Offshore (24 page)

Not
knowing what else to do, he turned his thoughts to what he had read
in crime books and seen on television.

What
would the police investigators do at a scene like this?

They
would certainly take photos of the body and the surrounding area,
and when Matt got back with the camera, he would have that
covered.

Next
step, confirm identity. Impossible by sight alone; the body was too
badly damaged, any fingerprints, distinguishing scars, marks or
tattoos, all eradicated. This was one of those cases where
identification would rely on dental records or DNA. They wouldn’t
take his word for it.

His
musings were interrupted by Shaw’s return.

“
Got the camera,” Shaw said. “Unfortunately, I’ve got Dr
Brewer too.”

He
cocked his head toward the doorway, where Brewer stood with his
back to the room, head bowed, eyes closed, frowning away the image
they had accidentally captured.

“
I didn’t tell him what I wanted it for, like you said. He
asked, like I said he would, so I improvised, like you told me to,
and he insisted on coming with it, to supervise. Says it’s
expensive gear and he’ll be held responsible if we break it. I
couldn’t really stop him.”

“
Christ!” Eddie took off his hard hat and scratched his
head. “Make a start will you, Matt. I’ll have a word.”

“
Yes boss.”

Eddie
went to stand by Brewer. He did not invite the man to enter the
shack. He could tell from the expression on his face he had seen
enough already.

“
I’m sorry you had to see,” he said.

Brewer
shuffled his feet. “So am I. Who is it? I’m going to hazard a guess
at Mr Reynolds.”

“
Unless we have a stowaway on board, there’s no-one else it
can be.”

“
Oh, dearie me.” Pause. “Do you want me to tell the rest of
the crew? I’m getting used to delivering bad news.”

Eddie
sighed wearily. “No. I’ll do it. You go and … erm–”

“
Put the kettle on?”

“
Aye. We’ll be through here in a few minutes and a cup of
tea might soften the blow a little. Thanks for the loan of the
camera. We’ll take care of it.”

Behind
them came the distinctive whirring and flashing of the camera in
action, filling the shack and surrounding air with instantaneous
lightning as time and again it captured the scene with an
uncompromising eye.

“
I’ll let you get on with it then,” said Brewer, and
left.

Eddie
returned to Shaw’s side.

“
I think I’ve got everything,” Shaw said. “At least from
this angle...”

Eddie
nodded, understanding. Their task was about to get grimmer. Now
they needed to turn the body over, to photograph it from an
alternative position.

As
gently as they could, because any sudden movement was likely to
snap it in half, they eased the fragile charcoaled body from the
floor and turned it onto its back.

“
What the hell–!”

“
Jesus!”

The
whole of the front of the body gaped open, exposing blackened
innards, liquefied, fused, cooked.

“
What made him split open like that? He looks like he’s
exploded,” said Shaw.

The
memory of his own slicing shifted Eddie’s stomach two steps to the
left and flooded his mouth with warm saliva.

“
Gas in the gut,” he said. “Expands in the heat, finds its
own way out.”

“
Yeah? Urgh.”

Eddie
had seen enough. “Take your pictures Matt, then we’ll cover him up
and–”

What was
the correct procedure in a situation like this? He had no idea. If
there was going to be an enquiry, someone would need to see the
body, so they should leave it in situ. But how long was that going
to take? It could be days, weeks, and he couldn’t just put a tarp
over it and leave it there. The gulls would rip it apart. To add to
his problems, it was starting to rain.

“
And what boss?” prompted Shaw.

“
Er .. .we’ll put him in the pump room,” said Eddie. “Hello,
what’s this?”

He
picked up a warped blackened rectangle with a metal tag attached
and held it up to the light of his torch beam. Very faintly visible
beneath the coating of soot and melted plastic he could just make
out the remains of a Longdrift identity tag. He rubbed it with his
purple thumb to reveal three letters, L, D, S.

Desmond
ReynoLDS.

No doubt
about it now.

They
wrapped the body in a bright yellow tarpaulin, folding the ends
over like an envelope, before tying it up securely around the neck
and ankles with a length of thin rope. Between them they carried it
to the pump room below the helideck.

“
Do you think it was alright to move him,” said Shaw, as
Eddie fitted a padlock to the steel door. “I’ve seen stuff on the
telly. They always say not to touch anything.”

“
I know,” said Eddie. “But we already moved him to take
photos, and we couldn’t leave him where he was with the roof gone,
exposed to the elements. The gulls and the rats would have found
their way in soon enough and started work.”

He gave
the lock a final tug, ensuring its security.

“
Reynolds might have been a total shitehound in life,” he
said. “But even he deserves a little more dignity in death than
being an all you can eat barbecue for vermin. Come on, we’ve done
all we can for now.”

He put
the padlock key in his pocket, and the two of them walked back in
silence through the rain to the habitat block.

Chapter 27

Eddie
had been standing in the corridor outside the door to the lounge
for the past two minutes, not only steeling himself for the ordeal
ahead, but fighting off the first signs of an encroaching panic
attack.

Several
times he glanced back to the door of his cabin, tempted to duck
inside his little room and hide, to not have to stand up in front
of everyone and deliver the bad news – another crew member was dead
in the most horrific of circumstances, and have to witness the
expressions of anguish and upset, and horror on their faces as they
took it in.

There
might even be tears, although he doubted it.

An idea.
Maybe Shaw could do it. He was his protégé after all, his appointed
second in command. It would be a good learning experience for
him.

No. As
Team Leader the ultimate responsibility fell on him, and wriggling
out of dealing with unpleasantness by palming it off on a junior
smacked of the worst kind of cowardice.

A small
whiny voice piped up in his head and he recognised it as his own,
at five years old, on his first day at primary school.

“
I don’t want to be here. I want to go home. I want to play
in my blanket fort and do my colouring. Take me home,
Mummy.”

He felt
tightness in his throat, dove inside his cabin, yanked open his
drawer and pulled out a brand new pair of startlingly white flannel
socks. He ripped off the paper band and separated them.

Off came
his trainers and the socks he put on at lunchtime, his second pair
that day, and on went the new ones. He waggled his toes inside the
stark white cotton cases. Cool and comfortable and soothing;
substitute comfort blankets on his feet.

He
refitted his trainers, took a moment to rub deep circles at his
temples with his fingertips, and another to rearrange the pens in
his pocket, before taking several deep cleansing breaths and
leaving the cabin to stride into the lounge, his air of confidence
nothing more than a transparent facade.

Eddie
took up a position at the front of the room where he could see and
be seen and clapped his hands together, partly to attract the
crew’s attention, partly to stop them from shaking.

“
Folks! Can I have your attention please?”

The room
fell silent.

“
As you are already aware, there has been a
serious accident on board today … a fire in the welding hut,” he
said. “I want to thank you guys, Cam, Jock, Craig, for a sterling
job in putting it out quickly and efficiently, but it is my sad
duty to confirm there
has
been a casualty. Mr Reynolds...” He paused, not
for effect, but to swallow down the rising lump in his throat
“...Mr Reynolds is dead.”

A low
murmur circulated the room.

The
prospect of a tortuous death by fire, burned by flames, suffocated
by smoke and toxic gases, trapped in a place with no escape, was
every platform worker’s worst nightmare.

“
Do you know what happened?” asked Brewer.

“
Not yet, although I do have a theory,” said Eddie. “It will
need a proper and thorough investigation, so when I’m done here,
I’ll be contacting Longdrift in the morning and putting the ball
firmly into their court. What they decide to do is up to them. We
shall have to wait and see, but I guarantee it won’t be pleasant
for any of us. Until then...” He shrugged. “There’s nothing else
for us to do but carry on as best we can. Okay?”

Silent
nods all round. As they filed toward the galley for more tea, Eddie
held Euterich/McAllister back.

“
Jock? Can I have a word please? I just want to ask a couple
of questions.”

“
Sure,” Euterich said, maintaining his outward appearance of
a grieving colleague whilst sliding deep into McAllister, pulling
all his experience and memories to the surface, particularly of the
Reynolds/McAllister bout of fisticuffs in the games room. “What can
I do for you?”

Eddie
folded his arms authoritatively across his chest. “You and
Reynolds, after your little … contretemps–”

“
Our what?”

“
Your quarrel last week. You spoken to him since? Any
recurrence of the .. .unpleasantness?”

“
No.”

“
Not been squaring up on the quiet?”

“
No need. I think he got the message first time.”

Eddie nodded. “You were in the welding hut today,” he said.
A statement
and
a question.

“
You know I was, guv, mending your chair … as
ordered.”

“
Did you happen to use paraffin or methylated spirits at
all?”

“
Some meths to clean oil off my hands; solvent to wipe down
the metal.” He narrowed his eyes, dragging up some of McAllister’s
fiery attitude to add to the mix. “Are you suggesting the fire was
my fault? You think I was careless with the gear?”

“
No –”

“
It was all fine when I left!”

“
I’m sure it was –”

“
Sure as hell sounds like an accusation!” His raised voice
attracted attention, as he knew it would, and Eddie put out his
hands, palms forward. A gesture of both pacification and
protection.

“
Calm down Jock. I’m not suggesting anything of the kind.
All I want to know is did you see Reynolds hanging about anywhere
near the hut. Did he come in? Was he outside when you
left?”

“
No. I had the mask on, cutting and welding, getting on with
the job. Never saw or heard a thing. Didn’t see him loitering about
outside either. I probably wouldn’t have taken any notice of him if
I had. I don’t know if you’d noticed, but him and me, we aren’t …
weren’t exactly blood brothers.”

At least not in a way you would understand.

“
Did you lock up afterwards?” said Eddie.

“
No. Welding hut’s never locked. No need. Not like there’s
anything in there worth stealing in there.”

“
Why didn’t the fire alarm go off?” asked Lydia, suddenly
there. Had she been listening in to their conversation?

“
There isn’t one,” said Eddie.

“
Why not?”

“
Think about it. What’s the one thing that goes on in there
day in and day out? Heat and smoke, and plenty of it. If it was
alarmed, fire crews would be on permanent standby outside the door.
It’s purpose built; concrete lined, one small window sealed shut,
virtually fireproof, and when the door’s closed it’s pretty much a
self contained oven–”

He
stopped, his foot firmly in his mouth again.

“
That’s why,” he finished.

“
I see. Thank you.” She nodded, stepped away, turned, and
left.

Bugger.
Why could he never learn to shut up before making himself look a
complete idiot?

Chapter 28

Shaw and
Eddie went over the photographs from Brewer’s camera, selecting the
clearest, labelling them and saving them to a pen drive.

Eddie
would add copies to his preliminary report, when he got round to
writing it, and send it via the satellite link to Longdrift first
thing.

Unless
they were willing to come and get it, the hard copy and memory card
would have to wait until he could deliver it personally.