The Hidden Man: A Phineas Starblower Adventure (Phineas Starblower Adventures) (12 page)

Tash, I was extremely disturbed by Dalton’s words; they made no sense to me. There is always residual steam in a pipe, it can take days for a pipe not under operation to cool enough to drop the pressure. I checked the logs to confirm the boost engine had not been fired up for a week so it was possible that the leak released the residual pressure and the pipe was indeed empty. But this did not explain the pipe suddenly erupting in steam.

Mr. Collins and I attempted to re-trace Mr. White step’s and took ourselves to the shut-off valve for that particular steam pipe. What we discovered was alarming. The valve was fully open. I know
Mr. White, he would
not
have made a mistake like that. I checked the corresponding gauge and there was a crack in the glass covering of the gauge. Closer examination revealed that the cover had been
removed and a tiny pin had been placed next to the needle to hold the gauge at zero pressure. Alarmed I began a close examination of the valve and its surrounds. I discovered a piece of string attached to
the valve handle and several small metal objects on the floor below the valve. These objects looked like an exploded music box, the small mechanical kind with tiny springs and gears. At this time I am at a loss to explain the presence of these curious objects. However the tampering with the gauge and fact that the valve was fully in the on position leads me to believe that this was not an accident.

I carefully questioned each member of the crew present. It was not until my conversation with the Landover brothers that I was able to put more credence to my theory of sabotage. The brothers informed me that they successfully ejected the two bakery deliverymen without much incident. I had already read Mr. Jones’ reports and knew that there were three delivery men.

Early this morning I went around to Messer Renault’s bakery. He informed me that his delivery carriage had been stolen yesterday. You will find the details as related to me by Mr. Renault in my reports.

What I have discovered points to the possibility that one of these false deliverymen hid away on the airship and caused this accident. But the question remains: Why?

Faithfully,

Lance Nichols

Jerard set the reports aside and picked up his cup of lukewarm tea sipping it thoughtfully. Why indeed, he thought. Nichols’ investigation seemed to be thorough and his conclusion plausible. But again, it was the question why? Who had something to gain from sabotage?

A soft knock on the door interrupted Jerard’s thoughts. He finished off the cup and watched Smythe-Harris go to the door. She opened it to admit Mr. Nichols.

“I’m sorry I am late, minor issue with one of our new crewmen. I am not convinced that gentleman is ‘all there’ if you understand me.” Nichols shook his head.

“Come on in Lance, I have given Captain Phillips the reports to read.”

Nichols moved to the chair across from Phillips and sat down heavily. “So Sir, I would hear what you have to say. I brought the tampered gauge and odd mechanical parts I mentioned in my letter to Tash. I thought you may want to see them as well.”

“I do Sir.” Jerard replied as he watched Tash pour a cup of tea for Nichols. He waited for her to return to her seat on the settee before speaking.

“Mr. Nichols are you still certain that this was not an accident but an act of deliberate sabotage?”

“I am Sir.”

“And you still believe it was this outsider, the false deliveryman who caused the accident?”

“Yes.”

“Then that is good enough for me.” He stood and held out his hand for the small box that Nichols was holding. Nichols passed it over and Jerard sat back down and began looking at its contents.

“That’s it?” Tash questioned rather loudly.

“Yes Madam, that’s it.” Jerard looked up at Tash. “Miss Smythe-Harris, my career has been built on my ability to judge my fellow man and my intelligence and understanding of airships. I judge Mr. Nichols to be of the same ilk. If he does not suspect members of his crew to be responsible for this event, then neither do I.” Jerard returned his attention to the box he held but continued speaking. “I also agree with Mr. Nichols, the question here does not seem to be how but why.” Jerard picked up the pressure gauge. “Now this is curious. Why would our saboteur have tampered with this gauge? If he were laying in wait to open the valve to cause the accident I don’t see why this would have been necessary.”

“I had the same thought.” Tash said.

“As did I.” Nichols interjected. “The only reason I could come up with is that we keep a constant watch on all of the pressure gauges in the ship. One of the lads is sent ‘round to check each gauge every four hours as long as the boiler is in operation. The gauge readings are noted in a separate log. As far as I know this is standard procedure on every airship.”

“True. But why were the boilers in operation when the ship was in the hangar?”

“We were running tests. We always keep the ship ready to depart at a moment’s notice.”

“Mr. Starblower’s instructions.” Tash interjected. “I had informed Captain Mather and Mr. Nichols that we would be staying in London for only a week or two before we returned to pick-up Mr. Starblower in Norway. I needed to take care of some problems in London for the company, otherwise the ship would have remained in Glasgow until we were summoned to pick-up Mr. Starblower.”

“And who knew of these plans Miss Smythe-Harris?” Jerard asked as he replaced the gauge in the box and picked up a curious flat spring.

Tash frowned. “Everyone to do with the airship, I suppose. That would include our Mr. Fulsome who lives in the little house on the property of hangar. He gathers together the lads who act as our ground crew when we are in London. Of course Mr. Lovelace was informed in advance of our visit, along with my housekeeper Mrs. Hoskins. But Captain Phillips, you must understand the arrival of our airship is quite an event for the local people. It is difficult to keep secret something as grand as our ship arriving on the outskirts of a well populated village. There is always a large crowd gathered to watch us land. I am given to understand some track our flight across London, following us to the hangar just to get a close look at the ship.”

Jerard nodded absently and was silent for a few moments more before he spoke. “You know Mr. Nichols, when I was a lad I took apart my mother’s music box. I wanted to see how it worked. Unfortunately the beating I received did not deter me from taking apart the mantle clock for the same reason.” Jerard smiled briefly at the memory before looking up at Nichols. “Sir I believe you are partially correct in describing some of these parts as having come from a music box but others here...” Jerard held up one of the gears. “…have definitely come from a clock.”

“I don’t doubt your word Sir but I do not see the point you are making. Do you believe that these bits and pieces are important?”

“I do Sir.” Jerard replied standing up. “But right now I don’t have a clue as to why. I would like to keep this and study it with your permission. Who else has seen these aside from yourself and Miss Smythe-Harris?”

Nichols stood and offered his hand to Tash who accepted it and stood as well. “Mr. Collins may have seen the pieces but I did not draw his attention to them, I just put them in my pocket when I found them. They have been locked in my cupboard since.”

“Very good. Now Mr. Nichols if you are still available I would like a tour of the ship and I would especially like to see the boost engine room where all of this occured.”

Tash was doing all she could to keep her temper in check. It seemed that Phillips had dismissed her at every turn. The fool man could not be bothered to even look at her when she spoke. “That’s a good idea.” Tash exclaimed acidly. “You two boys toddle off now and play with your toys. I have work to do.”

Jerard was quite taken aback by the woman’s curt words. First she wanted his help now she dismissed him as if he still wore short pants. He opened his mouth to speak but caught Nichols’ wide eyes and tiny head shake. Nichols took his arm and steered him quickly out of the room. Both heard the crash of glass as they hurried away.

“Tash, I wish you would not be so hard on the dishes.” Gopal said calmly from the corner of the room. He got up from his chair and moved to the door to pick up the pieces of the tea cup. A towel materialized in his hand and he began wiping up the liquid running down the door and its adjacent frame.

Tash jumped, she had completely forgotten the manservant’s presence. Gopal seemed to have the ability to render himself invisible. A talent she relied on but never the less found unnerving at times. “Did you see him?” Tash shouted at Gopal. “Did you see that…that scoundrel! He completely ignored me! I will not tolerate that from my employees. I will fire him immediately! Unbelievable! Rude! He was just plain rude!”

Gopal nodded sagely and allowed Tash to go on for a few more minutes before interjecting. “Memsahib, I believe you gave the man a lot to think about. Sabotage is serious. It appeared to me that Captain Phillips was not so much rude as distracted. If you will use that indomitable brain of yours I believe you will come to the conclusion that the Captain was correct in wanting to view the site of the accident. You will further conclude that the engine room is not the usual haunt of a lady. I feel certain that the good Captain thought he was being polite in not insisting a lady accompany him to the dirty engine room.”

“Our engine room is not dirty!”

“You are deliberately missing my point. And I would like to further note that only a handful of people have seen you on your knees, covered in grease helping Nichols replace an engine piston. Of those handful I believe it was only yourself that found the whole scene normal. “Ladies,” Gopal emphasized the word, “do not work on machines.”

“Ohhh! I hate it when you are so reasonable!” Tash huffed and stamped her foot.

Gopal smiled. “I know. It’s the best part of my job.”

“Oh you! You...” Tash looked around for something to throw but nothing was to hand. She looked up at Gopal’s calm smiling face and realized how ridiculous she must look. “Fine, you win.” She said glaring at him.

“Now then, I believe you have a meeting with Mr. Vinnetti to discuss tonight’s dinner arrangements.”

“Yes, you’re right.” Tash looked at the little watch pinned to her jacket. “Oh, and I think I am late.”

Gopal handed her the appointment book she kept her notes in and held the door open. “When you are finished with our chef you may wish to freshen up a bit before we arrive. I will have hot water waiting and perhaps I could help you with your hair?”

“What’s wrong with my hair?” Tash said as a wisp of hair settled on her cheek. “Oh…I see what you mean.” Tash rolled her eyes. “Yes, thank you, that’s probably a good idea.”

She started out the door and stopped. “You might want to delay that hot water. I promised Archie I would talk to him. I think he wants to resign Gopal. He and Daniel Mather were very close.” Tash could not stop the tears from welling up in her eyes. “You know they served together for years on a steam ship. Daniel is responsible for bringing Archie on board.” Tash closed her eyes and allowed the tears to slip out. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, opening her eyes. “We are all still grieving.”

Gopal placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know.” He said softly, “I know.”

***

Nichols steered Jerard towards the aft of the ship with a feather light touch on the younger man's elbow. Once they had passed the curtain separating the Lounge from the washrooms, he released it and turned to look Phillips in the eye.

“A word of advice, if I may Sir...” Nichols began. “Miss Smythe-Harris has a very take charge manner as you have probably seen. She tends to feel a little... Ahem,
put-out
if she feels ignored.”

“Indeed! And that is the excuse for her acid tongue now is it Mr. Nichols?” Phillips snapped back.

“No Sir, merely that from the moment I walked in you hardly referenced her at all and I believe she took that as a slight.”

Jerard paused and thought about what the man had just said. Being rude to the confounded woman was the last thing on his mind. Dismissing several more pungent replies he simply acknowledged Nichols’ point. “I see. Not my intent Sir, I trust
you
realize that?”

“I do Captain which is why I mention it, Miss Smythe-Harris is well thought of on the ship and nobody would care to see her put down.”

Jerard caught the man's tone and realized he had been warned very gently. “I assure you, Chief Engineer, that I see that all three of us will need to be on the same side if this little mystery is to be resolved.”

“Very good Sir. I am glad you understand. We all wish for smooth passage.” Nichols said as they reached a door in the corridor. “Now Sir, this is the R55 access door to the engine room proper, when we have guests aboard it is locked but that's a rarity, usually its possible to use it as a cut through to the aft command gondola.” He explained as he swung the metal door open.

“How is it that the engine noise doesn’t seep through into the passenger lounge?” Jerard asked as he ducked his head to follow Nichols. The vibrations of the engines were now quite noticeable through the one remaining bulkhead.

“Well Sir,” Nichols was nearly shouting now, “there’s a buffer layer built into the hull to mute it. Also there are the lounge washrooms and the service area we just passed through to act as a bit of a sound baffle as well.”

Four great internal combustion engines dominated the room linked by chains to gearboxes. From each gearbox a prop shaft headed out through the ship's hull to a propeller. Across the room two airshipmen were seen going about their work. One was kneeling by one of the throbbing engines while the other sat on a fixed swivel chair next to a bank of gauges and dials. At the sight of Nichols and the Captain the seated man slid off his chair and sketched a salute to the two officers.

“Morning Ed, how's the new boys?” Nichols called genially to the man.

“Which one Sir?” Leading airshipman Edward Collins replied with a grin. “The engines or the men, Sir? Good day to you Captain Phillips, Sir” He added when Jerard stepped around the Chief to look at the bewildering mass of dials.