The Atlas Murders (45 page)

The sergeant at the desk
showed them into a superintendent’s office. He was very helpful when Henry
introduced himself and explained what he wanted. However, he was somewhat
incredulous at Henry’s effort of trying to bring a fugitive to justice after so
many years. He pointed to a large filing cabinet in a corner, “you see, that’s
full of cases that are more than a year old and we consider them cold cases. We
have not the man power to keep going back on old files.” He laughed, “I find it
hard enough to keep up with current crime; you see, we have a moving population
with tourists and other transient people. If any of these people are mixed up
in some criminal activity, before we have time to investigate, they are often
gone.”

 Henry looked solemn.

 “Yes, I understand your very
difficult position, but this man I am hunting may not be mixed up in any type
of crime. He could be relatively wealthy and appear to be a law-abiding citizen.”

 “So you’ve searched the
telephone directory and the company register lists; the only place I can search
for you is the voting register. Anyone living here for a number of years is
entitled to vote, so if he’s here, he should be on the register.” He stood up
and walked over to a cabinet and pulled out large four books. He placed them on
the desk in front of Kerstin and Henry. “There you are, now you can take them
to that room across the corridor and I’ll have some coffee sent into you. Hope
you are lucky.”

 They took two books each and
went across to a large bright room, and sat down to their task. Kerstin smiled
at Henry who was looking at his books as if they were text books back at
school.

 He saw her expression, “I was
never good at this end of the business,” he flicked open the first page, “well,
here goes.”

 It was painstaking work; the
coffee came with light pastries and the searching continued turning up a few
close names like Takanama - obviously Japanese just fleeting hope. Three hours
passed and nothing, Henry complained of spots before his eyes and Kerstin
thought she might need to see an optician on her way back to the yacht! They
walked back a little dejected.

 Henry insisted on visiting
an upmarket restaurant for lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent with
mutual agreement on shopping; he enjoyed being dragged through women’s clothes
shops as Kerstin bought replacements for some of her swim suits and shorts. In
another shop, Henry stocked up on sun lotion and bought a few sun hats. She
also purchased a few bottles of French wine, and told Henry it was only to be
drunk while in port; “alcohol should be strictly forbidden while at sea,” she
proclaimed. He agreed with her whole heartily.

 They sat out on deck sipping
chilled Chardonnay. The offshore breeze had fallen away and a still calmness lay
on the hot evening air. Kerstin turned her head to Henry in a lazy motion as she
lay back on the canvas chair.

“Not much luck today where
will we head for now?”

 “I never thought deep down
he’d settle on one of the larger islands. I’m putting my neck on the line here,
thinking he’d opt for a smaller place where he could have some kind of control.
With his money he could buy himself into a position of power. We will have to try
the Dominican Republic next. I think we should give Haiti a miss; there
wouldn’t be enough prosperity there for him. Although I’m just surmising now. What
would you think?”

 She looked up at the crimson
sky and watched the sun setting over the island like a great ball being
immersed in a fiery furnace.

“It’s such a beautiful
evening I think we should have a swim, and I’ll cast some thought on where I
believe Tukola might be. I’ll let my mind wander to all the islands I’ve
visited and try to think of the ones where he might feel at home.”

She jumped up and eased out
of her shorts, whipping off her top she stood naked apart from her bikini
bottoms. Her bronze skin was tinged with a rose colored hue from the rays of
the setting sun. “Last in has to serve supper.” Henry was down to his shorts
when he heard the splash. He ran over to the rail and saw her frolicking in the
water. Her giggling mirth carried on the still evening air. He dived down and
swam to where he’d seen her but she was gone. She surfaced again further out. He
turned on his back and floated as she came up from beneath him and threw her
arms around his waist. He had just time to get a breath before she drew him
under; he could barely see her long hair floating around her like feathery Sargasso
weed. Her lips came out of the tangle and kissed him full on the mouth and
pressing her body against his they floated to the surface. She laughed and swam
away to the boat. He followed and had time to lightly slap her bottom as she
climbed the ladder. She turned to look back down at him. “What was that for?”

“For your efforts to try and
drown me.”

 Smiling, she grabbed a towel
and went to the shower.

A few minutes’ later she was
standing alongside drying her hair;
this time she
wearing the bikini bottoms she had bought on their
shopping spree.

 “Go shower,” she ordered.

“Ok, but what would the
people on the other yachts think if they saw you nearly naked?”

 “Not much; going topless is
par for the course around here.”

He showered and had a towel
around him when he came back on deck.

 “Our next port of call, the Dominican
Republic is roughly how many days sailing?”

 “Oh let me see now,” Kerstin
closed her eyes in concentration. “It will depend on which coastal area of the
country we intend to go to. We better look at the chart”

 Down below they stood at the
chart table and looked at the large chart of Jamaica and the Dominican
Republic. She had the dividers and she was pointing to the capital, Santo
Domingo.

 “What do you think, should
we make a course for there and give Haiti a miss?”

 “Yes, I don’t think he’d be
in Haiti. Santo Domingo it is, but we could do the same searches from any large
port or city.”

 He could feel her bare flesh
as she leaned over to put back the dividers. Her generous firm bosom rubbed against
his shoulder and a protruding nipple sent a pulse of excitement racing through
his body as it brushed against his arm.

Now facing him, sensing his
excitement she stepped back and glanced down. “Ah!” she exclaimed as she caressed
the embryonic bulge that was clearly visible despite the best efforts of the
towel to conceal it. Within moments he was fully aroused. “Come on, I can’t
teach you navigation while you’re so distracted!”

 Henry followed her into the
larger of the two bunks. Slipping out of the lower half of her bikini, Kerstin
lay provocatively as she beckoned him to join her. The fragmented rays of the
deck lantern streaming in from the port window caused light and shadow to dance
together creating flickering zebra patterns across the satin-soft skin of her
expectant body. Moving closer they embraced, they kissed, they caressed; every intuitive
touch heightening the intensity of their passions. There was no urgency as
Henry lingered at her sensitive spots, slowly tantalizing until she begged him to
bring her to climax. She squealed and juddered, pulling his hair as he relished
her sweet wetness. Gradually her body relaxed, her cries subsided. Moving up to
her breasts, his tongue traced her silky smoothness, teasing her firm nipples as
her breathing once again deepened. Her attention turned to his pleasure; inching
down his finely honed torso, he groaned with ecstasy as she deftly worked him into
a convulsive frenzy. Now at his most aroused, Kerstin straddled his body and
eased him inside her. Her actions were slow and deliberate as she rose and fell
with devilish abandon. He ran his hands down her back and caressed her soft silky
buttocks. Her movements became more intense, more demanding; they both reached the
point of no return and she tensed and cried aloud as she felt his release
inside her. In the warm musty air that permeated the cabin, they gently
shuddered to an ecstatic halt. As the last pulses of sensual pleasure ebbed
from their bodies she fell into his strong protecting arms.

They lay in glorious satiated
silence watching the flickering light cast shimmering patterns on the cabin
walls. It wasn’t long before tiredness prevailed and they succumbed to the irresistible
call of sleep.

 The sun was filtering
through when Henry awoke and crept out without waking Kerstin. He showered and
pulled on a pair of shorts then went about making breakfast. He was as hungry
as a proverbial horse and presumed Kerstin would be the same. He fried up
generous helpings of bacon, eggs and sausages. He also prepared tomatoes,
toast, hot coffee and glasses of chilled orange juice. He held the tray and
watched his beautiful goddess in peaceful slumber. Although he thought it a
shame to wake her, he gently caressed her face until her sleepy eyes opened and
looked into his.

“Breakfast up.”

 She sat up and blinked.

 “What time is it?” she
asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“It’s breakfast, time now
take this.”

 She smiled as she pulled the
sheet around her for modesty.

 “Thank you very much.”

“You’re very welcome my
lover, thank you for a wonderful night.”

She blew him a kiss. “I was
too exhausted to tell you I hadn’t experienced such a night since I can’t
remember when.”

 Henry was on deck enjoying
the view. He had binoculars and was scanning the other yachts. A few seemed to
be getting ready to sail.

“Anything saucy to see?”

Kerstin had her hair in two
large plaits down to her shoulders, a flimsy blue blouse with one button
fastened and no bra. Her shorts were tight and frayed around the edges.

Henry handed her the glasses.

 “I’m looking at the most
wonderful sauciest young lady around.”

 She had a quick look through
the glasses. “A few are getting ready to sail, we could do likewise if you want
Henry?”

 “Yes, why not. Are we ready
to go or do we need to get more water or anything?”

 “No, we have plenty. Come
into the chart room and I’ll work out how far it is to Santo Domingo. I can
remember attempting to do that last night until I was interrupted.”

Playfully, he tapped her
behind.

 “I wonder who could have
been so rude as to interrupt you.”

 Smiling, she took up the
dividers and measured the distance to Santo Domingo; three hundred and forty
miles. So with fair weather and a kind wind we should average six knots, so,”
she scribbled on the side of the chart, “say approximately fifty eight hours. If
we sail at noon we’d have a few hours to lose to arrive in daylight on our
third day.”

 “We can always manage that,
and if the wind drops we might have no choice.”

“Henry, I want to show you
how to lay off the course.”

She placed the parallel rules
and from a point five miles out of Montego Bay, she drew in a course to four
miles off Pointe a Gravois on the Haiti coast. From there she laid another
course to five miles off Cape Beata and then a run into Santo Domingo.

“Now,” she said, “there’s the
course so to find what to steer….” She placed the parallel rule on the course
and then worked it on to the compass rose and read off the course. She wrote
that on the line and then did the same for the other two lines.

Henry was impressed. “And
that’s it?” he said, looking into her bright eyes.

“Yes, that’s the basics but in
some areas you might have to allow for currents. However, there’s none of these
on our planned course. If we get a contrary wind we might have to allow for
drift, but that’s all for later.”

She reached up and pulled
down a small book; it was the Mariner’s Handbook.

 “Here; when you get a bit of
free time have a read through this, especially the rules of the road part.”

 “Aye-aye skipper, will do,”

He looked at the clock and it
was eleven o’clock. What do we have to do before sailing?”

 “Nothing really, I’ll just
nip ashore and pay the few dollars harbor dues then we’re off.”

When she returned, they got
ready for sailing. Henry began heaving up anchor and Kerstin started the
engine. He stood on the foredeck as they cleared the harbor and steered for
open water. A fresh breeze played truant under his loose cotton shirt,
caressing his skin like cool fingers. This was the freedom he relished; so
uncompromised and absolute, like that of the seabirds that swooped and caught
small fish. As he looked down into the sparkling azure sea, he could see the
pale blue coral reefs and the milky white stretches of sand in the crystal
clear water. No dark criminal underworld out here, he thought to himself, only
the tranquility and companionship of one being for another.

“Take the wheel,” Kerstin’s
order broke his dreaming.

 He took over while she went
below and checked their position.

She came back up and looked
out at the little wavelets, and then glanced up at the clouds.