Blood on the Line

‘Why?’

‘What’s going on?’ asked Finn.

‘He’s asking for Robert and Irene.’

‘What do the police want with them?’

‘It’s probably something to do with the theft from our cabin last night,’ said Irene, quivering in fear. ‘It’s nothing to worry about.’

‘How would the police onshore even know about that?’

But Finn’s question hung unheard in the air because Irene had already lost her nerve and squirmed off through the melee. Her American friends were at once shocked and bewildered. They’d never seen Irene act so impulsively and kept asking each other what had prompted her abrupt retreat. It was only when Riley barked out his request a second time that they found their voices.

‘Mrs Colbeck is over here,’ called Finn, raising a hand.

‘She’s just run away,’ added Libby.

‘We know her and her husband well.’

There was a commotion as Riley barged his way uncaringly through the passengers. Colbeck and Leeming followed him. When they reached the Finns, Riley asked them to identify themselves and they did so readily. Finn explained that he and Libby had befriended the Colbecks on the voyage and found them a charming couple.

‘You were grossly misled, sir,’ said Colbeck, stepping forward. ‘Since you know what they both look like, we’ll need your help to find this putative charming couple.’

‘Nobody is to leave the ship without producing their passports!’ bellowed Riley. ‘Every document will be checked at the gangplank by my men. Please disembark in an orderly fashion.’

Police reinforcements had now come on board to cluster around the entrance to the gangplank. The passengers were mystified but at least they could now begin to make their way off the ship. As the first trickle went down the gangplank, the search began in earnest behind them. Riley stayed close to Herschel Finn while Colbeck and Leeming kept Libby in tow. Unaware of what their shipboard friends had done, the Americans were nevertheless more than ready to help the police find them. In spite of their repeated questions, the captain and the two detectives refused to say why they were so anxious to find the missing passengers. The search was thorough. They could move about freely. Now that everyone was vacating the vessel, all the doors had been left unlocked. Apart from a few members of the crew, the areas below deck were empty. Feet clattering on the timber, the search party seemed to be walking through a hollow.

They opened cabin doors, looked under bunks and searched inside cupboards. Leeming soon wearied of the chase.

‘This is worse than hide-and-seek,’ he moaned.

‘They’re here somewhere,’ said Colbeck, looking in every corner. ‘They can’t possibly have left the vessel.’

‘Then where are they, Inspector?’

By way of an answer, a woman’s shrill scream was heard at the other end of a passageway. The detectives hurried along it with Libby waddling behind them. They discovered that Irene had been found hiding in the cupboard of what had been their cabin. Finn identified her. With a surge of energy, she tried to break away from Riley’s grasp but it was like iron.

‘Take your hands off me!’ she shouted. ‘I’ve done nothing wrong. Mr and Mrs Finn will vouch for me. My name is Irene Colbeck and I demand to be treated with respect.’

‘Oh, we’ll treat you with the greatest respect,’ said Colbeck, doffing his hat as he entered the cabin. ‘Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Inspector Robert Colbeck of Scotland Yard and I’d like to discuss the misappropriation of my name.’

Irene was transfixed. ‘You’re Inspector Colbeck?’

‘Yes, Miss Adnam, and this is Sergeant Leeming.’ He stood back so that Leeming could step forward. ‘We were friends and colleagues of Constable Peebles. Need I say more?’ Irene began to gibber. ‘Now tell us where Oxley is and we can put an end to this whole business.’

‘I don’t know,’ she cried. ‘I don’t know where Jerry is.’

‘Then we’ll search until we find him.’

‘Is he armed?’ asked Leeming.

‘Yes,’ replied Irene. ‘He has a gun.’

‘So have I, Miss Adnam,’ said Colbeck, tapping the weapon beneath his coat, ‘but I sincerely hope that there’ll be no need to use it. We’ve had enough killing as it is.’

‘I wish someone would tell us what’s going on,’ said Finn.

‘Yes,’ said Libby, ‘it’s all so confusing.’

‘You’re helping us to find two dangerous criminals, sir,’ said Colbeck with gratitude. ‘One is now in custody. Since the other is armed, it might be safer if you and your wife stay here with Captain Riley.’

‘Will you be able to recognise the rogue on your own?’ asked Riley, slipping a pair of handcuffs onto Irene’s wrist.

‘Oh, I think so. ‘I’ve never actually seen him but I’m sure I’ll know him straight away when I clap eyes on him.’

‘Be careful, Inspector!’ warned Libby.

She was horrified to hear that the amiable man she’d known as Robert Colbeck possessed a gun. Finn, however, was driven by curiosity as much as bravado and offered to accompany Colbeck and Leeming.

‘That won’t be necessary, Mr Finn,’ said Colbeck.

‘Leave this to us, sir,’ advised Leeming. ‘We came three thousand miles for the pleasure of capturing Jeremy Oxley.’

‘Oxley?’ Finn blinked. ‘I thought his name was Robert Colbeck.’

‘Not anymore, it isn’t,’ said Colbeck with asperity.

‘What will happen to Irene?’ wondered Libby.

‘She’ll remain in police custody until her partner in crime is arrested,’ said Riley. ‘Then the pair of them will go back to England to face the death sentence.’

Irene fainted. Riley was just in time to catch her. He put her gently down on one of the bunks. Hovering uncertainly, Finn and Libby did not know whether to pity or condemn her. They were shaken by the thought that they’d been taken in so easily by Irene and her supposed husband. Libby was the first to speak.

‘I knew that there was something odd about them,’ she claimed.

‘So did I,’ said Finn.

‘That’s not true, Herschel. You thought they were such nice people. They fooled you completely.’

‘Hey, now that’s not fair, Libby.’

Colbeck and Leeming did not stop to hear the marital dispute. They were already making a systematic search of the places they’d not yet visited. It was tiring work. The Arethusa was a large and capacious three-masted vessel, though lacking the refinements of the Jura. The problem was that there were far too many hiding places and there was always the danger that Oxley was moving from one to another as they closed in on him. Leeming began to lose patience but Colbeck was convinced they’d find their man in the end. He kept one hand on the weapon holstered at his side. When they’d exhausted almost every other possibility, they went down into the very bowels of the ship to the quarters occupied by the crew.

With a low ceiling of oak beams and only rudimentary facilities, the quarters stretched across the width of the ship. Since they were below the waterline, there was no natural light. The detectives were compelled to remove their top hats before they could move forward. Colbeck grabbed a lantern that dangled from a hook and held it up. As it pierced the gloom, it revealed an array of bunks and hammocks in close proximity. Leeming was disappointed.

‘Another dead end,’ he groaned.

Colbeck raised a hand to silence him, then he lifted the lantern higher and went off to take a closer look at the quarters. As his eyes adjusted to the half-dark, he could see the privations that the crew endured while the passengers travelled in relative comfort. Colbeck stopped in his tracks. Somebody was there. He could neither see nor hear anybody but he was certain that he was not alone. Slipping a hand under his coat, he removed the pistol from its holster and held it in readiness. When he inched forward, he did so with slow, quiet, deliberate footsteps.