The Golden Triangle 1v2b36

PRAISES

The maiden venture of Inayat in the field of writing is commendable. Her book Golden Triangle Branded for Revenge is an extraordinary voyage of the protagonist Eleanor into the world of love deceit and murder. It’s an enthralling, exciting and exhilarating story of a woman in search of truth. A page turner indeed!

- RAINA SAXENA

(Educator)

Simply astounding.The only two words I can say.

- RAUNIKA KAUSHAL

(Lawyer)

Stellar book. It is such an engrossing read, you cannot put the book down. I highly recommend this book to all readers, irrespective of which type of genre they read.

- DR. HARJI KAUR

(Dermatologist)

It’s an amazing read. It’s highly captivating and you wait for the end with bated breath. And then you’re like, “OH MY GOD! DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN?”

- JASMINE SHINMAR

(Former Asia no. 1 Junior Tennis Champion)

THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

BRANDED FOR REVENGE

Inayat Kaur

Published by Zorba Books, July 2021

Website: www. zorbabooks.com

Email: [email protected]

Cover design© Dhiraj

Author Name & Copyright © Inayat Kaur

Title : The Golden Triangle : Branded for Revenge

Print book ISBN -978-93-90640-78-2

Ebook ISBN -978-93-90640-79-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except by a reviewer. The reviewer may quote brief ages, with attribution, in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Web—without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The publisher under the guidance and direction of the author has published the contents in this book, and the publisher takes no responsibility for the contents, its accuracy, completeness, any inconsistencies, or the statements made. The contents of the book do not reflect the opinion of the publisher or the editor. The publisher and editor shall not be liable for any errors, omissions, or the reliability of the contents of the book.

Any perceived slight against any person/s, place or organization is purely unintentional.

Zorba Books Pvt. Ltd. (opc)

Sushant Arcade,

Next to Courtyard Marriot,

Sushant Lok 1, Gurgaon – 122009, India

Printed By Thomson Press (India) Ltd.B-315,

Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi- 110020

To all my grandparents without whose blessings and amazing genes this book would not be possible…

To my sister - Jas Di

&

To my buddy - Ira

CONTENTS

Praises

Introduction

Chapter 1: Settling In

Chapter 2: A Comfortable Day

Chapter 3: Some Surprises

Chapter 4: A Quarrel

Chapter 5: Murder

Chapter 6: Interviews

Chapter 7: The Curious Pendant

Chapter 8: A Storm And Some Findings

Chapter 9: Martin And William

Chapter 10: Things Are Revealed

Chapter 11: The Black Cloak

Chapter 12: Another Murder

Chapter 13: Remorse And Regret

Chapter 14: A Few Interrogations

Chapter 15: Codes And Solutions

Chapter 16: The Explanation Of How?

Chapter 17: The Confession

INTRODUCTION

The Golden Triangle was a nation, west to the Scandinavian countries, consisting of four provinces; one in the North, two in the South, and a small island in the middle giving it the shape of a triangle, hence the name. The North province was called Zambitrama. The Southeast province-Alibimana, south west – Marilaxa and the middle province was Matryaas.

Unfortunately, the provinces of the Golden Triangle did not live in harmony. Usually, Marilaxa and Alibimana would forces against Zambitrama. Matryaas was always the peaceful one and never fought against any of the other provinces.

The reason for the wars and riots between these provinces was because of money and gold. The mayors of both sides were very greedy. They always wanted more. They wished that the Golden Triangle would combine into one nation with them as the head. Since this led to a lot of wars, espionage was an important part of their military tactics, and detectives were of essence for the government.

Each of the provinces had great detectives who were skilled in their own way.

Zambitrama had the best detective system among all the four. Since Marilaxa and Alibmana were not able to fight against Zambitrama by themselves, they always pleaded with Matryaas to them.

Once, the war was so fierce that hundreds and thousands of lives were lost. Many of the detectives were threatened and tortured, and the pain they suffered

was searing and unfathomable. People lost their family, homes, jobs and even love. Love was lost in humanity. Finally, the war ended but the Golden Triangle was shattered. Despite the magnitude of losses, the mayors continued to send their spies to the other provinces and it was recognized how greedy and unruly humans could be.

Even though people wanted revenge since the Great War had occurred, they were trying to live out their days in peace. But nobody had suffered as much as the detectives during this period. Although none of the detectives had died, most of their families had been killed during the war because the mayors sent their army troops to attack the detective’s weakest point—their loved ones.

The mayor of one state would target the detective of another, to counterattack the other’s strategy to attack them and why do you think the mayors would care about their detectives? They didn’t. But the detectives continued working for them because they were mercenaries; puppets in the hands of anyone who paid them.

In all this chaos and distorted living, Matryaas had given a helping hand to the North and South. They were friendly with everybody. Many refugees had escaped to Matryaas where they were welcomed with open arms. The mayor of Matryaas was not a greedy, cruel, arrogant, self-centered, or impatient man. He cared about the people in his province.

CHAPTER 1

SETTLING IN

“Eleanor Melsis Adams,” she replied.

“You may proceed,” said the ticket collector as he carefully scrutinized her port and other documents.

Eleanor breathed a sigh of relief. She walked onto the swaying bridge. Underneath, the water gleamed like sapphires. As she approached the enger ship, she took a deep breath again and looked at it carefully.

It wasn’t very big compared to the other majestic beauties beside it, but it had a big deck. Once painted in gleaming white, it had now lost its luster. There was a large porthole on the port of the ship through which the interiors could be clearly seen. There were also small portholes in each cabin.

“It definitely looks like a lucky ship,” she thought.

Finally, Eleanor pushed the door and felt a whoosh of fragrant air as she entered the ship. She was hit by the redness of the carpets and walls. It wasn’t really decorated, except for the mirror adjacent to the door. There was a long age ahead and many adjacent cabins were on the sides of it. But before the cabins, there was the large porthole that Eleanor had previously spotted.

Behind her was the captain’s and attendant’s compartment. This ship had only one attendant who would serve the pre-packed food and look after the needs of the engers.

Eleanor smiled when she saw the interior of the ship and commented, “Ah, this place is peaceful and quite apt for me.”

She cautiously stared into the mirror next to the door. She was a 25 year old elegant lady. Although she was always graceful, she had an essence of starchiness as well. She was wearing a blue dress that was beautifully embroidered with golden butterflies and flowed till just below her knees. Silver earrings and black sandals completed the look. She had daring blue eyes that could stun anybody. Her fair-skinned face was slightly oval shaped.

Eleanor took out her lip gloss and quickly applied it, making her lips look even darker. She was wearing a respectable red hat that partially hid some of her brownish-black hair. The hat had the name Martha engraved on it. When anybody asked, she would reply, “It belonged to my sister’s friend. She died in the war and we her through the hat.”

Eleanor also wore a few rings of different shapes and sizes on her hand. She wore one on her ring finger as well, even though she claimed that she wasn’t engaged or married. Her rings were mostly made of gold. After fixing her lipstick, she walked further along the ageway, wondering where her cabin was. Although she knew she was in Cabin 3, she wanted to look at her fellow engers since most of the doors were ajar.

She peered into the first cabin. There were two people inside, a lady and her husband. The woman was a little plump but looked kind and jolly and her husband resembled her.

They were going at each other hammer and tongs, arguing loudly, like any

husband and wife.

“No, Margret, I cannot get you those diamond earrings. They cost more than the vacation, and a vacation is memorable. I don’t even want to see you in those earrings,” said the husband.

“Please Rook,” pleaded Margret Wood.

“No, no, no, I will not get it. It’s too expensive. Besides, it’s better to spend the money on a holiday because you’ll only wear the earrings a few times and then put them away. That money is going to be a waste,” Rook Wood argued.

Margret replied, “You don’t care, Rook, about how I want to see myself and… and…”

Their voices drifted away as Eleanor strode forward. She peeked inside the cabin that was opposite the first one. The second cabin was full as well. This was unusually occupied by three people as cabins were only meant for two.

There was a couple and their little son who was about 8 or 10. The mother was very thin and looked quite stressed but her husband looked the exact opposite, identical to his son.

The lady was doing her best to prevent her son from jumping on the bed.

“Now, now Tom, this is a ship bed, not like your bouncy bed at home. You can’t just keep on jumping. If the beds get spoilt, we’ll have to pay for it. If we have to pay for it, we might lose a lot of money. If we lose money, you might not be able to go to school and... and...”

“Calm down Beth dear. Tom, ignore what your mum just said but please stop jumping on the bed,” said her husband – George Elliot.

Eleanor didn’t want to listen anymore, so she kept walking ahead.

The ship had seven cabins and each cabin had two beds. The name of the ship was Little Noah. There were 14 engers travelling, since the Elliots had a kid as well.

As Eleanor went forward, she came across another big porthole. It showed the whole landscape. It was all beautiful like in a fairytale, with the water like magical potion.

She looked towards the window and murmured, “Beautiful, indeed, this is.”

She started walking ahead, but her head was turned towards the window and her eyes were fixed on it.

“Oh,” she cried suddenly and all her documents fell down on the floor. She glanced at the man who had bumped into her but did not give him a second look. She quickly started picking up her documents.

“I’m so sorry, so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just wasn’t looking,” said the man into whom Eleanor had bumped.

“No, that’s okay. I wasn’t looking either, so I’m equally at fault,” replied Eleanor.

“Here, I’ll help you,” he said, picking up her port and some of her identification documents.

“Oh, Head of Police, are you?” the man asked, looking at the documents.

“Yes, what’s wrong in that?” Eleanor retorted, still looking down, as she picked up the rest of her documents.

“No, it’s just I haven’t met- seen- been acquainted with many, you knowpolicewomen? No offense, I’m just impressed,” he replied.

“Thanks,” she said, finally looking up. “I get a lot of that.”

As she said these words, she finally saw him up close and gasped softly as if she had seen a ghost.

He was tall and thin. There was a certain kindness to his face. He wore

spectacles and was clean shaven and looked around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. His jet-black eyes had quite an artistic look; he was wearing a black tie and suit, and looked very respectable.

“Your eyes are full of love,” he commented, almost subconsciously.

Love, love, love…

The word echoed in Eleanor’s ears again and again and a memory came into her mind. A flashback of the past.

It was a sunny morning and the sun seemed very happy. There was a little girl of about six or seven and a boy about the same age. The girl was in the garden, though it was more of a jungle. She was running around in circles and crying out, “Come and catch me if you can El, come on El, you can do it. You can catch me. Come on.”

“And I will,” screamed the boy whom she was addressing as El.

“No, you won’t,” said the girl and with a little giggle she climbed up a tree.

The boy yelled, “Oh, no, Al, don’t go there, it’s dangerous. A snake!” But it was too late. The snake was already coming towards Al. She breathed heavily, trembling.

“What do I do, El?” the girl cried out in terror. “Save me please.”

“Jump!” cried out the boy. “I’ll catch you.”

“No, I’m scared,” she replied, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Trust me,” he said.

But the little girl found herself unable to move, and the snake slithered towards her. Just as the snake was about attack Al, El threw a stick at it. The snake got distracted and slithered down the tree.

“Run Al,” cried the boy, running himself. Al quickly climbed down and they both began running together. El was a little behind and the snake got him. Luckily, it was not a poisonous snake. It just bit El on his leg, but that stopped him. As the snake lurched forward, an eagle swooped from nowhere and grabbed the snake with its talons. It seemed too much of a coincidence, but it was what happened that sunny day.

“Thanks Eagle,” said Al from behind. As she smiled at it and waved it goodbye, her eyes darted towards El who was in pain.

“El!” she yelled, and ran back towards him. They both went back home where El was taken to a doctor and thankfully, he was alright. The next day, El and Al went out for another walk in the garden.

“I’m so sorry,” Al finally said. “What would I have done without you? If it hadn’t been for you, I would have been dead by now, bitten and bitten everywhere.”

The boy tried to look a bit proud and said, “Well, it’s okay.”

Al smiled and said, “I’d do anything for you. Yes, I would.”

“Well,” said El, scratching his chin, “I suppose you could do something.”

He held Al’s hand and asked her, “Do you…?”

She nodded, and as they both lay down beneath the shining sun, Eleanor’s memory faded.

Little kids, innocent love…

“What is it?” the man waved his hands and asked as he saw Eleanor in a trance.

“Nothing. I just thought I saw a familiar face,” said Eleanor, trembling.

He replied, “Really? I feel the same way. Except the fact that you are thinner, you’re not wearing glasses, you have straight hair, you’re very short, much…

much…shorter than she was, like about 3 inches, and you’re the Head of Police. You are spontaneous but the one I knew was very orderly. Well, you know, people may appear to be the same but are not.”

“Yes, yes of course. Sorry I forgot to introduce myself. Eleanor Melsis Adams. Your name?” she inquired.

“William James Miller, a singer at ‘The Opera’,” replied William, with a little hesitation. “I am going to Ubalmana (a small island near the Golden Triangle) for a singer’s meeting. What about you Mrs. Eleanor?”

“No, no, I’m Miss. I’m not married. But you don’t need to talk so formally with me. Eleanor is perfectly okay. Back to your question. I’m going there to meet one of my friends, a very close one. Meeting her after so many years is quite exciting,” said Eleanor.

“Oh, that’s great. Then I’ll be on my way,” said William.

Eleanor said, “Bye, then.”

As William entered his cabin, Eleanor took a deep breath and sighed. She walked and looked into the next cabin- Cabin 3. Someone called M.E. Davis, as it said on her baggage, occupied the other bed. M.E. Davis was probably a woman as there was a nightgown and some cosmetics scattered on the bed.

Eleanor put her handbag and documents on a common table between the beds.

She quickly undressed. Although it was only 7 in the evening, she was too exhausted to do anything and decided to call it a day. However, Eleanor was woken up a few hours later by the footsteps of her mate as she was a light sleeper.

She rubbed her eyes and said, “Hello, you must be M.E. Davis? I suppose.”

“Mary Elena Davis, yes. But you can call me, Mary. You’re Eleanor, William mentioned,” replied Mary.

She was a slightly plump woman and wore an unusually large yellow dress. To sum up, her appearance was of a middle-aged, happy, and content woman.

“Well, I came to take my handkerchief. By the way, dinner is being served in the Food Lounge. Do you want to come and eat? If you do, hurry up. Dinner’s almost finished. By luck, you’ll get the pudding. By extra luck, you’ll get the tasty lamb which was heated. Otherwise, you can always have bread, the worst thing to eat.”

Mary said this all very fast, so Eleanor didn’t exactly have a chance to interrupt her.

“Just a minute, just a minute. I’ll have the food, don’t worry about that, but did you just say that your middle name was Elena?” said Eleanor.

“Yes, why?” asked Mary suspiciously.

“No, no, I’m just curious. The other thing is, do you by any chance have a brother whom you are travelling with?” asked Eleanor.

“No, why?” said Mary.

“Just a question,” replied Eleanor.

Mary said, “Well, um, no. I have a sister with whom I’m travelling.”

“Right, her name?” asked Eleanor.

“It’s um…um…well its, um…” said Mary. “It’s Rosy Elena Maiden.”

“May I know why you are sailing to Ubalmana?” asked Eleanor.

“Why do you need to know? It’s a personal matter.” said Mary.

Eleanor replied, “Fine. I can tell from your document that you are going to a dancers’ meeting with your sister.”

“How dare you pry at my documents?” said Mary ferociously.

“I didn’t do it intentionally. They were lying on the table. You can also see mine. I’m going to Ubalmana to meet my friend. Anyway, I am Head of Police. I just wanted to check the name because I a criminal with the surname Davis,” said Eleanor.

“Davis, oh, that’s fine. I am not related to any Davis, except my husband. He is definitely not a criminal,” replied Mary, happy that she was not interested in the word ‘Elena’, anymore.

“Well, I trust you. Apologies for doubting you,” said Eleanor, leaving the topic.

Mary said, “Oh that’s fine. It doesn’t matter. So, aren’t you going to go for the dinner?”

“Oh, no, I’m not hungry anymore. I’ll have a heavy breakfast tomorrow,” said Eleanor.

“Well, then, I guess I’ll also go to bed now. Okay, well, goodnight then,” said Mary.

Eleanor replied, “Goodnight dear.”

As soon as Mary saw Eleanor sleeping, she gave a sigh of relief. “Crazy woman,” thought Mary to herself. “Well, I’ll sleep then.” As she rolled in her bed sheets, she too drifted to sleep.

Eleanor woke up for a little time in between, wondering which day it was, but then slept again after she saw the time and ed the day.

The rest of the night was very peaceful and the ship started sailing.

CHAPTER 2

A COMFORTABLE DAY

Eleanor woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. One could hear a man’s voice saying, “Morning madams, anything to eat, or will you eat with everybody else?”

“Hmm… hmm…,” replied Eleanor sleepily. “Oh, gosh! It’s morning already, isn’t it? Um, no matter, I’ll come down to the table and eat with everybody else.”

She shuffled lazily and looked at the other side where Mary was sleeping.

“Mary dear, it’s morning. Do you want to have breakfast here or in the Food Lounge? I’d say it’s better to eat at the table. I expect we’ll get a chance to meet everybody,” said Eleanor.

“Sure, I’ll be there in 5 minutes. You go on without me,” said Mary.

“Okay,” Eleanor replied.

She lay on the bed for another fifteen minutes and finally shuffled out of bed. She quickly slipped on her dress, brushed her hair and left for the table. Eleanor walked past the first cabin and the second. They were all empty.

“Hmm,” she said. “Looks like everybody has already started eating.”

She opened the cabin door and walked into the Food Lounge. As she entered, a few people glanced at her as she was late for breakfast.

One person, for some reason stared in an unusual way. He was slightly fat and short but also thin lipped. Even though his face looked jovial, his stare could kill. He was smoking a cigar.

As she entered, he kept staring at her. The seats next to him were empty. Eleanor looked there but thought better of it. She would rather sit with a cockroach.

There was a free chair at the other table. The other chairs were occupied by a man who was reading a newspaper and a woman sitting diagonally opposite him who picked up her plate to get some food.

“I’m Martin Mikafay Lou. Head of the Navy,” the man reading the newspaper said to Eleanor as she approached him.

He was an extremely handsome and tall man. He looked very friendly and his hair was cut in a boyish sort of way. Eleanor was just going to sit, when William came through the door.

“Morning sleeping beauty,” he said, as soon as he saw her.

“Well, technically, I woke up before you,” replied Eleanor.

“No, because I just went to my cabin to fetch a jacket,” said William. “I was planning to go up to the decks but it’s cold over there. Perhaps I’ll go a little later. Let’s have breakfast together.”

“We? I mean it’s fine if you…um…don’t want to go outside, but the problem is that there isn’t anywhere to sit. I’ll probably just take the food up to my cabin,” said Eleanor.

“Of course not, there’s loads of space. Let us sit here with this gentleman,” he said, pointing to the man with whom Eleanor had decided not to sit.

“No,” she said. “Why not here with Martin? I mean the view is much better here.”

“If you want to see the view then trust me, sitting with Oliver is much better. You can see the mountains as well,” said William.

Out of options, as she couldn’t be impolite to her fellow engers, she was forced to sit with that man, named Oliver Berthen Garcia.

William introduced them, “Well, Oliver, we have a new friend. Eleanor- Oliver Berthern Garcia. Oliver- Eleanor Melsis Adams.”

He simply nodded. So, did she.

Thoughts percolated Oliver’s mind. He was thinking, “Do I know her? She looks like somebody I know. No, she doesn’t. I don’t know, but those blue eyes remind me of someone. They are so haunting. Oh, silly me. I must have seen her entering the ship yesterday. Yes.” He looked away, still confused.

“So,” said William, “Eleanor, let me introduce you to all our friends for this four-day journey of ours. Sitting on the first bench, we have Beth Elliot - Mrs. Elliot, with her husband and son - George Elliot and Tom Elliot respectively.

“Also sitting with them is Mr. Farhan Khanna. He is from India. Very, very rich man. Probably a trillionaire.”

Eleanor retorted, “I don’t think he’s from India,” as she heard Mr. Farhan Khanna cracking jokes with little Tom who seemed really pleased.

William said, “Well, he’s probably an Anglo-Indian.”

Again, Eleanor interrupted, “Usually Anglo-Indians don’t have Indian names.”

William chuckled and said, “Wow! You seem to know a lot about India. Have you been there or did you live there?”

“I’ve been to a lot of places before I settled in Matryaas,” replied Eleanor.

“Wow! That’s great! You know, I thought you lived in Zambitrama,” said

William.

“Well, I particularly like to keep peace. If I were Head of Police in Zambitrama, I would probably be dead by now. But the fact that I am from Matryaas, where there is basically no war, is the only reason you can see me,” blurted out Eleanor.

William chuckled and said, “Yes but there hasn’t been a war since The Great War between Zambitrama and the South.”

“Yeah, but who knows. Zambitrama’s mayor is slightly crazy. The place is good though, given what I saw when I went touring there one day,” said Eleanor.

“Oh, I feel Zambitrama is fine. Right. Back to the introductions.

At the second table, we have Mr. and Mrs. Wood as well as Mr. and Mrs. Marth. The Marth’s are a newly wedded couple,” said William.

“Right,” replied Eleanor.

“The third table is ours and the fourth’s Martin Lou, Mary Davis and Mia Smith’s. Mia Smith is a writer. She writes for the ‘COOL DAYS’ magazine,” William said.

“Wait, isn’t that the magazine which writes about the police and detectives?” asked Eleanor.

“Well, you do know a lot!” he exclaimed.

“Tell me something. How do you know so much about all the engers?” asked Eleanor.

“You didn’t come for dinner yesterday, did you?” asked William.

“No,” Eleanor replied.

“We all met each other,” William said, “chatted and chatted till everyone was exhausted. By the way, these are our permanent seats.”

CHAPTER 3

SOME SURPRISES

SEATING PLAN

TABLE 1TABLE 2TABLE 3TABLE 4-

Tom Elliot Beth Elliot Margret Wood Rook Wood Oliver Garcia William Miller Mia Smith Mary Davis

George Elliot Mr. Farhan Khanna Isabella Marth Chris Marth Eleanor Adams Martin Lou

“What!” cried Eleanor in surprise. “These are our permanent seats?”

“Yes, Captain gave the seating plan last night. Is it a problem?” asked William.

“No, that’s not the thing. See, the fact is, I was looking forward to some fun on this trip. And I really don’t think that will be possible sitting with you and a Mr. Oliver,” replied Eleanor in a whisper so Oliver couldn’t hear them.

“Okay, sure. Right, I get what you mean. I am also looking for fun. By the way, fun fact, there was once a girl whom I was going to marry who was a bit like you, so there is a great chance that I’ll have the same amount of fun with you,” replied William.

Eleanor looked at his face. He was so kind, so handsome, so, so… but no… no… he was not at all any of this. But then he was…

“So, do you want me to help you choose the food or otherwise?” asked William after a long pause.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine,” answered Eleanor. She quickly picked up her plate and dashed towards the buffet spread where Peter had beautifully displayed the food. She looked at the food. There was quite a variety and a lot of choices to make. Sausages, hash browns, cold cuts, salad, exotic fruits, and of course beautifully decorated desserts. Maybe she should have called William to help her. How could that man be so kind. How could he have been so sweet? In Eleanor’s profession, she had not seen a lot of kind and sweet people, especially

men. She felt herself falling in love.

“No,” she said firmly to herself.

Apart from this, another hundred thoughts were racing through her head. If William was supposed to marry this “other” girl, why did he like Eleanor? She definitely didn’t resemble the girl he had mentioned during their first meeting.

Maybe, he didn’t like her.

She was just imagining it.

And, why on Earth was he forcing her to sit with Oliver? What about Mary? Why had she lied to her about a sister? There was definitely no enger on this ship called Rosy Elena or whatever her name was. Surely Mary didn’t consider her that much of an idiot.

She headed back after filling her plate with all sorts of different delicacies. When she thought she should rather go back to her cabin, her heart forced her to stay. She just wanted to see William’s face once again. So, she went back to the table where William was talking to Oliver.

“Oh, Eleanor, you’ve come back. Okay then Oliver, I’ll be back,” said William.

“Back from where?” asked Eleanor.

“Come with me, let’s go to the decks. Nobody’s there. You can eat in peace over there. You can eat there every day if you so wish, since you don’t want to eat downstairs with Oliver,” replied William.

He opened the door for her and she went through.

“Wow!” she gasped, looking at the sea. Magnificent waves were hitting the ship and beautifully swirling around it.

“That’s just beautiful.”

“It is, isn’t it?” agreed William.

He took her a little further on the deck and showed her a little white table set for two. He pulled out the chair and motioned to her to sit. She sat down, while William pulled out the other chair for himself and sat on it.

“Brr, it’s really cold out here, isn’t it?” said Eleanor.

“Do you want my jacket?” asked William.

“No, it’s fine. You’ll feel cold,” replied Eleanor.

“No, trust me I’m fine. You’re just wearing a blouse. It’ll be better if you have it,” said William.

“Well, okay. Thank you,” said Eleanor.

He reached towards her and draped his jacket over her shoulders. Eleanor started eating and talking to William. They talked about everything. The funniest and most serious things. They talked for about an hour, till it was 11:30 a.m. Eleanor was starting to get slightly irked by William so she decided to test him.

She said, “William, you’re a singer. Aren’t you?”

“Yes,” replied William.

“Well, could you please sing a song for me?” Eleanor asked.

“You know, I usually don’t sing and I left it years ago. All I do now is rectify mistakes of the younger singers and create new compositions,” replied William.

“Wow,” she thought to herself. “What a smart excuse not to sing.”

“Okay, sure. It doesn’t matter. Anyway, it is pretty late in the morning. It’s 11:30 and the sun hasn’t risen,” she said.

“Yes, there was a storm predicted for this morning, a really strong one. It’ll probably last till late in the night,” said William.

“Perfect,” she said to herself. “There had to be a storm today!”

“Well, we’d better make most of our time before the storm actually strikes,” said William. “Do you want to walk on the deck for some time?”

Eleanor hesitated at first but then relented, and agreed to come. They went walking along the deck while holding the rail since it was a little windy. They definitely didn’t want to fall overboard.

After a long pause William said, “Eleanor, do you know, when I was young I had a friend at school? She was the other woman whom I was supposed to marry. When I left for another province, we both vowed to marry each other on my return. When I returned after many years to meet her, I saw that she had married one of her college friends. I was so upset with her! I told her to leave the man and marry me, but she refused. She broke the vow. So, why shouldn’t I? There is no point in that vow anymore, is there? Do you agree?”

“Well,” Eleanor said, “I don’t really know about marriage and all that, but I guess if she broke the vow then you can too.”

“Glad you agree on that,” replied William.

After this conversation, they both stopped talking. They silently gazed at the beautiful and energetic waves of the sea. Eleanor was standing on the right and William on the left side. William moved his hand towards her and grasped her hand softly. Eleanor did not twitch or flinch at the sudden touch. Instead, she felt a sudden burst of emotions.

“You know, I was thinking. You’re a really beautiful woman and kind as well. You have touched my heart. I know this might seem a bit sudden. Actually, very, very sudden, considering the fact that we only met yesterday, but I knew I would love you when I saw you. Not now, but maybe later in life, you may want to live with me? Of course, only if you desire?” said William.

Eleanor was frozen to her spot when William was speaking but her heart and brain were not. Her heart kept saying, “Oh, come on you fool, he’s going to ask to marry you, in an indirect way. Not now, but a few years later, you’ll be happy with this chap. So, accept his offer.”

The only problem was that her brain was saying the exact opposite. She didn’t know whether to listen to her heart or brain.

“No,” said Eleanor firmly. “And don’t you dare ask me that question again. Ever.”

“Okay. I’m sorry, sorry…” replied William. But he could not finish his sentence because the clouds started rumbling and in a minute or two it started pouring.

“Goodbye,” said Eleanor. She gave him his jacket and rushed inside.

As soon as she was in, she didn’t even stop in the Food Lounge. She ran to her cabin, slammed the door shut, locked it, and flung herself on the bed.

Then she wept miserably. More than she ever had in her life. She just couldn’t control herself. How could he? How could William even dare to ask her such a question? And how could she have been so stupid as to say no? How could he ask her to live with him barely one day after they met? Yes, he wasn’t considering marriage now but to even ask along those lines? At the moment, she just couldn’t get her head around anything.

William came hurrying back and rapped on the door but Eleanor did not reply. He could hear her sobs but wasn’t very sure why she was crying. Eleanor simply said, sniffling, “Go away, I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

William unsuccessfully tried to call her but she ignored him and pleaded with him to go away. He went away reluctantly. Eleanor spent a few hours continuously sobbing and repeatedly thinking about his question and the answer she had given him. She then unlocked her door to see whether William had gone or not, though she had heard him leave a while ago. She still couldn’t understand why she had refused, even though she knew that living with him would erase all the unhappiness in her life. But a few promises restricted her from doing so.

Eleanor wiped away the tears from her eyes and gave a little forlorn smile, ing how William had held her hand when they were on the decks.

“No,” she said. “Idiotic me. What am I thinking about?” She again made her face look a bit stern and shut the door.

Eleanor looked at the clock hanging over the cupboard. It was past 2 in the afternoon, and it was heavily raining. She had no intention of going outside. She flipped through a diary for a while and then read a novel. A little before 4, Eleanor looked at the common table in her cabin and saw Mary’s port as well as another port. She again opened the door and peeped to see whether anybody was coming. When she saw that the age was empty, she picked up the port and carefully studied its cover.

Mary’s words echoed in her ears, “I am travelling with my sister.”

But that was not what Eleanor thought, “Why would William specifically tell Mary I was Eleanor? And why the hesitation in saying his own name?”

She quickly opened the port and gazed at the picture and name. Voila! She was right!

The port with William’s picture read Lucas Elena Spier.

“Oh my god,” she gasped.

Her knees buckled and as she put her hand on the table to steady herself, the glass of water on the table fell to the ground and crashed in her haste. There was a loud shattering noise and the water spilled everywhere. Some on the ports and documents, some on her, and the rest on the floor when she tried to pick up the glass and organize everything back in its place.

CHAPTER 4

A QUARREL

“Oh, oh,” she said. It seemed as if a lot of people on the ship heard her because a fraction of a second later, George, Mary, William, Margret, Rook, Martin and the attendant arrived.

Eleanor hastily put back the ports.

“What is it?” asked the attendant.

“My ports and documents!” yelled Mary before Eleanor could even say anything.

“You wretch, why did you spill water on them? Did you open my port? Tell me?”

She held Eleanor by the neck and almost strangled her.

“Stop, stop,” said William. “Don’t kill her. You won’t get anything out of her if you strangle her to death.”

“Let me speak, let me speak,” said Eleanor catching her breath, gasping and coughing.

Reluctantly, Mary let go of her and said, “Speak, you witch.”

“I didn’t see anything, and I didn’t spill the water on purpose either. It was a genuine mistake,” replied Eleanor.

“I don’t know whether I should trust you or not and I’m choosing not to,” said Mary.

“Mary, I’m telling you. I didn’t do it on purpose,” argued Eleanor.

“Well, anyway, I am not sleeping here, not with you,” said Mary.

“Oh, no, not another fight. We just had a great fight right now, aren’t you all satisfied? No, you still want to fight more!” mumbled the attendant frowning, but not in a position to reprimand them.

“What was the fight about?” asked Eleanor.

“Never you mind it,” said Mary angrily.

“I’ll tell you, later,” said William.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll ask somebody else,” she said to William in a disgruntled tone.

“Well, excuse me. Where will she sleep?” inquired Mary.

“Right…umm…maybe you could switch with Ms. Mia or… I don’t know,” said the attendant, trying to think quickly and diffuse the situation.

“Me? You’re asking me to switch? Not me, her,” said Mary.

“Why should I switch?” asked Eleanor. “I have no problem sleeping here.”

“Yes, but I have a problem with you,” replied Mary.

“Yeah, maybe that’s right. I don’t even want to sleep with Martin or Oliver. I can sleep with Mary or Eleanor unless they have an objection,” interrupted William.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry. I don’t fancy sharing a cabin with a man,” said Eleanor in a huff.

“Then I guess you can shift in with Ms. Mia. Mr. Oliver, you can sleep with Ms. Mary. Mr. William, you can sleep with Mr. Khanna. I hope that resolves the issue,” said the attendant.

“Well, thank you so much, ‘Attendant’,” said Mary. “You’ve done a very big and great deed. May the heavens bestow happiness upon you,” she added sarcastically.

“Thank you, ma’am, but my name isn’t ‘Attendant’. It’s Peter Anderson Adler, and I’d prefer if you called me by my name,” said Peter.

“Sure, Peter,” replied Eleanor kindly.

“Well, then madams and sirs, you’d better follow me into the Lounge or your cabin whichever you prefer. Unless, of course, you want to have another argument. Though, I hope not,” said Peter.

“Peter, can you please explain, who is sleeping with whom again?” asked Margret.

“Ma’am, there’s no change in your sleeping partner but since you ask, I’ll just show you,” said Peter. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and wrote on it.

Cabin 7 George Elliot Martin Lou Cabin 6 Mia Smith Eleanor Adams Cabin 4 Isabella Marth Chris Marth Cabin 2 Beth Elliot

Food Lounge Vacant Storeroom Cabin 5 Farhan Khanna William Miller Cabin 3 Oliver Garcia Mary Davis Cabin 1 Margret Wood

Tom Elliot

Rook Wood

Peter’s cabin

CAPTAIN’S CABIN AND WHEELHOUSE

“If everything is settled now, could I please request you all to come and have tea if you wish,” said Peter.

“Tea already? What time is it?” asked Eleanor.

“Well, considering the fact you have been here for about four hours, it’s four o’ clock precisely, time for tea,” replied William.

Eleanor said nothing. Normally, she would have said a word of thanks, but after the heated argument she had had with William earlier, she remained silent.

“Eleanor, would you like to sit with me?” asked Mia, breaking the silence.

“You know,” she said, putting her hand around Eleanor and taking her to the Food Lounge, “I’ve always thought of ing the police force or becoming a detective. I write about them in the ‘COOL DAYS’ magazine, which you probably haven’t heard about. I did talk about it last evening, but you weren’t there.”

Eleanor said, “Yes, I wasn’t there, but I came to know about it.”

“That’s good, really good. I simply love writing about detectives and the police. I was thinking that you could probably tell me something about your experience as a policewoman. I heard William tell Oliver that you were Head of Police, before the quarrel, that is. It’s a great achievement, you know?” said Mia.

Eleanor nodded but quickly asked, “Yes, about that, what did they quarrel about?”

“Well, we had started out all fine sitting in the Lounge just after lunch which you missed, and then Mr. Khanna, you know, the Indian! So, he was just silently perched on a chair and suddenly Oliver came along. He ran towards Mr. Khanna and held his throat and threatened him that he was going to murder him and such stuff, before turning to Martin. Mr. Khanna was no less. Although he’s probably in his seventies or eighties, he got up and firmly removed Oliver’s hand. When we heard the commotion, Martin, Beth, William, Peter, Margret and I got up from our tables and walked towards them.

“Peter and Martin had managed to successfully restrain both of them by then, and William asked Oliver why he was trying to kill Mr. Khanna. Oliver told them that he had gotten a letter from a bank while in Matryaas just before boarding but hadn’t opened it there and then. On opening it aboard the ship, he realized that it was not the letter he had been expecting. He had recently taken out a loan and paid it back in full, but instead of confirming that his loan had been fully paid, the letter informed him that he had given all his money to Mr. Farhan Khanna and a part of his savings to Martin. It was also non-refundable.

“Oliver was again successfully restrained. William told Oliver to calm down but he instead rebuked him and said that William had completely gone off his

rocker.”

“Off his rocker?” asked Eleanor. “But why?”

Mia looked in the other direction and said under her breath, “I was hoping to leave out that part.”

“What?” Asked Eleanor.

“Nothing that matters,” said Mia. “Oliver said this because he thinks William has lost his mind for you.

“When William refused to accept this, Oliver said that you both weren’t just friends, because he had seen you flirting on the decks. The point is that he told William to stay away from you. I don’t think it meant anything; Oliver was just taking out his frustration from the fight.”

“So?” asked Eleanor. “What happened then?”

“Well,” said Mia, “William defended you and threatened Oliver.” He said, ‘And one thing, Oliver. If you try to come between Eleanor and me, I will make sure that you don’t,’ and blah blah blah…” Eleanor bit her lip to hide a smile.

Mia looked at her awkward expression and said, “He wasn’t joking. Actually, he

looked very serious when he was talking to Oliver.”

“Okay,” said Eleanor with a grim face.

Mia continued, “William changed the topic and asked Mr. Khanna and Martin if they had actually taken money from Oliver’s . Oliver started arguing again and said that it was obvious they had stolen it. Mr. Khanna responded by giving a surprisingly innocent and totally understandable answer. He said that he had never seen Oliver before and had no idea of his whereabouts, which pretty much made sense. Unless he was involved in a spy or murder conspiracy, there could be no reason for Mr. Khanna to steal the money and board the same ship as the person from whom he stole it. That’s just like putting yourself into intentional trouble, if you ask me. And anyway, why would he? He’s a millionaire after all, isn’t he?”

Eleanor nodded and asked, “What about Martin? What did he say?”

“Martin had a similar but less convincing answer. Oliver didn’t believe either of them, obviously. Instead, he shamed Mr. Khanna for stealing the money of a person much poorer than him and also insulted Martin. For a second, I thought Martin and Mr. Khanna would have killed him, if looks could kill. And even physically, their fists were clenching so much, they were about to explode,” replied Mia and proceeded, “William tried to intervene and bring peace but Oliver swore at him and a huge fight broke out. Thankfully, before it could continue further, another fight started. It was actually quite ironical. Oliver wanted to fight with half the people and the other half wanted to fight with him.

“I think Chris’s comment stung me the most and also genuinely surprised me. Chris said that he had a deserving reason to even kill Oliver today because Oliver had been spying on him and Isabella, when they were counting their

money after lunch, along with Mr. and Mrs. Wood.

“I honestly never thought Oliver, or anyone for that matter, could be capable of something like this. I mean, spying when someone’s counting money? Horrible!

“Mr. and Mrs. Wood went into a rage with Oliver and Chris when they heard this and said, ‘What nonsense are you talking about? Curse you!’

“Chris added fuel to the fire and said that Oliver had told the Elliots he would spy on Chris. Then the Elliots told Chris about this.

“Again, Mrs. Elliot got into a fight with Chris and Oliver.

I liked what Oliver said after that the best. It sounded so funny. He was being blamed for so many things. He said, ‘Now, wait just a minute, all of this is wrong. I did not spy on you, Chris and Isabella Marth; I did not take the Woods along with me and I definitely did not tell the Elliots that I was going to spy on you. You see even Mrs. Elliot is saying so.’

“Beth Elliot interrupted and cast doubt on Oliver’s alibi by saying that she hadn’t told Chris about any spying act but she had seen the silhouette of three people next to the Marths’ cabin when she was crossing the hallway to get water, and as expected, Chris sided with her immediately.” Mia laughed and said, “It seemed as if this fight involved everybody and each person was being blamed for something.

“Oliver then asked Chris if any of the Elliots had told him about this. Chris refused, condemning his own statement but then clarified that a letter had been sent with a stamp on it saying E&E and so he assumed it was from the Elliots. Beth confirmed that she had such a stamp but hadn’t sent any such letter. Fortunately, Chris didn’t hear what Beth was saying or they would have had another fight.

“Hearing Chris, Oliver went into deep thought and after a minute said that he had seen such a letter in my hand today morning with the same stamp. Oliver then asked everyone if the Elliots were sending letters to anyone and everyone and if so, why didn’t he receive one? I would have laughed at this comment had I not been angry with Oliver. I furiously shook my head and told Oliver that the letter had been given to me by Beth but it contained tickets for a concert. Beth and I share the same taste in music so she had given me a for the concert in her own envelope.

“Oliver then rebuked me and told me to prove it. Although Mrs. Elliot tried to tell Oliver that she had given me such a letter, he refused to listen. I rushed to my cabin and began searching vigorously for the letter. But alas, I could not find it because I’m a little untidy, and I had to return empty handed. You know, Eleanor, I felt so angry at him that I literally wanted to kill him at that moment. How could he have dared to suspect me? Me? I was a friend of Isabella and Chris. First of all, I had never been given a letter related to them. And second, if I ever got any such letter, there was no way in which I could have altered it. And why would I even want to? Just as all of this was happening, we heard the sound of glass breaking.

“Some of us came from the Food lounge and the others, like Mary and George, were walking in the hallway so they came along as well, and then you know what happened.”

“Phew!” said Eleanor. “That was a really long quarrel. This trip is not so

fortunate I guess.”

“Yes, perhaps you are right,” said Mia. Then, they both went together to the Food Lounge where everybody was present. But there was dead silence. Nobody was speaking a word. They all quietly had tea and retreated to their cabins. Dinner was also a very silent affair.

Eleanor got ready for bed, stepped into the warm covers and fell asleep.

The whole ship was very silent that night except for the creaking of a door and the sound of a slight moan, which was not heard by the people in slumber. There was another creak and then the whole ship was again as silent as the dead of night. At dawn, the sun rose but little did the engers know that their sunny day would turn into a doomsday.

CHAPTER 5

MURDER

Almost everybody was woken up by Peter’s unexpected scream.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” he screamed. “WHAAAT IS THIIIIIIIIS!”

Since the attendant’s cabin was next to cabin 1, he entered it first in the morning, followed by cabin 2 and finally 3 and so on to ask the engers whether they would like food in bed or not. Since Mary was a sound sleeper, Oliver would have been expected to open the door and reply. When no reply came from inside, Peter notified Mary and Oliver he was going to open the door and did so.

That blood curdling scream woke up Mary who got up and managed to say, “What is it, Peter?”

Before she could complete her sentence, she looked at the floor and saw Oliver lying dead, stabbed once but quite artistically. The stab wound on the body was shaped like a triangle with a blood dot in the center. Peter was so scared that he could hardly speak. Blood was smeared everywhere on the floor.

There was something in Oliver’s hand. It looked like a small pendant, but Peter did not bother to look at it in his fear and shock.

He ran away from the cabin, screaming, “Ms. Mary’s going to kill me. She’s already killed him. We’re next. Please save me and save yourselves.”

He began banging at the cabin doors to wake everybody up and ensure their

safety. Even in terror, he didn’t forget his job.

“She’s a killer, a murderer,” he continued.

One by one, the engers began to peek out of their doors, trying to figure out the cause of the commotion.

“Who is killing whom?” said Rook, utterly frustrated by Peter’s rants.

“She…her…” stuttered Peter.

“Who are you talking about?” asked Rook again.

“Ms. M…Mary,” he said.

“What do you mean?” said William, coming out of his cabin, scantily dressed.

“She’s murdered him,” repeated Peter.

“Stop fooling around, Peter. Nobody likes jokes in the morning. You’re an attendant. You are supposed to keep order in the ship, not create panic.” Giving a deep sigh, he said, “Okay, let’s go on with your joke, whom did she murder?”

“Mr. O…Oliver,” Peter replied hesitantly.

“What? You must be lying…show me!” cried William fiercely. He pushed Peter and sped towards Mary’s cabin.

The rest of them followed William and Peter. William threw open Mary’s door and shouted at the top of his voice, “See…!” He stopped speaking and suddenly his jaw dropped.

Oliver, with whom he had fought yesterday, was lying there. For a moment, there was complete silence. They all kept looking at the body. Mary was in tears. She could not understand what was going on and why she was being framed for the murder of her companion.

After a minute, Mary said, “I didn’t do it.”

“And I believe you, Mary,” said William. “She couldn’t have done it. Just because she was sleeping with him doesn’t mean that she murdered him. You know very well that Mary is a sound sleeper like me. It could easily have been someone else.”

“You know it could be anyone,” said Eleanor, who had been standing in the corner and quietly observing everything. “It could be William, Mary, anyone.”

Suddenly, someone barged into the cabin. It was George.

“What did I hear? Somebody died?” asked George. He was unable to utter another word when he saw the corpse lying on the floor.

“No!” he cried.

“What is it?” asked Beth.

“Don’t you see, he’s dead,” cried George, with tears welling up in his eyes.

“Yes, surely! But darling, get a hold on yourself,” said Beth.

“Anyone would feel upset and terrified. He was such a friend to us,” said George.

The others squinted at him in shock and utter disapproval.

“Hmm, great acting,” thought Eleanor to herself, “if you are the murderer.”

“I am going to the captain’s cabin to inform him of this heinous incident,” said Peter, “and I would request you all to return to your rooms and await an announcement from the captain.”

As the engers returned to their cabins they began to talk.

Rook Wood said, “I am wondering if someone on our ship murdered him, or was it someone from outside?”

“That’s out of question,” replied Eleanor. “There is no way someone could have come from outside without the captain of the ship, or someone else noticing. Anyway, it’s been very stormy since yesterday. Nobody would have garnered the strength to come in this turbulent weather from outside of the ship. It must have been one of us. Although the murderer wouldn’t want me to say this, but Mr. Murderer, what’s unrealistic must be discarded.”

“So, who is it?” asked Margret Wood. Everybody shrugged, obviously.

Peter briefed the captain regarding the situation and returned. Soon there was an announcement by the captain. He requested all the engers to stay in their cabins, not go anywhere near the crime scene and keep calm.

The captain met Eleanor in her cabin and understanding her credentials as the Head of Police of Matryaas, requested her to look into the matter and interrogate the engers until the ship was docked on port.

Peter informed Eleanor that he was placing the body in a vacant storeroom as per the captain’s orders. He expressed his concerns that the reputation of the ship would be ruined due to this incident. Nobody would ever come and sail on the Little Noah as people are very superstitious.

He added, “Whatever information you can gather regarding this case before the ship is docked would be greatly appreciated. Please. A request from the captain and me.”

Peter went into another cabin to get a pair of gloves, a sheet, and a stretcher. He placed the body on the stretcher after covering it with a white sheet and led it to the vacant storeroom under Eleanor’s watchful gaze. He locked it and gave one set of keys to the captain. In this way, nobody else would have access to it except the captain and him.

Peter requested everybody to come to the Food Lounge for a brief meeting. Suddenly, they heard the dark sky rumbling and saw lightning flash across it.

Peter addressed the crowd and informed them regarding the captain’s decision to involve Eleanor in the case.

“Eleanor? But I don’t know how competent she is at her work,” Mary sniggered.

“You dare Mary! Well fine! I won’t do it because it’s not my profession. I am a policewoman, not a detective.”

“I know Eleanor, but you are our only savior. Please do not back out,” said Peter before Mary could anger Eleanor further.

At this suggestion, Martin snorted loudly.

“What is it?” asked Peter.

“Nothing,” he replied.

“I willingly volunteer to find the person who murdered Oliver Berthern Garcia,” said Eleanor with a deep breath.

“Well, then it’s settled. Ms. Eleanor Melsis Adams will inspect the case and bring the culprit to justice,” said Peter and made a statement. “And everybody must cooperate.”

“We’ll start with interviews,” said Eleanor, “but first, Peter and I will inspect the body.”

Peter and Eleanor entered the storeroom.

Peter stood in a corner and watched Eleanor cautiously. Eleanor walked towards the body, and then looked at it. “The murderer must be a great artist,” she murmured her thoughts aloud.

Oliver had been stabbed across his chest and abdomen in the shape of a triangle with a blood dot right in his heart. It must have been done very carefully, because there were no overlapping stab wounds. It had been done in one go.

Then she looked at his right hand, clutching a beautiful pendant. She picked it up

with her handkerchief and noticed that it was stained with a bit of blood. The pendant was in the shape of a triangle and was made of gold. In the heart of the triangle was inscribed the shiny letter ‘O’. As she held it against the light, Peter gasped in shock. The injury inflicted was of the same shape as the pendant! She carefully placed the pendant into an empty glass jar which Peter provided.

“Well, it could not have been self-afflicted,” said Eleanor after a long pause, “since it is too artistic to be so.”

“That is obvious,” said Peter.

“The murderer could have been left or right-handed, I can’t be sure,” said Eleanor again, as she observed the wound.

“What about the time?” asked Peter. “Can you say something about it?”

“Well, I’m not sure about the time, but I can say that it was late in the night. It couldn’t have been in the morning otherwise there would be fresh blood. This blood is dark and the body is cold as well,” she said, touching it with the back of her gloved fingers. “If he was murdered early morning, the body would have been warm.”

“What about the pendant? What does it mean?” asked Peter.

Martin made a silent entry into the room while Eleanor replied, “Well, I’m not sure. But as far as I from the detectives who tell me about the

homicide cases, people usually leave markings. So, if a person has left this, they have given us a clue. I’m not sure if it will be useful to find the criminal, but I am sure of one thing. This pendant does belong to Oliver. The initial ‘O’ that is engraved on the pendant is a clear sign. I also have a hunch that it belongs to him, and I always believe my hunches.”

“Well, what does it depict?” asked Martin, moving closer to have a good look at the pendant as he was standing quite far and hadn’t noticed it before. As soon as he could see it clearly, he gasped and turned away, realizing that he was wearing the same kind of pendant.

“Any problem?” asked Eleanor looking towards him. “Wait a second, why are you snooping around?”

“Sorry I was just leaving. I am surprised to see that the shape of the stab resembles the shape of the pendant,” he replied.

“Um, Eleanor, I have a question. Shouldn’t you have a person who can help you, a person whom you believe could not have done the murder, so that well, you don’t accuse the wrong person?” asked Martin.

“I have no one I can trust, except myself. Right now, everyone is a suspect on my list. Peter can make the alphabetical list so that everybody can be interviewed accordingly. I’ll go in my cabin and get ready for the interviews and I urge everybody else to do the same. Peter, kindly convey this message to the engers- do not try to change or hide anything from me now, because I will find the killer.” said Eleanor. “And yes, all the interviews will be held in the Food Lounge.”

“How appetizing,” said Martin sarcastically, “to have a murder interview in a Food Lounge.”

Eleanor ignored his comment and the three of them left the room. Peter then went back to the Food Lounge and called all the engers again. He took out a paper and started writing on it.

He said, “So, we’ll go like this for the interviews which Ms. Eleanor will hold-”

1. Beth Elliot

2. Chris Marth

3. Mr. Farhan Khanna

4. George Elliot

5. Isabella Marth

6. Margret Wood

7. Martin Lou

8. Mary Davis

9. Mia Smith

10. X Oliver Garcia - “Oh no sorry, not Mr. Oliver,” Peter said interrupting in between. He crossed out the name.

11. Peter Adler

12. Rook Wood

13. Tom Elliot

14. William Miller

All the other engers crowded around Peter.

“NO WAY!” screamed Beth Elliot at this proposition. “Tom is a baby. He’s my baby. He’s not going without me. I will be with him throughout.”

“I know there’s been a murder, but stop being overdramatic, Beth,” said Margret

Wood.

“I understand, Ms. Beth. But he’s 8 years old. For your sake, I hope you can accompany him, but you will have to ask Ms. Eleanor,” said Peter.

“I’ll break her bones if she won’t allow us to go together,” Beth cried out.

“Well, yes, I guess you can see to that with her,” Peter said under his breath.

After about ten minutes, Eleanor’s voice came from the Food Lounge, “I am ready. You may send the first one in.”

“Ms. Beth,” said Peter. Beth and Tom went into the Food Lounge.

On entering, Eleanor uttered four words, “Tom, leave the room.”

Tom obediently got up from his seat and started leaving the Lounge when Beth firmly interrupted and said, “Why should he leave the room! He’s my child!”

“Child or no child Beth, I will interview everyone individually. He cannot listen to the vivid details which I shall discuss with you!”

She said this so firmly that Beth got a little rattled and lost some of the strength

she had just displayed in front of Peter. She couldn’t retaliate and motioned Tom to go outside. He quietly left the room.

“Okay, so let’s begin, shall we? I would like you to sign here on this paper, against your name.”

Beth signed, and Eleanor carefully observed that she wrote with her right hand. She made a mental note of that and of all the others she would interview later as well. She took a file and started making notes.

CHAPTER 6

INTERVIEWS

“So, my first question is regarding the purpose of your journey. Why are you sailing to Ubalmana?” said Eleanor.

“No idea,” replied Beth.

“So, you don’t know why you are sailing to Ubalmana in the first place, right?” asked Eleanor.

Beth replied, “Well, George knows. He told me that it was very urgent and refused to give any reason.”

Eleanor questioned her further and said in jest, “Well, maybe he didn’t tell you because he wanted to bribe you to kill Oliver and in turn, he would tell you the reason, huh, did that happen?”

“No, he definitely didn’t bribe me,” said Beth, very seriously.

“Maybe you did it of your own accord?” asked Eleanor. “That quarrel you had yesterday with Oliver.”

“No, I would never do that,” said Beth.

“Well, every murderer says that but anyway where exactly were you last night?”

asked Eleanor.

“I went straight to my cabin after dinner,” Beth replied abruptly, “you can ask Tom if you want.”

“Yes, I might need to do that,” said Eleanor, “and where was Tom during the night?”

“He came with me and we both slept at night after playing a game of hide and seek!” Beth exclaimed.

“Hide and seek in the cabin?” Eleanor asked inquisitively. “Well, that’s unusual but okay, it’s fine; one has to keep children amused. Um, just a personal question, do you have any family or friendly relationship with Oliver?”

“None that I know of,” Beth chuckled.

“None that you know of, which means that there can be a relation which you are not aware of or you are refusing to tell me. Well, anyway, have you ever met Oliver before?” asked Eleanor.

“Never,” Beth said.

“What time did you go to sleep?” Eleanor questioned.

“11:00 p.m.,” Beth replied.

“So late?” said Eleanor.

Beth said, “No, I told you. I was playing with Tom.”

Eleanor said, “So, you mean he slept at 11 o’ clock? Isn’t that too late for a young child?”

“No, he slept at 9:00 p.m., since I let him sleep late during the holidays,” replied Beth.

“So, what were you doing till 11:00 p.m.,?” Eleanor intervened.

“George came in for a while,” Beth said, squirming uncomfortably in her chair.

“What did you talk about with him?” Eleanor asked.

“That’s our own personal talk. It’s our home matters. You wouldn’t tell me what goes on in your house, would you?” answered Beth.

“Never mind that. What time do you think the murder was committed?” asked Eleanor.

“How on earth would I know?”

“Just a guess. What do you think?”

“I don’t know, maybe around 1 a.m. or such a time.”

“And, why do you think so?”

“Because it’s very dark around that time and usually murderers come in the dark, I suppose?”

“No, most thieves come in the dark. Murderers can come any time. Anyway, thank you. And who do you think has murdered Oliver?”

“No idea, maybe... Perhaps, Mr. Farhan Khanna or Martin, mainly because they had a quarrel yesterday, or maybe Isabella or Chris because of partly the same reasons. They were pretty angry with Oliver.”

“Well, weren’t you?”

“Just a little bit.”

“Hmm, okay, and when did you last see Oliver?”

“At dinner. But…”

“But?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, one last thing, what is your profession?” asked Eleanor.

“Oh, I’m a housewife,” replied Beth.

“Okay very well, you may leave your port here so I can check it.”

“Yes, here it is.”

“Great, you may leave. Just tell all the others to bring it as well in case they don’t know.”

“Sure, sure.”

She indignantly left the Lounge.

Chris entered the Lounge about a minute later carrying his port as instructed by Beth.

“Yes, Chris,” said Eleanor.

“So, let’s start with instructions. Just put your port on that bench,” she said motioning with her hand. (Signature and port were taken in every case)

“So, Chris, why exactly are you going to Ubalmana?” she asked.

“For a honeymoon,” he replied.

Eleanor was a bit surprised to hear such a short answer. She looked at Chris. He was furiously sweating. He kept wiping his brow.

“What’s the matter?” she kindly held his elbow and asked. As soon as she asked this, he began to cry.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s the future of my unborn child. What if the murderer kills Isabella? I don’t care if he kills me, but Eleanor, please save my wife from all this,” he pleaded.

As he said this Eleanor’s heart went a bit soft. She too ed the loss of losing a person.

She reassured him and said, “Don’t unnecessarily panic. No one else will get hurt. Please answer these questions.”

“Hmm,” he added sniffling.

“Where did you meet Oliver last?” asked Eleanor softly.

Chris said, “At dinner and then I saw him taking some pills as his door was open. That’s the last I saw of him, maybe around 9:00 p.m. Then we slept. Isabella and I.”

“Now, do you have suspicions or did you see anything suspicious?” asked Eleanor.

“I didn’t see anything suspicious. Maybe it was Mary or Martin or William or Mr. Farhan Khanna who killed Oliver. It could have also been Peter because he was the first to go into that cabin, and we know Mary is a sound sleeper,” said Chris hesitantly.

“Okay, what time do you think?” asked Eleanor again.

“I think it was probably during the night because the blood looked dark,” said Chris.

“Alright, what do you do for a living?” asked Eleanor.

“I’m um, um, a p-painter,” he nervously said.

“Hmm,” she added. “Ok, then you may go and send in the next one.”

“Um, a question, Eleanor,” he spoke.

“Go on,” she uttered.

“Are you going to interview Isabella?” he inquired of Eleanor.

“I’m afraid I will have to Chris. I have to treat all my suspects equally. So, I’m sorry,” she said with an expressionless look on her face.

Chris left, and just before the next one entered, she thought, “Hmm, an artist.

Interesting.”

Mr. Farhan Khanna entered the Lounge, carrying his port in one hand and baggage in the other.

“Oh! Mr. Khanna, it’s you? So, Mr. Khanna, may I ask what you are carrying in this unusually large bag?” she inquired.

“Money, lots of it, as much as you want,” he said in a sorrowful tune.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t exactly get what you mean,” said Eleanor who was a bit horrified.

“I haven’t done anything wrong, miss. Please spare me, I haven’t stolen any money from Oliver or murdered him. I have a beautiful wife, and a son who isn’t even married. Please, take as much money as you want from me,” he begged, “but don’t put me down in your suspects’ list, as I am innocent.”

Eleanor looked at the old man and thought, “Poor man, he has really been emotionally hurt.”

She looked out of the window and saw the raindrops falling as fast as the tears in her heart.

“The murderer has not only murdered a person but has ruined the life of many

others. I’m sure the murderer will be found one day. Well, I can’t let myself be too emotional,” she thought.

“Mr. Khanna, I don’t need the money,” she said, pushing the bag away.

“But I insist,” said Mr. Khanna.

“No, Mr. Khanna, in my profession, bribing is not allowed,” she firmly stated.

“But... as a donation?” he pleaded.

“Donation for what? No means no!” she told him.

“So, Mr. Khanna why exactly are you travelling to Ubalmana?” she interrogated.

“For a business deal,” he replied.

“Okay, what time did you go to sleep?” she asked again.

“Around 11:00 p.m.,” he answered briefly.

“What were you doing till so late?” she asked inquisitively.

“Talking.”

“With?”

“Martin.”

“About?”

“Nothing much, friendly talks,” replied Mr. Khanna.

“At night? Well, okay. Who do you think is the murderer?” she continued.

Mr. Khanna replied, “Frankly, I don’t have a clue. Maybe, it’s William? He seemed to dislike Oliver after they fought.”

“Okay, Mr. Khanna. What work do you do?” she asked.

“I’m a businessman,” he replied.

“Okay, thank you Mr. Khanna. A last question. Are you really from India?” she casually asked.

“Um, yes,” he said hesitantly. “My parents. They…umm… belonged to different religions.”

“Oh!” Eleanor exclaimed. “You can leave now, Mr. Khanna.”

He nodded and left.

“Pooh,” said Eleanor to herself. Interviews had always been very stressing and emotional but rarely funny. She looked at the watch hanging on the side. It was almost noon and she was feeling very sleepy.

“Maybe I should stop for the day,” she thought to herself. “Well, perhaps just after a few more interviews. Oh, I’m so bored doing all this. I wish this cruise would end, so I could just enjoy myself a bit.”

Then, George entered.

“George, I don’t want to waste much time. So, firstly, why have you come here? Beth said that you would be able to tell me,” she simply repeated.

“We’ve come here for a meeting.”

“What sort of meeting?”

“Work meeting.”

“Okay, what were you talking about with Beth at night?” she asked.

“About Tom’s education,” he replied.

“Okay, who do you think is the murderer?” she inquired.

“I think it was Mr. Farhan Khanna.”

“And, when do you think the murder was committed?”

“At about midnight, maybe?”

“So, sure, are you? Well, did you see anything suspicious?”

“No…well, yes, I did. When I was about to sleep, I saw an old man in a blue cardigan outside my cabin.”

“So, that’s why you think that it was Mr. Khanna?”

“Exactly.”

“Just a last question. You seemed pretty upset by Oliver’s death. Any particular reason?” she asked.

“No it’s just that I get a bit emotional when I see... death,” he hesitantly replied.

“Okay, then, you can go,” she said.

Next, Isabella entered.

“So, Isabella, are you fine, health wise?” asked Eleanor.

“Yes, I’m perfectly okay,” she said in a way that slightly surprised Eleanor because Isabella did not look tensed or ill. She looked the exact opposite of how worried and stressed Chris was for her.

“So, I already know why you are going to Ubalmana. Can you just tell me your opinion on who the murderer was, when the murder was done and anything suspicious that you saw?” inquired Eleanor gently. “And when you slept?”

Isabella took a deep breath and said, “I don’t when I slept. I didn’t see anything suspicious. I have no idea who the murderer is or when was Oliver murdered. Thank you,” and without saying another word she left the Lounge.

“Wow,” thought Eleanor sarcastically, “what a brilliant way to have an interrogation!” and slumped back in her chair.

“Well, we’ll start with the M’s now, I guess,” she said to herself. Margret soon entered the lounge.

“Yes, Margret, why are you… actually leave it. Just take this paper and answer these questions,” said Eleanor, half yawning.

“I am going with my husband for a holiday to Ubalmana. I slept at 11 p.m., and I only saw a figure with orange pants outside Oliver’s door before sleeping when I went into the main hall,” spoke Margret.

This caught Eleanor attention and she furiously began writing in her notepad.

She continued, “I think the murderer was Tom Elliot because boys are very naughty and they would think that murdering someone is just a joke. I think…”

“Wait, Margret. Tom is just a child. He couldn’t have done it,” interrupted Eleanor, thinking Margret had crazy conclusions.

“Well, then, I suppose you’d better improve your ideas. I read about murders a lot and I know exactly who it could be,” said Margret.

“Go on, Margret,” said Eleanor finally excepting defeat against this know-it-all woman.

“I think he was murdered by poison.”

“Margret, he was stabbed.”

“Right, yes then I don’t know.”

“Your profession?”

“Cook.”

“Okay, you may leave.”

“Okay, bye.”

CHAPTER 7

THE CURIOUS PENDANT

Eleanor collapsed back in the chair in a very informal position but bolted up when Martin entered the Lounge.

“Yes, Martin,” she said.

“So, how are you? You did seem pretty curious about the pendant,” she said inquisitively.

“Yes, well,” he simply nodded.

“So, Martin, let’s start with that. Are you familiar with this pendant?” she asked.

“Eleanor, what about you, what do you know about it?” he retorted rudely.

“Excuse me,” she said, slightly taken aback. “I hope you’re aware, Martin, that I’m the one who’ll be asking questions,” she continued. “Martin, at night what time did you see Oliver go to his cabin?” inquired Eleanor.

“Shouldn’t you be the one to answer that?” Martin interrupted again.

“What do you mean, Martin?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

“Well, Martin, if you don’t want to answer this question then could you tell me who you think could have murdered Oliver?”

“Eleanor, can I ask you a question?”

“Yes, go ahead,” she said.

“Why did you murder Oliver?” said Martin angrily.

“Sorry, I don’t understand. What do you mean?” asked Eleanor.

“It’s a simple question. Why did you murder Oliver? I’m sure you can comprehend simple English,” Martin sniggered.

Eleanor was speechless. She didn’t know why Martin would think that she would carry out such an action.

“Sorry, Martin. I have not murdered Oliver. How dare you suspect me?” she questioned.

Eleanor was not lying. Eleanor had not committed any murder .

“Dare? Well, yes, I have got evidence Mrs. Dare. Miss. Hmm, this will surely leave you speechless. Can you explain what this means?” Martin asked menacingly.

He showed her a pendant that looked exactly like the one Eleanor had found in Oliver’s hand. There was only one difference.

Instead of ‘O’, the letter ‘E’ was engraved on it. As Martin thought, Eleanor was rendered speechless.

She could not understand what was going on.

Finally, after carefully scrutinizing the pendant, she paused for a bit and said, “This isn’t mine.”

“Well, Eleanor. Is there anyone else aboard the ship whose name starts with ‘E’?” he asked.

She carefully went through Martin’s question in her mind.

“So, what does that prove? Just because there’s another pendant that resembles Oliver’s, and has the letter ‘E’ engraved on it, does not give any proof that I am guilty of whatsoever crime! You cannot simply accuse a person like that! Fake accusations are wrong! And wait,” she said, “where did you find this?”

Martin replied, “Believe it or not, when we were having dinner last night, I bent down to pick up my fork and saw this. So, when all of you had gone to your cabins, I took it to my cabin and decided to inspect it for a while.”

“Why would you do that Martin? Why would you steal, huh? It could have been William’s or Oliver’s as well,” said Eleanor.

“Engraved with E?” asked Martin.

“Anyway, forget it. The pendant has nothing to do with me being the murderer. It could have been Mary’s as well,” added Eleanor.

“Mary? Eleanor, I do respect your analytical and thinking skills but please don’t consider me to be such a fool. Mary starts with an M,” said Martin.

“No, her name is Mary Elena Davis,” continued Eleanor.

“Eleanor, if I wrote M on a board, and asked the people whose names started with M to come to me, the people whose first names began with M would come, right? Not the people whose middle names began with M,” Martin interrupted her.

Deep down Eleanor knew to whom the pendant belonged. But no. She couldn’t tell Martin who it was, directly. But she could tell him indirectly.

“Open the pendant!” she said. “That is if you haven’t already opened it before.”

“I haven’t,” he said, realizing that he should have opened the pendant to check if there was anything inside, “which was stupid. I’ll open it now.”

Slowly, Martin opened the pendant. A name was beautifully engraved inside the pendant, and it was probably the name of the bearer. The name was ELENA.

“See, what did I tell you? It’s not Eleanor, it is E for Elena,” said Eleanor.

“But it couldn’t have been Mary, right? Because her middle name is Elena,” asked Martin.

“Maybe these pendants have the middle name,” said Eleanor, “We’ll have to check with another one. Do you have one?” She asked Martin in a way that indicated she knew something.

“No,” he replied firmly.

Eleanor continued, “Wait, Oliver’s pendant. I haven’t opened it either. I didn’t get a chance to check it earlier. I guess we’ll have to see it then. Where is it anyway?” she said, looking outside the Lounge.

“The captain has kept it in the ship’s safe.”

“Yes, of course. Martin, can you please call Peter?”

He nodded and called out to him. Peter entered the Lounge and asked, “Yes?”

“Peter, can you please ask the captain for permission to examine the pendant and if he agrees, could you bring it here, please?” asked Eleanor.

“Sure,” he replied and returned after ten minutes with the glass jar.

“Sorry, I got a bit delayed. I was making tea for Mary and the others,” said Peter. “The captain has given you permission to touch the pendant, but with the handkerchief so there are no fingerprints.”

“That’s great,” said Eleanor.

“Did anyone ask anything about the pendant or want to look at it? Or did you keep it to yourself the whole time?” asked Eleanor.

“No, William wanted to see it,” replied Peter.

“William?” asked Eleanor in not a very surprised tone.

“Yes,” answered Peter.

“Thankfully, it’s in a jar and nobody can touch it,” thought Eleanor.

“Peter, you can leave the jar here and leave, please,” said Eleanor.

“Sure,” Peter nodded. Martin gave Peter a last smile before facing Eleanor with the opposite expression.

“Hypothetically speaking, if I am not a suspect, I would like to give a suggestion. And don’t bother arguing because I’m still going to give it to you. Either Oliver has faked his middle name to a name which starts with ‘O’, or there is somebody on the ship whose name is Elena,” said Martin, full of suspense.

“Please go out,” said Eleanor. “Since you are still a suspect, I cannot share any more evidence with you.”

“NO! Please don’t send me out. I want to genuinely help you with this,” protested Martin.

“Hmm,” she said and thought about it.

Eleanor replied after a few seconds, “I’m quite confused and asking help from a suspect is against the protocol of an interview. But I give you permission to witness the opening of the pendant.”

Martin nodded gratefully and Eleanor opened the glass jar. She carefully took out the pendant with her handkerchief and tried to open it. It didn’t budge. She took out a pocket knife and wiped it clean. She used it to force the pendant open.

It plainly spelled out OLIVER. No word changes. Martin wasn’t looking at the word ‘Oliver’ but at the pocket knife that Eleanor held in her hand.

“Show me the pocket knife, will you?” he asked Eleanor.

“Why?” she inquired but by then Martin had already snatched the knife from her.

“Hey, give it back!” she exclaimed, but Martin’s hands were firmer than hers.

“Do you always carry a pocket knife?” asked Martin.

“Well, yes, obviously. Being a police officer, how else am I supposed to defend myself?” questioned Eleanor.

Martin further asked, “What about a gun or a revolver?”

“No, that would unnecessarily attract unwanted attention on the ship,” answered Eleanor.

“Well, yes but …” interrupted Martin.

Eleanor exclaimed, “Oh my God! What is your problem? You and William, both. What problem do you have with me being a police officer or carrying a knife? Seriously, women have really evolved from being creatures who flee when they see a mouse. I’m sure you carry a knife as well if you are a police officer or a detec…”

“What!” exclaimed Martin.

“Nothing, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, umm… say that you are one,” said Eleanor. “Just an example.”

Martin looked extremely flustered as if something had been revealed.

Eleanor got up from her chair and walked towards the porthole.

“You can go,” she said looking outside, “since you are not going to answer any of my questions. You might as well not waste my time or yours.”

Martin angrily got up when he heard Eleanor and walked towards her. Eleanor did not notice this. He suddenly held Eleanor’s arms and pulled her towards him.

His eyes were full of anger and his pupils were dilated. His eyes conveyed that he wanted Eleanor to keep their conversation private otherwise he might do something rash. Eleanor quietly nodded in agreement. She gently removed Martin’s hand and motioned him to sit on the second chair.

There was an awkward silence and Eleanor kept fidgeting her hands.

“What’s the matter?” asked Martin casually.

“Nothing,” she said.

“So, what should we do now?” she continued. “Since you are being so dominating.”

“Well, we find out who Elena is,” replied Martin.

“We?” asked Eleanor.

“Yes, we, Eleanor,” Martin added firmly.

“Umm,” she mumbled. She thought about Martin’s proposal in her mind. Martin suspected her, which was very annoying. She simply hated it when people added hindrance to an ongoing investigation. It made it difficult for her to concentrate on her work.

It was factually known that a crime could not be pinned just on the basis of a pendant. She thought that it was simply foolish of Martin to think otherwise. She couldn’t prevent him from being suspicious of her. Perhaps, Martin would become her ally if they worked together.

“Well,” she said, “umm…”

But Martin interrupted her, “Eleanor, I promise you. You might be a bit suspicious of me, but I assure you that I am not the murderer. I hope you believe me.”

Eleanor thought about it and said, “Okay, we’ll work together.” She did not even think for one second about the murder, only about her partnership with Martin.

“I know that we’re a team now, but I will take all the interviews myself,” said Eleanor.

Martin agreed to this at once.

“Just one thing,” he said, “after you finish all the interviews, can you…wait, no. Who do you think are the suspects?”

“Everybody,” she briefly answered.

“Oh, so you haven’t reached a conclusion yet, right?” he asked.

“No, I haven’t,” she replied.

“Well, if we are not able to find someone, why don’t you ask the others to solve the case for you and make your life easy?” said Martin.

“What do you mean? You mean we leave the case?” she asked. “Have you lost it?”

“No, no, I mean you can make a summary of the engers’ interviews. Give it to everybody and ask them who they think are the prime suspects. If they come up with a few people, we can take a second round of interviews, right?” he asked, chuckling.

“Are you crazy? This is not a game. It isn’t child’s play. Someone has actually been murdered. I’m not going to go around and ask the murderer, ‘who killed Oliver?’”

“Right, I was just kidding,” said Martin, a tad intimidated by her. He got up, walked towards the door, opened it, smiled at Eleanor and went out.

As he walked through the age, he thought, “Eleanor is really naïve. Any murderer could have easily fooled her. She just agreed to collaborate with me. If this is her attitude as a police officer, I doubt she has ever managed to take a sensible decision in her life. Well, why should I care? I got myself free. But I am

really surprised and curious about the Elena pendant.”

He walked towards his cabin. Little did he know, Eleanor was playing a doublesided game with Martin.

CHAPTER 8

A STORM AND SOME FINDINGS

As soon as he went out, Eleanor fell on the couch next to her, put her hands over her head, and began mumbling, “Oh God, God, my God!” Inside her mind, she was genuinely perplexed. Why was Martin so… Argh…?

After this heated argument, why did he suddenly reconcile and even want to work with her? Thank goodness! She wasn’t so gullible. And why was he so surprised when she accidentally uttered the word “detective”?

“Wait a minute,” she thought. There were four detectives always. From Marilaxa, Alibimana, Zambitrama and Matryaas and they each carry a pendant.

“Of course!” she yelled loudly. She sat up on the couch with beaming and shining eyes. Martin was a detective from Matryaas. That’s why he was smart, asking her about the body and pendant, though idiotic about suspecting her.

“Oh my God! He must have one as well, right? Let me work with him, anyway. I just want to finish the interviews quickly and enjoy whatever’s left of the cruise.”

She calmed down and looked at the pleasant weather outside. But it did not last long. A few seconds later, it started pouring harder than ever and the whole ship was being tossed around by the gigantic waves. In the confusion, she could hear Peter’s shaky voice calling out to everybody and asking them to come to the Food Lounge as it was the safest and largest place.

Everybody hurriedly reached the Food Lounge where Eleanor was present as

well. They all looked at each other with worried faces and sat down on the chairs, which were fortunately nailed to the floorboard. Everyone was there except William.

Eleanor was probably the only person who noticed his absence. She secretly went out of the Lounge to look for him. She searched all the cabins and although there were a few leaks, they did not stop her. Not finding him anywhere, she decided to check the decks.

She rushed out to the decks, where the water came up to her ankles, and saw William lying still on the floor. His body was floating in the water. She was really shocked and shouted for help. Nobody heard her because of the deafening thunder. She mustered up all her strength as William was quite heavy and dragged his body to the dry area. She immediately turned him to the side and he coughed out water.

As Eleanor sighed in relief, he opened his eyes and embraced her. As the raindrops fell on them, Eleanor held his face gently in her hands and stroked his cheek. Slowly they both got up. But before they could go inside, another wave pushed them to the floor.

“Come, hold my hand,” said William. He helped her to get up and went inside just to face an angry Mary staring at them.

“What happened?” Mary asked Eleanor. “I don’t understand why you are here? I have come to take my…” she said but then paused.

“Your what?” inquired Eleanor. But before Mary could answer, the force of a

huge wave pushed William and Eleanor towards Mary banging her entire frame against the wall.

“Ow! Get off!” exclaimed Mary. “Both of you, bricks. I mean it. You are really heavy.”

They got up and rushed inside.

Eleanor was literally running. Mary was trying to keep up with her, gasping and questioning her about something. She wasn’t very audible.

Finally, when they reached the Lounge, all the others were very relieved.

“Where were you?” inquired Peter. “We were all so worried.”

“Well, you could have come to rescue us if you were so worried,” Eleanor sarcastically whispered to herself.

“What?” asked Peter.

“Nothing,” replied Eleanor.

“Eleanor!” shrieked Mary from the corner next to the door and pulled her.

The others resumed talking to each other and did not notice them. “Eleanor,” said Mary, “what do you have going on with William? I mean, do you love him?”

“Love? I don’t love him. If I save someone, it doesn’t mean I love them. It is my duty as a police officer to save people,” she angrily said.

Mary interrupted, “Oh, come on! You think I’ve not seen both of you together? I know how much you love him and I understand your feelings. But what I’m trying to tell you is that your love is fruitless. William is already engaged to another girl.”

“Um, okay, Mary. That does not affect me,” said Eleanor, while her whole body started trembling.

“It’s okay Eleanor,” said Mary. “I understand.”

Eleanor looked towards the window to shield herself from Mary’s staring eyes, but a tear rolled down her cheeks, unwillingly. At that moment William looked at Eleanor from where he stood and noticed her tears. He went towards her but Mary immediately blocked the way.

Mary and Eleanor talked for a while. Eleanor calmed down and so did the storm. The waves stopped rising high, and the ship stopped tossing.

Peter called everyone around him when the storm subsided and said with a concerned face, “This is going to be shocking but from my talk with the captain, I have come to know that we have lost the way. He said that the ocean was so turbulent, we lost the navigation control.” Everybody was shocked when they heard this.

“So, we have decided to return to Matryaas,” Peter continued.

“No,” shrieked everyone.

Shouts came from everywhere.

“What about Tom’s school?”

“My meeting?”

“My business?”

“Our honeymoon?”

Everybody except Eleanor seemed very upset.

“It’s okay, everybody. When we reach, you will all be given back some of the

money which you spent on the ship,” said Peter as he tried to pacify everybody.

“You could have just bought me the earrings,” said Margret to Rook Wood.

“I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused,” said Peter. After Peter finished speaking, everybody retreated to their cabins.

Eleanor walked slowly, thinking about what Mary had just told her. How could William do this to her?

Wait, but maybe Mary was lying that William was engaged to another girl. Yes, that could be a possibility. Maybe, she thought Eleanor was not a good influence on William. Mary had always seemed a bit piqued around Eleanor.

But she felt deceived that William had moved on.

Deep in her thoughts, she tottered into the age. The door of William’s cabin was open and voices could be heard from inside.

She peered in and was horrified by what she saw and heard.

William asked, “Why would you do that, sis?”

“I don’t think she is a good influence on you,” answered Mary.

Eleanor inferred that they were talking about her.

“Well, anyway leave that,” said Mary. “Give me that pendant of yours and I’ll keep it in my locker.”

“No Mary, you’ll get into trouble. You know, Eleanor’s not particularly fond of you,” said William.

“Okay, can we please stop talking about Eleanor for a minute?” said Mary. “Even so, better me than you. I’ve fed lies in her head against you, and if she finds you with the pendant, she’ll be angry and blame you.”

“But…”

“No buts.”

“Okay, fine. Here it is,” said William as he gave up arguing with Mary.

As he paused to remove the pendant, he realised it was not on his neck.

He began searching his pockets frantically, and when he found nothing except

scraps of papers, he looked tensed and said, “Mary, I think I left it on the table at dinner yesterday. I hadn’t noticed its absence before.”

“Oh no!” she said. “Eleanor knows your name and I’m sure she’ll find the pendant. She will surely blame you.”

William questioned, “Wait, how does she know…?”

“She saw your port the first day of the cruise, in the room we shared and knows your real name now,” answered Mary.

As she said this, they both looked up and saw Eleanor’s face.

Mary was horrified.

“Eleanor…,” cried out William, but before he could finish, Eleanor promptly left with a little huff.

“Well! Now, we’re in trouble!” exclaimed Mary.

Eleanor rushed through the corridor to the toilet in the left-wing. She wiped away the few tears on her cheeks and washed her face. She thought about what she had just heard.

So, she was right - Mary had lied to her. But another thing had been proven.

Eleanor always knew that the ‘ELENA’ pendant belonged to William. But, as we too always get this surety when we hear and see something in front of our eyes, so did Eleanor.

She looked at herself in the mirror for a few minutes and thought, “Why am I always punished? What wrong did I ever do? And suddenly, why are three detectives (Oliver, Martin, William) travelling together on the same ship?”

Despite these confusing thoughts, she decided to cheer herself up and went to the deck to get a breath of fresh air.

She saw the beautiful waves churning and thought, “Amazing, isn’t it? How these calm and peaceful waves can become monstrous in matter of seconds. Huh!”

Amidst her thoughts, she heard the voices of people coming up the stairs through one of the doors, but didn’t want to go down as she was really enjoying the fresh air. So, she went to the other side of the deck.

Unfortunately, the people came up. Since she didn’t want to meet them, she hid.

“What was that sound?” asked someone. Eleanor froze to the spot.

“It sounded like someone walking,” answered the other one. “Anyway, it must be something else, but can we please stop walking now. It’s difficult to walk and talk. I’m getting really tired.”

“Sure,” the other person replied.

“Phew,” sighed Eleanor. As Eleanor kicked away the slippers that had given her away, and walked back bare feet, she saw the horrible sight on the decks. “Wow!” she said to herself. “This is really unexpected!”

CHAPTER 9

MARTIN AND WILLIAM

The figures of Martin and William were easily visible. They seemed friendly with each other.

It appeared that Martin was having a conversation with William.

“Trouble! You have got to be joking,” said Martin. “This is worse than trouble. Eleanor is very suspicious of Mary, William.”

“But, I don’t understand. Why would she suspect Mary?” asked William.

“Well, this is confidential information, but I could infer that she disapproved of Mary, and from what you have told me, I assure you, disapproval might turn to hate,” added Martin. “So, William, why exactly are you so concerned about Mary? Is she related to you?”

“No, no, of course not. I just wanted to be transparent with you since you’re working with Eleanor, which is what I heard from Peter. I guess you told Peter, didn’t you?” William asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“So, I just want you to convince Eleanor to forget about Mary because she’s innocent.”

Martin replied, “Look, if this is about telling Eleanor not to be angry with Mary, I’ll readily do that. But if it’s related to the murder, I’m sorry. Everybody is a suspect, including Mary. What I don’t get is, what was Mary doing in your cabin and why did she lie about your engagement?”

William said, “Well, first of all, I wasn’t expecting Eleanor to come near that cabin and I definitely didn’t think she would eavesdrop.”

Martin said, “But why were you with Mary?”

“Umm, she called me?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, maybe she likes me?” William said, not believing how good he was at lying.

Martin, a bit perplexed, questioned, “Isn’t she married? I mean she does look a bit old.”

William replied, “No, I don’t think so.”

Martin chuckled and said, “Do you like her?”

“No,” replied William.

Even Martin wasn’t that thick-headed.

Thinking it quite a far-fetched story, he said, “So, Mary told you why she lied to Eleanor in the cabin, Eleanor heard both of you talking, and you think that she might blame Mary for the murder because of her grudge, right?”

“Exactly,” William replied.

Martin mumbled reassuringly, “Well, William. Don’t worry. I’m handling the case as well, and I will not let that happen. So, your beloved is safe for the time being.”

He chuckled.

“Yes,” said William grinning.

Martin decided to continue with William’s little love tale and further asked, “William, since Mary is your friend, or beloved to be more specific, could you tell me a bit more about her?”

William bluntly replied, “I don’t really know much, honestly, but I think she has a huge appetite.”

“Come on, William, you know what I mean. Something about her name, maybe?” Martin questioned inquisitively.

“Her name?” asked William and raised a brow. “I mean, yeah, it’s a common name.”

Martin cut him short and interrupted, “What about her middle name?”

“Middle name?” William asked, wondering why Martin was so curious.

“Yes. Elena…”

“I guess it might be her mother’s name.”

“It might be. Do you think that it might be her first name?”

“First name? Why?”

“No, just a thought.”

“Right,” William said nervously.

Sitting behind them on the stairs, eavesdropping, Eleanor was literally banging her head at the number of lies William was spouting out of his mouth.

“Wow,” she said to herself. “So, Mary has become William’s beloved now and she isn’t even married. Why are you spinning this web, William? My life is already complex. Why are you complicating it further?”

Meanwhile, Martin continued, “William, are you sure you don’t have any information about anyone aboard the ship with the name Elena?”

“I’m positive. Except Eleanor,” replied William with a very troubled face. It was obvious that he was lying.

“What?” said Eleanor to herself from behind.

“Is Eleanor ‘Elena’?” asked Martin.

“No, but her name starts with an ‘E’, right?” asked William.

“No, no, William, you’re getting it wrong. I asked for ‘E-L-E-N-A’, not for the name of somebody with ‘E’,” said Martin.

“Traitor,” Eleanor thought to herself.

“But is Eleanor, Elena?” continued Martin. “You know her better than me, please don’t lie.”

“No, she isn’t. But…”

“But?”

“Nothing…”

“So, William, who do you think is the murderer?”

“Frankly I don’t know; I do suspect somebody but it doesn’t really make sense.”

“Sense or no sense, we need the clues, go on William.”

“Umm, well, I’m trusting you, man. Don’t break my trust, okay? She’s the kindest soul and I know she would never do something like that. She is a little hot tempered and a bit sentimental as well.”

“Whatever,” Eleanor thought.

“But she would never, I’m sure,” continued William.

“Stop beating around the bush and come to the point. Who are you talking about?” asked Martin.

“Eleanor,” William answered.

“You mean to say that she committed the murder, right?”

“No, I said that she might have.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“Um, well…it’s just my instinct, I suppose.”

“I’m extremely surprised to hear this, William. I thought you loved her. Usually, if you love someone, you don’t suspect them unless there’s a very strong reason or you want vengeance. I’m sure you don’t want vengeance against her, right?”

“No, no, of course not. I only think that she might be a suspect because… umm…er…”

“Go on…”

“Well, I saw her carrying a pendant identical to Oliver’s…,”

“Except it was engraved with ‘E’. E-L-E-N-A-,” thought Martin. “So, Eleanor lied to me.”

Eleanor was boiling with anger.

She thought, “I can’t believe he’s telling such outrageous lies.”

William was clearly lying.

William continued, “Um, she, she, um…”

Eleanor moved a few steps above so she could hear them louder. She was so focused on their conversation that the blowing gale did not bother her. But it should have because suddenly a gust of wind blew her hat away. The hat landed right in front of William and Oliver.

In shock, she exclaimed, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no... please don’t go there, please don’t go there!”

But as we know, Mother Nature listens to no one! As Eleanor darted in front to catch her hat, since it was extremely valuable to her, it swooped past William’s

head. He caught it mid-air and looked behind. Eleanor was frozen to her spot.

Martin too stared behind and said, “Well, well, well, look at what the cat dragged in.”

“Eleanor, um… I wasn’t expecting you here. Is this yours?” William asked hesitantly. Instead of replying, Eleanor snatched the hat from his hand and put it on her head. As she did so, William finally looked at the hat.

He was so surprised! How could he have been such an idiot?! It was so stupid and crazy that he had never even glanced towards her hat. Of course, it put the puzzle in place.

“I was always dazzled by her eyes. I suppose that’s why I never even noticed the hat, which was exceptionally foolish of me,” he thought.

Her hat clearly said Martha.

Her identity, revealed by the hat, only proved one thing- she wasn’t who everybody thought her to be.

Martin interrupted this long pause and said, “So Eleanor, I’m pretty sure you heard our conversation right from the beginning. I presume you were here for a long time, since William heard you walking. Better start explaining yourself.”

“Martin, I will not lie to you about one thing. The pendant that has the name ‘EL-E-N-A’ engraved on it does not belong to me. I swear, it doesn’t,” she said solemnly.

“Wh…which pendant are you talking about?” asked William nervously, trying hard to put up an act.

“Eleanor, you’re not supposed to say it in front of him, he doesn’t know,” Martin whispered. “I meant to ask you whether William has been speaking the truth regarding the pendant. Have you been involved in anything criminal?”

“What do I not know?” asked William.

“Martin, could you please leave? I need to have a little chat with William. Go, please,” requested Eleanor.

“But, but…” interrupted Martin.

“I’ll talk with you later, Martin. Now, if you don’t mind, EXCUSE US!” She exclaimed, tempers rising.

Martin went away reluctantly.

After he was out of sight, Eleanor added, “He still hasn’t left. He wants to listen to our conversation. Check for him everywhere, William.”

William questioned, “But what is so impor…?”

“JUST DO WHAT I SAY!” She yelled at him.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” he gently mumbled.

He checked the whole deck and also the two doors in case Martin was hiding behind them. But, dear readers, Martin was smarter than that. He knew that Eleanor would be looking for him so he intentionally retreated down the stairs, but as soon as he saw William walking back to Eleanor on the deck, he sprinted up, gently opened the door, and hid himself.

Eleanor asked William to explain himself.

“I’m sorry, Eleanor. I just had to say that you were the one,” said William.

“No, but why? Why? Why did you have to? William, I’m tired of you, of this. Why do you not understand my pain? I thought you to be the only one. But no, I was wrong. How would you understand my pain when you are the one who has caused it? How many times have I forgiven you? Your biggest deceits, crimes, everything. Only for love. William, if you don’t love me, just tell me. Speak it out. SPEAK IT OUT!”

“Eleanor, I’m sorry. If I hadn’t suggested to Martin that you could be a suspect…”

“Then, what would have happened?” she added, tears falling down her face.

“Mary, my sister. She might have been blamed. You do hate her.”

“WILLIAM, WHAT ARE YOU? YOU ARE A MONSTER! I HATE YOU. HOW COULD YOU LIE ABOUT ME FOR YOUR SISTER’S SAKE! I GAVE YOU MY LOVE! TWICE IN MY LIFE! YOU CHEATED ON ME, STILL! YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS YOU CHEAT, SCOUNDREL, YOU, YOU!”

She broke down after this tearful, hysterical speech. William waited for her to calm down. “As if you didn’t break my heart,” he added.

Eleanor looked at him with disgust and anger. After a pregnant pause, she said, “We were kids! But still, yeah, ‘a life for a vow’. Amazing. That way, there’d be no humans left, right?”

“I didn’t mean that, Eleanor.”

“Then, what did you mean…?”

William had no answer to that.

“Look, Eleanor. This was for Martha, was it not?” William asked. Eleanor looked at him tearfully. She liked him, she didn’t. She didn’t know what was happening.

“What is this life of mine?” she thought.

“Eleanor, look. Let’s make a deal. I keep your secret about Martha, and you keep Elena’s secret.”

“Agreed? I loved her more than anything,” he added.

“Well, I don’t think Martha reciprocated the love that you showered on her by taking away her most prized possession,” Eleanor added with a little scorn.

“Oh, well. That was a long time ago. Don’t it now,” William said.

Eleanor would never forget what had happened, but she kept a straight face and pretended as if she had indeed forgotten everything.

After thinking deeply for a while, she finally said, “Okay, it’s a fair deal.”

She smiled at him and said, “Farewell Spier.”

“Farewell Stewart,” he added with a happier smile.

She opened the doors and went downstairs. William followed her after a minute or so. Martin was still around. He soon followed them too. He was so confused.

Martin wondered to himself, “Who’s this Martha? What’s with this vow? Who did William kill because Eleanor broke some sort of promise? Why are they addressing each other as Spier and Stewart? Is it some sort of club? And why on earth did William say that Mary was his lover? He could have told me that she was his sister.”

So, according to Martin, this proposition meant something that made no sense.

“William lied about Eleanor being the murderer to save his sister whom he thought Eleanor might blame. In some way, Martha was also the reason for which they decided to keep each other’s secret. And also, some Elena was related to William,” thought Martin. “Extremely confusing, I’ve never had a case like this before. This means that the prime suspects are William, Mary, whoever Elena is, George Elliot as he seemed fishy, and the rest as well, except probably Peter. This leaves us nowhere.”

“Baffling,” he sighed. “Well, I’d better go down and make sense of what I just heard.”

Meanwhile, Eleanor had gone to her cabin to have a nap as she was extremely tired after the day’s proceedings. William was still trying to make sense of Eleanor’s little speech. As he was walking around, he accidentally wandered into another cabin whose door was ajar. He peered in and was shocked by what he

saw.

He saw the killer!

The murderer was polishing a dagger and had a pendant resembling the Golden Triangle.

As soon as the murderer saw William staring at them, the door was slammed shut. William did not care. He had to talk to Eleanor about this and ask her a few questions related to the killer. He was very disappointed by what he had just seen. He had not expected the murderer to be this person even in his wildest dreams.

He rushed to the Food Lounge and paced up and down, waiting impatiently for Eleanor. He knew that regardless of what had happened, she wouldn’t stay in her cabin for the entire day. But she didn’t come down till it was time for tea.

She entered the crowded Lounge at around five, hurriedly collected a few eatables and rushed to her cabin.

Just as she was about to leave the Lounge, William caught hold of her hand and angrily said, “I want to talk to you about something very important. Come on.”

Instead, Eleanor shook off his hand and said, “William, I’m sick and tired of you and everybody. Give me a break. No offense, I’m still on good with you, but genuinely tired. Talk to me tomorrow.”

She quickly ran away before William could say another word.

William was really aggravated because he urgently needed to talk with her but she kept avoiding him for the rest of the evening. She did not realise that William really did need to speak to her. Since she had said she would see him in the morning, he would have to wait till then. It couldn’t harm anyone to wait for a few hours.

But Eleanor couldn’t avoid Martin who decided to talk to her that night.

All the engers ate a scrumptious buffet, except Eleanor who ordered for room service. Soon after, there was a knock at Eleanor’s door.

CHAPTER 10

THINGS ARE REVEALED

“Who is it?” came Eleanor’s shrill voice.

“It’s Martin, may I come in?”

“Sure, come in.”

Mia was not in the room at the time, so it was just them.

As Martin entered, he saw Eleanor writing a letter in shining ink and asked her, “Who are you writing to?”

“That is none of your concern,” she replied abruptly.

“Can I see your hat?” asked Martin.

“No.”

“Okay, but er…well… um, let’s talk. I wanted to discuss a few things with you.”

“Go on,” she said folding her letter, burning it, and throwing it out of the porthole.

“Why did you do that?” asked Martin.

“You ask too many questions Martin,” said Eleanor and gave him a cold stare.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Because of the incidents today, you were not able to complete the interviews, so I finished the rest of them. I have made a small list of the suspects. According to me, everyone is a suspect. Now, if you could give me your list, we could go through the case step by step.”

“I quit the case,” said Eleanor firmly.

Martin was a bit surprised. He asked, “What? Why?”

“I am not interested in it.”

“But you can’t leave a case halfway.”

“Says who?”

“The Code of Detectives, Article 3. I mean, no, no, I’m sorry. I say so.”

“First, I’m not a detective and secondly, I am not interested in the case,” added Eleanor.

“Why?” asked Martin.

Eleanor replied, “You already think that I am the murderer, so go ahead. Arrest me, complain to the police.”

“No, of course not, Eleanor. That’s not what I think. You actually thought I would listen to what William said. No way. I know that he only lied for his sister and you both made a deal…”

He gasped and clasped his hand over his mouth. What was he saying? He wasn’t supposed to reveal anything about what he had overheard.

“WHAT!” exclaimed Eleanor. “You heard us? But how and where? Why do people want to know so much? Why can’t we get privacy? Chris and Isabella were right to have murdered Oliver if they did. They didn’t get their privacy either. But, why should I? Let me just kill myself.”

She whipped out her pocket knife and threatened to kill herself. Martin snatched it away and said, “You will do nothing of the sort. I wanted to know about Oliver’s murderer and I thought maybe that’s what you were discussing, so I spied on you. But, do you mean to say that Chris and Isabella murdered Oliver because of that reason or did he actually come to know some dark secret about their past?”

Eleanor scoffed and said, “Fine, I won’t kill myself. Honestly, I don’t know. How do you even expect me to know whether Chris and Isabella were the murderers? But I must say, you do take care of every word the speaker utters.”

“Thanks,” he added sheepishly. “Coming to the point, I wanted to ask you a few questions as well.”

‘How many?”

“Many.”

“Write them down here and I’ll answer them.”

She handed him a piece of paper from her notepad. Martin took out a pen and wrote on it. These were the questions he wrote-

1. Who is Martha?

2. Why did you both address yourselves as Spier and Stewart? Is this some sort of club?

3. What is the vow that you made with William?

4. Whom did William murder?

5. Are William and Elena the same person?

6. Which secret did you both keep?

7. What does any of this have to do with Oliver’s murder?

8. Any particular reason that kept you away from us today?

9. What do we do next?

10. We shall hold a meeting to find out the murderer tomorrow at 3 p.m. Please do not forget to attend.

“Now, answer them,” he said.

“The last one isn’t a question,” said Eleanor, looking at the page.

“Well, anyway, answer the rest.”

“I cannot answer any of them.”

“Why?”

“Martin, you do not understand. Some things must be kept private. Like you kept your father a secret, didn’t you?”

“My father? What do you mean?”

“Oh, don’t think I am a fool. I know Mr. Farhan Khanna is your dad.”

“How did you know? How could you?” Martin asked, utterly shocked.

Eleanor replied, “Look, it was pretty simple. He is quite old and I doubt he would have come alone, given his poor health but I didn’t ponder much on it. Yesterday, at some point, I think I saw him with a wallet.

“A brown wallet for sure. When he had opened it, I saw the picture of somebody who resembled you a lot, though he was much younger.

“So, I inferred you must be related to him in some way. Too young to be a colleague, too elite to be a servant. You are his son! Although your surname isn’t the same, but it is easy to comprehend that Mr. Khanna, such a wealthy man, has to take care of his belongings, name, and properties. He would not wish to disclose his identity. Therefore, he changed his name. That’s how I came to this

conclusion.”

“Wow, Eleanor, that is... is... just great!?” asked Martin. He was actually surprised at the way she had easily deduced the true relationship between Martin and his father.

He then asked her if she could use the same principles of hypothesis and find Oliver’s killer.

“No,” she briefly replied.

“Why?”

“Because, I do not have any clues against or in favour of anybody except the pendant that belongs to Oliver. If anybody else possessed a similar pendant, I might have been able to come up with something but here, we’re totally blank. Except Elena of course, whom we also do not know about.”

“Right, well, can you answer the questions, then?”

“I told you that I can’t.”

“Please, just try it, once.”

“Okay, fine. Who is Martha?” she read and answered. “My sister’s friend.”

“So, what has she…” asked Martin but Eleanor interrupted him and said, “Tut, tut, I will only give you answers to what you have written, nothing else. There is no club. I cannot tell you about the vow. It is too personal.”

“No, that’s not fair. You must tell me,” Martin insisted childishly.

“I cannot. Moving on to the next question,” she cut short Martin’s talk. “I cannot tell you who William murdered. I have no idea whatsoever whether William’s name is Elena or not.”

Martin questioned, “But you agreed to keep his secret about Elena, right?

“Right, that’s why I’m not telling you,” replied Eleanor.

“But, what if it’s important for finding the identity of the murderer?” he asked further.

She replied, “You will have to trust me on this.”

“Hm,” she chuckled. “You think this is a joke, don’t you, Martin? Being in Matryaas was like living in an abode of happiness for you. But the others who lived in the neighbouring provinces were helpless. Terrible things happened, you know? Terrible, extremely horrifying. You will never even know their pain.”

Martin looked a bit confused and said, “But I thought you lived in Matryaas as well - that’s what you said.”

“And I did say so and I do live there.”

“Then, what is all this talk about pain?”

“I was posted in Zambitrama for two months along with a few police officers and that’s how I know.”

“The time that you spent in Zambitrama is too short to form any conclusions.

“Let’s work together on finding the murderer’s identity. Do you have any concerns? We’re not exactly on the same page, are we?”

“Exactly, Martin. You never understand anything I say. You know, a battlefield may be left empty, but the pain never leaves the place.”

“What are trying to tell me?” asked Martin.

“I’m trying to tell you to stop asking questions about my past and let me be.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you that way.”

“You already have. Now, I will answer all the questions you have written on the paper if I can and then you shall leave me.”

Before Martin could say yes, she answered the next question in the series, “I was tired of you, William, and Mary. I just wanted a break from the whole world and enjoy my tea in peace. Without the hustle and bustle. I think that’s wrong as well, isn’t it?” she added sarcastically.

“You know, Chris and Isabella were so right when they said so. I too have paid for this. Can I not be here? Isn’t it my right to enjoy the ship in peace?” she continued.

“But...” Martin intervened.

“NEXT QUESTION!” Eleanor yelled in his face. “Why don’t you do a cross examination of the people on the ship and make some conclusions about the killer. I’ll give you my list by tomorrow. If you cannot solve this mystery, let the police of Matryaas do it themselves.”

Martin inquired, “So, you will further investigate this case in Matryaas?”

Eleanor shrugged and asked, waving her hands, “Me, why me? Oh, yes, of course. I will do so, but with the help of my colleagues. I will attend the meeting tomorrow. Now, leave. Get out of my cabin at once! OUT PLEASE! OUT! And

yes, do tell Mia to come as soon as she can. I need to talk with her,” she said, making up an excuse to shoo Martin away.

Reluctantly, Martin left.

Eleanor started writing another letter, folded it, burnt it and just then Mia entered. Eleanor quickly threw it out of the porthole.

“Oh,” Mia said, a bit surprised. “What were you doing?”

Eleanor laughed and replied, “Nothing, just found a letter useless. Seemed the best thing to do.”

“Hmm,” Mia giggled.

“Why? What’s so funny?” retorted Eleanor sharply.

“You’ve got black ink on your dress.”

“Oh, I didn’t notice.”

“Oh God! I’m sorry for laughing. Here, I’ll help you.”

Mia tried to remove the stain as much as she could.

“Thanks,” replied Eleanor.

“You look like you’re in a hurry,” chuckled Mia.

Eleanor yawned and added, “No, just feel a bit sleepy. Had a long day.”

“Yup,” Mia agreed. “So, you want to play a game of dice before we sleep, huh?”

“Yeah sure, with a cup of tea? I’ll probably fall asleep if I don’t have any,” said Eleanor.

“You know me well. I never say no to it,” added Mia, grinning.

“Okay, I’ll go and get it.”

As Eleanor left the cabin to get tea, Mia sat back on her bed and thought, “I like Eleanor. She is a bit grumpy but nice.”

Mia was 20 years old, but was still like a child in her manners and behaviour.

She looked like an innocent little girl. A few minutes later, Eleanor arrived with two cups of tea. They sat on the chair with the dice board on the coffee table.

During the game, Eleanor itted that she wasn’t particularly a fan of the game, but she still won the first round.

Mia exclaimed, “Oh, I lost! Just wait and see, I’ll win the next round.”

She somehow managed to defeat Eleanor with this confidence, though she won by a small margin.

“See, I told you!” she added gleefully.

“Well, it’s a tie, then. Let’s have another game to see who the true winner is,” said Eleanor.

“No,” said Mia. “I’m very sleepy now. We’ll play tomorrow morning.”

“Are you sure? I thought I would win.”

“Yes, I want to retire now. We’ll see tomorrow.”

“Well, you’d better wake up early. We will reach Matryaas by tomorrow

evening.”

“Who knows when we meet again?”

“Well, you never know. The world is quite small.”

“Yes, you’re right.”

“Okay, goodnight.”

“Goodnight dear,” said Eleanor.

Mia switched off the lights and went to bed. A few minutes later, they were both fast asleep.

CHAPTER 11

THE BLACK CLOAK

A few hours later, Mia woke up, shivering. She got up from her bed in the dark and went towards the switchboard. Suddenly, she bumped into Eleanor’s bed, tripped, and fell down. Somehow, she managed to get up and switched on the lights. The cabin seemed a bit happier when she did so.

Eleanor was fast asleep on her bed, her hat peeping above the covers.

“She sleeps with her hat?” thought Mia, quite amused. “She must be obsessed with it.”

Mia thought of waking Eleanor up because she was feeling eerie, but decided not to, “Poor Eleanor must be tired. Best I don’t wake her up.”

Suddenly, she felt a gush of breeze against her cheeks. She turned her head and looked straight ahead. The porthole was wide open.

“That’s why I was feeling so cold,” thought Mia. “I wonder why it’s open, though. I’m sure I closed it in the evening.”

After an unsuccessful attempt at closing the porthole, Mia felt quite thirsty.

“Maybe I should get a glass of water,” she thought, “and ask Peter to shut the porthole if he is still awake.”

She opened the door and went into the corridor. She walked towards the Food Lounge and went to the water dispenser to get a glass of water. It was pitch dark along the corridor, except at the two ends where there was a faint bulb. As Mia drank the water and kept the glass down, she heard footsteps. She got very scared because of the recent events aboard the ship and did not particularly like the idea of anybody’s company at this time. It made her feel creepy. Still, with a bit of confidence, she dared to crane her neck out and look at the person who was walking towards her. It turned out to be Peter.

“Anybody there?” he asked, holding a torch in his hands.

“Peter, is that you?” asked Mia shaking from head to toe.

“Who is it?” asked Peter.

“Me, Mia.”

“What are you doing here in the dead of night? It’s 3 o’ clock.”

“Sorry, I felt really thirsty so I came for a drink of water.”

“You could have called for me. I would have brought it to your room.”

“I don’t need you for the water, but for something else. Can you please close the porthole in my cabin?”

“The porthole in your cabin?”

“Yes, please. No need to sound surprised.”

“No, I’m surprised that someone opened it in such weather. We’re not exactly travelling through the Sahara Desert,” he chuckled.

“Hmm,” she laughed. “I do like your sense of humour.”

She looked at him in the eye and laughed again till she had tears in her eyes, “Oh, that was a good one, Peter. A jolly good one.”

“Anyway,” she said as they finally reached her compartment, “speak softly, Eleanor is sleeping. I don’t want to wake her up.”

“Okay,” added Peter.

He stealthily crept towards the porthole and with much difficulty, managed to close it.

“It was jammed,” he said.

“Why did you open it?” he whispered.

“I didn’t, she did. Probably to throw out those pieces of paper.”

“Which pieces?”

“Oh no, they were just scraps of paper. God knows why she threw them out of the porthole.”

“Oh, it’s a sacred and holy practise. You write to the dead, burn the paper, and throw it out into the sea. It’s a slightly long story. There was once a tribe that lived in parts of the Golden Triangle. They occupied dense forests and as the legend goes, some mythical animals of the most bizarre shapes and faces, I can’t recall their names, started frightening the tribes. Of course, it may not be true. Nevertheless, the tribes thought that their dead enemies had come back to haunt them in the form of spirits. The elders of the tribe suggested that they write to their beloved dead elders to convince the enemies to forgive and leave them alone. This is how the practise started. Some people just wrote to their beloved dead as a mode of communication. Although the new age people don’t believe in this practise, Eleanor must be really desperate if she’s writing so many letters,” finished Peter.

“Wow, I didn’t know that. Seems pretty far-fetched, but interesting. Well, Eleanor said that she threw it because it was just trash.”

“Maybe she didn’t want to tell you that she was mourning for the dead. You know, people prefer to keep it a secret, sometimes.”

“Hmm, I know. But, Eleanor’s great fun.”

Peter sniffed and asked, “Is that the smell of burning paper?”

“Yes, from Eleanor’s ‘holy practise’, I suppose,” said Mia.

“Right,” said Peter.

Just as Peter was about to go, Mia glanced at the corridor for a split second because she felt that she had seen somebody run through it. When she looked back, she saw somebody in an unusually large black cloak, running ahead with something silvery in their hand. She had an uneasy feeling about what she had just seen.

“Hey Peter,” she whispered. “Who’s that?”

Peter looked up, but only had a glimpse of the tail of the cloak and nothing else. He too was astonished to see somebody at this hour.

“Who is it?” he thought. “Who could it be at this hour so oddly dressed?” He bravely walked into the corridor. Mia was trembling in terror, but she followed him.

“No, you stay here,” said Peter to Mia.

“I will go with you,” she firmly said. “What if the person creeps on me?”

Peter relented and spoke, “Okay, fine. Follow me, but be careful.”

“Yes,” she added.

The black figure stopped at the Food Lounge and Peter and Mia followed. By the time they reached the Food Lounge, the person disappeared up the deck through the stairs in the Lounge. Mia and Peter returned from the Food Lounge to Mia’s cabin when they failed to find anybody in the Lounge. Perhaps, the cloaked figure had used the other set of stairs on the deck to return.

Peter said, “Do you think we should wake up Eleanor and ask her to check once? I mean, if it’s fine?”

Mia was also quite scared, so she decided to wake up Eleanor and ask the courageous policewoman to take a look at the Lounge.

“Eleanor, wake up, wake up,” she shook her.

“What is it? What is it?” asked Eleanor, opening her eyes gruffly.

Peter replied, “We saw a black cloaked person in the Food Lounge. Can you check once, please? It might be the murderer on the prowl again. Mia is also sure she saw a silvery object in their hand, which has got to be a knife. It can’t be anything else.”

Eleanor sighed and added, “Well, you should have woken me up earlier. If you saw this person going to the Food Lounge, it either means the deed has already been done or it will be committed soon. Anyway, let’s go.”

She took the torch from Peter’s hand and calmly went through the age to the Food Lounge. She shined the torch into the Lounge but couldn’t find anything. She said to herself, “What a waste of time! Fake! Hoax! One thing I particularly despise is false alarms!”

Still, she went to the corners of the Lounge and checked them. There was nobody there except Mary who was sleeping soundly. An extra bed had been made for her in the Food Lounge after she vacated her room following Oliver’s murder.

Eleanor turned around and went back, handed Peter the torch, and said in an irritated tone, “Peter, you and Mia have a very creative imagination. Fancy seeing cloaked figures moving in the corridors! I’m afraid you’ll have to exclude me from this journey of fantasy. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to sleep. Goodnight, Peter. Come with me, Mia. You believed in Peter’s little tale? I thought more of you.”

“Hey,” she yelled angrily.

“What?” asked Eleanor looking back. “Oh, you love him. I’m sorry, I just meant that you shouldn’t have disturbed me as it will be tough for me to go back to sleep.”

Mia argued, hiding her shyness a bit, “No, no, I don’t love him. Eleanor, I don’t think you understand love. Falling in love is not an instant emotion.”

Eleanor sighed and said, “You have been on this ship for two days now.”

“Yes, but stop thinking that I love him.”

“Why? Don’t you?”

“I um, yes, no. Eleanor can we please talk about this in our cabin,” she said, feeling a bit awkward.

“Sure, is there anything you want to add?” asked Eleanor.

As they entered the cabin, Mia said, “Eleanor, I do like him. I think he is quite handsome. I really like the way he looks. I did like him from the moment I entered and…and…”

She kept on ranting about why and what she liked about Peter. Eleanor smiled at her, looked at the porthole, and rolled her eyes.

“Wow,” she thought, “at this hour at night, I have to listen to the love interests of miss little girl.”

She corrected her face expressions and made them look a bit kinder. She turned towards Mia and said, “Mia, I’m a bit tired right now. Can we talk tomorrow, please?”

“Okay,” Mia said, retreating to her bunk and added, “till then I’ll dream about Peter.”

“Oh, you lovesick child!” sighed Eleanor as she turned towards the other side. She thought that love at first sight was never any good.

“Well, who am I to say anything,” she thought. “If Mia wants to behave like a teenager, go ahead. Why should I care?”

She closed her eyes and entered the world of happiness in her dreams. Mia too closed her eyes and started dreaming of such a thing that she had never thought of before.

A world of romance.

But readers, . There was one thing, a shock or a surprise, whatever you may call it, waiting for the engers in the morning. For one, it might be relief, and the other, regret. Only the black cloaked person would know. And soon, you

too will know, my friends. Till then, goodnight.

CHAPTER 12

ANOTHER MURDER

The morning was as pleasant as it could be. All the engers of the Little Noah had a longer night than usual because Peter’s alarm clock had stopped. Since he had an adventurous long night, he could not wake up on time. The first person to wake up was Mr. Farhan Khanna. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. The double dose of sleeping pills at night seemed to have reduced his sea-sickness. He was pleased and felt happy.

He thought to himself, “I must thank God for waking up as a happy man.”

As he reached out to the common table where he had kept his Bible, he looked to the other side. He was horrified by what he saw. William was lying on the other side of the cabin on the floor, dead. Mr. Khanna gasped.

“Oh my god,” he said loudly and almost fainted at the sight of the dead body.

How could the murder have happened, under his nose, in his own cabin? How could he not have noticed? How was this possible? He was perplexed, scared, and quite dizzy.

William’s body was lying supine. His face looked calm though, and it looked as though he had reached a heavenly abode. His body had the same markings as Oliver. There was an extraordinarily large cut shaped like a triangle on his body and a little dot in between. His right palm was open and the left one had a pendant identical to Oliver’s, except it had an ‘E’ engraved on it!

Mr. Khanna finally returned to his senses and breathed deeply. He thought very

carefully about what had just happened. He was sure that one of these days his weak heart was going to give up on him. He was more worried than scared.

This is what he said to himself, “There have been two murders. I have been suspected for the first one and with what luck has God cursed me that the second one happened in my cabin! Oh my! I will be one of the accused. My son might be under suspicion as well. Thank goodness nobody knows that Martin is my son, yet. Maybe, I should move William’s body to another cabin without anybody noticing. But no, that would be so wrong. Why would I want anybody else to get into trouble? But I will have to do it as the suspicion will be drawn towards me because I was William’s sleeping partner.”

With this determining thought, he slowly moved towards William’s bed and tried to lift him.

There was only one thought in his mind, “Could it be the same person who killed Oliver? How can anyone commit such a barbaric act and be so bloodthirsty?”

If Mr. Khanna moved William to Mary’s cabin or the corridor, he would be suspected more. It wasn’t exactly comfortable to move his body to the left-wing toilet, which is what Mr. Khanna initially planned and finally implemented. In this way, few people would question him. He slowly and carefully moved William, holding him by the sheet.

But there was a slight problem; he was not the only one awake at that moment.

In the cabin adjacent to the one opposite his, Chris rubbed his eyes furiously. He had scarcely slept the whole night. It was because he drank a lot the last night

with William.

Chris was extremely hungover, almost bumping his head in the door. With much difficulty, though with caution not to wake up his wife, he manged to open the door.

Here, you might remark that as a result of so many gruesome incidents like this, everybody should have locked their doors. However, most people had not been able to do so as the locks were rusty. Sometimes, it took almost fifteen minutes to unlock the door and on some unlucky occasions, it got jammed.

As Chris reached the corridor, his eyes were fixed only on the Food Lounge as he felt ravenous. His head was swimming and he kept fumbling around. Suddenly, he tripped on the carpet and fell down. As he tried to get up, feeling extremely weak at the knees, he fell headlong on Cabin 6. The force of his head propelled the door open. He again tried to get up, but it was in vain. Through his half-closed eyes, he could see the blur of figures in the cabin.

At that very moment, all his giddiness disappeared. He stared at Mr. Khanna and William’s body wide-eyed. He was literally frozen at the spot, unable to even utter a word. He just glared stupidly and felt disoriented. What in the name of God was he seeing? He could not make head or tail of what he saw.

Now as you all know, people who love each other often detect the other’s presence. They also know when the person is not present. Isabella was one such wife. She knew when Chris was by her side, and when he left the cabin.

She woke up, rubbing her eyes, as she had a feeling that Chris was missing. Her

fears were confirmed. She wondered where he had gone. That was when she noticed that the door of the cabin was ajar. She thought he must have gone out and wondered why. So, she decided to see what he was doing outside. She slipped on a pale blue dressing gown, wore her slippers, and went out into the corridor. She saw the door of Cabin 6 open.

“Oh,” Isabella thought, “he’s drinking with William again. No, this time I will not tolerate it. He should have seen his state last night. Completely drunk and out of his senses. William as well. I’m shocked by how much he drank yesterday. Thank goodness Mr. Khanna was there to help William into bed, otherwise he would have ed out on the floor because of dizziness. Well, Chris will not go unpunished this time, I swear.”

Thinking of a severe punishment, Isabella walked on.

She quietly crept in, intending to give Chris and William a piece of her mind, but as soon as she entered, she saw Chris lying on the floor. She wasn’t quite surprised, thinking he had been drinking again.

She angrily spoke to him, “This is exactly what happens when you drink too much. Now you give me that bottle and William, you…”

As she looked in front, she froze and discovered why Chris was on the floor in a state of shock. Mr. Khanna was still moving William who looked dead. She let out a frightful, loud, and piercing scream when she realised that he was actually dead. The scream reverberated through the ship.

Unfortunately, nobody was concerned by her scream. They just considered it to

be an out-of-tune vocal exercise considering how badly she had sung during lunch the day before.

The first person to react was Martin who shouted, “Quit screaming, please!” The scream woke up Peter who was still sleeping.

Peter looked at his watch and gave a yell of dismay. It was 10 a.m. He had woken up late and now had to serve breakfast to everybody as fast as he could. He quickly wore his clothes and hurried down the corridor. He saw Isabella standing there with her hands clasped over her mouth. She looked shocked and her face had gone very white. He wondered what the matter was.

Peter politely asked her, “What is it ma’am? You look worried and pale. Why did you scream in the morning?”

“Although you woke me up, which was quite good,” he thought and then said, “But why?”

She did not respond to his questions, so he walked up to where she was standing to look at what she was viewing. But as he moved ahead, she put her hand out and forbade him from doing so.

He said, “But why? What’s so shocking over there, ma’am?”

“No, I forbid you,” she continued.

Shrugging his shoulders, he started moving towards the Food Lounge to lay the food. Just as he walked forward, Isabella gave an intense wail of shock and then fainted on the floor. Peter looked back and gasped, horrified. He went towards her but could not go forward because her body was totally blocking the ageway. He did not wish to go over her so he decided to call Martin, as he was a naval officer and might know something about concussion.

He gave him a shout, “Martin, sir! Please wake up. Madam here, she’s fainted. I have no idea what to do. The other day you said you were good with injuries. Could you help me, please?”

Martin hated to be disturbed when he was sleeping, but this was probably one of the only things which actually made him get up and look out as Peter’s voice sounded tense. He came running out of his cabin and looked at Peter who was clearly worried. He glanced at Isabella who was lying supine on the carpeted floor, totally blocking the entrance to the door.

“Oh, oh,” moaned Martin.

“What happened? Is it something fatal? Is it a head injury?” Peter kept throwing questions but received no answer.

Finally, Martin said, “No, it’s fine. It’s not fatal. She’s simply fainted because of shock.”

“Then why did you say oh, oh?” asked Peter.

Martin replied, “Because, I was not worried about her fainting. I was more worried about the reason for which she fainted.”

As he knelt beside her, he noticed Chris slumped by the wall, holding his head in his hands. Martin gasped.

“Chris what’s wrong with you?” Martin cried. In the meantime, Peter began knocking on everybody’s doors as Martin told him to do so. It was best to be together to know if there had been more causalities and if not, to prevent them.

As Martin turned over Chris and looked at him, he realised that Chris had not fainted but simply looked a bit dazed and shocked. That was not much of a problem. Peter gently led Chris to his cabin and calmed him down as the others arrived.

George Elliot and Martin gently picked up Isabella and put her in bed. After this, they all came to Cabin 6 and peered inside. What had so shocked Isabella and Chris that they had turned white? In the meantime, Mr. Khanna had let go of William. He had gently placed him on the bed and put a sheet on him, so no one would be able to tell that he was dead. He quickly crept into his bed and pretended to be asleep.

CHAPTER 13

REMORSE AND REGRET

Martin entered the cabin along with the others including Eleanor and Mary.

He shouted, “William, please wake up and explain the meaning of this. Why did you scare the Marths?” William did not even budge.

Peter said, “Mr. Khanna, can you explain what’s going on?”

Mr Khanna rolled from the other side, opened his eyes and said, “What? Did you ask me something?”

“Yes, Mr. Khanna, did you not hear Isabella? How have you continued to sleep through this commotion?” asked Peter.

“I didn’t hear any screams,” Mr. Khanna lied.

“That’s not possible, Mr. Khanna. I when you were talking to us the other day, you mentioned that any sound easily wakes you up. You must have woken up. And how did you know there was a scream if you were asleep? And William as well. William, please get up,” Peter continued, removing the sheet from William’s body.

“Huh!” He gasped loudly and everybody too saw William lying lifeless on the bed.

Peter trembled but then firmly said, “Mr. Khanna, you are a murderer. First it was Mary and now you. This is horrible. I am grateful that we will reach our destination this evening.”

Martin sighed and said, “Now, now Peter. Let’s not make false accusations. We’re not sure about either of them, yet.”

Before Martin could say anything else, Eleanor came running from behind and fell over William’s body and hugged him tightly. She started wailing and crying furiously. She kept sobbing and would not leave him even when Martin went to her and gently told her to move away as he needed to inspect the body.

“No!” she sobbed and wailed. “It’s all my fault. He wanted to tell me something yesterday but I ignored him. It’s my fault he was killed. NO! NO! William, please come back! Come back to me!”

Her eyes welled with tears at the sight of his body.

Finally, after sobbing in this manner for almost a quarter of an hour, Martin forcefully removed her. She walked away with pain in her eyes. In the cabin, Mary was also sobbing and Margret Wood was comforting her. As Eleanor walked past her slowly, Mary looked at her and unexpectedly hugged her.

In her tight embrace, she said in a shaky and trembling voice, “I miss him already.”

Eleanor added, “I miss him the most.” As Mary looked at Eleanor in the eye, she realised that perhaps she had misjudged her. Eleanor wasn’t that bad after all!

“Come,” said Eleanor taking Mary’s hand, still sniffling.

“Wh-where are you t-taking m-me?” Mary asked quaveringly.

Eleanor did not reply and pulled Mary into her cabin. She made her sit on the bed and started rummaging through her own bag. Mary obediently sat on the bed, still wondering what Eleanor wanted to show her. Finally, Eleanor found what she had been looking for. She took out a crumpled picture of William looking extremely handsome and young. She looked at the picture a few times and smiled. He was very good looking. His death was extremely tragic.

She gave the picture to Mary and said, “You can keep it. I don’t need it. It is more painful to lose a brother than one’s loving partner.”

Mary too gave a forlorn smile and looked quite grateful but then added, “No, I have many pictures of him and me. Besides, you need these memories. Else, the pain will swallow you like a black hole. I’m sorry that I lied to you about his engagement. He was never actually engaged. I just said that so you would stay away from him.”

“I know,” replied Eleanor. “But, it’s fine. I understand that sisters are usually quite protective of their brothers.”

“Wait, I think I’ve heard someone say that to me before,” said Mary, dreamily.

Eleanor said, “Maybe it was William’s friend; not William, but Lucas’s friend who said this?”

“Yes,” Mary added, “but I wanted to ask you a question. Did you know Lucas (William) before? I mean, before you met him on the ship.”

“No,” lied Eleanor.

“Well, how did you fall in love with him so quickly?” asked Mary. “You know, you hardly knew him.”

“Well, I am a strong believer in love at first sight,” she again lied.

“Oh,” Mary said, thinking it was a bit weird because William had never believed in love at first sight. She continued, “Alright, I’d best be going. And, uh, Eleanor. I don’t know if we will ever meet again, but I’m ever so sorry for having doubted you.”

“It’s fine,” replied Eleanor. “We will always be bound together by the memory of his painful death.”

“Yes,” added Mary.

She left the cabin, sighing. Eleanor too let out a deep sigh after Mary left. She picked up the crumpled picture and looked at it thoughtfully. She gave a little smile, but it soon turned to dismay when she ed that she would never see him again in her life. Still, it was partly her fault. If she had spent a bit more time with him, she might not have felt this pain. At that very moment, Martin entered her cabin. He cleared his throat to announce his presence.

Eleanor looked up.

“What is it?” she asked. Martin gestured her to move a bit to the side. She did so. Martin sat next to her, remained quiet for a moment and then spoke.

“We must find out,” he announced.

“Find out what?” asked Eleanor.

“The identity of the murderer,” said Martin.

“But why?”

“Why? Do you not wish to know the person who coldheartedly murdered your love?”

“I do wish to know, but I shall not assist you.”

“May I know why you would not like to help me?”

“The reason is simple. I am filled with remorse and regret for not spending enough time with William. If I were to help you, I would be betraying him, my soul.”

“How would you betray him by helping me?”

“Look, I don’t have an answer to your question but you don’t understand my plight. I want to spend every moment of my life with his picture and memory. At least I will feel like I am with him,” said Eleanor.

“How silly. What is the use of wasting your life with a photograph, when you can make the choice to find, and bring to justice, the person who has caused you this regret and remorse?”

“I refuse to help if that is what you are proposing.”

“You do not have a choice.”

“Why? What will you threaten me with?”

“Well… um…I don’t know. All I’m asking of you is to help me. Simply sit with me because you know more about him than anybody else. Even more than Mary, though she’s his sister,” said Martin.

“Even if you get to know a bit more about him through me, what is the use?”

“Use, use? Law! It’s about law, woman! The law needs to find out right and wrong. And not only for you, for the sake of the ship. You should have heard Peter sobbing. He’s been on the Little Noah since he was four years old. His father always brought him to the shore and said, ‘Son, this is the ship in which you will serve as a proud attendant one day.’ And now, the murders have shattered his dreams. If we do not find the killer, this ship will stop working. People will stop coming because of fear. You know how these myths carry on. Poor Peter will suffer. The captain of the ship will suffer. You don’t understand. It is always very important to find out the pieces of the puzzle according to Article 5 of the Code of Detectives.”

“Fine, I’ll do it for everybody’s sake,” sighed Eleanor.

“Thanks, Eleanor. I’m sure you’ll be of great help.”

“I hope so.”

“Well, if you want to get ready, do so. You can come to the Food Lounge afterwards, and we’ll talk about it for a bit.”

Eleanor reluctantly agreed and put on a little jacket as there was a slight draught in the air. She sat on the bed for a while, took a deep breath, and then went to the Food Lounge. When she entered, she noticed that there was no hustle bustle or commotion and breakfast was a very subdued event. Martin got up from his table when he saw her coming towards her seat and ed her at the table.

“Hey,” she said to him in a friendly way, although she did not want to sit over there in the least. Martin simply nodded back.

“I’m sorry,” Martin said, “that I can’t understand your pain.”

“I know,” she replied. “It’s tough to know the pain of losing a loved one.”

“Well, anyway. Back to the topic. Have you any leads?” asked Martin.

“No,” she replied abruptly.

“Why do always give me monosyllabic answers?” he inquired.

Eleanor sighed and said, “This is nothing personal, Martin. It’s just how my frame of mind is right now.”

“Fine, I get it,” he replied. “But please give me an answer when I ask for one, ‘in full sentences’.”

“Okay,” she replied. Martin sighed.

“So, we finally know the secret of Elena. Elena was William is my proposed theory. Wait a minute. You knew Elena was William, didn’t you?” asked Martin.

“Yes,” she replied briefly.

“Uh! Again, monosyllables. Anyway, if you did know, why didn’t you tell me?” he questioned.

“Because I promised William that I wouldn’t,” Eleanor said.

Martin sighed and said, “But, you made the promise much after you came to know about his identity. I asked you before that as well. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want to,” Eleanor replied.

Martin raised his brows and said in disgust, “Eleanor, why don’t you understand the seriousness of this affair? I need to gather as much information as possible. You must tell me everything you know. But I also need to tell you something. I kept the Elena pendant with me by my bedside but now it’s on William’s body and I don’t have it anymore so…”

“The killer stole it?” asked Eleanor.

“Bang on!” said Martin.

He paused and then continued, “And the thing that mystifies me the most is why William was murdered. Oliver, okay, many people had the motive to do so. The Marths, Ellliots, Woods, Mia etc… But I don’t think, them being such nice people, would ever do such a thing.”

“Exactly, Martin. Exactly. You don’t get it. Even the most innocent people can commit a crime. Crime isn’t always committed by cold hearted murderers. Since you have lived in Matryaas your entire life, you don’t have much experience of this,” said Eleanor.

Martin looked confused and asked again, “But, you’re also from Matryaas, aren’t you? You told me so yourself.”

Eleanor smiled and said, “Yes, but I’m much smarter than you.”

Martin scoffed, “Well, whatever.” But this statement was going to be proven true.

Eleanor continued, “For example, anybody can be the murderer, you included. Just because you’re investigating the case, don’t consider yourself to be an exception. You have a 90% motive to have killed both of them.”

“N-Ninety, w-what you do mean,” he asked nervously.

She looked at his face and continued, “Well, it’s true. You do have a very firm motive. Did you notice the common thing in both the murders of William and Oliver? The pendant. It represents the Golden Triangle. You know that as well as I do. If we build the evidence against you, that you actually stole Oliver’s money, then you might not have been the killer. But I don’t really think you stole the money. So, considering that perspective, you could have killed Oliver out of anger for being falsely accused. That’s always a very common reason. And I also know very well that you are a detective.”

Martin quavered and said, “But h-how?”

“Well, all those little hints you kept dropping about the Code of Detectives. You know, I’m not that stupid,” she said, “and you knew that I knew. At least you were a little sure that I knew.”

“Well, I must say that you are quite smart,” he said, still trembling. He realised that he had met a very smart partner who could find the solution to almost anything. But if that were the case, he wondered, why had she not found the murderer? If she was so quick-witted, then solving this mystery should have been a piece of cake for her. But why had she not?

CHAPTER 14

A FEW INTERROGATIONS

Martin’s mystery would not remain a mystery for much longer. He now understood why Eleanor hadn’t been able to find out the murderer’s identity. The answer was very simple. She had no interest in the case or in telling him anything. He concluded that from the moment William’s murder had occurred, she would have easily known who the culprit was. But she was refusing to say the name of the person. What was the reason for this? Was it because she had promised this person she wouldn’t or was there another reason? He would have to find out as she was adamantly refusing to tell him anything even when he asked her very politely.

Finally, Martin said, “Eleanor, look at me in the eye and answer this question. Who is the murderer?”

“I won’t tell you anything,” she said and turned away from him.

“Why? Why not?” he asked, turning her towards him again.

“I have promised that person I will not reveal their identity.”

“And who might that person be?”

“I told you I can’t tell you. And stop pestering me and asking these questions in indirect ways. Whatever you do, I will not tell you.”

“Well, even if you don’t tell me, you will have to tell the police about this when

you get to Matryaas.”

“You’re forgetting one thing, Martin. I am Head of Police in Matryaas. If anybody has any evidence regarding a case, they are obliged to tell me, but I don’t have to tell anybody anything. Because I’m not obliged to do so,” Eleanor said.

“Well, my dear, you’re forgetting that there are many people with a higher rank than you. But that won’t be needed if you come out nice and clear with me. But wait just a minute, if you’re Head of Police, why did I never see you when I came to visit the prison?”

“Maybe, your eyes aren’t as sharp as they used to be,” said Eleanor.

“Well, okay,” said Martin wondering if he actually needed glasses or to retire. “So, stop diverting me from the topic now and tell me all you know.”

“Look in my eyes,” he said pulling her towards him, “and tell me, do you know who the murderer is?”

Eleanor looked in his suspicious eyes and truthfully answered, “no.” Martin looked at her carefully. She wasn’t lying. She was completely truthful. Maybe, she was trying another trick he thought.

Martin asked Eleanor again using the same method of interrogation, “Do you know the name of the killer?”

“It’s confusing,” she replied and again she wasn’t lying.

“What’s confusing?” questioned Martin.

“The names,” she replied briefly as she always did.

Frustrated at her short answers, Martin tried to remain calm and asked her, “What names?”

“The names of the murderer,” she replied.

“Why, what’s so confusing about them?” Martin asked uncertainly. “You can’t find it confusing unless you know the names. Tell me the names.”

Eleanor, who was now really testing Martin’s patience said, “I cannot tell you Martin. Only some information can be ed on to you. The names which I find confusing will be solved and that matter does not concern you.”

“But why…” interrupted Martin.

“Don’t argue!” yelled Eleanor.

Martin calmed himself down and asked, “Okay, I presume you have no other information that you have not shared with me?”

“No, I do have one, only one more piece of evidence,” she itted truthfully.

“State it,” he said in a clear voice.

Eleanor calmly said, “It’s about the murders. It wasn’t done by one person. It was done by two people.”

As these words left her mouth, Martin gasped. Of course, it made sense. It was very easy. The second murderer must have been very smart. When the second killer noticed the first murder was connected to the Golden Triangle, the killer must have left the same signs so that people would think that it was the same person who had committed this murder too. And that is exactly what he had been thinking.

There were two smart persons who had outwitted all the other innocent people. It all made sense. He was extremely sure Eleanor wasn’t lying. She really wasn’t. But the thing which was the most puzzling was that everybody on the ship was extremely naïve. Nobody, absolutely nobody, could have had the courage to murder any of them. Angry they might be as much as they wanted, but they wouldn’t have dared murder. It was just very hard for Martin to actually believe this thing had happened. But of course, murderers are supposed to look naïve and innocent. If they looked suspicious, they would be caught at once!

Then he laughed and thought, “Well, let’s try this old trick used in murder mystery books. Which person would be the least suspected?”

It was then he thought that his statement wasn’t only a childish trick but actually meant a lot. The person whom they least suspected was Peter and so could he be a hidden murderer? If not William, Peter could have easily murdered Oliver considering the fact that he was in Mary’s cabin and she was a sound sleeper. He could have killed him during the night or even in the morning.

Martin needed to discuss these new thoughts with Eleanor.

Then William’s murder. It seemed very unlikely that it was Peter because Eleanor suspected two different people committing the murders. He thought of the second most unlikely person. His father.

“No,” he said aloud, “he did not do anything.”

Even though Martin had talked to Mr. Khanna about this, and Mr. Khanna had repeatedly said that he was only taking William out of the cabin so he would not be suspected, most of the people thought he was the killer. Even Chris and Isabella, who were now well and fit, insisted that he could be the killer. Unless they were the murderers, this seemed quite likely. But he knew deep down that it couldn’t be his father. There was no possible motive. The third person who could be implicated was Mary.

“Yes, Mary,” Martin nodded.

She had a very good motive for killing her brother. Possibly jealousy as a result of being neglected during childhood or some serious psychological issues. He

shared these thoughts with Eleanor. She simply nodded and then sighed.

“Martin, do you want me to tell you something? An honest statement?” asked Eleanor.

Martin nodded and smiled, “Yes, go on, Eleanor, please.”

“I do think that you have the biggest motive for killing the people,” she replied.

“What?” He gasped, turning pale.

What on earth would make Eleanor say that? Sure, he was closely related to the Golden Triangle but that shouldn’t make him one of the suspects. She had suspected him just a minute ago as well. Why did she bring up the topic again and again? And if Eleanor said something, it was mostly right.

“Okay,” he said. “I know you think that I am related to the Golden Triangle, but how does that make me a suspect?”

“Martin, tell me something. Where were you the night of Oliver’s murder?” asked Eleanor.

“I was in my cabin, sleeping,” he replied.

“And where was Oliver?”

“He was playing a game of cards with me before I went to sleep.”

As Martin said this, he gasped and regretted speaking. He should definitely not have said anything.

“Exactly,” said Eleanor. “You know that Mary sleeps quite early and she is a sound sleeper. Also, your cabin mate George came back quite late from his wife’s cabin. It’s completely possible that you are the guilty one.”

That was when Martin realised that he had absolutely no alibi who could speak on his behalf. If Eleanor told the other engers, they would easily believe her. The first reason was because she was the Head of Police. And secondly, it was evidently possible that he had murdered Oliver. There seemed to be no one who would oppose this theory. Eleanor was right. George had come late and Mary was an early sleeper.

He finally said to her, “But you believe me, don’t you?”

Eleanor said, “Well, Martin, I don’t know. You once said that everybody is a suspect, so that’s exactly the theory I’m proposing. Tell me truthfully, did you murder Oliver?”

“No,” he replied convincingly.

She just sighed and then added, “Well, God make sure that the unjust are brought to justice.”

“Hmm,” nodded Martin.

“Well then,” said Eleanor getting up and leaving her unfinished cup of tea on the table, “I’m going to the decks for a walk. I’ll be back in an hour or so. Till then, you can try and solve some of the mystery if you want.”

She walked away from the Food Lounge and went up the deck. Martin’s insides cringed as she walked off. He could not think of any accusation to make. Whom to threaten? Whom to blame? He felt miserable. As if the world was crumbling. He had not done well at his job. He should have found out the murderer by now. Three days should have been quite enough for that.

Suddenly, he ed something. There was a part of the mystery that he could solve. He wasn’t sure if it was related to the murder but solving a mystery would at least make him feel a bit better. He stood up and walked to his cabin. There, he took a brown bag that Eleanor had given him. It contained the ports of all the engers on the ship. He started checking them one by one. They all contained the essential information. It was all going fine until he reached William’s name. When he opened the port, it said that the owner of the port was called Lucas Elena Spier. He was very confused.

“Whose is this?” he thought. “There’s no one aboard the ship called Lucas Elena Spier.”

Then his eyes darted towards the picture, which resembled William.

“Oh, holy god!” exclaimed Martin. “William isn’t a William. His actual name is Lucas Elena Spier, which explains the pendant as well. The only thing it doesn’t explain is why the middle name is engraved on the pendant. It’s usually the first name. Never mind, I’ll figure that out.”

The name Spier rung a bell in his head. He had heard the name somewhere. He just couldn’t recall it. He racked his brain and thought hard. Where had he heard the name Spier? Of course! In Eleanor and Wil-er-Lucas’s conversation.

“Goodbye Spier,” Eleanor’s sweet voice echoed in his ears.

“Goodbye Stewart.” That’s what Lucas had said. That meant Eleanor’s name was fake too. It ended with Stewart. He wasn’t surprised that her name was different as he found her a bit suspicious. He was determined to find out her real identity.

Martin opened her port full of hope but when he saw the name, he was crestfallen. He hoped for a different name, but unfortunately, it was the same, Eleanor. He looked out of the porthole for a minute and suddenly, an idea struck him. He wasn’t sure whether he was right or wrong. But he didn’t want to abandon this idea. It was actually more of his strong instinct than his idea.

He took both the ports and rushed towards her cabin. There was nobody in the age just then, so he was safe. When he was inside, he locked the door, hoping that he wouldn’t be disturbed. After the safety precautions, he set to work. He carefully put the ports aside. He found Eleanor’s handbag and emptied the contents of the bag. He ferociously dug through everything till he reached the very bottom.

It was kept in perfect order. There were five, big, coloured, plastic bags. He quickly opened each one and looked at what was inside. The first bag had many lipsticks, fake eyelashes, eyeshadow and other makeup products. The second bag contained a little book that had many pictures slipped inside it. Martin ignored the pictures and opened the next bag. It only contained a toothbrush, paste, shampoo, soaps, toiletries etc.

“Seriously,” muttered Martin under his breath.

The fourth bag contained many unwritten pieces of papers, and a burnt piece of paper with three to four numbers on it.

As he sighed and turned to the last bag with some optimism, his hopes were thwarted. He gave a low howl. “It’s locked! I shouldn’t have spent my time on these useless bags. I should’ve tried to pick this one instead,” he thought. “This might have all the answers.”

Martin took it and furiously tried to open the resisting lock, but it didn’t budge. Since it was a number lock, there was no way he could open the lock by picking it. He needed to know the three numbers. He wondered if the numbers on the burnt paper were the right ones but they weren’t. That’s when he noticed a paper stapled to the side of the bag and this is what it said-

CHAPTER 15

CODES AND SOLUTIONS

If you solve this, then it truly belongs to you…

‘If you add July to the ravens

And the swans to the unfortunate month together,

You will get the number which must subtract the loves of my life and the last is one…’

“This is the riddle and it solves the mystery of the three numbers,” Martin thought.

He carefully read it again and again, but it made no sense to him. He tried to solve the puzzle, bit by bit.

“If you add July to the ravens,” Martin thought. “How can you add a month to a bird? And how many birds?”

He suddenly wondered if the riddle was referring to a story about ravens. He could recall hearing the story of the seven ravens and their sister. Could this be what the riddle meant? He decided to give it a try.

“Add July to seven,” he muttered. “Maybe it means the serial number of the month. 7+7, that’s fourteen. Then? ‘And the swans to the unfortunate month together’. She’s referring to the story of the wild swans or whatever its name was. And as far as I , it was 11 swans. The unfortunate month, means February as it has 28 days. So that would be, 14+11+2 which would give us 27. Now, I must subtract the number of her loved ones from 27. How do I know how many people she loved?

“Maybe it was two. If one was William, and if she says ‘loves’, in plural then a wild guess would be two. I mean she doesn’t seem the type who might have had many ‘loves’ in her life. And the last number is one,” he said with a satisfactory breath, “So, the number would be 251.”

Trembling, but with his eyes sparkling, he tried the numbers. As he slid through them and reached the desired number, nothing happened. Martin frowned.

But after a few seconds, something clicked and the bag fell open. Martin gasped and a big smile could be seen on his face. He emptied the contents of the bag on the bed with nervous hands but, oh ho! It contained only one item. An old and slightly tattered port.

Martin rubbed his hands with glee and slowly opened it, hoping for something interesting. When he read the name on the port, his face turned white with terror. Her name was not Eleanor. Her name, plainly written in the real port was-Alicia Stewart. There was also a picture of her next to the name. It was quite different from her present face.

Martin swallowed, and took a deep breath. So, Elea-no, Alicia, had been lying

about her name, but why? He could not think of a possible answer. He was sure that it wasn’t because she was too rich and wanted to protect herself. No, that definitely couldn’t be the reason. So then, why the disguise? A fake port? These questions were unanswerable.

He gazed around the cabin, wondering if there was any other proof or pieces of evidence lying around. He noticed a sheaf of paper on which random numbers were written. It was on the common table. He picked it up and examined it closely. This is what it said-

6 7 3 20 15 3 20 22 10 3,

25 7 10 3 24 7 4 17 22 10 8 11 16 3 14 14 1

20 7 19 23 11 22 7 6 17 23 20 14 17 24 7 22 17

17 23 20 16 7 3 20

3 16 6 6 7 3 20 4 23 22, 25 7 25 11 14 14 10 3 24 7 22 17

14 11 24 7 25 11 22 10 22 10 11 21 8 17 20 7 24 7 20. 11

10 17 18 7 22 10 3 22 1 17 23 25 11 14 14 10 7 14 18

15 7 4 7 3 20 11 22,

15 1 6 7 3 20. 22 10 11 21 11 21 3 6 3 1 8 17 20

20 7 12 17 11 5 11 16 9, 3 16 6 11 10 17 18 7 1 17 23 20

21 17 23 14 11 21 8 11 16 3 14 14 1 3 22 18 7 3 5 7.

“Seriously, another code?” He said banging the desk firmly. “I will go crazy if I have to solve another one.”

Martin particularly despised codes and all sorts of riddles.

He racked his brains and thought, “Well, the easiest and commonest way is conversion of numbers to letters. Considering this to be the letter she writes to someone... Wait, just wait a second. She writes her letters and then burns them, of course! Why didn’t I think of it before? She writes to her dead. The people whom she loves and are dead. They always write in codes. So that nobody gets to know about it. Of course! Maybe I can find out to whom she writes. Then I could probably figure out why she changed her name.”

Martin took another piece of paper, as they were evidently available in abundance. He hurriedly took out a pen from his pocket and began converting the numbers into letters. He was hoping for an astonishing discovery but when he looked at the decoded text, he got something that looked very much like this. Unfortunately, (except people who know this nonsensical language) it made no

sense, once again. Martin looked at it again and again, wondering where he had gone wrong.

FGCT OCTVJC,

YG JCXG DQVJ HKPCNNA TGSWKVGF QWT NQXG VQ QWT PGCT F FGCT DWV, YG YKNN JCXG VQ NKXG YKVJ VJKU HQTGXGT. K JQRG VJCV AQW YKNN JGNR OG DGCT KV, OA FGCT. VJKU KU C FCA HQT TGLQKEKPI, F K JQRG AQWT UQWN KU HKPCNNA CV RGCEG.

It did seem like a collection of letters, randomly arranged. He scratched his chin in awe. What a wonderful code she had worked out! It was highly encrypted. Martin had decoded such codes before as well, but none as difficult as this one. He could not make head or tail out of it.

He tried reading it, “‘ Fgct’, seriously that doesn’t make any sense!”

He looked at the other piece of paper again to see if he had missed anything or maybe done something incorrectly. Maybe, he wasn’t supposed to convert the numbers into letters. Just as he was just about to tear the paper with the code in frustration, he noticed something on the corner of the paper. His eyes darted towards the little smudge of ink.

“A smudge?” He thought. “Maybe it’s there purposely.”

He brought it towards the light and looked at it closely. It wasn’t a smudge at all.

It was the number 2 written in a very small font. It was hardly visible unless you scrutinised it very carefully, which Alicia was not expecting anybody to do.

“Two,” thought Martin. “What significance does the number two have to the paper?” He looked at the converted paper and looked at some of the solitary letters and thought, “There are only a few solitary letter words in English. A, I and a few more. Maybe if K was supposed to mean I, and C was supposed to mean A.”

As he said those words he literally jumped with joy. He had cracked the code! All he had to do now was the tedious task of replacing every letter with the letter that came two places before it.

Trembling and nervous about what he would find, he started writing. It took him almost a quarter of an hour to finish the conversion without any spelling errors. Putting down his pen, he sighed and looked at the paper and the surprise which lay in it.

DEAR MARTHA,

WE HAVE BOTH FINALLY REQUITED OUR LOVE TO OUR NEAR AND DEAR BUT, WE WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH THIS FOREVER. I HOPE THAT YOU WILL HELP ME BEAR IT, MY DEAR. THIS IS A DAY FOR REJOICING, AND I HOPE YOUR SOUL IS FINALLY AT PEACE.

He read it. Loudly, softly, slowly and quickly. After reading it about four to five times, he started thinking.

“What does this mean? I don’t get it. I…”

Martha…every time he read that word; it struck a bell in his head. He had heard it somewhere. Right now, he couldn’t think who it was. Suddenly…he ed and put it all together!

Lucas’s conversation, Alicia’s letter and… One more thing was missing. He needed to have just one more proof. He quickly opened the bag full of pictures. He sifted through them and finally found the one he wanted.

Somehow, one of the pictures seemed a little thick, and he hadn’t thought anything of it earlier. Now, he did. The photo was a black and white still of Alicia and Lucas. It was utterly beautiful. They were both holding hands and smiling. It looked as if it was real. But that was not the end of it. He turned over the picture and found just what he wanted. There was another picture inside that one.

CHAPTER 16

THE EXPLANATION OF HOW?

Martin looked at the picture and gasped. There was no more to be said or done. It was proved. Alicia Stewart was responsible for the murder of Oliver Garcia and Lucas Elena Spier! There was no turning back from the statement. Martin banged his head in frustration. He was so very disappointed.

He had almost taken a liking to Alicia, little suspecting she had been the murderer. He smelt a rat in the beginning, but she didn’t really seem to have a motive. He wished that he didn’t have to tell anybody, but couldn’t do that. The law was the law. It had to be followed. Sadly, he collected his belongings and stuffed the proof in his pockets. He cleared any evidence of a break-in and started moving out. At that moment, his feet tripped over the bedsheet and he almost fell.

“Ouch!” Martin exclaimed and bent down to look at the culprit. He lifted the sheet and saw a black cloak and a silver dagger. The black cloak had the sign of the Golden Triangle and a little ‘Z’ sign engraved on it.

“Zambitrama,” he thought. “She’s a detective from there. No wonder she’s so smart.”

Then, he simply sighed. He wished he could do something to help poor Alicia, but he couldn’t. She had brought it upon herself. The only thing that could save her now was him. If he decided not to tell anybody, then... No, he couldn’t do that. It was against the law. She would probably just get a stint in prison for life... or maybe a death sentence....no…

His mind being somewhere else, he tried to open the locked door but it didn’t budge.

“Ugh! No! Not now!” he said. He tried again and luckily it opened. He looked out of the window and saw the shore.

“What!” Martin exclaimed. “We were supposed to reach in the evening. How did we reach so early?”

“Anyway,” he thought. “I must hurry up with my explanation, I guess.” He walked through the corridor with a sinking feeling in his heart. The feeling of betraying Alicia. But why should he feel guilty? She had lied to him, hadn’t she?

He took long strides and finally reached the Food Lounge. Everybody except Alicia, who had gone up to the decks, was there. Martin was quite surprised that she had not returned but he was secretly happy. Everybody looked at Martin in a weird way wondering why he had come after so long. Martin didn’t notice their looks.

Instead, he banged the table and said, “I have an announcement to make.”

Everybody suddenly took notice and stopped jabbering.

“What is it?” they all cried in unison.

“The murderer has been found,” Martin replied in a firm voice.

“Mustn’t we call Eleanor first?” asked Peter.

“There will be no need for that,” said Martin. “Peter, please close all the doors leading to the Food Lounge, every single one. Make sure no one else enters these premises and please hurry up with this. We only have a few hours before we reach Matryaas.”

After all the arrangements had been made (although everybody was wondering why Eleanor hadn’t been called, nobody dared to question Martin), Peter pulled out a chair for himself and asked finally, “So who is it?”

“Alicia Stewart,” replied Martin forcibly.

Everybody stared at each other in confusion. Who was Alicia Stewart? They looked at Martin as if he was joking.

Seeing the look on their faces, Martin cleared his throat and said again, “I made myself clear, Alicia Stewart, pseudonym-Eleanor Melsis Adams.”

Everybody gasped.

“What?”

“How?”

“When?”

“Why?” Came out cries from all directions.

Martin tried to interrupt but it was of no use. They kept shouting.

Finally, Chris managed to calm them down and said, “Martin, you cannot simply scream blue murder. You need to justify your allegations.”

“I shall,” he replied.

He paused to increase the suspense and then began, “So, one day I saw Alicia and Lucas talking with each other on the decks and I overheard their conversation. At first…”

But before he could say another word, Mary jumped up and said in a half nervous, half angry tone, “So, you mean to say that Alicia killed my brother Lucas, whom you all know as William?”

“My, my, how many aliases do we even have?” muttered Peter under his breath.

Mary glared at him.

“Just asking,” Peter replied looking at her scowling face.

“I’ll have her for this, the wretch,” said Mary.

She raged towards the door, but Martin caught her firmly and said, “No, you must not go. She had her reasons for what she did. She’s not a cold-blooded murderer.”

“Yes, but she has committed an unforgivable crime. She must be punished,” said Mary.

“And she will be punished by the law. Not by you,” he cried out gasping for breath, trying to hold Mary down.

“I know,” she replied, pursed her mouth and sat down with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Yes,” said Martin. “Finally in order, we can proceed.”

As they say, people cannot take law in their own hands. But sometimes, when you lose a loved one, you feel like taking revenge, don’t you? Well, at least some of us do.

“So,” said Martin. “I shall now demystify this case. But first, let me introduce myself formally. I am actually a detective from Matryaas. The detectives of Marilaxa, Alibimana and Matryaas were to have a meeting offering protection to their surviving relatives. All of us changed our identity for the obvious reason of caution from enemies.

“Back to the case, when I first heard the conversation between Lucas and Alicia, I did not understand an iota of it. All I could gather was that Wil-no-Lucas and Alicia had made a vow, which Alicia had broken and in retaliation, Lucas had killed a person she loved.” Martin took out a picture protruding from his pocket. It was a picture of Lucas and Alicia holding hands, seemingly in love. Nobody was very surprised, considering the fact that almost all of them had seen them together, stealing quiet moments on the ship.

“Such a monstrous witch,” muttered Mary.

“Now let me show you the picture which led me to the truth,” he continued. He turned the picture towards the audience.

They obviously did not understand what this picture depicted, so Martin took out a sheet of paper from his pocket and said, “This is a letter that Alicia wrote to her daughter, Martha, who is no more. She had been killed by Oliver whom Alicia murdered for revenge. Alicia also murdered Lucas as he had killed her husband.”

Everybody was dumbfounded. They looked at Martin as if he were a silly circus clown.

“I know,” he added. “It’s hard to untangle this web of revenge.”

Martin read out the letter to everybody.

“In Alicia’s letter to Martha, she mentioned that they had ‘requited their love’. Now, you see requited can mean many things. In this case it means to reciprocate someone’s kindness. Yes, but kindness for what? For love. ‘We will have to live with this forever.’ Live with what? The guilt of a murder.

But how do I know that it is she?

“In her talk with Lucas, Alicia mentioned that she was angry with him because he killed someone Alicia loved. Lucas justified his actions by blaming it upon Alicia who broke a vow they made. When Lucas looked at her hat, he mentioned that it was for Martha. When he told Alicia he knew about the hat, Alicia assumed he knew she had murdered Oliver for Martha. But that was not what he had meant at all.

“Lucas must have discovered Alicia was Oliver’s killer, and tried to talk with her but she avoided him. The next day he was murdered by her.

“Now, if Alicia wrote to Martha, hoping her soul was at peace, she meant that her father’s death had been avenged.”

“Yes, but how do you know that Alicia murdered Oliver to take revenge for her daughter’s death?” interrupted Beth.

“Well, yes. That part is tough and I will not be able to throw light on it. But I have some evidences and a strong hunch. I assure you Alicia will confess very soon and you will get to know all the reasons.”

Everybody could understand what Martin was trying to express, when they saw the picture again. The picture showed a smiling man, a little girl wearing the hat engraved with the name Martha, giggling, and Alicia. Alicia had her hand around her daughter’s shoulder.

Martin said, “I saw a cloak in her cabin. If she hasn’t been a detective in Zambitrama then why did she have the cloak embroidered with the letter Z? It is only given to detectives of that province.”

“So, the final and closing statement- Alicia Stewart is the murderer of Oliver Garcia and Lucas Elena Spier. Case closed,” said Martin.

As these words escaped Martin’s mouth, they heard someone banging on the door of the Food Lounge. It was Alicia.

She banged the door again and hollered, “Let me in! Open the door!”

Peter looked at Martin and asked him anxiously, “Should we open it?”

“Yes,” he replied. “But stand guard in case she tries to escape or do something untoward. I do feel sorry for her but she has to answer to the law.” As they all

took their positions, Peter swiftly opened the door. Alicia entered looking grateful.

“So,” she said. “What’s the hustle bustle? Why are you all crowded and staring at me?” She laughed weakly.

CHAPTER 17

THE CONFESSION

“Eleanor, or should I say Alicia Stewart?” said Martin.

Before he could continue Alicia, said, “W-what? N-no. So, um, what happened?” She tried to supress her trembling lips.

“We found the murderer.”

“W-who is it?”

“You.”

“ What! How dare you say that. I am police and my name isn’t Alicia. What proof do you have for this rubbish you are speaking?” She said trembling from head to toe. Martin immediately showed her the decoded letter. She gasped. He then showed her the photograph and the black cloak and dagger that he had asked one of the others to fetch.

“Detective of Zambitrama, do you it to the murders you have committed?” asked Martin. Instead of answering him, she smiled and started crying. But they were not tears of anger or sorrow. They were tears of joy.

Alicia then went quiet and the colour drained from her face, “ Eleanor was never the murderer. It was Alicia all along. I was smart, wasn’t I? Left you baffled, with a wound in the shape of the Golden Triangle.”

She laughed and weakly added while sniffling, “Thank you Martin, Detective of Matryaas, for showing me my path in life,” then yelled, “And YES I murdered both of them! Physically, YES! I do think a part of the soul of our loved ones who are no more with us, live on in our hearts. Martha’s inner being kindled the torch of revenge in me to kill Elena (Lucas) but I’m not blaming her. It is SOLELY my fault.”

She paused and hollered again, “BUT DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS? I loved Elena (Lucas) ionately. I had to kill him because I knew that’s what Martha would have wanted. And you think I’m just a cold-blooded murderer, DON’T YOU? NO! The night on which Elena (Lucas) died, I talked to him about it and he allowed me to kill him. That shows the power of our love. Can you feel my pain? DO YOU KNOW HOW TOUGH IT IS TO KILL SOMEONE YOU LOVE? I have lost both loves of my life! My husband, brutally killed by Elena (Lucas) and Elena rightfully killed by me.”

“AND TO THOSE WHO SAY!” she continued, with tears of anger streaming down her cheeks. “NO! It doesn’t take a fracture of a soul to kill someone. It takes a lot of pain and agony... A stab in the heart. I knew one day I would be caught; I couldn’t go on with the guilt of murder. But not, ANYMORE! Not after enduring so much torment. And that is why, that is why, Martha’s spirit and all my efforts will not go in vain. NO!”

And without saying another word, she snatched the dagger from Martin’s hand. She was almost about to stab herself when Martin and Peter wrestled it from her. The force pushed her towards the wall and she slid down.

Then she just couldn’t stop crying. It was heart wrenching sorrow and Alicia let it all out.

Tears kept streaming down her cheeks until she had none left.

Finally, Martin bent down and said, “Why did you do it?”

Alicia looked up. “You know,” she said.

“You know better,” said Martin.

Gathering control over herself, Alicia spoke in a soft voice, “So, as you know, I come from Zambitrama.” Her voice was still shaking but nevertheless, she continued, “I was born and brought up there. Elena was a friend of mine, who lived with me. His birth name was Lucas Elena Alan. We were good friends at that time. I guess we must have been five or six but I still him. We played every day by the bough in the garden. We would climb up high.”

She gave a little forlorn smile. Nobody stopped her even though she was telling them something about her life and not the murder.

She took a deep breath and said, “Love is a lemon - either bitter or sweet. Such an innocent quality, yet it can be so fierce.” She shuddered as she said that.

“One day well…” She paused.

The flashback she had on the very first day she boarded the Little Noah returned. She went back to those leisurely days when little Elena and Alicia played without a care in the world.

“Well,” said El, scratching his chin, “I suppose you could do something.”

He held Al’s hand and asked her, “Do you vow to marry me when you are of age and live with me for the rest of my life?”

The flashback faded away.

“I’m sorry Elena,” Alicia whispered, tears streaming down her face.

Her thought had caused a little pause and she kept staring above, motionless.

“Go on,” said Martin kindly.

Alicia gave herself a little shake and carried on, “We were young then. Children… they say funny things. We both, well, we made a vow to marry.” She gave a little smile here.

“But then, after a year, Elena’s family shifted to the south. But neither of us forgot the vow. At least he didn’t.”

Alicia continued, “Years ed by and there was no news of him.

“When I went to college, I met a boy, Thompson, and fell instantly in love with him. We married and soon had an adorable girl - Martha. She was the sweetness of our life but as they say, you cannot hold on to happiness forever.

“A few years after Martha’s birth, Elena returned.

“I still the misty day when he came up my porch and was greeted by Thompson whom Elena initially thought was a gardener. When I saw Elena, it was the most beautiful feeling of love, rushing through my senses. We had a picture clicked together too.

“I stole some moments alone with him and explained that I had moved on with my life, married and had a little kid. We never spoke again.

“Few weeks after his last visit, he had written a lengthy letter to me expressing the pain he endured waiting for my love…He reminded me of the vow we made and asked me to him with Martha. He asked me to leave Thompson…just like that…

“I was devoted to Thompson. I could not leave him. And Elena hadn’t given me enough time to think about this judgement. The next day, when I returned from work, there was another letter from him in my post. It said, ‘reconsider your marriage or you will perish. Reply by evening and put this letter outside, in your garden under the bough of the blossoms tree.’ I didn’t reply and didn’t think much about it either. There was political unrest in Zambitrama at that time and everyday was a struggle. I was completely wrapped up in my work.

“After two days, Thompson was gone. I searched everywhere for him, ed the police, but nobody took Thompson’s disappearance seriously. I had to do it all by myself. A few days later I got a note revealing the location of my husband. I rushed there looking for Thompson but when I reached, I only found his body, lifeless. Elena appeared at the scene and tried to say something but his words were making no sense to me. He just kept on repeating, ‘you broke the vow. I loved you. I still love you. I had to do this. There was no other way to get you back.’

“After Thompson died, I knew I wanted revenge, but it was not the right time. Revenge would come; I wanted it, and so did Martha. It was almost as if her tears of deep anguish and sorrow wished me to take revenge against the man who snatched away the presence of a father from her childhood. Thompson was the most prized possession in her life.

‘Make him come back, mama,’ she would say.

“Our lives moved on. The mundanity of the day-to-day tasks kept me alive. One fine evening, I took Martha for a stroll to clear our minds. We were caught in a shootout. The agitation between the provinces had let to this conflict. Oliver, the detective of Marilaxa, was heading the shootout.

“I ran as fast as I could, literally dragging Martha along. A bullet hit my right knee and the next one went straight through Martha’s chest. Suddenly, my baby girl was on the ground in a pool of blood. It was Oliver. He did it.

“I was heartbroken. There is no other sorrow deeper than this - to watch your child die right in front of your eyes and feel incapacitated.”

She sighed and then looked towards the engers. Martin put his head in his hands and shook it. Everything was so traumatic when he heard Alicia say it that he didn’t know whether to pity or cry with her.

“I tracked Oliver for two years. I came to know he was travelling on the Little Noah to Ubalmana. I got a fake port, changed my name and identity and got my bookings done for the same travel dates.

“Aboard the Little Noah, my plan was executed perfectly. Oliver accused Mr. Khanna and Martin of theft and I created fake letters to form conflicts between everybody including trivial details of suspicion. So, I committed the first murder. It would have gone well with no suspicion towards me, had I not met Elena.

“Elena knew of Martha’s tragic death, but had no clue regarding the culprit.

“Meeting Elena on the ship was a big shock to me. He made up a name – William, at the heat of the moment when he saw me as he was not very sure. You see, I was well disguised for my part as Eleanor.

“I fell in love with Elena again on the first day aboard the ship. I was overcome with ambiguous emotions. My hat ‘Martha’ gave my identity away. When he saw me with a knife, he knew I killed Oliver. I didn’t forget my husband though I was trying to, and Martha’s spirit inside me was raging with revenge. I was determined and killed Elena. Then, Martin caught me. And this is where it all ends.”

Alicia’s heart felt lighter. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes. She was lying on the bed. It seemed as if she had been sleeping for a long time. She tried to move but couldn’t. Her hands and feet were bound with ropes... As soon as she lifted her head, Martin looked up.

“Ah!” he cried. “Just in time. We’ve almost reached Matryaas. Are you ready for this, Alicia?”

On reaching the port, Martin arranged for four taxis and a police car.

They all reached the police station in Matryaas and went inside.

Martin sat with the Head of the Crime Branch and explained the murders that had been committed aboard the Little Noah. Alicia gave a statement to the investigating officer and pled guilty.

The Head of the Crime Branch said they would keep her in custody for a few days. After she pled guilty in the court, she would be sentenced.

Soon after the court announced her lifetime sentence, Alicia was escorted to a cell in the women’s prison. Even though she was put away for so many years, Alicia tried her best to be cheerful and in good spirits because that is what Matryaas is about.

Matryaas, the land of happiness and above all, the land of love…

When we want to read of the deeds that are done for love, whither do we turn?

To the murder column; and there we are rarely disappointed.

- GEORGE BERNARD SHAW