copper's cruise 20

 

Chapter 20 Death of a Cad part 6

 

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” said Langburne.

“Yes, you do,” said Alexander. “You argued with Thwaite. I think I can tell you what it was about. I noticed that you were angry at the guy who does card tricks, because his legerdemain highlighted some of the tricks you’ve been using when playing cards, and Thwaite noticed. He spent some time playing cards with you, after I bawled him out. He wasn’t lacking in observational powers, nor astuteness in things other than the reactions of other people. He caught you marking cards, didn’t he?”

“Whatever makes you think I mark cards?” said Langburne.

“I have observed you doing it,” said Alexander. “And dealing from the bottom of the pack, and I believe you’ve palmed a few.  I consider it reprehensible that you jeopardised the marriage of the Freemans in cheating Doug out of a good portion of their honeymoon money; and you are lucky that they are philosophical about having to economise, or I’d consider you as much a menace as someone who deliberately sets out at home-breaking.  I was going to recommend that the company stop permitting you to use them for your theft, but I am inclined, in general, to consider caveat emptor for anyone foolish enough to gamble with strangers.”

“Last of the choir-boys,” said Langburne.

“You know, I don’t much care what you call me,” said Alexander. “I’ve been called more creative names by better men than you.”

“You seem very keen to pin his death on me,” said Langburne.

“I don’t want to ‘pin it’ on anyone,” said Alexander. “But you are the one whose livelihood is the one that was threatened by Thwaite’s intemperate words, and way of blurting things out.”

“That doesn’t mean I had anything to do with him falling overboard.”

“Did you go to Oxford, or Cambridge?” asked Alexander.

“Cambridge. What has that to do with anything?”

“You’re an educated man. The only other man on this voyage likely to be familiar with a term like ‘Flashman.’ As Flashman was a cheat, that’s an irony, but still a matter of significance.”

“And are you pinning your whole case on an old woman’s bad dreams?”

“Yes, actually, I am,” said Alexander. “I don’t know how well it will stand up in court, but I’d present it. Any other of the passengers can be forgiven for forgetting that the Nile is infested with crocodiles, and for assuming that a man thrown overboard will swim to the nearest bank, cursing, but essentially unharmed. You don’t have that excuse as you’ve lived out here, going up and down river with everyone else for a couple of years. That’s why I consider your actions reprehensible.”

“I call your bluff. You have no real evidence, and I say you are trying to pin it on me because you don’t want to put it on your friend with the loud voice. And that wouldn’t do your career much good, copper.”

“Oh, Freddy is well alibied,” Alexander said. “But, you know, you killed Thwaite in vain. Because I will now be telling the management that I have also observed you cheating, so they will still sling you off their boats in any case. A man’s life discarded for nothing, you fool. Nothing.”

“And I’m a witness to that,” said Eric.

“You can both go to hell,” said Langburne, getting up and stalking off.

Alexander watched him go, and sighed.

“Well, I gambled, and lost,” he said. “He’s right, there’s precious little to take to court. I’d have accepted him saying he’d forgotten the crocs, and paying back Doug Freeman as a token of good faith, but in the absence of more evidence, he’ll walk.”

“Unless he tries to kill you and me,” said Eric.

“You have a point,” said Alexander. “We won’t mention that to the ladies, though. But tell Freddy and ask him to keep an eye out.”

“I will,” said Eric.

“If he has the brazen ones to sit pat, there’s nothing we can do,” said Alexander.  “And if he is slung off this cruise company’s ships, well, there are others.”

“Do you think he is going to try to kill us?” asked Eric.

“To be honest? No. He’s a gambler. If I had solid evidence against him, he might think it worth the risk. But as it stands? There’s nothing on him.  In his idiom, I was forced to show my hand, and it came up a busted flush. This is the way a copper’s life goes, lad. Sometimes the bad guys get away with it. I have every expectation that justice will catch up with him some day, when he cheats the wrong person and ends up as the one thrown overboard. But this time he’s lucky. Nobody cares enough about Thwaite to make a big to-do about it, and he had reason to quarrel with Thwaite, being the only person who had real crime to display.”

“I have an idea,” said Eric. “It’s a form of justice. Supposing Doug complains to the company about being bilked, and those of us who have seen him use legerdemain back him up?”

“It’s a form of justice, as you say,” said Alexander. “And once exposed, he has no reason to kill us for our silence.” He considered. “I’m going to ask to search Thwaite’s cabin, too.”

“If Langburne has not done so already,” said Eric.

“A risk we have to take,” said Alexander. “And I’m not on par, because I should have done that first. I made mistakes with this one. You can learn from them.”

“You’re a big man, sir, to admit to them,” said Eric. “Let us search Thwaite’s cabin.”

“If nothing else, I can teach you some searching techniques,” said Alexander.

 

Thwaite’s cabin was orderly and military in appearance. He kept no kind of journal or diary, or if he had, Langburne had already taken it.

“I don’t see him keeping a diary, anyway,” said Alex. “The sort of man who committed his stories to memory. Not a great reader, either, by the look of it. An old copy of ‘Horse and Hound;’ presumably to keep a conversation with sporting gentlemen between war stories. A bit dog-eared.  Hello! What’s this?”

“He’s made a list of Langburne’s marks down this wide margin, hasn’t he?” said Eric.

“Well! That’s another piece of evidence. Certainly enough to get some justice for young Doug. You got out from playing with him very quickly.”

“I couldn’t sharp a sharper, but I know enough to recognise one,” said Eric.

 

 

oOoOo

 

Doug was nothing loth with regards to making a complaint, and went to the boat’s captain, citing witnesses.

The captain assembled Langburne, Alexander, Freddy, and Eric in his cabin with Doug, as complainant.

“Mr. Freeman declares that you won a couple of thousand pounds from him by the expedient of cheating,” said the captain.

“And I say, let him prove it,” said Langburne.

“You left your cards in the saloon when you left Eric and me,” said Alexander. “They are marked.”

“Can you prove you did not mark them to get me into trouble?” asked Langburne.

“As Eric and I are a witness for each other, and with better credentials than you, don’t even try that,” said Alexander. “Moreover, Captain Thwaite left what can be considered a dying deposition about the marks you use.”

Langburne’s breath hissed in.

“You’re lying,” he said.  “It’s a bluff. Why, the man did not even have a notebook!”

“Which is why he used the pages of the ‘Horse and Hound,’” said Alexander.

“What?” Langburne was startled.

“Full house,” said Alexander. “I can’t prove you had anything to do with Thwaite’s death, but it is a sweet irony that his testimony should show you up as a cheat.”

“What are you going to do about it?” asked Langburne.

“You’re going to pay Mr. Freeman back, play no more cards, and leave us when we reach Luxor; and you will no more be welcome on this line’s boats,” said the captain.

Langburne snarled.

“Very well; you leave me little choice,” said Langburne.

“You got lucky that I can’t prove you killed Thwaite,” said Alexander. “Look on that as an overall win.”

Langburne considered, and shrugged.

“I suppose so.  I contend that at least a third of Freeman’s losses were poor play.”

“Pay me half what you had from me, and I’ll chalk up the rest to experience,” said Doug.

“That’s… generous of you,” said Langburne, grudgingly.  “No hard feelings?”

“Not after I can treat my wife to some of the little luxuries being on honeymoon is all about,” said Doug. 

This being settled, Alexander looked forward to seeing the Temple of Karnak, and the other sites Ida had come to see.

 

oOoOo

 

 

Ida photographed and sketched assiduously, and made notes, and bought sundry keepsakes made by local craftsmen as she had around Giza. Alexander bought her a collar of faience, set in silver, depended between winged silver figures at each side. Ida squealed with delight.

“Of course, most Egyptian women wore their skirts from just under the bosoms and nothing but jewellery above,” teased Alexander. “So, you should tie a bath towel around you and put on the necklace for me.”

“When we’re married, I’ll do the whole outfit for you,” said Ida. “Kohl in the eyes and walking like an Egyptian.”

“How do Egyptians make love?” asked Alexander.

“Probably like anyone else, and we’ll get there,” said Ida. “We can’t consult the Erotic Papyrus of Turin, because it’s not on display to anyone but the stuffiest of old antiquarians.  I eavesdropped on a couple of archaeologists talking about it. It was found almost a hundred years ago in the valley of the kings.”

“Egyptians had pornography?” Alexander was nonplussed.

“They were more like us than you’d think, I suspect,” said Ida. “And you are a bad man.”

“I had to tease you,” said Alexander.

“Of course you did. It’ll be a long three years.”

“But we have enough love to wait,” said Alexander.

 

oOoOo

 

The trip down the river was far more peaceful, and Alexander managed to abandon the wheelchair most of the time.

In Cairo, Alexander was surprised to see Maigret as they booked into the hotel. The cherubic-looking, curly-haired young French detective greeted him cordially.

“My dear fellow! How are you?” asked Alexander.

“Very well, thank you,” said Maigret. “Thank you for your tip-off; we got the whole gang, including le préfet.  My superiors are very pleased, and they want you to accept an Ordre Merité Civil.”

“That’s very nice of them,” said Alexander, cautiously.

“You were put at risk by one of our supposed officials and my superiors are embarrassed by it,” said Maigret.

Alexander laughed.

“Ah, now I understand,” he said. “In that case, I will accept it with gratitude, and a smile, and save face all round.”

“Thank you,” said Maigret.

“You know, and I know, that a policeman is always a policeman and that I did what I had to do, and you would do the same,” said Alexander.

“These officials,” said Maigret. 

“These officials,” agreed Alexander. “Drink?” he summoned a waiter.

“I don’t mind if I do,” said Maigret. “They are paying your fare home, also.”

“Kind of them,” said Alexander. “Are we travelling companions?”

“I believe so,” said Maigret. “We have a plane to take us to Marseilles.”

“I hate aeroplanes,” sighed Alexander.

“It is a commercial passenger plane,” said Maigret. “It is comfortable enough. Then, the Blue Train north bound, a ceremony in Paris, and a commercial flight to Croydon.”

“Ah! They are grateful for my aid, but such a troublemaker is best sent on his way quickly,” laughed Alexander.

“You have said this, not me,” said Maigret.

“Well, we are agreed on officialdom,” said Alexander, raising his glass.

It was time to say farewell to their riverine companions and go home; and Alexander was looking forward to being back at his desk.