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) 📕

Pedro said. “I only say I can understand why he might meet a violent end when others didn’t. I know nothing of murder.”

Ferguson looked at the two investigators and, seeing no further questions coming, said, “Thank you for being so honest with us, Pedro. It must have been very difficult for you.”

When Pedro had left the cabin, Ferguson asked, “Did any of this help you, Miss Riddell, Mr. Somerville?”

“I think we need to know a lot more about Pedro and what has been happening among the crew,” Somerville said. “He may have been honest, but he may be holding back something that could blow this case apart.”

“I agree we need to interview more crew members to get a better understanding,” Pauline said. “And I think Pedro does believe Jose was murdered, but I shall wait until we know more before I decide whether this is a defining moment in the case.”

“There’s one other thing I learned from Pedro earlier today,” Pauline said and quickly outlined the information Pedro had given.

Somerville was excited. “I knew it,” he said. “That Rod guy’s as crooked as they come. I shouldn’t say this, but Betty needs to be alive to her surroundings or someday she’ll find she isn’t alive at all.”

“Detective Somerville,” Ferguson said. “In this room, we may speak plainly, of course, but you must not say such things outside here.”

Somerville grinned. “Don’t you worry, Captain, I can keep my mouth shut when I need to. But this information is what we need to sweat that guy a bit. What do you say, Miss Riddell?”

“Certainly, we should interview him, Detective, but I’m not the sort who ‘sweats’ people. I find talking to witnesses works just as well.”

“Maybe in those middle-class dramas you involve yourself in but in the real world there are people who would find talking to old ladies a hoot. They’d play up to them, telling them whatever they want to hear. They’re pretty damn good at being all things to all people.”

“Nevertheless, Detective, I insist, when we talk to him, we do so in a civilized manner.”

“Well, sure, ma’am. We’ll be as sweet as candy. On my honor.”

Pauline was not convinced by this profession of good behavior and was more than ever determined to get to Rod before Somerville. Overnight, she had to come up with a plan.

12

Morning at Sea

As it happened, she didn’t need to do anything, for Rod did something they would never have suspected of him, though perhaps they should have expected because he was a fitness instructor before he married. Nevertheless, they were surprised when he turned up for the ship’s exercise class at six am the next morning.

As they met him making his way up the stairs on the way to the class, Pauline asked, “I wondered if we might talk privately for a moment, Rod, after the class?”

“What about?”

“About Jose,” Pauline said.

“I’ve already told that detective all I know, which is nothing. And I’ve told him twice. If you’re going to the class, I’m leaving.”

This announcement about Somerville so angered Pauline she was momentarily speechless. Fortunately, Freda was able to step into the breach.

“Please don’t do that,” Freda said, quickly. “We aren’t out to trap you. Just understand.”

They reached the highest deck, where the center was brightly lit, the instructor already waiting.

“My regulars are here, I see. Welcome back, ladies,” she said, with a beaming smile, “and welcome to a new face too, sir.”

Rod’s dark expression seemed even more sinister in the shadows on the edge of the lighted circle but his nodded reply was friendly enough.

All three took up station by one of the mats laid out on the deck. The instructor always laid out six mats but in the three days Pauline had attended, today was the first time there were more attendees than just her and Freda.

The best part of the class, to Pauline anyway, was while they stretched, the sun rose swiftly over a new island each morning. Today was no different. Darkness gave way to a purplish haze in the shadows created by the low mountain, until the island’s features, indistinct at first, were laid bare in the bright sunshine. Today’s island was a dry, dun-colored hill rising out of the sea, lightly covered in scrub vegetation like so many of the islands they’d seen. It was no wonder that, at first, people had thought of them as ‘the land that time forgot’. They looked ancient and primeval, as did the creatures that lived on them. It took a Darwin to recognize they were exactly the opposite of that.

The moment they left the class, Pauline took up her earlier question with Rod. “Someone mentioned seeing you having a quarrel with Jose. What was that about?”

“The detective asked me the same thing. I’ll tell you what I told him. I didn’t have a quarrel with Jose and even if I had, it would still be no business of yours.”

“We’re only trying to set the cruise company’s mind at rest,” Freda said. “They just want to be sure it was an accident.”

“Well, I can’t help you there so if you’ll excuse me, this is where I leave you,” Rod said, gesturing to the door that led to the first-class suites.

When he’d gone, Pauline said, “I’d hoped if we got to him first, we might do better with a woman’s touch.”

Freda grinned. “I think he’s off women right now. Marrying for money hasn’t been as painless as he imagined, I think.”

“Hush, Freddie. We don’t know he married for money.”

“If that’s how your detecting mind works, Polly, I’m not surprised it takes you forever to get the right answer. Men marry young women for children and old women for money. You don’t need to be a detective to work that out.”

“That doesn’t mean there can’t be love, or at least affection, involved,” Pauline said primly.

“Well Rod’s affection evaporated quickly ‘cos he’s been as cross as a bear with a sore head since this honeymoon cruise began.” Freda paused, and then