Run Afoul (33 page)

“What about him?”

“He caused a lot of muttering in the ranks, partly on account of his lateness, and also because he wandered off when he'd been ordered to stay on the trail. One of us would have to go and look for him in the jungle while the others waited around, and the scientifics got all riled up on account of missing out on collecting time.”

“And this habit of wandering away irritated you, as well?”

“For me, it was a bl—a confounded nuisance, because we were forced to stop an extra night in some places, which put the schedule out of whack. Captain Coffin was even angrier about it than I was, on account of his friend Sir Patrick Palgrave, who was the patron of the survey. He had organized his friends to lodge and feed us nighttimes, and it really upset Captain Coffin when we didn't turn up on schedule.”

“It sounds a
most
contentious journey,” Dr. Vieira de Castro commented. Then, after a pause in which he scribbled a great deal on his notepaper, Forsythe was dismissed and Captain Couthouy called.

“You are a shipmaster, Captain Couthouy?”

“Aye, sir, out of Boston.”

“Yet you are a scientific with the exploring expedition?”

“I most certainly am, Dr. Vieira de Castro.”

“And you heard Dr. Olliver cry out a name in his moment of crisis?”

“I arrived in the courtyard in time to hear him cry out the name William.”

“Were you aware that Dr. Olliver and Captain Coffin were on bad terms?”

“We were
all
on bad terms with Dr. Olliver, and I want to make it plain right here and now, Dr. Vieira de Castro, that whatever terms they might or might not have been on, Captain Coffin did
not
kill Dr. Olliver.”

Patrician eyebrows lifted. “And what makes you so certain of that?”

“Knowledge of human nature, Dr. Vieira de Castro.”

“Which is very extensive, I'm certain, being in the company of sailors so often,” said Dr. Vieira de Castro dryly. “So whom do you blame?”

“Cimarrons,” said Couthouy.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Runaway slaves who live in the forest.”

“I know that cimarrons are runaway slaves, Captain Couthouy. What intrigues me is why you have jumped to this conclusion.”

“We were shot at on the way to Ingetado, once, and another shot was fired at the brig at San João. Dr. Olliver told me about it—he was most agitated, as he reckoned that the party on the quarterdeck was only saved from slaughter by the fact that the first shot cut a rope, and the awning fell down on them all. It is easy to imagine one of these desperate creatures lashing out when Dr. Olliver blundered across him, and then throwing down the cudgel as he made his escape.”

“It does not require a vivid imagination,” Dr. Vieira de Castro agreed, his expression ironic. Then he dismissed Couthouy, and called up Captain Coffin.

Wiki's father stood up with an impressive dignity that was not diminished in the slightest by the rattle of handcuffs, while Wiki watched in suspense, wondering what damage he would do to himself with his testimony.

“Your name is Captain William Coffin?”

“Aye, sir.”

“And you were a member of this surveying party?”

“I helped oversee the operation, Dr. Vieira de Castro.”

“Captain Wilkes requested you to go along as a guide, perhaps?”

“I was there at my own request.”

“Because Dr. Olliver was one of the party?”

“Not at all,” said Captain Coffin. “I simply wanted to make sure that everything went smoothly.”

“And you did not think this … smoothness would come about if you didn't accompany them?”

“Exactly, Dr. Vieira de Castro.”

“But it did not go smoothly, alas.”

Captain Coffin heaved a sigh, and said, “Unfortunately, sir, you are right.”

“And this is why you quarreled with Dr. Olliver?”

“I didn't quarrel with him at all, sir. He was an eccentric who liked to dominate the conversation with crazy statements, but that didn't bother me. What
was
irritating was his constant confounded lateness, and the fact that he went missing all the time, which kept the rest of us waiting about. It was all exactly as Lieutenant Forsythe said.” Then Captain Coffin added broodingly, “He was also far too fat.”

“Fat?” Dr. Vieiro de Castro glanced complacently down at his trim stomach, then looked back at Captain Coffin—who was equally lean—and suggested, “And this fatness, it annoyed you?”

“The plain fact of the matter is that he was too heavy for any decent mount to carry. We managed to get him aboard a giant of a mule at the start, but a few days later the mule gave out, and we couldn't persuade any of the others to take its place. They all took one look at him, and buckled at the knees.”

“So Dr. Olliver walked, while the rest of you rode along the trail?”

“Aye—which gave him every opportunity to disappear into the forest. We'd all pleaded and argued with him, and did our best to ride at his pace, but he defied us by lagging behind and then taking off into the trees the instant no one was looking. It was an aggravation, a nuisance, and a confounded waste of time.”

“And you are a shipmaster—a man to whom time is of the essence.”

“Exactly, Dr. Vieira de Castro.”

“So, did you devise a remedy for this exasperation?”

“I asked Lieutenant Forsythe to order him to get his lazy carcass out of bed earlier, so that we would have more time on the trail, and it wouldn't be quite the same vexation when he went missing.”

Dr. Vieira de Castro looked at his notes, rustling papers back and forth, and then looked up and said, “And this earlier rising is what happened on the day of his death?”

“As far as I know, that is what happened.”

The coroner adjusted his pince-nez, and studied him with an air of interest. “You weren't there?”

“No, sir, I was on board the brig
Swallow.
”

“How could this be?”

“According to the schedule, we should have arrived at Sir Patrick Palgrave's estate the night before, but Dr. Olliver held us up so much that when night fell we had only got as far as the village on the Rio Macae. The brig was moored there, and I accepted Captain Rochester's invitation to stop the night. The others stayed at a
venda
in the village. When I went on shore after breakfast, I was told that Dr. Olliver had gone up the trail and vanished into the forest.”

“So what did you do?”

“I went after him.”

“Alone?”

“Aye, sir. I'd done it before, believe me. This time, I left the scientifics packing their collections, and consulting with Captain Rochester about loading them onto the brig. Lieutenant Forsythe was nowhere to be seen. As I found out later, he'd gone to the office of the local justice of the peace to report that we'd been shadowed by bandits.”

Silence, while Dr. Vieira de Castro scribbled. Finally, the coroner looked up and said, “And you met up with Dr. Olliver, Captain Coffin?”

“I did not. I never saw him alive again.”

“What
did
you see?”

For the first time, Captain Coffin's tone became ragged. “About a hundred yards before the plantation—where the path gets wide—I saw a cudgel lying on the ground, in the mud. The sun was starting to rise, and—and something about the cudgel's appearance puzzled and alarmed me. I dismounted to look closer, and when I picked it up I saw that the end was smeared with blood and hair—and worse—so I ran to the ranch.”

“On foot?”

“It wasn't far away. My horse followed me—I think, or maybe the others brought him along—I didn't really pay attention. When I got to the courtyard I saw my son open the door, and—and Dr. Olliver fell inside.”

“Did Dr. Olliver say anything?”

Wiki held his breath, but his father simply replied, “He called out my name.”

“William?”

“Aye—but he didn't look around, and I don't believe he knew I was there.”

“So why do you think he called your name?”

Captain Coffin paused. Then he looked down at the floor, and said in a very low voice, “Dr. Vieira de Castro, I have absolutely no idea.”

Wiki was the next to be called. He stood up, walked to the chair, and bowed before he sat down.

Dr. Vieira de Castro pushed his pince-nez farther up his long, narrow nose, and said amiably, “So, Mr. Wiki Coffin, we meet again.”

Wiki smiled back. “So we do, Dr. Vieira de Castro.”

“Your expedition is experiencing a great deal of bad fortune.”

“We certainly are, sir.”

“Do you think that by the time the journey is over you will have any scientifics left?”

“I'm beginning to wonder about that myself, Dr. Vieira de Castro.”

“I am not surprised!” said the coroner. Then, with a little cough, he returned to business, saying, “You were inside the house when Dr. Olliver collapsed at the door?”

“I had arrived the previous evening, expecting to find the surveyors there.”

“Were you surprised to find they had not come?”

“Not in the slightest,” Wiki said frankly.

“Because Dr. Olliver had retarded their progress so often in the past?”

“Exactly, Dr. Vieira de Castro.”

“Did this annoy you?”

“Sometimes it was inconvenient. I was stationed on board the brig
Swallow,
which was following the land party along the coast, and my orders were to drop ashore at regular intervals, hear Lieutenant Forsythe's report, and lend any assistance necessary. Instead, I spent most of the time waiting for them to arrive, and trying to soothe hosts who had everything ready to welcome them. Every time the surveying party had been forced to stop somewhere else, it was because Dr. Olliver had held them up so much.”

“So what did you do, when they failed to arrive?”

“Once, I stayed at the fazenda, because the hosts had waited so long to serve the meal that it was the small hours of the morning before we finished. Otherwise, I went back on board the brig
Swallow
for the night, and then went ashore again next morning.”

“And this is what happened this time?”

“No,” said Wiki, careful not to look at the alcove where the grandees were intently listening. “Sir Patrick Palgrave's estate is several miles away from the village on the Rio Macae where the brig was moored.”

“So you stayed at the fazenda instead of returning to the brig?”

“Aye, sir.”

Dr. Vieira de Castro scribbled, and then adjusted his pince-nez as he looked at Wiki again. “Tell me about the morning of Dr. Olliver's death.”

“It was dawn, and I had only just woken up. Then I heard a thudding at the door. I got there as fast as I could, and when I opened it, he fell inside.”

“And what did you hear him say?”

“He looked up at me, and cried out the name William.”

“And why do you think he said that?”

Wiki said very deliberately, without even glancing at his father, “Because William is my name.”

Dead silence in the court, and then a sudden outburst of comment. The clerk called for quiet, and the hubbub gradually silenced, while Dr. Vieira de Castro rustled his way through his notes.

After some moments he looked up and said, “According to my records, your name is Wiki.”

“That's my other name,” said Wiki blandly.

“It's a shortening? Like Bill is a nickname for William?”

“Wiki is my Maori name.”

Dr. Vieira de Castro stared at him, frowning. “Yes?”

Wiki explained, “It's common for Polynesian seafarers to have two names—a Polynesian name and what we call a ‘sailor name,' which is usually the one given to the sailor by his first captain, because
pakeha
people find our names so difficult to write down and pronounce. As I am only half Polynesian, I am
te kakano whakauru,
a man of two tribes, which is even more complicated. As a result, I have two birth names. One is Wiki, and the other is William.”

“But which one is your name in the eyes of the law?”

“Under United States law, William Coffin is my legal name.”

“Do you have anything to prove this?”

“Aye, sir. Permission to approach?”

Dr. Vieira de Castro nodded, and Wiki walked up to the bench and handed over his letter of authority. He watched the coroner's expression as he read it. Amazement came first, and then, to his surprise, respect.

“You're the legal representative of the sheriff's department of the Town of Portsmouth, Virginia?”

“Aye, sir. But only with the fleet, of course,” Wiki added.

“But I would hope that the administrators in any of the ports you touch would realize its significance!” the coroner declared with vigor. Then, dropping his tone to an informal level, he said, “May I ask how you came to be appointed to this office?”

Wiki didn't want to go into it, so prevaricated, “It was a convenience for the department, as they wished to have a representative sailing with the fleet.”

“And a great honor, I am sure.” Dr. Vieira de Castro paused, deep in thought, and then looked up and said, “So, Dr. Olliver recognized you when you opened the door—and that is why he called out your name?”

Wiki paused a moment, remembering the dying scientific's unseeing eyes. Then, with all the conviction in his voice that he could summon, he declared, “That is exactly what happened, Dr. Vieira de Castro.”

Twenty-five

Wiki still did not have a chance for a private chat with his father. Instead, they were both commandeered by Sir Patrick Palgrave, who insisted that the grandees who had attended the hearing should celebrate the reprieve, with Captain Coffin and his son as guests of honor. He had already arranged to meet Lady Palgrave and her sister, who were in town on a shopping excursion, at the Hotel Pharoux, and so he hired the private dining room on the second floor of the hotel for a festive afternoon feast.