Out Of His Depth, page 5
Barker’s heart pounded again as he faced another decision. How could he follow her now? One person jumping straight back on the bus was unusual, two was suspicious, and having bumped into her in the doorway and then following her would make it stalking. Which, of course he was.
So he resigned himself to not following and admitted defeat. He just wasn’t good at this. He would look for her again on the ship tomorrow. And he remembered hearing an announcement before they left Gibraltar for a Mr & Mrs Mitchell, who had presumably not got back on board in time, so he would no doubt hear an announcement for this woman, whatever her name was, if she failed to show up. Barker watched the bus leave, finished his coffee, paid and walked outside.
He thought about heading left and into the town to explore. He’d never been to Madeira before and he needed to settle nerves a bit, so he wandered to the bus stop where he’d got off earlier and waited, hoping there’d be another one along in a minute.
From where he stood Barker could see across the road to the stop heading back to the port where Yellow had jumped back on the bus. On the road was a small, bright piece of metal glinting in the sun. He remembered his own wristband, looked down at it, and looked up again. He stepped out and crossed the road to the other bus stop and picked up the metal disc – another Sea Star from Galaxy Starlight, with the star sign Aires etched on it over a light blue background, the sign of a first-timer on Galaxy cruises. Around the edge of the disc was printed the name Maria Cortez.
Chapter 22
Within an hour Barker was back on the ship and in his stateroom looking for his cell phone. He dialled Rob’s number. It would be mid-afternoon back home so he should be at work. Rob answered surprisingly quickly.
“Hey John! How’s it going? Topped up the tan?” Rob shouted.
“Hi Rob, no not much. But I’ve found your woman.” Barker replied.
“Really? So soon? Nice one. Are you sure it’s her?”
“I’m sure she’s the woman in the photos you sent me. Are you going to tell me her name?”
“Not allowed to give you any info John – need-to-know and all that.”
“Does the name Maria Cortez mean anything to you?” Barker asked.
“Not particularly John, but she is Latin-American. It could be an alias. Doesn’t mean much on its own.”
“Why all the secrecy?”
“You know as much as I do mate. We’ve just been told she’s wanted and had been missing. So we want to find out where she goes.”
“So it’s not just a cruise? I have to follow her when we get off?” Barker asked, annoyed.
“Maybe John, just for a day or two. And then let us know what you find.”
“I’m not James bloody Bond Rob,’ said Barker, letting his frustration show.”
“Oh I don’t know John, I bought you a tuxedo didn’t I?”
“So that’s it? Is there anything else you’re going to tell me? Maybe I’ll keep my phone switched off and just get on the plane home.”
“Calm down John, no need to be like that. Just keep an eye on her and let us know. But don’t ring every day in case someone’s listening in.”
“Listening in? This is bigger than you’re letting on isn’t it Rob?”
“Standard procedure John. Relax. You’ve got almost a week to chill out on that ship now. Enjoy it.”
“Bye Rob.”
Barker turned his phone off, threw it on his bed and took Maria Cortez’s Sea Star down to the customer services desk on Deck Five to hand it in. He couldn’t think how she’d got back on the ship without it, unless she carried her passport with her as well. He was sick of worrying about it. If Rob wouldn’t tell him anything why should he care? She wasn’t going anywhere for now, so he decided to put her out of his mind as Rob had suggested, and get on with enjoying the ship. If he met Ms Cortez again, all well and good. If not, there were more important things in life.
Chapter 23
Starlight left the port of Funchal around four in the afternoon. Barker had spent a couple of hours on a lounger on the starboard side of the ship facing the town, watching the comings and goings of the ship’s passengers and the local people and traffic going about their everyday business, oblivious to, or maybe dependent on, the cruise ship docked on the edge of their neighbourhood. He’d picked up a book from the small ship’s library and read the first couple of chapters but he wasn’t really in the mood for reading. He wasn’t very good at relaxing. Too much time to think.
As the view of land on the horizon slipped away sideways, replaced by open water, Barker remembered Lucy Jones. ‘I’m in the Atrium every afternoon,’ she’d said. The thought was enough to make him sit up and swivel off the side of his lounger and stand up, thinking there could be worse ways to spend an hour. It made him think of Laura again and his stomach rolled over. He took a deep breath of sea air, straightened himself and walked in through the double doors onto the corridor of Deck Seven.
The inside of the ship was busy with people passing an hour or two before going for dinner. Music played from the small bars dotted around the decks as Barker made his way towards the Atrium in the middle of the ship, where grand staircases flowed up and down between Decks Five to Eight. At the bottom, a circular marble floor about twenty-five feet across was surrounded by upholstered chairs and small round tables. Barker arrived at the top floor and heard the sound of a woman singing. Looking over the railings he could see Lucy three decks below him, stood in front of a small house band consisting of a pianist, a drummer and a couple of guitarists. The staircases had the effect of making people feel they were making an entrance, which indeed they were. Barker felt self-conscious as he walked down the three flights and found a spare seat almost directly across from the band and sat down.
Lucy’s voice was strong and soulful, better than he’d expected. Not that he was any kind of expert. He ordered a drink from a waiter that passed by and settled down to lose himself in something other than his memories or his mission to follow Ms Cortez. Lucy sang half a dozen other songs, a mix of rock, blues and country hits suited to the middle-aged crowd, but delivered with passion and flair. Barker was impressed, as was the appreciative audience, applauding generously after each song. Being on the front row he was conscious he might be seen to be staring a bit too much, so he balanced it by looking up and down the decks at the people leaning over the railings watching the band, or walking up and down the staircases. There were never these awkward moments when he was with Laura. As a couple you can talk to each other in-between times, but on your own there was no other distraction, so you had to find something to focus on. So he was taken by surprise when Lucy finished her last song, thanked the assembled crowd and walked directly across the floor towards him.
Lucy was wearing a bright red jumpsuit with a plunging neckline, matching red lipstick and a beaming smile. John’s pulse raced a little as he realised she was looking in his direction. It may only be a cruise ship house band, but the star of the show was heading straight over to him.
“Hello John, may I join you?” said Lucy, sitting down at the spare chair across the small round wooden table from his.
“Of course,” he smiled, hoping he didn’t look like the awkward teenager he felt like inside, “That was fantastic.”
“Thank you!” Lucy said, genuinely pleased with the compliment, “Can I have a G-and-T please Jose?” she asked the waiter walking past their table.
“Certainly Miss Jones,” the waiter replied with a smile.
“Thanks for coming to watch,” Lucy said, “I didn’t know if you would. What have you been up to since I last saw you?”
“Not a lot,” Barker replied, “I went off the ship for an hour or so earlier but didn’t go far. Then I read for a bit…bit of people-watching, you know.”
With his next breath Barker caught the smell of Lucy’s perfume. She smelled as good as she looked. Behind her, half a dozen couples had started circling the floor to a waltz being played on the sound system now that the band had gone for a break.
“Did you see any more of the woman in the yellow swimsuit?” said Lucy out of nowhere.
“What? Sorry, who?” Barker replied, a little taken aback.
“You know, the woman you were staring at when you bumped into me,” Lucy said, smiling at Barker’s embarrassment. “It’s OK, she was gorgeous. I was looking at her myself.”
“Oh, no. No, I haven’t.”
“You should try to find her John. You never know your luck. If you’re single…”
“I’m sure she’s not alone. Probably got a gorgeous husband somewhere. And I never said I was single.”
“So how come you’re here on your own?”
Barker opened his mouth to reply, uncertain of exactly what to say, but before any words came out there was a sharp crack, a dull thud and, all in a split second, the crash of a tall, thin elderly man onto the table between himself and Lucy. There was no Hollywood collapse of furniture, just a sickening crumpling of the man’s body over the round wooden surface, and the beginnings of confusion amongst the crowd as his body slipped onto the floor, brushing Lucy’s shins.
The taped music continued to play in the background but the dancers had stopped, frozen. For a few seconds there was no other noise while the situation sank in, then a few quiet gasps from the people close by. Until they saw the blood.
Lucy’s face had a few small red spots dotted at random across her left cheek. There were spots of dark red on her scarlet jumpsuit. Looking down, Barker saw a dark red patch just below the man’s left collar bone on his pale blue shirt. It looked like a bullet wound.
Barker’s first aid training kicked in and he stood up and stepped over to Lucy and leaned over the man at her feet who was twisted but roughly lying on his back. There was no response, but he felt a pulse in the man’s wrist. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed it onto the wound.
The onlookers had started to panic and the noise level was rising with a few squeals from the lady dancers and general hubbub as they all moved away. Nearby staff had seen the commotion and a bartender ran to summon the ship’s medical staff. Lucy pushed back her chair to give the man some room. Barker held the soaked cotton pad on the man’s chest and looked around for something else more substantial to replace it, without success. He instinctively scanned the surrounding balconies for any sign of danger, but they were filling up with more passengers wondering what the commotion was all about.
A medic appeared with a bag and two other staff carrying a stretcher. The medic thanked Barker and asked him to move away, replacing his handkerchief with a more substantial dressing pressed onto the wound. Lucy looked at Barker and their eyes maintained contact for several seconds as if asking each other if they’d seen the same thing just happen. Lucy’s face had gone white. Barker moved around to the side of her chair and squatted by it, watching the medic work, waiting to see if he could help. The men with the stretcher placed it by the man on the floor and carefully shuffled him onto it, standing up and carrying him away with the medic following. Suddenly, apart from the blood on the floor, it was all over.
Just as the remaining people standing around were gathering their senses and wondering what to do there were clunking sounds from the four corners of each of the Atrium decks, as the large doors were closed around them. Then a voice said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, please stay where you are while I take your names in case we need to ask you any questions. I know some of you will be dining soon. I won’t keep you long.’
The voice belonged to Michael Brennan, head of the ship’s security team, and Lucy’s surprise stateroom guest from the first day of the cruise.
“He was shot Michael,” said Lucy as he walked over.
“Are you OK?” Brennan asked, “You don’t look too good.”
“I’m fine. Well…shaken but… Michael, somebody just shot him,” Lucy replied, still stunned.
“Well, we’ll see what we find when we get him to the treatment room.”
“I’ve seen a bullet wound before,” interrupted Barker, standing up
Brennan looked at Barker and said, “And you are?”
“John Barker,” he replied.
“Thanks for your help Mr Barker. Did you see what happened?”
“No,” said Barker, shaking his head. “I heard a cracking sound and then the shattering of glass as he fell on the table.”
“Well, we’ll speak to everyone here eventually and get as good a picture of what happened as we can.”
Brennan turned to two other uniformed security staff and instructed them to take the names and room numbers of the dancers and the people sat in or stood around the chairs next to the dance floor.
Barker noticed other security staff starting to appear on the floors above, speaking to people watching the events from the balconies. He looked at Lucy and said, “Come on, you need a drink.”
“I need a shower,” she said.
“Brandy first, shower later.”
Chapter 24
Useless idiot! Or am I the stupid one for letting him try? If you want a job done properly…
All the trouble he went to getting into position and he doesn’t finish him off. And then he gets himself caught trying to hide the gun in the kitchens.
That might be a blessing in disguise though. At least the witnesses will think it’s all over. I’ll be more careful next time. And I’ll do it alone.
Chapter 25
“Right, that’ll do,” said Lucy, having swallowed a shot of brandy at the bar, “I really do need a shower. I’ve got blood on me, and it’s not mine.”
“Luckily,” Barker said.
“Listen, John, don’t take this the wrong way, but will you come back to my room with me and watch TV or something while I shower? I don’t really want to be on my own at the minute. I’m still shaking.” Lucy asked.
“If you want me to,” Barker answered.
He followed Lucy out of the bar to the mid-ships staircase. They avoided the lifts and walked down a couple of decks and out through the casino and into a corridor down towards Lucy’s stateroom. Inside it was pretty much the same as his but with a more fragrant smell. A few clean clothes were laid out on the bed and dirty ones on the floor.
“Oh, shit, sorry,” said Lucy, running around picking them up and throwing them in the bottom of the wardrobe.
“Don’t worry, mine’s the same,” John lied, knowing how he always put everything in its place.
A little red light was flashing on the phone by the bed. Lucy picked up the receiver and pressed the button to hear her messages.
“Entertainment’s off for this evening. At least in the Atrium and on the Lido Deck,” said Lucy.
“Night off?”
“Yes,” said Lucy with relief in her voice, “I could do with it, to be honest. Listen, the TV remote’s on the sofa, help yourself. I won’t be long.”
“Take your time.”
Lucy went into the tiny bathroom and turned on the shower. Barker sat down and flicked the TV on. He didn’t have time to settle down and watch a film so he just flicked through the channels, looking at what was available: movies, sports, news, business, the usual stuff. Plus the onboard information channels and the ship’s webcam fitted to the bridge looking straight ahead. It was dark outside so the view was black.
In less than ten minutes the shower stopped and the bathroom door clicked open to let the steam out. A few seconds later Lucy stepped out wrapped in a towel that didn’t quite reach down to her knees. She was just finishing drying her short black hair with a hand towel.
“Listen John, I’m sorry I took the mickey out of you before. It’s just my way,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Barker replied, knowing full well.
“About that woman by the pool. I was just winding you up. It’s none of my business why you’re here on your own and you don’t need me teasing you.”
“That’s OK,” said Barker, noting the irony of her not want to tease him whilst wearing a small towel.
“And I’ve only just noticed the ring on your finger, now that you’re sat in my room with me half-dressed. I’m sorry, you can go if want. You’re too polite.”
“She died…” Barker blurted, stunning himself as much as Lucy, “My wife. She took her own life,” he continued, looking up at Lucy. Her mouth moved but no words came out.
“Sorry, now I’m saying things I don’t need to and making you feel bad,” said Barker, looking at the floor.
Lucy put her hand over her mouth and her eyes began to glisten.
“She was working late in the forensic lab. I was due to pick her up. I was late. Too late. She was beaten up by burglars and left for dead. She lost her baby. Our baby.”
“Oh my God John, I’m so sorry. Did they catch anyone?” Lucy whispered.
“No. She recovered…from the bruises…but not from losing the baby. It tore her apart. She couldn’t take it…”
“John, I’m so sorry.”
Neither spoke for a few seconds.
“Is that where you worked?” asked Lucy.
“No. I was a policeman. That’s how we met.”
“Was?”
“I walked out after Laura died. Been twiddling my thumbs for the last six months.”
Barker stared at the floor. Lucy sat down on the sofa next to him.
“What was she like?”
“Tall, pretty, long brown hair, nice eyes. Always calm and kind.”
“I don’t know what to say John. Today must’ve been awful for you.”
“Yes and no. Never going to be as bad as that was.”
He took a deep breath, stood up and straightened his shirt.
“I’d better get myself cleaned up too. Dinner’s in an hour. What are you going to do?”
“No idea. I’m not used to having a free evening.”
