It's Murder, On a Galapagos Cruise: An Amateur Female Sleuth Historical Cozy Mystery (Miss Riddell C by P.C. James (easy novels to read txt) 📕

“one of the guys in your crew might be a wrong ‘un and the dead man, Jose, may have recognized him. We need the background of all your crew, Captain, if we’re going to be sure this wasn’t murder.”

“I’ll have to get clearance from the head office for that. It will take a day or so.”

“But we can talk to your officers about Jose, right?”

“I think that’s a given. He’s dead and you’ve been asked to investigate on our behalf.”

“Good. Then I’ll start first thing in the morning,” Somerville said.

“Tomorrow is our first island stop,” Captain Ferguson said. “Don’t you want to be on the tour?”

“Oh! Right. Then the moment we get back.”

“I’ll have the maintenance and engineering officers available from two o’clock here in my cabin. Will you be taking part, Miss Riddell?”

“Certainly,” Pauline said. “Now we know more about the victim, we have so many new possible motives to consider.”

“Do you still think murder?”

“I think that’s a possibility but not the only one.”

The captain smiled. “I hope you won’t mind me saying that I find your saying there may be other explanations is good news, Miss Riddell.”

“I understand, Captain, but murder is still very much on my mind and if he was killed by a Shining Path extremist and that person is onboard this ship, we may be facing a more serious threat than any of us could imagine.”

“What is this Shining Path?” Somerville asked.

“They’re a particularly brutal guerilla organization, worse than almost any of the others anywhere in the world. They’re Communists but also violent fanatics. Hearing that Jose was fleeing from them only makes me more certain his death wasn’t an accident.”

“Remember though, Jose was escaping from these people,” Ferguson said, “and he was just a kid. Realistically, they aren’t going to send a hitman after him. If he was important, the Peruvian government would have him in a safe place surrounded by guards.”

“I hope you’re right, Captain,” Somerville said, “but what Miss Riddell just said scares me a bit. If there’s any chance…”

“There isn’t,” Ferguson said. “It’s madness to even think it.”

“Unfortunately, Captain,” Pauline said, “when searching for motives, we sometimes must think of the wildest things. I agree, a terrorist sent to kill Jose is extremely unlikely but until we have the solution to this mystery, I’ll be wedging my cabin door shut with the furniture.”

“I agree with you Captain,” Somerville said. “Even though Jose was fleeing from them, communist guerillas are too unlikely. But back in Toronto, and most big cities, I guess, I see a lot of young kids who have run away from home and they get caught up in criminal gangs. Even though he wasn’t running away from home in a traditional sense, Jose fits that pattern to a ‘T’. I’d say we’re more likely looking at drug gangs, or something like that, if there really is a hitman onboard.”

“All of these possibilities make me even more determined to get to the bottom of what happened,” Ferguson said. “Both of you need to get your investigations finished as quickly as you can, so we can all sleep easy in our beds.”

“What did you talk about tonight?” Freda asked, when Pauline rejoined her in the lounge.

Her voice had a resentful edge. Pauline understood she felt excluded but had no intention of having her sister be part of the evening debriefing where Somerville could use Freda against her. “We’ll talk outside,” Pauline said. “Tonight’s discussions were darker than is safe to share with the others.”

They made their excuses and headed out onto the deck where there were fewer people. The evenings were perfect times to be out and about, in Pauline’s mind, even though the sun sank quickly away. A purplish light in the sky outlined the islands briefly before darkness fell. Many sea creatures, dolphins chasing fish or maybe even whales, rose humpbacked to the surface of the luminescent water before sliding away into the depths. Most passengers missed it all, intent on the happy camaraderie that a shared experience and free-flowing drinks brought to people. Sometimes, she rather envied them that, but it soon passed.

“Well?” Freda demanded.

“More has come to light about Jose’s background,” Pauline said, and she recounted what they’d heard.

“Poor kid. I can’t imagine what that would have been like.”

“Quite so,” Pauline said. “Poor kid indeed. Now I don’t want to alarm you, Freddie, but I’m going to wedge my cabin door shut from now on. You should do the same.”

“Why?”

“Because those monsters may have sent someone to kill him. They may feel they have to punish people who try to escape their group and that killer, hitman as Somerville says, may not like us investigating Jose’s murder.”

“Oh!” Freda said. “I thought this would be fun.”

“Murder is never fun, Freddie. Grow up.”

“But it wasn’t murder, was it. It was just an accident. Only you thought it was murder.”

“I thought it was murder,” Pauline said stonily, “because it is murder.” She shook her head in frustration.

“I suppose,” Freda said, “I didn’t really believe you. The police and everyone were so sure and you, well, had doubts.”

“Always distrust people who are sure of things, Freddie. They haven’t looked at all the evidence.”

“It’s all very well moralizing, Polly, but what now? You’ve been announced to the whole ship as an investigator and I’m right there alongside you.”

“You’re right, it is too late to escape now. We have to see it through to the end. And I may as well tell you the full extent of your potential danger. There’s another possibility that I suggested to you at the outset and Detective Somerville outlined tonight. When he escaped from the terrorists, he may have become embroiled in criminal gangs in Lima or even Quito. Young people on the run often do. It could be that those people thought Jose had some knowledge, which could get them caught and it could be they, rather than guerillas, that have sent someone to silence him.”

“Can this get any worse?” Freda cried.

“None of this is certain,