Character substitutions!
Brittany as Cate the maid, Mike as Joel the barman
"The Day the Titania Nearly Sank"
4. Titania Under Siege
The Captain stood, circling the group gathered in the hall, meeting their eyes one at a time. After a moment, he came to a stop, arms behind his back. "All of you here were in contact with the deceased, which makes you all suspects."
"I'd look to that one there," Lara pointed her finger to Teresa Thomas, travelling on her own. "I've seen her around, and she's hiding something."
"I was in here," she repeated. "The whole time."
"Hold on a second," Angela Stevenson chimed in. "Now I remember where I knew your name from," she got up. She may not have been pointing a finger, like Lara had, but her whole stance was accusation. "It was in the newspapers, something about… diamonds… British…" she went on. Teresa Thomas would not look back at her, or anyone else. So the Captain took the decision she wasn't seeming to oppose.
"Miss Thomas is travelling to London to face trial, yes," he spoke, to an eruption of voices from the gathered group. "Quiet!" he called to them. "The point is she has been watched, and if she had done anything…" he went on, but Stewart Stevenson replied.
"All the time?" he asked, and the others looked to him, to Teresa, to the Captain. He didn't answer the question, and Teresa was a suspect just like the rest of them… even more, to some of them.
"When was the last time anyone saw the Jensens alive?" the Captain asked. Everyone thought.
"We saw them at breakfast, didn't we?" Clare Davidson looked to her husband, who hadn't let go of her hand. He nodded, first to her, then to the Captain.
"That's right, yes," he confirmed. "We sat together…" he paused, thinking how they were gone now. "Mr. Jensen was going on about his father and this table, something about a feud with his business partner, Adamson… And Mrs. Jensen just ate. She didn't say anything."
"The poor woman…" Clare shook her head. Her husband patted her hand, still in his.
"Anyone else?" the Captain looked around.
"I did," Cate the maid raised her hand, and everyone turned to look at her. "I cleaned their room… cabin… Cabin?" she looked to Lara the singer, who nodded. "It was before lunch. Mr. Jensen looked upset about something, but he got quiet when I showed up." The Captain looked to the group still, waiting for more facts.
"I shouldn't speak ill of the dead," Angela Stevenson spoke up, hands in her lap. "But I saw them arguing, shortly after lunch. Or at least he argued and she couldn't get a word in."
"She came to me, mid-afternoon," Lara cut in. "The little lady wanted something to help her sleep…" she explained. She usually kept her dealings to herself, which was what made her the go-to girl on this boat, but in the circumstances she could make an exception. "I told her I'd have it for her after dinner…" she shook her head, remembering the grizzly image she'd come upon.
"Anyone else?" the Captain didn't think there'd be, but he had to check. No one spoke. "So mid-afternoon, that's the last time anyone saw the Jensens alive, is that right?" he asked, and one by one everyone slowly nodded. "So that gives us roughly the period where they were killed. We know some of the circumstances of their last day… Is anything ringing a bell, something you saw or heard?" he asked the group.
"Mr. Jensen was at the bar late last night. He wouldn't say what was on his mind, but I could tell there was something," Joel the barman pitched in. "I just had to keep his glass filled."
"Did he mention this to any one of you?" asked the Captain.
"James Jensen was a hard man to crack, you realize that," Daniel Davidson put in. "Even if you knew him…"
"Maybe that's true, but that doesn't take us any closer. Someone brutally attacked both him and his wife, and that someone is one of you, So I want to hear exactly what you've been up to?" He could find it, had to. This was his ship and he knew it inside and out, there was no way someone would come in and take that away. He'd go down with his ship first.
TO BE CONCLUDED (MONDAY)