Max Collins - The Titanic Murders

“He told me to meet him on the deck, middle of the night-two A.M., when the ship was asleep. He said if I didn’t meet ’im, he’d tell on me to the Allisons. He knew all about my baby, too. He said he even had the pictures from the papers to show the Allisons. I need that job, sir! I need the chance the Americas give.”

“You’re getting off the subject, Alice. Tell me about that night on deck with Mr. Rood.”

“He… he knew his partner was dead. He said he seen the stewardess come tearin’ out of his friend’s cabin, white as a ghost, and he quicklike slipped in and seen the body. And he knew I done it-or anyways, he figured I done it, ’cause his friend told him what he was goin’ to do to me. I think… I think I was to be both their white slaves, by crossing’s end.”

“Is that what he wanted from you up here, Alice? Your ‘favors’?”

She was staring at the deck. “No. No, he… he wanted the money.”

“What money, Alice?”

“I did somethin’ bad in that room, somethin’ I shouldn’t-and I ain’t talkin’ about riddin’ the world of that blackhearted bastard. But there was this money on his dresser, just sitting there, this great wad of paper money. When Mr. Crafton was dead, when I just stood there catchin’ my breath, I seen it there, sir, that money… and I snatched it up. Took it with me. Figured… I earned it.”

“And Rood wanted that money.”

She nodded. “He started in to get rough with me, sir… he begun to shake me like a doll, till my head was rattlin’… it was right there, it happened.”

She pointed, like a child picking out a toy in a store window; but she was singling out one of the davit-slung lifeboats.

“That’s where it happened, sir… I grabbed him and I shoved him, shoved him hard… didn’t mean to do it so hard, I was just… tryin’ to get loose of him.”

“You’re saying that’s what killed him?”

She nodded. “Caved the back of his head in, it did, sir.”

“There must have been blood.”

“There was, sir. He didn’t have no pulse, sir. So I hid him in the boat.”

“You did that yourself? Slung him up in there?”

“Yes, sir. You said it yourself, sir… I’m a strong girl.”

Something didn’t sit right with the second half of her story; but Futrelle had a feeling this was the only story he’d get out of her. She had calmed down-the hysteria was over, the tears too, and she had gone from the girl unhinged by his manipulated seance to the battle-scarred survivor she innately was.

Still, she was beaten down, a flat-nosed girl in her blue Sunday dress. “What now, sir? See the captain? I’ll turn myself in, if you like. Will they hang me, sir?”

“Let’s find a bench and sit, Alice.”

They did. The deck remained theirs alone; theirs, and the cold night and the glittering stars.

“I’m going to try to help you,” he said.

She gazed at him, puzzled. “Why, sir?”

“Because men like Astor and Guggenheim and the rest… even men like me… can fight the likes of a John Crafton in all sorts of ways, including just throwing money at him. But a girl of your station, you don’t have the same choices. It troubles me that violence follows you, Alice… but I told you I was not your judge.”

“But the captain…?”

“The captain and Mr. Ismay, well… I’m going to try to keep this from coming out. I can’t promise you I can manage it. But I promise I will try.”

“Why?”

“You were wronged, Alice. To see you spend a day in jail for removing a cancer on society like Crafton or Rood, I simply cannot countenance.”

She beamed at him, happiness seeming out of place on the battered face. “Oh, sir… what do you want from me?”

“Nothing!” Futrelle backed away, held his palms out. “Not a thing! Not your money, not your favors…”

She frowned in confusion. “I don’t understand. From where you sit, sir, I must be a murderess and a thief.”

“I see only a blackmailer’s victim, who fought back. If I’m successful in shielding you, I only want one thing, one promise…”

“Yes, sir?”

“Upon arriving in Canada, you will leave the Allisons’ employ, immediately… and use that bankroll of Crafton’s to begin a new life, with a new name.”

“Yes, sir!”

“And find some profession other than nanny. I don’t want you around children… understood?”

“Sir, oh sir… you are my judge, my kind and generous judge…”

“Do you promise?”

Tears were welling in those pretty eyes again. “I promise, sir.”

“Then let’s get down off this deck,” he said, “before we catch our death.”

The wind came from the southwest, moderate but with a bite in it. The Futrelles were on the boat deck walking off an enormous First-Class Dining Saloon breakfast (Jack had perhaps ill advisedly taken two servings of the grilled mutton chops and bacon). The couple could not have found the clear, cool morning more delightful: to the horizon stretched a smooth shimmer of blue-gray sea under a faded blue sky blessed only with fluffy white unthreatening clouds.

“I hope I did the right thing,” Futrelle said, his breath pluming. He was in his topcoat.

May, wrapped up in her black beaver coat, was holding on to her husband’s right arm with both of hers. “I know you did, darling. And even if you didn’t-you erred on the side of compassion… and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Well, it remains to be seen if the captain will go along with my suggestions.”

“Surely he will,” she said.

And as they walked, they caught a glimpse of the man himself, Captain Smith undertaking his full inspection of the ship, that sacrosanct ritual of all passenger ships at sea. In his white uniform with its medals and gold-ribboned cuffs, the captain led a parade of his department heads-chief officer, chief engineer, chief steward, the purser, even old Dr. O’Loughlin, all in dress uniform. From boat deck to boiler room, bow to stern, every accessible nook and cranny was to be inspected.

What Futrelle knew, that no one else did, was that the inspection team was running half an hour late; the captain would have to shake a leg to finish before the church service at eleven A.M. that he was set to lead.

The captain’s usual meeting of department heads, at ten A.M., had been canceled so that the captain could attend a meeting with Futrelle and Ismay, which the latter had called.

“I’ve informed Captain Smith of the doings in the Reading and Writing Room last night,” Ismay said, the irritated contortions of his mouth making his mustache do a funny little dance.

The three men were again seated at the round table in the parlor of Captain Smith’s suite near the wheelhouse. A steward, who had long since disappeared, had served coffee and tea-Futrelle took the former, and was stirring cream and sugar in-while Ismay and the captain had taken the latter, though neither had touched theirs.

“Really?” Futrelle said with a facial shrug. “It was just an evening’s entertainment.”

“I don’t think so,” Ismay said.

The captain said, “From what Mr. Ismay tells me, I gather you may have flushed out our murderer.”

And here Futrelle and the captain shared a secret: Smith had been aware of Futrelle’s scheme and had agreed to it, arranging the use of the Reading and Writing Room for the seance. But Ismay wasn’t aware of that, and Futrelle was happy to cover for the captain.

Who was saying, “Yet Mr. Ismay says you refused to confirm your discovery, last night, when he confronted you, afterward.”