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that they don’t send any allotments to anyone."
    Vera saw Henry was lost, so
she explained. "By allotments we mean any monies stopped from a crewman's
wages and sent to his wife or dependent every week. None of these four make any
allotment, so we are making the assumption they are single, or maybe divorced.
There could also be a possibility of not paying any allotment to an estranged
wife."
    "Have we got their home
addresses?"
     The captain gathered the
papers together and handed them to Henry. “Yes, all that is listed and next of
kin, just for those four, not the full crew. If you want any more information
about any of the present crew we have it at hand, isn't that so Miss Twist?"
     "Yes it's all
available."
     "Not being too
inquisitive Henry, but what will be your next step if you don’t mind sharing
with us?"
     "I'll take this
information to my colleagues at the Yard and discuss it with them."
    The captain leant over on the
desk as if some secret was going to be unfolded. "And what do you expect
the next step to be?"
     "If we can somehow
narrow it down to these four crewmen, it would increase our chances
considerably."
     "Just how could you do
that?"
    "We're going to have to
investigate all her ports of call and hopefully, and I'm emphasizing hopefully,
because a lot of the countries she sailed would have very shoddy policing, if
we can confirm that a similar crime has been committed in any of these ports,
it would point to a common denominator of one of these four crewmen."
    "I wish you the best now
Henry, you'll certainly need it, wouldn't you agree Miss Twist."
     "Yes, I certainly wish
you every success Henry. This man should pay the penalty for his crimes, and I
don’t mind saying, he should hang." She said this with a note of venom
that surprised Henry. Her accompanying steely stare added to the drama. She
stood and asked Henry for the papers he was holding. "I'll put these in an
envelope for you," she said as she left the room.
    The captain walked round the
desk and stood close to Henry. "We can almost certainly eliminate young
Oswyn P. Welland. He's the son of Lord Percy Welland our chairman and largest
shareholder in the company."
     "Well Bob, that's good
to know and certainly cuts the odds down again. I'll be in touch in the next
couple of days.”
    “Until next time"
    Henry left the captain’s
office, almost bumping into Vera who was waiting in the adjoining room with a
large brown envelope in her hand.
    "This is your
paperwork." She looked at the door and seeing the captain had closed it,
slipped a small envelope into the larger one. "Open this when you are in
your room, then destroy it, I'll see you later."

 
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     Henry clutched the envelope as
he descended the steps to the street. He kept on repeating to himself, open
this when you are in your room! Then destroy it, I'll see you later. He wanted
to go and report to his colleagues at the Yard, but thought it better to sort
this mystery first.
    The guest house was quiet and
he went straight to his room. He locked the door behind him and sat on the bed.
With trembling hands he took out the small envelope. He opened it and extracted
a small piece of paper: Meet me tonight at the Dorchester Hotel at eight o’clock!
Please burn. He lit the piece of paper in the ashtray.
    The Dorchester, he mused. Why
couldn’t she have made it someplace a little less grand? What has she got to
tell me that she didn't want her boss to know?  He looked at his watch, it was
near time for a spot of lunch, and then he'd meet Vincent and Tom and update
them with the latest information on the ship's crew. But he decided that he wouldn’t
tell them about Vera and The Dorchester.
    Good grief, he thought, he
hadn't been to a hotel socially since that great day at The Adelphi in
Liverpool when his sister Katherine got married. He had stood in for his father
and gave the bride away. He was four years old when his father went to war, and
he had missed