legitimate ticket for a mid-priced stateroom, booked by a travel agency in Le Havre five days ago.
'An hour or so after Erbakan is taken into custody, your fourth officer is murdered on the dock by persons unknown,' Mitchell continued. 'Three shots to the chest from a handgun at point-blank range. No one hears the shots, though there are plenty of dockworkers in the area, including just inside the ship's cargo hold forty or fifty feet away. That suggests Darrow was killed by a silenced weapon, a professional hit.
'On Darrow's body, we find a small version of this photo. And in the Dumpster next to the body, right on top of the garbage as though it had just been tossed in, we find a briefcase containing thirty thousand euros. Coincidental^, that is the approximate street value of one half kilogram of cocaine… which is also, coincidentally, the amount of cocaine Erbakan was carrying. Anyone here want to connect the dots for me?'
None of the others replied. Sir Charles shifted uncomfortably in his seat, which creaked as he moved. The solicitor, Alcock, wrote something down in a small notebook. Mitchell shrugged and continued.
'I'll tell you how / see it. Erbakan was a small-time operator. Neither MI5 or Interpol has much on him. He doesn't appear to have had any organized crime connections, but he does have travel visas for half a dozen European countries, including Great Britain. I think Darrow had contacted Erbakan and arranged to buy half a kilo of coke. Erbakan gets picked up at the terminal security station. Darrow doesn't know this, and meets someone else, maybe someone pretending to be Erbakan, maybe someone claiming to work for Erbakan. Darrow takes the money for the exchange and hides it in the Dumpster before the other guy shows up… and then the other guy shows up and puts three bullets into him.'
'It sounds like you have the puzzle pretty well put together, Mr. Mitchell,' Sir Charles said. He tried to sound casual, and failed. 'Exactly how does this affect Royal Sky Line?'
'It all fits together very neatly,' Mitchell agreed. 'Maybe a trifle too neatly, one might think.'
'Did Erbakan tell you anything?' Llewellyn asked.
'A little. He seems to want to cooperate, but we're not sure he's telling us everything. He claims a man named Darrow met him a week ago in Le Havre, and arranged for him to smuggle the coke on board today.'
'Well, then, it all rather seems open-and-shut, doesn't it?' James Alcock said. He was a sour, precise little man who worked in Royal Sky's legal department.
'Almost,' Mitchell replied. 'As I said, it's neat… but there are a couple of loose ends dangling, and they just don't make sense. Why did Erbakan try to board the ship when he could have simply met Darrow on the pier and not risked going through the security check? If he did get on board as a passenger, why not meet Darrow when the ship was at sea?
'And, most important, who killed Darrow?'
'The Mafia, perhaps?' Vandergrift suggested. 'Or one of the other crime syndicates? They could have seen this… this transaction as competition.'
'Yes. That's what we thought at first,' Mitchell acknowledged. 'But it's not really their style, you know. A half-kilo deal is nothing for the big guys. Chump change. They might've demanded a percentage, or broken Darrow's kneecaps as a warning, or even killed Erbakan and told Darrow he needed to buy from them in the future… but they wouldn't have just killed the guy like that. Not unless they thought Darrow was working for someone else!'
'Sir!' Phillips said, angry. 'Are you suggesting that we're operating some sort of drug ring off of my ship?'
'The thought did cross our minds,' Mitchell admitted. 'Especially when we looked at the records of some of your passengers.'
'What?' Sir Charles snapped, startled. 'Since when does MI5 have the right — '
'Please, Sir Charles,' Mitchell said. 'There's nothing new in any of this. We have access to police records both here and abroad, and we use them. It's our job… and if you have an issue with that, take it up with Parliament the next time they pass intrusive legislation. Or the Americans with their Patriot Act.
'In any case, one of the passengers on the Atlantis Queen is a Ms. Gillian Harper. American. She's been in trouble half a dozen times. Two years ago she got a suspended sentence and a rehab order when she tested positive for cocaine.
'And there's a stock trader… Adrian Bollinger. Another American. He did three years for possession back in the eighties. And there's — '
'Just what is the point of this inquisition?' Alcock demanded. 'That some of the people on the Queen's passenger list use drugs? Or have in the past?'
'Mr. Alcock — '
Captain Phillips interrupted, his anger barely contained now. 'I think the latest statistics say that somewhere between one and three percent of the adult population either use or have used cocaine. Out of three thousand people on my ship, that's at least thirty! So what are you going to do.. question every person on board? Treat them all like criminals?'
'Mr. Mitchell,' Sir Charles said. His heavy face had gone florid, and he was perspiring freely. 'Are you seriously considering delaying the Queen's departure? Do you have any idea how much revenue is involved here?'
'No, Sir Charles. I don't.'
'Hundreds of thousands of pounds! Most of the passengers on that ship are on time-sensitive schedules! If there is a serious delay in sailing, they will… make other arrangements. Royal Sky will have to refund a fortune in moneys already paid. It could ruin this company!'
'Don't worry, Sir Charles,' Alcock said. 'He won't delay the sailing.'
'And why won't I. do that, Mr. Alcock?' Mitchell asked.
'Because to do so legally you will need to show cause, then get an injunction from the courts. And we will file to block that injunction. The ship is due to sail at nine tomorrow morning. I don't believe you could get the legal mills turning in time, sir.'
'In the case of a capital crime, Mr. Alcock, there are ways to expedite matters.'
'And there is also the unsavory possibility of a lawsuit against the government. And some very bad publicity both for MI5, and for you, personally. I assure you that if you try to harm this company, your name and the name of MI5 will be prominently displayed on page one of every newspaper in the country, from the Telegraph, the Guardian, the Times, all the way down to the Sun After that debacle over the files your bureau holds on ordinary, law-abiding citizens… is that really something you wish to call down upon yourself?'
Mitchell chuckled. 'I'm terrified. Fortunately, I'm not suggesting that we delay the departure.'
'Then what are you suggesting, sir?' Captain Phillips asked icily.
'That you take on board two additional passengers, myself and one other. There's no way we could question two thousand people, and no way we could legally hold them long enough to do so. Besides, I assure you, the government has no wish to put you out of business. But if I and an assistant could circulate among the crew and passengers for the next fortnight, we could ask our questions, carry out our investigation, and the entire matter could be kept more or less quiet.'
'That seems.. most reasonable,' Sir Charles said. 'What do you think, Alcock?'
'I think that the government could still find itself on the receiving end of a major lawsuit if their agents spread slanderous accusations about drug use on one of our cruise ships. I promise you, Mr. Mitchell, that any bad publicity whatsoever concerning this line or its employees could be actionable!'
'Mr. Alcock… a man is dead.' Mitchell's face was stony. 'Drugs are involved. Rattle all the lawsuit threats you want at me. I promise we will be discreet, but we will do our job.'
They argued for another ten minutes, but in the end Mitchell got exactly what he'd wanted all along.
There were people on board the Atlantis Queen who knew more about Darrow's murder than had emerged from the investigation so far.
And Thomas Mitchell intended to find them.
Chapter 6
'The deck crew reports the gangway has been secured, Captain,' Vandergrift reported.
