his desk. It was a report from Morombe, a port in Madagascar. It stated that
a girl of fifteen went missing last year and the last time she was seen was in
company with a man believed to be from the Rangoon which was berthed in the
port at the time. She has not been seen since. “I think we can safely assume
she was another of this fellow’s victims."

"Was there any
description of this man she was last seen with?" asked Henry.

"The French Malagasy detective
who sent the report stated that it was evening time and the light wasn't good
in the area. Also he said that Europeans look alike to the native people and
they find it hard to distinguish one white person from another."

Vincent chimed in. "No
such luck as a definitive lead as such, it'll be all uphill for you Henry. We
will have to discuss communications with you as our next priority. The man
coming from Scotland tomorrow will only have charge of readying you for your
job as a qualified seaman."

Henry decided to tell them
about his discussion with Vera.

"I was discussing joining
the ship with Captain Leavy-Hobbs’ secretary, a Miss Vera Twist. She is an
acquaintance of Lord Percy Welland and as you know, his son Oswyn is one of our
four, so naturally being chairman, he will have to be informed of the
operation. What do you think his reaction to this whole thing will be? Protection
of his son will probably take first precedence with him. I'd like to hear both
of your opinions on this?"

Vincent sat back and closed
his eyes. When he spoke his voice was low but intense. "If I could put
myself in this man's shoes, just what would I do? It would be human nature to
protect your own child, but when you take into account the brutal crimes, even
being your own flesh and blood you would have to think carefully about helping
to keep him a free man. You would have to bear the guilt of any further crimes
he would surely commit, and you would have to recognize this man is a very sick
person. At the end of the day, you would be ostracized and found guilty of
compliance to any crime he committed after you became aware of his dreadful
murderous history. So any right thinking person would have to be aware that any
interference in a case like this would be a crime in itself. My conclusion
would be that this Lord Welland chap would not do anything openly to jeopardize
our investigation, but might, if he thought his son was going to be brought
back here for trial, get him spirited away to some colonial outpost. I would
like to hear your opinion Tom."

"I think you've covered
most of what I would have thought. This man is not going to come and protect
his son outright, but if he thought he was a prime suspect he just might
interfere, and these people have huge influence in high places." He turned
to Henry, "what about yourself?"

"You have both covered
most of the possibilities, but I would be very aggrieved if I had evidence to
show Oswyn was our man and he was suddenly spirited off the ship and out of our
jurisdiction. Miss Twist warned me about communicating through the diplomatic
channel as Lord Welland would have friends and influence in that area and any
relevant information could be passed on to him."

"Well Henry that might
just be to our advantage. I won’t speculate yet but just leave that bit to me.
Now Tom, tell me what time is our man Eagleton going to meet Henry tomorrow?"

"I've arranged for him
to meet us here at ten o’clock, and when you've spoken to him you will be able
to give the shipping company’s Miss Twist, a time when you'll be ready to take
up you're seagoing duties."

"Great work lads. I must
commend you both on what you've achieved in such a short space of time. Believe
it or not, but I'm actually looking forward to this seagoing business".

Tom stood up. "I'm sort
of envying you. It’s turning into an adventure that only for your personal
involvement could be something extraordinary."

“Goodness Tom, you may be
right. I'll never get a chance to do something as offbeat as this again."

"Aye," said
Vincent, "if only I was thirty years younger, I'd have volunteered. I
think I might have made a good merchant seaman. Now, enough banter, I’ll see
you two in the morning.”

 Henry phoned Vera but she
had a prior engagement, she was going to the opera to see The Mikado, and then
on to a reception afterwards which would keep her late. She agreed to meet him
for lunch next day. I would have more information from James Eagleton then, he
thought. Also, by then he might be able to give her an approximate time when
he'd be available to join the Rangoon. She would have to look ahead a bit and
see what ports the ship would be calling to, and he would have to be in that
area, ready to join.

He had mixed thoughts about
how they were going to get the steward on the ship to forcedly leave to make
way for him. The lads at the Yard would have to deal with that, they were in
contact with undercover agents all round the world. He put these thoughts from
his head and went to a nearby pub for a few pints, and then it was back to the
guest house for an early night.

Chapter Thirteen

Back at Scotland Yard, Henry
could hear Celtic tones of a somewhat high pitched voice as he stood outside
the door. It was that of James Eagleton who was relating a story to Tom and
Vincent.

After a few seconds he
knocked.

"Come in." James
Eagleton stood up and Tom introduced him.

“I'm sure Henry we're going
to be seeing a lot of each other for the next few weeks."

"Yes James, and I want
to thank you for coming here to help me with. I'm sure you've been briefed
about the case."

"Tom and Vincent have
briefed me about the latest progress. But it's going to be tricky. I was
relating to the two lads here about an investigation into a murder ashore in
Malta. Valetta to be precise. The case involved The Royal Navy. I was assigned
to the investigation, also the Navy had their own men investigating and I was
being baulked at every turn. It was the most difficult job I have ever
undertaken. However, you'll not have to deal with the same red tape as I did,
because you'll be undercover. I'll get you all the training you'll need to
carry off the job on board ship. You are going to sail as assistant steward.
I'll explain why you are taking this position. It's the only job on board ship
you can learn quickly and you can sail without any board of trade qualifications,
an able seaman has to have passed board of trade exams, and most other crew
members would be in the same category. You will need to work with a new
identity, so a false passport and a seaman's discharge book will be provided. This
new identity will only be known to the three of us in this room and the few
people in foreign secret service who will assist you and relay back information
to your superiors here. Have you thought of a name you would like?”

"Well, I've had a few
days to think about a new name and I decided to keep my first names because it
will make life easier. It would be likely that at some point I would fail to respond
to a name that I’ve only had a short time. So I'll stick to Henry John as first
names and take Tyler as my surname. It was my grandmother's maiden name.”

James Eagleton pushed over a
sheet of paper to Henry, unscrewed the top of his fountain pen and handed it to
him. "Here, write your new name and I’ll officially christen you Henry
John Tyler. We also need a new address for you. We’ve thrown this around before
you came in and Vincent has agreed to let you use his address, it would make
things less complicated and any mail should not go astray. We will also have to
decide when you first went to sea. This will all be recorded in your seaman's
discharge book, as well as the years you spent at sea, the rank you sailed at
and of course, the name of the ships. Let’s see. I think you can have your
first trip to sea when you were fifteen that is the normal age for lads
shipping out. This will mean you have worked at sea now for about ten years. I
will have to enter in ships for all those years, and companies that would be
outside the normal British shipping fleets. The reason for this is the crewmen
you'll meet on the Rangoon could have sailed on ships belonging to any British
company. Their normal conversation would be about the companies you and they
have worked for and the ships sailed on. You could be asked some awkward questions
about who was captain, chief steward or any other prominent crew member;
inquiries that would be innocent enough, but you not knowing would lead to you
blowing your cover."

Vincent interjected. “If it
suits you, you can also use your new address to stay with myself and the
missus. We’d be only too delighted to have you."

 "I would be delighted
to stay at your house. I just hope I won't be an inconvenience."

"We'll manage just fine;
you can arrive anytime this evening. Here’s the address," he said, handing
Henry a piece of paper.

"Now,” said Tom, “I'll
look after the passport and seaman's discharge book. I will need a photograph
of you when you were fifteen for the book. Do you think you can manage that?

"I'm sure I'll come up
with a suitable one. How about the one for the passport?"

"A current photo will do
for that, you could renew your passport at any time. That will remain in your
personal possession, it's only the seaman's discharge book you will have to
give to the ship's captain, so there should be no notice taken of your
passport."

James Eagleton gathered up
some papers, and turning to Henry he said. “Will you go see your friend Miss
Twist and ask if she has a list of ports of call for the Rangoon for the next
two months? We will have to decide where to make the shift and get you on
board, preferably a port with an international airport nearby. I think that
about covers the situation for the moment, unless anyone has anymore to
add."

They all shook their heads.

 "Ok Henry, you visit
the shipping company offices and glean what you can from them. I'll be looking
forward to seeing you at home later this evening."

 Meanwhile, at the shipping
company, Captain Leavy-Hobbs called Vera into his office and asked her to bring
him up to date with what had been happening with her dealing with Henry.

"Scotland Yard has
received reports back from some of the ports the Rangoon visited on her last
voyage. Five of which have reported that a young girl had been murdered while
the ship was in port. These crimes tie in with the murder of Henry's niece;
what you would call in police jargon, copycat murders."

Captain Leavy-Hobbs was
visibly shocked, his eyes portraying a sense of panic. "We will have to
break this disturbing news to our chairman. We have a board meeting tomorrow. I
will have to take Lord Percy aside and relay this serious development to
him."

“Would you like me to be
present with you when you do?”

“Maybe not Vera, you know
your relationship with him would only add to his undoubted concern. I know you
wouldn't wish this kind of trouble on anyone."

"Of course not, our past
is history and not to be resurrected," she lied.

If only he could comprehend,
she thought, how much I loathe Percy and his French whore of a wife. And now
she has bred him a vile murderer. But as my father often told me in times of
stress and trouble: the tide can only go out so far until it has to come in
again. Now my tide is coming in.

"Has this man Henry made
any time schedule for when he wants to join the Rangoon?"

"No; we have no fixed
date. I will have to give him a list of her ports of call as far as we know
them and he and his senior officers will decide where best to make the
shift."

"Did he say the master
of the Rangoon was not to be confided in about this secret investigation?"

"Yes; there is to be no
knowledge of this outside of you, me and Lord Percy. Henry has stressed that any
breach of this secrecy could jeopardize his life, and the person guilty of
betraying his presence on the ship would undoubtedly be charged under criminal
law."

"I will stress this to his
Lordship, but under the circumstances he might contact the investigating
detectives himself."

Vera smiled, “on the other
hand with a cloud of suspicion hanging over young, Oswyn he may want to let
sleeping dogs lie."

"I'm afraid I cannot
comment on that situation. I think it may be like the bad fitting suit; its
best let sitting in the closet."

Vera stood up. "I think
we've covered nearly all for the moment," she said as she turned to leave,
"so for now Q.E.D."

She looked at the ship's
brass clock, my goodness, she thought, it’s one o’clock, Henry will be waiting
for me. She freshened up her lip color and gave her cheeks a little brush of
powder before hurrying out into the street. She felt like a teenager on her
second date as she walked briskly to the little restaurant called Marmalade.
Her heart gave a little flutter when she saw Henry standing outside.

Once seated at a cozy corner
table, Vera glanced at the menu. "I can recommend the Dover sole with the
salad trimming."

"Dover sole for two
please," the young waitress attending their table smiled. "Yes sir,
certainly."

Very soon the waitress returned
with the food. They ate with relish, bound by a mental telepathy of eye
contact. Henry finished first. "That was absolutely delicious." He
reached for the menu and Vera put her hand on it.

"I'll order dessert. I
know just what you'll enjoy."

 "I really haven't a
sweet tooth but I'll trust your choice."

The young waitress came to
them, and after clearing the plates she took Vera's order. She returned with a
fruit cocktail and cream for Vera and Henry’s dessert which Vera had ordered by
simply pointing at it on the menu.

His first spoonful he
declared excellent.

 "I knew you'd enjoy
it."

"Excuse my ignorance,
but what is it called?”

"It's your favorite…
peach soufflé!"

Red faced and almost choking,
he picked up the menu and glanced at the desserts. "You're absolutely
shameless, but I love you with sinful pleasure.”

She leaned over and whispered
in his ear, “No dearest Henry, the pleasure was all mine”

Instantly they broke into
spontaneous and uncontrollable laughter.

After gaining a modicum of
composure, Vera picked up her handbag and took out a brown envelope. "Here
Henry is a list of ports of call for the Rangoon. It looks to me you might be
ready for a port in Japan called Shimizu. She will be calling there with a
cargo of grain from Australia."

 "The Yard has assigned
us one of their men, he’s their marine specialist and he's taking me in hand
for training. He hopes to have me ready in a couple of weeks, so that port of
Shimizu would be within our time range. We have to reckon on the flight out and
organizing the changeover."

"Henry, the changeover
is something Captain Leavy-Hobbs will want to know about. He will want to know
how you are going to get this assistant steward to go, you know he will have to
have some very convincing reason to leave a ship."

"To be quite honest I
have no knowledge of that yet, but as soon as I get all the information about
what will happen I'll let you know. I believe we have some British agents in
that part of the world and it will probably be their job to organize
that."

"Captain Leavy-Hobbs is
going to have to tell Lord Percy. There’s a board meeting this afternoon and
he'll be in attendance, so I'll be in touch to give you, what I can presume
will be his very disturbed reaction."

"I'm shifting
accommodation this evening. I'm moving in with one of my detective team. It
will be my new official address while this operation is ongoing. I'm also
starting with this marine chap in the morning so I may not be in touch for a
day or two. I'll phone you at the office."

"Yes Henry, next time we
will have to meet away from the office. How about my house?"

"Suits me admirably, I
just can’t wait," he said, with a wicked glint in his eye.

"I will echo those
sentiments to the power of three." She leaned into him as they walked
through the restaurant door and onto the street. He could feel her curved body
through the light cotton dress as she kissed him and squeezed his hand.
"Call me soon Henry."