James Benn - The White Ghost

“We’ll do our best,” I said.

“Daniel deserves no less,” he said. “If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.”

“We’d like to hear more about Daniel,” Kaz said. “From both of you. What he was like, his work, his friends.”

“Let’s go inside,” Sexton said. “I’ll show you.”

The main room held a large table strewn with maps and charts. Sexton cleared off the top layer, revealing a dog-eared map with Guadalcanal at one end and Bougainville at the other.

“This is my area of operations,” Sexton began. “As you can see, Guadalcanal and Malaita anchor the Solomons to the southeast. The island chain runs to the northwest, where Bougainville, the largest landmass, ends it. Beyond is New Georgia and New Ireland, both firmly in Jap hands.”

“This is the Slot,” Jacob said, tapping his finger on the channel between the central Solomon Islands. “Jap ships come at night, planes by day.”

“It’s our job to maintain posts on the Japanese-held islands and radio in reports of ships and aircraft,” Sexton said. “When the battle for Guadalcanal was being fought, it was about the only advantage we had.”

“Shoot down many fella Japan Kawanishi,” Jacob said.

“Do they still come down this far?” I asked.

“Not usually,” Sexton said. “But as you saw, we’ll get the occasional raid. The whole show has moved up the Slot. We’ve recently taken Rendova, so the action is around New Georgia now.” He tapped his finger on a clump of islands at the center of the Solomons. “That’s why we’re here. Reorganizing and moving new teams up. We still have observation posts on nearly every island, but the main focus is the advance up the Slot.”

“Where was Daniel stationed?” Kaz asked.

“Choiseul. Big island,” Jacob said.

“Mount Vasau,” Sexton said. “Excellent observation point. Unfortunately an obvious one, so Daniel and Dickie Miller were constantly on the run.”

“Miller?” I asked.

“He worked for Burns Philp before the war,” Sexton said. “One of their plantation managers. He escaped Bougainville and joined our group when the Japs invaded.”

“He knew Daniel well?” Kaz said.

“They in bush together one year,” Jacob said. “But he gone Austrelia. Got pekpek blut bad.”

“Pekpek?” Kaz asked.

“Dysentery,” Sexton explained. “We evacuated them both when we heard how sick Dickie was. It’s fairly common, but Dickie was very ill, nearly died. We sent in a fresh team when we got the two of them out.”

“How did Daniel come to join the Coastwatchers?” I asked.

“He work on plantesen on Pavau,” Jacob said, tracing a line on the map to an island north of Choiseul. “Japan man come, Pavau man kill one fella Japan. Japan kill many fella Pavau. Daniel escape, takim boat to Choiseul. He help nuns escape too, bringim to Tulagi.”

“That’s when he volunteered,” Sexton said. “He spoke English very well and was adept with the radio. He was very good.”

“Did he and Dickie Miller get along?” I asked.

“Like barata,” Jacob said. “Faetem lot, but strong together.”

“Like brothers,” I said.

“Yes,” Sexton added. “When two people spend that much time together in the bush, there’s bound to be arguments. But Daniel didn’t leave Dickie’s side until he got on a transport at Henderson Field.”

“When was that exactly?” I asked.

“The day before he was killed,” Sexton said. “He came over here, but didn’t stay long. He said he had to see a relative from Malaita. He was due a few days’ rest, so that wasn’t a problem.”

“Do either of you have any idea why he would have gone down to that beach?” Kaz asked.

“No,” Jacob said. “I come over later in the day, weitim here. No Daniel.”

“We were surprised,” Sexton said. “We’d told Daniel that Jacob would be here to meet him. They hadn’t seen each other in two years.”

“Did anyone see him after he returned from his visit?” I asked. The two men shook their heads.

“The only man to see Daniel after that was Jack Kennedy,” Sexton said. “Not counting the fellow who killed him, of course.” At the mention of Jack’s name, Jacob’s eyes narrowed as he looked away, gazing out over the water.

“Where is everyone, anyway?” I asked. “I thought you were having a pow-wow.”

“Each team is being briefed on the new teleradio sets over at the naval base, courtesy of your signals section,” Sexton said. “They’ll be back this evening. Every Coastwatcher has to be thoroughly versed in radio repair and maintenance. It is a matter of life or death.”

“Is that the new radio?” Kaz asked. A large transmitter and receiver were set up on a table.

“Yes, the Teleradio 3BZ,” Sexton said. “Has a range of four hundred miles.”

“Plenty heavy,” Jacob said. “Fourteen fella to carry.”

“Fourteen?” I said. “Why so many?”

“You’ve got the transmitter and receiver,” Sexton said. “Plus the microphone, headset, and spare parts. Then a gasoline generator to run the thing, not to mention the fuel itself. Batteries for when the fuel runs out. Fourteen fella, just like Jacob said.”

“It must be very difficult,” Kaz said with typical English understatement. “Is four hundred miles a sufficient range?”

“No, especially if we sight aircraft coming in from Rabaul. So we relay messages from one post to another, until they’re received by the signals unit on Guadalcanal. That’s why it’s vital we have teams on every island, and that the teleradios remain operational. It’s not easy when the men are constantly on the move and staying off the trails to avoid Japanese patrols,” Sexton said. “And of course, the best observation point is always on the highest ground.”

“I had no idea,” I said.

“Good,” Sexton said. “We can’t brag about our work. The less the Japanese know about us, the better.”

“They always lukluk,” Jacob said. “Come to every island. Ask where radio? Kill the people if they no tell.”

“Do they tell?” Kaz asked.

Jacob shrugged.

“Only once in a great while,” Sexton said. “It’s usually someone from another island who has no ties to the local families. The Japs might have had better luck when they first came if they didn’t destroy gardens and shoot people indiscriminately. Now they’re thoroughly hated. If they send a small patrol to an island, they’re often never heard from again.”

“Daniel was from Malaita,” I said. “But he’d been on Pavau and then Choiseul. Could he have gotten involved in a dispute with the local natives?”

“Who then followed him to Tulagi?” Sexton said. “Not likely. If there was a dispute on Choiseul, it would have been settled there.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I’m trying to get a sense of where to begin. We usually get a chance to study the crime scene and view the body. We don’t even know where Daniel was struck.”

“On head. You want lukim?” Jacob said.

“I thought the body would have been buried by now,” I said. “Especially in this climate.”

“Yes,” Jacob said. “Body buried. But you can lukim Daniel’s head. I take you.”

“Take us to Daniel’s head?” Kaz said.

“Yes,” Jacob said, as if explaining the obvious to a slow learner. “Head about ready now.”

“I do not like boats in general,” Kaz said, “and I do not like this boat in particular.” He used Jack’s cane as we boarded, the small craft rolling gently as waves slapped the hull. I didn’t mind boats in general, but I did wonder about this one.

We’d gone back to the hospital and commandeered the cane from a none-too-happy Kennedy while Sexton organized a crew for us. Once I told Jack it could eliminate him as a suspect, he calmed down a bit. Eliminating the cane as the murder weapon was closer to the truth, but I saw no reason to go into detail with him. Or to explain that Jacob was apparently taking us to Daniel’s head, sans body, on Malaita. That was the kind of thing Jack might see as a marvelous adventure and insist on coming along for the ride, the fact that he was a suspect notwithstanding.