time. Whatever it was, this just wasn’t any other time. I pulled on
shoes, shirt, and jacket, pulled out the colt from under the mattress,
stuck it in my waist belt, and went off in search of the captain.
chapter 6
[wednesday 7:45 p.m. 1:15 p.m.]
as far as attendance went, mr. julius beresford had no grounds for
complaint that night: every single passenger on the ship had turned up
for his wife’s cocktail party and, as far as I could see, every off-duty
officer on the campari was there as well. And the party was certainly
going splendidly; already, at seven forty-five, practically everyone was
already on his or her second drink, and the drinks served up in the
drawing room of the campari were never small ones. Beresford and his
wife had been moving round, speaking
to each of the guests in rotation, and now it was my turn. I saw
them approaching, raised my glass, and said, “many happy returns, mrs.
Beresford.”
“Thank you, young man. Enjoying yourself?”
“Of course. So is everybody. And you should be, most of all.”
“Yes.” she sounded just the slightest bit doubtful. “I don’t know
if julius was rightly mean, it’s less than twenty-four hours
“If you’re thinking about benson and brownell, ma’am, you’re
worrying unnecessarily. You couldn’t have done a better thing than
arrange this. I’m sure every passenger on the ship is grateful to you
for helping to get things back to normal so quickly. I know all the
officers are, anyway.”
“Just as I told you, my dear.” beresford patted his wife’s hand,
then looked at me, amusement touching the corners of his eyes. “My
wife, like my daughter, seems to have the greatest faith in your
judgement, mr. carter.”
“Yes, sir. I wonder if you could persuade your daughter not to go
visiting in the officers’ quarters?”
“No,” beresford said regretfully, “it’s impossible. Self-willed
young lady.” he grinned. “I’ll bet she didn’t even knock.”
“She didn’t.” I looked across the room to where miss beresford was
giving tony carreras the full benefit of her eyes over the rim of a
martini glass. They certainly made a striking couple. “She had, with
respect, some bee in her bonnet about something being wrong aboard the
campari. I think the unfortunate happenings last night must have upset
her.”
“Naturally. And you managed to remove this?”
“I think so, sir.”
there was a slight pause, then mrs. Beresford said impatiently,
“julius, we’re just beating about the bush.”
“Oh, now, mary, I don’t think
“Rubbish,” she said briskly. “Young man, do you know one of the
principal reasons I came along on this trip? apart” -she smiled-“from
the food? because my husband asked me to, because he wanted a second
opinion from you. Julius, as you know, has made several trips on your
ship. He has, as the saying goes, had an eye on you for a job in his
organisation. My husband, I may say, has made his fortune not so much
by working himself as by picking the right men to work for him. He’s
never made a mistake yet. I don’t think he’s making a mistake now. And
you have another very special recommendation.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said politely.
“You’re the only young man of our acquaintance who doesn’t turn
himself into a carpet to be trampled on as soon as our daughter appears
in sight. A very important qualification, believe me.”
“Would you like to work for me, mr. carter?” beresford asked
bluntly.
“I think I would, sir.”
“Well!” mrs. Beresford looked at her husband. “That’s settled
“Will you?” julius beresford interrupted. “No, sir.”
“Why not?”
“Because your interests are in steel and oil. I know only the sea
and ships. They don’t mix. I have no qualifications to work for you,
and at my present age i’d be too long in acquiring them. And I couldn’t
accept a job for which i’d no qualifications.”
“Even at double the money? or three times?”
“I’m grateful for the offer, sir, believe me. I do appreciate
it. But there’s more to it than money.”
“Ah, well.” the beresfords looked at each other. They didn’t seem
too disturbed over my refusal; there was no reason why they should. “We
asked a question, we got an answer. Fair enough.” he changed the
subject. “What do you think of my feat in getting the old man here
tonight?”
“I think it was very thoughtful of you.” I glanced across the room
to a spot near the door where old cerdan, sherry glass in hand, was
sitting in his wheel chair, with his nurses on a settee by his side.
They too had sherry glasses. The old boy seemed to be talking
animatedly to the captain. “He must lead a very shut-in life. Much
difficulty in persuading him?”
“None at all. He was delighted to come.” I filed away this piece
of information; my one encounter with cerdan had left me with the
impression that the only thing that would delight him about such an
invitation would be the opportunity to give a surly refusal. “If you’ll
excuse us, mr. carter. Hosts’ duties to their guests, you know.”
“Certainly, sir.” I stood to one side, but mrs. Beresford planted
herself in front of me and smiled quizzically.
“Mr. carter,” she said firmly, “you’re a very stiff-necked young
man. And please don’t for a moment imagine that i’m referring to your
accident of last night.”
they moved off. I watched them go, thinking all sorts of thoughts,
then crossed to the hinged flap that led to the rear of the bar.
Whenever I approached that flap I felt it was not a glass I should have
in my hand but a machete to help me hack my way through the jungle of
flowers, potted shrubs, cacti, and festoons of creepers and hanging
plants that transformed the place into the most unlikely looking bar
you’d ever seen. The interior desiguer responsible had gone into
rhapsodies about it, but it was all right for him he didn’t have to live
with it; all he had to do was to retire nightly to his semi-detached in
south london where his wife would have had him out the door if he’d
tried on any such nonsense at home. But the passengers seemed to like
it.
I made it to the back of the bar without getting scratched too much
and said to the barman, “how’s it going, louis?”
“Very well, sir,” louis said stiffly. His bald pate was gleaming
with sweat and his hairline moustache twitching nervously. There were
irregularities going on and louis didn’t like irregularities. Then he
thawed a bit and said, “they seem to be drinking a fair bit more than
usual tonight, sir.”
“Not half as much as they will later on.” I moved to the
crystal-laden shelves from where I could see under the back of the bar
and said, “you don’t look very comfortable to me.”
“By god, and i’m not!” and indeed there wasn’t much room for the
bo’sun to wedge his bulk between the raised deck and the underside of
the bar; his knees were up to his chin, but at least he was completely
invisible to anyone on the other side of the counter. “Stiff as hell,
sir. Never be able to move when the time comes.”
“And the smell of all that liquor driving you round the bend,” I
said sympathetically. I wasn’t as cool as I sounded. I had to keep
wiping the palms of my hands on the sides of my jacket, but try as I
would, I couldn’t seem to get them properly dry. I moved over to the
counter again. “A double whisky, louis. A large double whisky.”
louis poured the drink and handed it across without a word. I
raised it to my lips, lowered it below counter level, and a large hand
closed gratefully round it. I said quietly, as if speaking to louis,
“if the captain notices the smell afterwards you can claim it was that
careless devil louis that spilt it over you. I’m taking a walk now,
archie. If everything’s o.k., i’ll be back in five minutes.”
“And if not? if you’re wrong?”
“Heaven help me. The old man will feed me to the sharks.” I made
my way out from behind the bar and sauntered slowly towards the door. I
saw bullen trying to catch my eye but I ignored him; he was the world’s
worst actor. I smiled at susan beresford and tony carreras, nodded
civilly enough to old cerdan, bowed slightly to the two nurses the thin
one, I noticed, had returned to her knitting and she seemed to me to be
doing all right and reached the doorway.
once outside, I dropped all pretence at sauntering. I reached the
entrance to the passengers’ accommodation on “a” deck in ten seconds.
Halfway down the long central passageway white was sitting in his
cubicle. I walked quickly down there, lifted the lid of his desk, and