Murder on the Salsette Read Online Free PDF

days.”
    â€œBut
why?
That’s what I want to know.”
    â€œIt saves docking charges, for a start. My guess is that the agent in charge of the stevedoring arrangements has worked out some kind of deal that gives him and the ship’s owners a tidy profit. The only people who won’t come out of this well are the coolies.”
    â€œAnd their families,” said Rollins, taking a pad and pencil from his pocket. “Why bring all those women? They’re not just wives. I can see a few grandmothers, as well.” He began to write something in his notepad. “It’s almost as if they
live
on the ship.”
    â€œThat’s effectively what they will do until the holds are emptied.”
    â€œAnd then?”
    â€œWell,” said Dillman, “presumably they’ll want to take fresh cargo onboard. Bagged rice and baled cotton, most likely. I suspect that they’ll move to the dock to pick that up. The crew will want to come ashore to see the sights of Bombay.”
    â€œ
This
is one of the most extraordinary sights I’ve seen here,”said Rollins, scribbling rapidly, “and it will certainly be mentioned in the book I’m working on at the moment.”
    â€œWhy—what’s it called?”
    â€œ
Women at Sea
.”
    Popular with the passengers, Paulo Morelli only aroused envy among his colleagues. His good looks and his Latin charm won him compliments from the ladies and—they suspected—even more personal marks of favor at times. Stewards were forbidden to fraternize with the passengers and it was a rule that was rigidly enforced, yet Morelli somehow managed to get around it—or, at least, he gave the impression of doing so. Part of his success was due to the zest he brought to his job, performing even the most boring and repetitious tasks with smiling eagerness. A first meeting with new passengers, he believed, was crucial. If a relationship got off to a good start, he had something to build on.
    Accordingly, he worked his way along the cabins that had been assigned to him for the voyage, tapping on each door, introducing himself to the occupants and asking if there was anything they required. When he came to the cabin belonging to Constance and Tabitha Simcoe, he recalled what the purser had told him. He was to take special care of the older woman. Morelli had no qualms about doing that. He had seen her come aboard in her Bath chair and knew that she was traveling with an attractive daughter. In devoting himself to the mother, he told himself, he could ingratiate himself with the younger woman.
    Finding the nearest mirror, he checked his appearance and smoothed down his mustache with a forefinger. Then he crossed to the door and used his knuckles to rap on it.
    â€œThis is your steward!” he called.
    There was no answer. After waiting for a few moments, he knocked harder, but still got no response and assumed that thetwo ladies were still on deck. Instead of meeting them, he decided, he would take a quick look into their cabin. Morelli had a good eye and a quick brain. A glance into someone’s wardrobe could tell him a great deal about them and he had made some intriguing discoveries that way. Making sure that nobody was about, he used his key to open the door and stepped swiftly inside.
    Morelli gasped in surprise and came to a dead halt. The cabin was occupied, after all, but not by someone who was able to let him in. Sprawled on the floor, lying face down, was Constance Simcoe.
    â€œ
Dio mio!
” he exclaimed. “What happened?”

THREE
    W hen the ship was clear of the harbor, Genevieve Masefield decided to leave the main deck and call on the purser. She was forced to wait for a short time while Max Cannadine was trying, with great patience, to calm down an irate female passenger. Unable to get her own way, the woman, plump, middle-aged, and raven-haired, eventually stalked off and Genevieve was able to introduce