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) 📕

firm in his bearing. “I repeat, you are wasting your time on this wrong road. If you decide to take this further, I will produce a solid, clear alibi for the time in question. Until then, you must accept my word. You are wrong. Look elsewhere. Now, unless you have anything else to ask, I’m leading a hike this morning and will return to my work.”

The three inquisitors were so taken aback by this transformation from evasive youth to stolid adult, they were stunned for a moment.

“I have no more questions,” Pauline said.

“I have many, but I’ll leave them for now,” Somerville growled.

“You may go, Pedro,” Ferguson said, “but you and I need to talk later.”

When the naturalist had left the room, Somerville said, “He did something.”

Pauline said, “But not, I think, what we feared.”

“You think he was with one of the passengers, Miss Riddell?” Ferguson asked.

Pauline nodded. “Which is, I’m sure, against company policy and could have him fired. However, admitting it, if he has to, is better than being arrested on suspicion of causing someone’s death.”

“He’s a fast worker then,” Somerville said. “We’d only just gotten onboard.”

“Well,” Pauline said, “he’s a very attractive boy.”

‘But you like a more mature man, do you, Miss Riddell?”

“I no longer give the matter any thought, Detective. Now, how do we proceed with our remaining suspects?”

Alone in her cabin, and dressing automatically for the morning’s hike, Pauline stared out of the porthole and thought. Pedro had been the most likely of the obvious suspects, but his words had convinced her of his innocence. For him to make such a statement, with all that it entailed, said he really was innocent of murder. She would not demand he produce his alibi, nor would she encourage Somerville or Ferguson to do so either. Some things were best left unsaid and private.

Where did that leave her? Squashed, is where she was – in the middle of the road and squished flat. She had been that sure it was Pedro. Her disappointment was intense. Her belief in herself unraveled and doubts, always crowding in, took possession of her mind.

What was so odd about this case, and had been causing her much unease, was how much it resembled her first case. Then, as now, everyone was happy with the official verdict and only she saw a different answer. Like that first time, it was she, Pauline, pushing others to find a murderer that others thought didn’t exist. Since that time, most of the mysteries she’d solved had been her working with others as they reached the right conclusion, even if they hadn’t always agreed at the start who was the guilty party. They had all been working to establish the truth. This felt like her career had come full circle and, more than that, was drawing to a natural close.

Was that the path her life was intended to follow in future? Was this fate, God even, giving her an opportunity to call an end to the strange ‘career’ she’d had? Maybe it was her subconscious. People nowadays were very hot on their subconscious. Was it telling her that a new country required a new start and a casting off of her old life?

That was the bigger picture but what of the smaller, more immediate problem? If not Pedro, then Rod, Arvin or Señor X, the mystery suspect who she’d suggested earlier but who never appeared. X would certainly be one of the crew, but they all seemed to be just regular people.

Hidalgo was still searching, of course, and something may appear but probably not before the ship docked back on the mainland. That only left the other two. The first, Rod, seemed hugely unlikely, whatever a real or imagined quarrel with Jose might suggest. That left the morose, sad Arvin. Poor man. Unable to shake off the monsters in his past, did he lash out and unwittingly cause Jose’s death? If he did, his own anguished spirit would haunt him until his dying day. It seemed unfair to burden him further.

Wishing she’d kept to her original refusal to take part, Pauline sighed, left her cabin and knocked on Freda’s cabin door.

13

Floreana Island, Post Office Bay

As they were leaving their rooms on the way to breakfast, they wished Maria, waiting in the corridor to start cleaning, a good morning. She smiled and replied with her usual happy smile.

They were about to walk away when Freda said, “Maria, did you know Jose?”

The beaming smile on Maria’s face disappeared at once. “He was a bad man,” she said.

“Oh, did you know him?”

Maria shook her head. “He tried it on with me first day here on this ship – that is how you say it?”

“Yes, that’s what people say. Did he molest you?”

“What is molest?” Maria asked, suspiciously.

“Interfered with you,” Freda said.

Maria nodded. Her white teeth bit her lower lip and her eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry,” Freda said, “I didn’t know. It must have been horrible. Did you report what happened?”

Maria shook her head.

“You should, you know.”

“He’s dead now,” Maria said. “The other men are good people. We don’t need the trouble it will bring.”

“I see what you mean,” Freda said. “But how did you hope to keep him at bay throughout the whole voyage?”

Maria’s expression hardened. “I meant to avoid him but now I don’t have to. Now, please excuse me, I must get on with my work.” She opened the nearest cabin door and stepped inside, closing the door quickly behind her.

“I wish I hadn’t said anything now,” Freda said. ‘Poor Maria. How awful.”

“You did the right thing,” Pauline said. “I’ll make a detective out of you before this case is over.”

“It caused her so much distress. I bet she’s in there crying her eyes out.”

“Probably but she has given me a new possible motive,” Pauline said.

“You mean Maria killed him?” Freda asked incredulously.

“Possibly, but more likely she told one or more of the male crew members and they decided to warn Jose off. I