Peter Lovesey - The False Inspector Dew

'I wouldn't go so far as to say that.'

Marjorie closed her eyes as if she were offering up a prayer.

'But you must have had a reason for going to see them, Inspector,' insisted the captain.

'Yes, indeed.'

'The shooting,' blurted out Mr Saxon. 'You saw them about the shooting.'

'That was it,' said Walter quickly. 'The gun. I was looking for the gun.'

Marjorie opened her eyes and said, 'Yes, that was what it was about. Livy's gun.'

'Your husband has a gun?' said the captain.

'Mother, what are you saying?' asked Barbara, shocked.

'Oh, God help me!' muttered Marjorie.

'And you suspected this, Inspector?' said the captain.

'More or less,' answered Walter evenly.

'I don't know how,' said Mr Saxon.

'Experience,' said Walter crushingly.

'But you didn't dispossess him of it?'

'No need,' said Walter. 'It wasn't there.'

'I guess he threw it in the sea,' said Marjorie. 'He was so careful over everything. My poor Livy. He tried so hard to bury his past, and I had to be the one who betrayed him to the Inspector.' She covered her face with her hands, while Barbara got up to comfort her.

'You didn't tell us you suspected him,' Mr Saxon said in a recriminating tone to Walter.

Captain Rostron intervened. 'Mr Saxon, it's not for you to question the way the Inspector conducts his investigation. I've no doubt that he had his reasons for acting as he did.' He turned expectantly to Walter.

'Several,' responded Walter.

Paul said, 'Would you kindly tell us what this is about?'

Walter shook his head. 'I would rather not distress the ladies.'

'It's all right,' said Marjorie dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. 'You have a right to know, Paul. I shall tell you myself. Yesterday the Inspector came to see Livy and me. As you know, he's been keeping close to us all for quite a while, and the strain was starting to tell. He's a great detective, Paul, and he knew the exact moment to move in. He very cleverly threw me into a panic by suggesting something totally bizarre. It was untrue, of course, and it doesn't matter now what it was, but it undermined us both. We started saying things we never meant to say. I called Livy a small-time crook, ft was the one thing I should never have said, but I didn't know that at the time.'

Barbara broke in. 'Mother, this is absurd! Are you telling us Livy is a crook?'

'Honey, he used to be before we were married. He was a thief. He could open locked doors without any trouble at all. He used to travel on the ocean liners and help himself to money people left in their staterooms. Just enough to make a nice living. He would always leave plenty behind, and most of them never even noticed that any had gone.'

'Well, that beats everything,' said Paul, and there was the ghost of a smile as he shook his head slowly. 'He actually told me he'd done a lot of sea travel in his business. He said it was import-export.'

'His sense of humour,' said Marjorie. 'Inspector, would you like to tell them about the LusitaniaT

'As you wish,' said Walter. He repeated the story he had heard from Jack Gordon, with Livy now cast in the role of the thief who had knocked Katherine unconscious and shut her in the stateroom in the sinking ship.

'I knew nothing of this until yesterday after lunch,' said Marjorie. 'He told me the whole story. How he was amazed and horror-stricken to see the stewardess aboard this ship on the first evening out from England. He stepped out of our stateroom and she was walking towards him. He always thought she had died on the Lusitania, but there she was like some spectre coming to take revenge. He stepped back into the room and slammed the door. But that wasn't the worst of it.'

'He saw her playing cards with us?' said Barbara.

Marjorie nodded. 'Actually as he described it you had finished playing, and she was at the table with you, honey, deep in conversation. He asked Paul what was going on.'

'I remember,' said Paul. 'He must have thought she was telling Barbara about him — or about to. He sent me back to "break it up" — in his words.'

'He went to her stateroom and broke in,' said Marjorie, 'and waited for her.' She stopped and took in a deep breath.

Captain Rostron said gently, 'There's no need to go on, Mrs Cordell.'

Clearly the captain spoke for everyone. In the silence of the next few seconds the mental picture of Livy with his hands on Katherine's throat needed no description. It was so vivid that Barbara suddenly cried out, 'No, Livy! No, no!'

Paul went to her and held her in his arms. He asked the captain, 'Do you need us any more? I'd like to take the ladies outside.'

'I understand. But we still need to find out what has happened to Mr Cordell. If you could bear with us a moment longer, I'm sure Inspector Dew would want to hear Mrs Cordell's own account of what her husband said before he disappeared.'

'It would be very helpful,' Walter confirmed.

Marjorie said hesitantly, it was kind of personal.'

'It may help us to find him,' said the captain gently.

'I don't think so,' said Marjorie sadly, 'but I'll tell you. When he had finished telling me about everything that happened, how he shot the Inspector and threw the gun over the side, he said he was sorry for me and Barbara and Paul. He said he wished he had told me before about what happened on the Lusitania, but he had thought it was something between him and his own conscience. Then he gave me a kiss and walked to the door and turned and said something that told me for certain that I would never see him again.'

'What was that, Mrs Cordell?'

A tear slid down Marjorie's cheek. 'You wouldn't understand. He said he hoped it was true about your past life flashing through your mind because he wanted another look at those sublime ankles in the elevator at the Biltmore. Then he left me.'

The captain's eyes flicked downwards and as quickly up again. 'I see. It does sound rather conclusive. Thank you, ma'am. You have been remarkably brave in the circumstances.' He nodded to Paul, who got up and escorted Marjorie and Barbara from the room.

When they had gone, Mr Saxon asked the captain, it looks as if he took a jump, sir. Can we call off the search?'

The captain turned to Walter with eyebrows raised.

'Were the cabins searched?' asked Walter.

The master-at-arms glared back. 'Of course not. The passengers were asleep. You can't do that in the middle of the night.'

Captain Rostron said, 'But you can by day. The Inspector's right, of course. We must carry on the search. See to it, would you, Mr Saxon?' As soon as the door was closed, he commented to Walter, 'A reasonably efficient man, but you can see why he would never make a good detective. Inspector, I must go up to the bridge. We must be within sight of Ambrose Light, and the pilot will be coming aboard. I would like to see you after we dock, if that is possible.'

'Most certainly,' said Walter.

When he went out on deck, it was already cluttered with cabin trunks. He weaved a way through and saw America, a heavier band of blue above the sea. He smiled.

The ship was stopped to let the pilot tender come alongside. People crowded the rails to see the diminutive figure climb the Jacob's ladder. The ship's whistle sounded. She was under way again, past Sandy Hook and through the Lower Bay towards The Narrows.

There was another stop at the place offStaten Island known as Quarantine. Immigration officers came aboard. With them came the press.

An assistant purser came to Walter's side and asked if he would meet the reporters. He declined. He said it was quite impossible for him to make any comment whatsoever. He said he was going to his stateroom to finish packing. But even as he turned to walk away, something flashed ahead of him. Keystone had got its picture of Inspector Dew.