Donald Moffitt - Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 57, No. 7 & 8, July/August 2012

“I did?”

“Do you remember what Marshall said about Ray Zielinski? “Good guy, ex-Navy snipe like me.’ Snipe, Erica, is Navy slang for engineer. Who else better to assist Holloway in his crime?

“This also explained a discrepancy regarding Zielinski’s disappearance. Melita told Victoria that her husband had been missing for five days, but Marshall informed Erica that the yacht had been gone for only three. So either his disappearance wasn’t related to the yacht at all, or it was more complex than his simply having been on board when she got underway. If he was Holloway’s helper, the last thing he would want was to be aboard when it went to sea, and that meant he would have to be unreachable before the yacht got underway.

“I suspect what he wanted, aside from money, was to get out of his marriage. His wife is a Filipina, and traditional Filipinos have strong family ties. When a man marries into such a family, he is not taking his bride away from her parents. In effect, he is marrying not only her, but also her parents, and her brothers and sisters, and even her cousins — he is expected to provide what he can to the entire clan.”

“So he deserted her. That son of a bitch,” Nicki said.

“Where’s your evidence?” Adrian asked.

“Thank you, Mr. Tabi, we are coming to that. The test of an hypothesis is made by observing if its predicted results occur. If the boat were to blow up, the hypothesis would be validated.”

“But nobody would know about it if it happened in the middle of the ocean, because there wouldn’t be anybody around to see it. The fact that the yacht never made it to Hawaii doesn’t prove anything.”

“Nobody would see it. But that doesn’t mean that somebody wouldn’t hear it.”

“That makes even less sense.”

“Only because I presume you are unfamiliar with the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System, the U.S. Navy’s worldwide network for tracking hostile submarines. Its primary component is acoustic. If there is an explosion at sea, especially anywhere close enough to our coastline to be a possible strategic threat, the Navy is virtually certain to know about it.”

“Sounds like science fiction. Anyway, that sort of thing is so highly classified that they wouldn’t tell you squat, even if they did know about it.”

“You show a lack of understanding as to the nature of intelligence apparatuses, Mr. Tabi. They collect information, so the way to deal with them is to offer information. I accordingly contacted CUS, the office of Commander, Undersea Surveillance, and told them I could explain the mysterious explosion they detected in the middle of the Eastern Pacific. If I were wrong, they would ignore me and write me off as a crackpot. But if I were right, then I was in possession of data they needed, and I would certainly hear from them right away.

“As I did. You yourself were present when I received the call. By the way, via aerial surveillance, they have subsequently found exactly where Chengfeng sank. You destroyed the vessel, but you could do nothing about the fragments of the wreck floating on the surface. The weather has been particularly fine in the Eastern Pacific lately, and it was all still there.”

He clenched his jaws. “All right. Maybe you’re right about the Chengfeng. But it doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

“Then why has almost everything you’ve told us about the case been a lie? For example, you let Erica believe that MTRG was the beneficiary of the insurance policy on the yacht. The yacht was leased, Mr. Tabi, as you must have known. The beneficiary of the policy would be the owner, not the lessee. And perhaps you might explain why you followed Erica home from Marina del Rey when she was performing a follow-up to our investigation.”

“Easy. I was there following up the matter myself, and I saw her go into the store. I knew as soon as I saw her that our meeting at MTRG hadn’t been a coincidence. I needed to find out who she was, so I followed her. It’s what any competent P.I. would do.”

Miss Enola shook her head. “You were not there conducting a follow-up. You never investigated the yacht’s disappearance in the first place because you already knew what had happened to her. In fact, you directed attention away from what had happened to the yacht, as you were in a perfect position to do as the investigator assigned by Lloyd’s America. Erica, do you remember what Marshall told you about someone asking about the yacht before you did?”

“Yeah. He said somebody else had been asking around, and he didn’t like it. I knew it wasn’t the SEC because federal officers always identify themselves.” I looked at Adrian. “I thought it was the guys in the pickup truck.”

“What pickup truck?” Adrian asked.

“The one that attempted to intimidate Erica after her first visit to the marina, Mr. Tabi, which we’ve since established belongs to Herbert Holloway. He and Zielinski were staking out the marina after you learned questions had been asked. Somehow, Zielinski and Holloway recognized Erica as a threat. How could that be, unless you were there, too? You saw her, and as you say, realized that your encounter at MTRG was no coincidence. It must have shaken you badly, so you sent them after her to scare her off. But they weren’t the men who interrogated Marshall. Marshall knew both Zielinski and Holloway, so whoever asked him about the Chengfeng had to have been someone else.”

“All right. Who?”

“Who else had an interest? Whose money was missing? MTRG’s. We know firsthand that Colin Pippinger, the head of MTRG, was inimical to your presence. He must have been conducting his own inquiry. At first, you thought their inquiries had yielded nothing, but to be certain, you and your accomplices kept watch at the marina in case they returned. Instead, Erica showed up. Now you had to worry about her too. So to see if your scare tactic had worked, you waited to see if she would come back. It must have been an unpleasant shock when she did. You accordingly forced a meeting with us to promulgate misinformation.”

This time, Adrian just stared at her.

“Now let’s examine the matter of the offshore bank where Long stashed the money. After Hawaii, his only logical destination could be Tahiti; first, because other than North America, it is the only place within Chengfeng’s reach after refueling, and secondly because it is in French Polynesia, and France has no extradition treaty with the United States. He would be completely safe there. This suggested to me that his bank might not be in China, but somewhere closer to Tahiti.

“Many Pacific Island nations now have offshore banking industries. Among them, Vanuatu is less than three thousand miles from Tahiti. Not close, but close enough, comparable to the distance between Los Angeles and New York — a five-hour flight. Unlike France, though, Vanuatu does have an extradition treaty with the U.S. If that’s where Long put his money, he would need someone else to retrieve it for him, a hidden partner who could travel there and back without arousing suspicion.

“Is it a coincidence, then, that “Tabi’ is a male Vanuatan surname?”

Adrian shook his head. “This is unbelievable.”

“Is it? The destruction of Chengfeng would only be possible if the murderers knew her exact itinerary. And who would have known about it except for Long’s partner? You decided to cut Long out of the picture and keep the money for yourself. Holloway and Zielinski would take much smaller slices of the pie than Long.”

“Except that I don’t know any Holloway or Zielinski.”

“Drivel. You met them at a bowling alley in Mar Vista this very morning. Erica took your picture.”