Waves of Murder (2 page)

“Did you see that guy’s name badge, it was Elvis,” Jon laughed, “ he wasn’t wearing blue suede shoes though!” he added, and they both roared with laughter.

Dinner was informal, they were shown to a circular table by a white-jacketed maitre’d, their name cards were on the table. Soon they were joined by three more couples, two middle-aged and one who were on honeymoon and were joined at the hip and even held hands while eating with the other hand! Jon struck up a conversation with Zak, a fine looking 60 year old with a wonderful head of silver hair. He’d been an air-line pilot, and had taken early retirement as he didn’t like flying, everybody at the table laughed. The ice was broken, the other couple were very down-to-earth, from Sussex, a pharmacist in his 40’s with an Asian wife. Jon introduced himself and Lorna, Zak and Sandra, David and Sangita smiled nicely but Jack and Collette just smiled weakly and went back to looking into each others eyes. Jon was waiting for Jack to stab his face with a fork whilst looking at his bride!

As soon as dinner was over Jack and Collette rushed back to their cabin, their excuse being tired after a long journey and day. The diners that were left smiled at each other and Zak started singing ‘Memories’! Jon and Lorna liked Zak and Sandra and he suggested they went through to the ‘London Pub Bar’ that was situated amid ships on the promenade deck. Zak related some very funny ‘true’ stories about his flying days around the world and admitted to being a member of the ‘Mile High Club’. Sandra laughed and said, “It’s all right, I know all about it, I was with him in the toilet!” They all laughed.

Zak and sandra said goodnight and left arm-in-arm. Jon had noticed a very attractive middle-aged woman looking at him and smiling the whole time they had been in the bar. Well coiffured, and dripping in expensive jewellery, a seed of an evil plan was germinating in his brain.

Jon laid awake for most of the night, resisting the advances from Lorna, saying that he was tired. At six in the morning he had the whole plan formulated, but what would he do about Lorna? No, he couldn’t kill her, they were closely linked, could he tell her of his plan? May be. He laid the plan aside for a couple of days and enjoyed sun, sea and sex with Lorna. The attractive lady from the bar seemed to be everywhere, the sun deck in a bikini that revealed how well kept she was, Jon decided to tell Lorna what he intended. Her jaw dropped when he told her that he would seduce the woman, rob her and throw her body overboard.

“We will get home with thousands, and no-one will be any the wiser,” he said.

“You’re an evil bastard,” she said, but she didn’t shout, “I’m glad I don’t have any diamonds,” she added, “or I’d be swimming in the Med.” She had noticed the woman, as women do when with a good-looking man, “Those diamonds she wears are amazing, that lady is asking for trouble,” she said, taking Jon’s hand and giving a silent ‘go ahead’ for the plan.

That night was a formal night, and Jon proudly wore his new dress suit, his plan was to separate from Lorna, as agreed, and go it alone. He sat, after a one course dinner, in the bar. Thirty minutes passed and then she walked in, paused slightly when she saw Jon alone sitting at the bar. She sat three spaces from him, smiled and said, “Good evening.”

“Good evening,” he heard himself say with a slightly dry mouth.

“Alone tonight?” she said with a smile.

“Er, yes,” said Jon, “I’m really alone on the cruise, my sister has found a friend,” he laughed.

“Oh, she’s your sister?”

“Yes,” he lied.

He found her mid-western accent attractive, and she said, “I love your British accent, what do you do?”

“I sell German cars,” he lied.

“Oh, I have a German car, a Mercedes sporty convertible,” she said. Jon couldn’t take his gaze away from the diamonds, her necklace, her bracelet, her rings and the watch. She must have been wearing at least £200,000 worth. “You like my little trinkets, do you?” she asked, “they’re a girl’s best friend,” she laughed, “I owe them all to my late husband, he left me 2,000 sq miles of wheat in Oklahoma, the world needs food. By the way, I’m Clarice van Houten,” she offered her hand in introduction.

“I’m Jonathan Weston,” he replied, taking her hand but regretting telling her his real name, but then thought that she will never be able to tell anyone, tonight would be her last. After two more drinks, Jon stuck to iced Perrier water, he needed a clear head for what was to come. Clarice suggested that they go to the casino, “Oh, I’m not a gambling man,” he said.

“Oh, but I am!” she laughed, “c’mon it’s fun!” she pouted. They walked into the small but luxuriant casino which was quite full. Ten o’clock seemed to be the gambling hour, they found two seats at the roulette table. Clarice opened her sequinned bag and pulled out $2000 in 100’s, pushing forward $500, she said with the voice of authority and experience, “Chips please.” She gave 100 to Jon, “There you go, honey, see what you can do with that.” Jon was embarrassed but no one noticed, all too busy with their gaming. Jon did well, going red, black, evens, odds. After about half an hour he had amassed $1000, Clarice had done even better and had $10,000 in chips in front of her. She went on to win $20,000 before she cashed her chips. Jon had won another $500. “What a night,” she said, as she gave him $5,000, “Don’t worry it’s not a gift, you’re going to earn that back at my suite,” she pouted, as she took his arm. They arrived at A200 ten minutes later, Clarice opened the mini bar and took out a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, “Let’s celebrate,” she said to Jon, who was sitting on the luxurious sofa. She opened the bottle with a bang and poured out two flutes, “Cheers!” she almost shouted, chinked Jon’s glass and sat beside him. Jon sipped two tiny sips and then put the glass down on to a small table. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she said, and went into the bedroom. Jon sat and thought deeply as to what was ahead. He had cold bloooded murder on his mind and needed to go over the plan again in his brain. He noticed the balcony and walked over and opened the sliding door and looked down at the waves. Good, he thought, do the deed and over she goes, at about 3 o’clock in the morning. It was now one o’clock, two hours to go. The bedroom door opened to reveal a naked Clarice, apart from the diamonds which sparkled amazingly in the light. “So, what do you think?” she asked. Jon was completely aghast and speechless, she was beautiful, what a shame she only had 2 hours to live. She walked across to him and looking down, said [imitating Mae West with her hand on her hip] “is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?” she laughed, Jon could only manage a smile. She gently lifted him to his feet, covering his mouth with hers and then turned and led him into the bedroom. What followed, Jon could until now, only fantasize about. For almost two hours they had sex in positions that Jon had never dreamed of. They lay side by side gasping and laughing at the same time. Clarice was still wearing her jewellery, Jon had felt the bracelet and watch chaffing his back as her orgasm moans reached crescendo. Jon suddenly saw his chance, he rolled over, grabbed her around the neck and pressed with his thumb on her windpipe, with all of his weight. She gasped her last breath with eyes bulging, beautiful eyes that didn’t deserve to die, but his needs were great. Her arms and legs stopped thrashing and her face stilled, she just gazed at the ceiling, eyes wide open not blinking ...... she was dead!

Jon jumped out of bed, shaking. He’d done it, but how did he feel? Elated at the thought of the diamonds, but fearful of the horrendous deed he had just committed. He looked down at her beauty, she certainly didn’t deserve to die. She still stared at the ceiling, he bent over and softly closed her eyes. Getting dressed, he now implemented his plan, stuffing all her cash into his pockets, he then started to remove her diamonds. Bracelet, necklace, watch and rings plus she wore a diamond anklet that he hadn’t noticed. He removed it. At three o’clock he lifted her off of the bed, and fireman style, carried her into the lounge area, through to the balcony and tipped her body overboard. He watched as it fell to the sea with only a minimal splash, and immediately was gone with the speed of the ship.

With his ill-gotten gains stashed safely upon him, he opened the door slightly to see if there was anyone about, then alarm bells rang in his head, FINGER PRINTS. His were not on record, but what if they were taken and matched in her suite? He closed the door and started to wipe, with a damp tissue, everything he had touched. The glass, the door knobs, the surfaces of the bed, the flush handle on the toilet, the champagne bottle, he was in a frenzy of cleaning everything. The window handle, the balcony rail, in all he spent an hour and a half cleaning and wiping. As he left at 4.45am he wiped the door knobs, sweating, but was confident that he had done a good job. He knocked on the door of his stateroom, he was sure nobody, not even ship staff, had seen him make his getaway.

“Well,” Lorna said, “is it all sorted?”

“Yes,” Jon replied, “it’s all done and dusted,” he added, and started to empty his pockets on to the bed. Lorna’s eyes bulged as she looked at the diamonds and cash.

“How much is there?” she asked.

“About a quarter of a million,” Jon replied.

“Wow,” she said, “good times, here we come.”

“All we have to do now is to act normally, like a couple on a cruise, okay?”

“Yes,” Lorna agreed.

“Now, I need to sleep,” Jon said.

He got undressed and Lorna saw the chafe marks on his back, “A hard night?” she asked.

He ignored her remark and settled down to get some sleep, but sleep didn’t come. He laid awake thinking of what he’d done, ‘cold blooded murder’ shouted in his brain, for what? Money. Eventually drowsiness overcame him and he drifted into a fitful sleep. Lorna heard him mumbling as she dressed. They left their stateroom at 10 o’clock, Jon took a ‘do not disturb’ sign with him to hang on the door of Clarice’s suite, he carefully wrapped it in a tissue, no finger prints, not even on an insignificant sign.

Jon and Lorna sat in silence with only coffee and toast, they had no appetite for a full breakfast. Suddenly they were brought back to reality by Zak and Sandra, “Morning,” they said in unison.

“Morning,” J & L replied.

“How’s it all going?” Zak asked.

“Not sure yet, couldn’t sleep last night, strange bed and the movement of the ship, might have a bit of ‘mal de mer’,” Jon laughed, trying to be normal and cheer himself up.

“Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but tonight we enter the Bay of Biscay,” Zak said, “ gets rough!”

“Oh well,” Jon replied, “thanks for the warning, I’ll get some sea-sickness pills from the pharmacy.”

“Good idea!” Zak replied.

Jon had made a small package of the diamonds and deposited it in the ship’s safety deposit box. Just a brown envelope with the gems wrapped in toilet tissue, he didn’t want it to look too valuable. He even said this to the receptionist who gave him the pass key, “It’s not much, I just don’t want to carry it around. Oh, by the way, the safe in my cabin doesn’t seem to work properly, but don’t worry there’s nothing in it now,” he said over his shoulder, “thanks,” he added. This made sure that if push came to shove, what he had said was on record.

On a cruise liner carrying about three thousand passengers, you very rarely see the same person twice, unless of course they sit at your designated dinner table. So Jon wasn’t bothered about having been seen with Clarice. But Jon suddenly went cold, sweating at the same time, DNA on the bed sheets, his was on record after a skirmish outside a pub. He jumped up and almost ran to Clarice’s cabin to remove the ‘do not disturb’ sign. Luckily the cleaner was down the deck hall, Jon could see his wagon and hear him singing. He snatched the sign, folded it as he almost ran away, and pocketed it, sighing with relief as he headed back to a very puzzled Lorna. He told her where he had been and why, she also looked relieved and took his hand as a comforter. The sight of all the diamonds and cash outweighed the fact that Jon had slept with another woman, she felt that she was now secure financially, pay off the credit cards, handbags, shoes and even a car were now on her imaginary shopping list.

The Bay of Biscay, as promised by Zak, was very rough and they both suffered from sea-sickness, as did 75% of the passengers. On the second day it became much calmer and life got back to normal on the ship. Their moods became better in their cabin, and they started to enjoy their holiday.

Gibraltar was the next port of call, but on the morning of the docking an envelope came under their door, it included a photograph of Clarice and asked ‘Have you seen this woman?’ Jon looked at Lorna and put his finger to his lips, “We know nothing, okay?”

“Yes,” Lorna said.

As the ‘Ajaxia’ edged on to the quay, Jon looked down from his balcony and his heart sank. Two police cars, four uniformed English coppers and two plain clothes officers were waiting at the end of the gangway, watching every passenger as they disembarked. Jon thought, not to go ashore might look a little suspicious, so he decided that they should look like a happy couple going to do some shopping and sightseeing. They reached the bottom of the gangway after their names were checked off by security, and were supplied with wristbands as identification. As they stepped off, a plain clothes officer stepped forward and said, “Mr Weston, Jonothan Weston?”

Jon’s heart went crazy, and his brain went into overdrive, “Yes,” Jon said, “how can I help?”

“I’m Inspector Taylor of the British Gibraltan Police,” he declared, at the same time showing him a photo of Clarice, “do you know this woman?”