things to the doctor. This was the crack in his story.
I said, “Hadley’s partner – was it a man called Kane?” “I don’t know,
I never met him. I knew Hadley, though; he came to know, I never met
him. I knew Hadley, though; he came to visit Mark often.”
“The devil he did!” I ejaculated. This was a new development.
“Oh sure. Mark and Sven used to hire Hadley’s boat and go off for
weeks at a time with him.”
“You’ve no idea where they went, I suppose?” I said casually.
“Mark never talked to me about what he did,” she said.
“There’s just one more thing, but it’s very important. You said you
thought Mark had been murdered. What led you to think that?” “It was
Hadley,”she said. “He came to my place and said he wanted Mark’s
things. The way he talked about Mark – he was so triumphant. I didn’t
see any reason why he should have Mark’s stuff so I gave him the air.
He was mad about it but he couldn’t do anything then because I had
friends with me. But he scared me – he’s a bad bastard. I looked at
Mark’s case and there wasn’t anything there that would do me any good,
so I sent it home to his wife. Mark talked about her to me.”There was
pain in her voice. “He talked about you too – he wasn’t very nice
about you.” “I can imagine. Did Hadley try again?” “Yes. He came
and beat the living daylights out of me and searched my place but of
course there wasn’t anything there.” “You mean – he beat you up?” “Oh
brother, you ought to have seen the shiner I had.” She looked at me
gravely.
“You don’t know much about men like Hadley, do you?” “Not yet,” I said
grimly. “But I soon will. I’m going to catch up with that bastard.”
She laughed scornfully. “He’d tear you in half, Mike. Be careful of
him – don’t come at him from the front, club him down from behind.
He’d do the same to you. He’s an uncivilized savage.” I looked at
this girl who talked of brawls and beatings so matter-of-factly. No
wonder she had that permanently shrinking air – or perhaps it was her
manner which attracted violence in the first place . “I’ll remember
that.” She sighed. “Well, then I got real scared because I said too
much. You know what I said? I said I had proof that he was lying that
Mark hadn’t died the way he said. He looked at me in a real funny way
and said he’d be back with friends. So I packed a few things and got
out. I stayed with someone else the rest of the night and next morning
there was a trading schooner leaving for Panama at five o’clock and I
was aboard by four. I kept below deck until Papeete was out of sight
.”
“What was your proof, Paula?” She said what I guessed she was going to
say. “Mark already had his appendix out. I saw the scar. He couldn’t
have died that way.” “I knew about that too. Mark had his appendix
out years ago.” Paula looked at her watch and jumped to her feet. She
still looked ravaged but she seemed a little calmer now. “I have to
get back.” “Thanks, Paula. You’ve helped me a lot. Do you think
that
Hadley killed Mark and Sven Norgaard?” “I do,”she said intensely.
“Have you any idea why he should?” She shrugged. “No idea – but I’m
sure he did it.” “Paula, before I leave here – will you write down
what you know for me?” “I – I guess so, Mike. I – have to be
careful.”
She wouldn’t come into the hotel lounge with me so I went in alone
ahead of her and found Geordie sitting talking to Clare. “Pop’s gone
to bed,” she said. “It’s late and he gets tired.” “I hope Geordie’s
been entertaining you all right.” “Oh yes, he’s been telling me more
about Mark – and you.” I said lightly, “I thought I felt my ears
burning.” I saw Paula join the trio. In the dim -lounge lighting one
could not see any trace of disarray and she began to sing in the same
pleasant, husky voice. “Nice voice she’s got,” said Clare casually.
I saw they were both looking at her.
“How was your assignationTasked Geordie.
“Interesting.” A mischievous smile played briefly on Clare’s mouth.
“We saw you escorting her out of the foyer.” “Her name is P.
Nelson,” I said. Geordie choked over his coffee.
I put Clare in the picture regarding the name, then said, “She’s had a
lot to tell me, all fascinating. She thinks that Mark was murdered,
and his partner Norgaard too – oh yes, he’s dead. And she thinks they
were both killed by Hadley, this mystery partner of Kane’s.
But the concensus of opinion in Tahiti seems to be that Mark killed
Norgaard that’s the official police view – and that Mark died by
accident while on the run. It’s a hell of a mess.” “Good God,”said
Geordie. “What’s she doing here?” “Ran away from Hadley. I’ll fill
you all in in the morning.
I’m tired.” It seemed an age since we had come sailing into Panama,
only that morning.
Clare looked over towards Paula, who was still singing.
“How well did she know Mark?” “Pretty well,” I said unthinkingly.
“She was another of Mark’s popsies.” And could have bitten my tongue
out the moment I spoke.
-AL Next morning at breakfast Campbell came down with a cable.
He frowned as he read it. “Suarez-Navarro have started to move,” he
said. “Their ship has left Darwin, bound for New Guinea.” Geordie
said, “The Bismarck Archipelago is up that way too.”
“What’s that got to do with it? “We forgot to tell, you,” I said.
“Kane sent a cable yesterday, to Rabaul, which is in the
Archipelago.”
“Kane – maybe to Ramirez, telling him where you are.
Would your nodule deposit be anywhere up near Rabaul?” asked
Campbell.
There’s nothing against it and a few things for it,” I said.
“Though personally I think Mark wouldn’t have been so far away from
where it is. But from what I could gather from the notebooks Mark was
linking nodule formation with vulcanism, and there’s a hell of a lot of
volcanoes in that part of the world.” “Not here?” , Oh yes, all over
the Pacific. I’m going to explain that to you when my own ideas are
clearer.” “Do you think he was right in that theory?”said Campbell.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s all very theoretical. There’s
nothing against it in principle.”
Campbell muttered, “When I get an unqualified answer from a scientist I
suppose the world will be coming to an end.
Now, what’s all this about the girl last night? Clare’s told me a
little.” So I filled them all in and we sat back, aghast and disturbed
by the implications in Paula’s story. We were running into something
which got steadily nastier Campbell approved of my wanting her evidence
written down, preferably legally attested, though I wasn’t sure if she
would commit herself so far.
Clare said, changing the subject, “Mike, I’ve been giving the diary
some thought and especially the drawings, and I think I’ve come up with
something. Can we all go up to Pop’s suite after breakfast?” Geordie
assented reluctantly. He was anxious to get back to his ship, but we
persuaded him that all would be well for a couple of hours more.
“They’re good lads, plenty to do and they know where you are if they
want you,” I said firmly. So after breakfast we found ourselves seated
round a coffee table in the suite, already sweating gently in spite of
the air conditioning, and with the sunshine of Panama calling to us
through the open windows. Clare laid out the diary and tracings in
front of us.
“I’ve been working backwards, from where we know Mark was, to see if we
can identify any more of the drawings. The very last one is what looks
like a monocle, and I think I know what it is – but only because we do
know where Mark was. I think it means Tahiti.” “How the hell can it
mean TahitiTsaid Campbell.
“They’re also known as the Society Islands. And a monocle is the
epitome of the uppercrust, the “society” bloke. It’s lean, but could
it do?” She looked anxiously for my opinion.
I laughed. “As well as anything. Crude but effective. Go on.”
“Numbers 31 and 30 I can’t see at all – perhaps Geordie might, if he
knows the area well, One’s a cow and one’s a well, it’s this.” She
pointed to an object like an irregular, flattened semicircle standing
on a flat base. It was connected to the cow with the word”OR’, and