The Atlas Murders (28 page)

Chapter
Twenty-Seven

The view of Mount Fuji as
they entered Shimizu harbor was stunning; with its white snow cap it looked
every bit the sacred mountain.

To their horror there were four
uniformed policemen and what looked like two plain clothes detectives standing
on the quay. Henry’s heart sank as he thought, not another detention on board,
the crew would go wild. Immediately the gangway was put down a policeman was
stationed at the end of it. The deck hands were moaning out loud; “here we go
again, no fucking shore leave.”

The ship’s agents arrived on
board and Henry was hoping for a letter from Danny with some updates of the
investigation. It wasn’t long before the shout of ‘mail up’ was heard along the
alleyways. Henry received a letter from Danny and Vincent and there was to his
delight, one from Vera. There was news from the ship’s agent that their next
port was to be Havana, Cuba to pick up a cargo of sugar. And the good news for
everyone on board was that the sugar would be bound for Britain, and at long
last they would be going back home. They couldn’t wait to sign off a ship that
had become a nightmare.

Gary was disconsolate; he
received no mail. His mother hadn’t even bothered to write. He saw Henry with
his letters.

“Someone still cares about
you,”

He then noticed the
Australian stamp.

 “Got a friend in Aussie,
have ya?”

 “Yeah, a relation; writes
once or twice a year. Pity I didn’t get to see him on our last visit but that’s
the way it goes sometimes.”

 “Looks like we won’t get to
see any women here either. There’s two policemen, one at the foot and one at
the top of the gangway. It’s like a prison ship.”

 The hatches were opened and
discharging began immediately. The talk was they were going to work around the
clock and they’d be sailing in two days. Henry had to wait until after lunch to
read his letters. He made it to the lavatory where he knew he wouldn’t be
disturbed, and read Vera’s first. She was shocked at hearing about the two
girls murdered on the ship. She wrote that every employee of the company was
horrified when they heard the news, and they all agreed this brutal animal will
have to be apprehended as soon as possible. She asked him which of the four
suspects he thought the man was. She was now backing away from her conviction
that it was Oswyn.

He took out Vincent’s letter
and he read how he and his colleagues received the latest news from Australia
with extreme horror and revulsion. He also was hoping the fingerprinting from
Australia would turn up some clue. He also wrote that if the ship visited a
port with British authority, they could organize intense questioning of the
suspects. But knowing the ship was heading for Havana this wasn’t very likely
in the short term. Vincent had also heard some news bulletins about the Castro
revolution which he hoped wouldn’t cause the ship any problems. He wrote that
he hadn’t had any contact, be it letter or otherwise, from Katherine’s widowed
husband, Denis. Henry was disappointed Denis hadn’t kept in touch; he was
hoping he was somehow coping with his double loss.

He then read Danny’s letter. It
was short and to the point. It stated that fingerprinting was not complete but
the watch keepers that night were a priority, so they had them done first.

 The letter went on:

“My contact could only get
limited information because the police aren’t releasing much until all prints
are complete. However, a print has been found inside the locker in Pippa’s
cabin, suggesting the killer may have hidden there while she was out of the
cabin. The prints on the door handle were all smudged and of no use; it also
shows that the killer could have gained access without the master key if she
had left the door unlocked while she was out. Samples of blood, semen and urine
were taken from the linen and will be frozen and stored away for further tests
if necessary. There was also a small sample of semen taken from a bale of jute
which will also be kept in the same way. When I know your next port of call I
will send on a full report which I hope to have compiled by then. Please keep
yourself safe because we need you. When we know his identity you’ll be expected
to arrest him, but don’t put yourself in a position of danger and ask for back
up if required.

Good luck Henry.”

He lit the three letters and
flushed them down the lavatory.

Henry’s mind was in a
quandary about how he could get into Pippa’s room; this was something he kept
going over and over in his mind. He decided that when he had a chance he would
go her room and have a look for himself. Until now he daren’t take the risk,
but he had to throw caution to the wind and get in somehow. He also had to
search Tukola’s cabin but this was also proving impossible and frustrating.

 Gary Conrad was a little
more upbeat when Henry went back to the cabin.

“Did you hear the
latest news about
shore leave?”

 “No, I was in the lavatory?”

 “Apparently, we’re getting
shore leave from three in the afternoon until, wait for it… seven o’clock. So
they’ll be no spending the night with any of the local beauties.”

 Henry kicked off his shoes
and lay on the couch.

“I suppose it’s better than
nothing. We’ll get to do a bit of shopping; I believe they have some lovely
stuff here and not too expensive either. Why don’t you go and find out if we can
go ashore now. This afternoon, I mean. Ask the chief and tell him we’ll be back
for the dinner.”

 “Right I’ll do that.”

 When Gary left the cabin, Henry
was going over Danny’s letter in his troubled mind; trying to figure out how the
killer could have got into Pippa’s cabin. He must find out who was first wheel
and farmer. He’d get on the bridge and check the log for that night. He knew
the score; how the farmer on the watch filled the kettle and washed the cups,
and crucially, then had an hour off.

Gary came bouncing in.

 “Here’s your sub, I signed
for it for you! He threw the money onto the bunk. There’s a shop set up in the
recreation room and they’re selling everything from music boxes to guitars and
china, kimonos, cameras, binoculars - you name it! Come on and we’ll have a
look.”

 Henry jumped up and slipped
on his sandals.  

The recreation room was full
of crewmen all viewing the goods on display. Three Japanese men and a woman
were attending to the business. Henry was astounded at the amount of goods on
display; by the good quality and how cheap it all was. He was taken by a
beautiful music box and instantly Shirley came into his mind. How he would have
loved to be able to bring it home to her.

He then thought of Vera and immediately
purchased a silk kimono in shot pink with beautiful embroidery work.

Gary was browsing around and
Henry said to him, “what did he say about going ashore?”

 “We can go but make sure
we’re back to serve the saloon for dinner.”

 “Well I’m off. We still have
a couple of hours, are you coming?”

 Try stopping me, said Gary
as he paid for a futuristic looking transistor radio.

 They went back to their
cabin with their purchases and then headed ashore. The first two little pubs
they came to were actually just on the dock; ‘The Four Roses’ and down a little
further was the ‘Bar Mist’. They had one drink in the first pub where the ‘Mamasan’
or head lady, was very frosty with her greeting.

“You from ship Rangoon?”

 “Yes we’re from the Rangoon,”
Gary answered.

 “No girls come bar to meet
boys from Rangoon ship. Police say too much trouble.”

 They finished their drinks
and left. The greeting at the Bar Mist was equally as cool.

 “Only drink, no pretty girls
come to speak boys from ship.”

 Their next stop was at ‘The
Bar Dragon’ situated on the next street going up to the main town. They had one
drink there. The girls on duty entertaining customers quickly vanished without
even speaking to them.

Henry looked at Gary.

“Did you ever feel like a
leper? I feel like one now. Come on, it’s embarrassing sitting here?”

 They walked on through the
busy streets and felt like they were being stared at. They stopped to look into
a Pachinko Hall with its bright lights; the noise of the shiny balls as they
whirled around the hundreds of machines was deafening. Henry was fascinated by
the machines which resembled vertical pinball machines but without the flippers
and which cascaded hundreds of steel balls down through a maze of closely
grouped pins. The young men with their smooth oily black hair standing in rows
before the machines seemed to be somehow mesmerized by the loud noise; their
faces screwed up in tormented concentration, excited at the prospect winning.
Henry said it reminded him of the slot machines at Blackpool only with ten
times more noise.

“Good God, how could you
stick that racket, you’d be deaf in no time going into those places, come on
let’s move,” exclaimed Gary, as he gave Henry a gentle shove.

Henry made a mental note of
where the post office was a little further up the street. Handy to post his letters,
must finish them tonight, he thought. They passed open fronted fish shops with
the salty tang of the sea coming from fresh seaweed. There was shell fish, an
assortment of big whole fish and tuna fillets on ice, cut nice and thick.

“How I would like to take
home a basket of those oysters and a large fillet of tuna? Cooking it would be
a thrill.”

 Gary saw him ogling the
fish.

“Do you like shell fish then?”

 “Yes, I love it and that
tuna, I’d like a fillet of that, but it’ll have to wait for another time.”

They walked on and Henry was
surprised to see so many of the younger people wearing western dress; the older
ones wore traditional kimono and wooden strapped shoes. The streets were a
blaze of color with brightly painted banners stretching across them and shops
decked with tall signs in Japanese lettering. The exotic smells were to say the
least, unusual; passing restaurants, the tantalizing aroma of cooked food
contrasted with the cold smell of fish from open fronted shops. Henry was
fascinated by the strangeness of it all, the rickshaw boys pedaling their
bicycles and the school boys with their dark blue or black uniforms with brass
buttons and stiff peak caps. He had to check himself from staring at people, especially
the women carrying their babies on their backs with a thick sash called an obi
around their middles. They rounded a side street and into a square which looked
like a market. They walked on down through a bustling crowd, shuffling in and
around stalls that sold everything from dried fish, meat and game, to rain
hats, straw shoes, vegetables and fruit. Henry could feel the watching saurian
eyes as he ambled between women busily picking their purchases and packing them
into bags. Their shaven headed children perched on their backs with never a
whimper or cry. He stood to watch a stall keeper with his abacus moving the
beads to tot up the purchases for a customer. When he came to a stall selling
dolls and toys, he decided to buy a sad looking Kokeshi Doll. He hadn’t thought
who he might give it to as a present. Vera was the only close friend in his
life at the moment, so he would keep it for their next meeting.

Gary looked at his watch.

 “I think we better be making
tracks back, it’s half past four.”

 Henry paid the stall keeper
took his wrapped purchase and turned to see Gary fitting on a pair of straw
shoes.

“They’ll make nice house
shoes. I wouldn’t think they’re very waterproof though. Who’s the special lady
in your life worthy of your sad doll?”

 “Believe it or not I have no
one in mind. I just bought it on impulse. I’ll surely find some deserving
female who would appreciate the present. Now, we better move.”

They arrived back just in
time for duty and after finishing the saloon, Gary decided to go up to the nearest
pub and said he’d be back at seven - curfew time.

“You better watch yourself
now Gary. If you meet any of those boys ashore you could run into trouble. You
only have a little over forty minutes, and what if you are late back, what then?”

 “I suppose my shore leave is
stopped for the rest of our stay, and from what I hear, that will only be two
days.”

 He pulled on a coat. “I’m
off.”

Henry decided to go up onto
the bridge, and if he was caught he would say he was taking down the cups from
the radio room the wheel house and chartroom. He noticed the second mate was in
his room, as was the chief officer, the third mate he saw going ashore so there
could be no one on the bridge except the senior or junior radio officer, and
that would be unlikely. He took a tray to make it look like he was on duty.
When he came to Pippa’s door he tried the handle - it was open. He hadn’t
chanced taking out the master key in case he was caught and they would surely
convict him there and then. He walked in and closed the door softly. There
wasn’t a sound, only some soft music coming from the radio in the captain’s day
room next door. He stood and looked around the cabin; it was quite large and
some of Pippa’s unfinished artwork was on the bureau top. He saw stains on the
mattress. The Australian detectives had taken the linen away. Her clothes were
still where she had left them. No one had had the courage to come in and tidy
up her things. He then came to the clothes closet; yes, thought Henry, that’s where
he hid, and opening the double doors he saw how large the space was. He was
careful to use a handkerchief on everything he touched. The dirty cunning
bastard hid in there - that’s where they got the print from, he speculated. Henry
closed the doors and stood looking around. There was nothing else of note; no
marks on the carpet or any other tell-tail signs. He listened to make sure
there was no one around, and gingerly walked out of the cabin.