ourselves off for an enjoyable time during which we both avoided any of
the subjects concerning the voyage, and got to know each other
better.
Campbell had booked himself and Clare into a hotel for the time we were
to stay in Papeete, but I had declined his suggestion that I too make
such an arrangement, so at the end of the evening I escorted Clare to
her new temporary home and came back to the ship feeling weary but
reasonably happy.
Early the next morning I saw the Eastern Sun enter harbour.
Geordie disappeared with Ian and Jim, and I wandered on deck to find
Danny Williams just reboarding.
“Morning, Mike,” he said. “Just back from me detective stint.”
“What’s all this?” “The skipper arranged for some of us lads to keep
an eye on Kane Yesterday he was at the post office and suchlike, and
then he holed up in a spot called Quin’s Bar. I had Nick follow him
todayand I’ve sent Bill down to hang around Quin’s again – we think
it’s his meeting-place. Yesterday he was asking for someone there.”
“Good enough,” I said. “Why not yourself, though? Tired of playing
copper?” “thought I’d better pull out. I followed Kane all over
Panama and I thought that it I did the same here he might twig.!
I nodded in satisfaction. Danny was using his brains. After a while
Campbell and Clare came on deck, clearly rested and ready for a fresh
start, and I decided that this was as good a time as any to work on
him. But he anticipated me.
“Clare’s been telling me that you want to go and see this Schouten.”
I looked at Clare. I hadn’t told her that but she must have been
reading my mind, and I was grateful. I said, “Under the circumstances,
I thought it might be a good idea.” Campbell frowned.
“I don’t know about that.”
He dug into his pocket and produced a letter. “Suarez-Navarro are on
the move again – heading towards Rabaul. They should be there by
now.”
“Do you know if they’re doing any dredging?”
He shook his head. “My man doesn’t say, but I don’t think he could
know without a flyover.” “Do you want to follow them?” Campbell shook
his head again irritably as though shaking flies away.
“It’s not what I want to do. You don’t seem to know where to go next,
and apparently Ramirez does. Maybe we should follow him.” I looked up
and saw a small party coming on board, Paula Nelson diminutive between
Ian and Jim, Geordie shepherding her with her suitcase. “Miss Nelson’s
here,” I said. “Let’s see where this leads us. If she can identify
Hadley for me here we may not have to go and see Schouten.” Campbell
and Clare had been told that Paula was coming to Papeete and were both
full of curiosity about her. I went over to greet Paula, who looked
frankly delighted to see me, and introduced her. I cocked an eye at
Ian, who grinned easily.
“No trouble,” he said. “No one tried anything.” “Thanks, fellows.
We’re glad to see you, Paula. Did you have a good trip?” “It was
wonderful! I’ve never been on one of those big cruise ships before.
And say – I hope you don’t mind but I didn’t work my passage. It was
kind of fun to be one of the tourists for a change.” “That’s great,” I
told her. Before I had a chance to say anything more I saw Nick Dugan
coming up and speaking urgently to Geordie, who then levelled a pair of
binoculars at the harbour mouth. I left Paula with the Campbells and
joined Geordie at the rails.
Nick said, “There’s the man who was talking to Kane in Quin’s Bar.” He
pointed. “He’s just gone on board a schooner and they’re getting under
way.” I took the glasses and focused them on the schooner. A big bull
of a man was standing at the wheel, apparently bellowing orders to his
native crew. They were getting under way very smartly and there wasn’t
much time to lose. I had a sudden intuition and called Paula over
sharply, thrusting the glasses into her hands.
“Look at that ship and tell me if you can identify anyone.” She had a
bit of difficulty focusing at first but then she got it and gave a
shuddering gasp. “It’s Jim Hadley,” she said. “And that’s his ship,
the Pearl.” Campbell snatched the binoculars and had a look himself.
“Where’s Kane?” I asked urgently.
“Still at the bar, last time I saw him,” Nick said. “Bill’s on his
tail.” Ian Lewis had joined us and seemed eager and willing to go on
an immediate chase. “How soon can we get under way, skipper?” he
asked Geordie.
“Too long, and half the crew isn’t here,” said Geordie. “But there’s
no need to go chasing after him- I saw that schooner in Panama.
He’s following us, damn his eyes.” I said, “So Kane lied again in
Panama. I wonder what he’ll say this time?” “He’ll say that his chum
Hadley is nowhere around and he’ll ask if he can stay with the
Esmerelda a bit longer,” Geordie guessed.
Ian looked at him and nodded thoughtfully. “Skipper, I think it’s time
we all knew what was going on,”he said gently.
“Who is yon lad, anyway?” Geordie and I exchanged glances. It was
indeed high time.
He said,”Ian, gather the lads together-justourbunch, that is, not my
regular crew. We’ll put you all in the picture sometime later today
somewhere ashore I think. I’ll be happier with you lot in the know,
anyway.” “Come to my hotel,”said Campbell, taking over as he liked to
do. “I’ll arrange for a room big enough for all of us, and we’ll pool
information. You too, Miss Nelson. I want a word with you, Mike.” He
led me aside.
“I feel as though we’re losing out on this thing. I thought we could
use Kane to feed Ramirez phoney information, but it’s not working out
that way. Kane is reporting our every movement, and we’re learning
nothing.” I laughed. “I bet his report puzzles Ramirez. He’d have a
hell of a job trying to find the last place we dredged.” Campbell
watched the schooner Pearl going out through the pass in the reef.
“What do we do now?” “We can’t go after Hadley; we don’t know where
he’s going and he has too big a start for us to follow. Besides these
are t his home waters; he could easily give us the slip. If we do
anything through government channels we get wrapped in red tape. That
leaves Schouten. . ..” “I thought you’d say that. But Ramirez is in
Rabaul. What’s he doing there?” “Waiting to follow us, at a guess;
when he thinks we’ve hit pay dirt. I’m sure Suarez-Navarro don’t know
any more than we do, or they’d be there. But this all started with
Mark’s death and Schouten was present. I think we should talk to him,
if only to clear up some unanswered questions.” He nodded. “Clare had
that idea too. She came up with the idea that perhaps all of Mark’s
gear wasn’t returned to England – that Schouten might have some stuff
stashed away.
How about that?” “I’d have to ask Paula -she might know something.”
Campbell drummed with his fingers on the mast tabernacle.
“I tell you – I’m split in two on this thing. After all, we did pull a
boo-boo at Minerva, and that was a month wasted. We’ll spend nearly a
fortnight back-tracking to go and see Schouten and that fortnight might
be precious. And God knows what Ramirez will be doing.” He fell
silent and I let him ruminate for a few minutes.
“I suppose we may find something that’ll short-circuit the whole damned
affair. All right, it’s worth the risk. We’ll go.
But if we get no answers there I’m calling the whole thing off.” I was
too delighted with his decision to worry about the threat. I could
take care of that later, if necessary. We went over to rejoin the two
girls, who had been chatting together with Geordie.
“We’re going to Tanakabu,”I told them briefly and Geordie looked very
pleased, while Clare cheered softly. Paula, of course, only looked
puzzled.
“Paula,”I asked,”do you know if the stuff of Mark’s that you sent home
was everything of his could he have had more elsewhere?” “I really
don’t know for sure, Mike. But I don’t think so. He never had much
stuff while he was with me.” I had an idea. “Paula, you’re going to
join in the briefing this afternoon, which I’m sure you’ve realized is
going to be very confidential. After all, you have a lot to
contribute. But we may be going off soon after that and as I’ve
brought you here I can’t just leave you. You’re my responsibility now,
you know.