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him very much as a small boy. Being an only son he was the apple of
his proud father's eye. He couldn't understand the war and what it was all
about and why the Japanese wanted to keep his father in a camp in a far-away
country. Who were the Japanese and why did they let his father die? These were
the questions he never got answers to until his late teens and adult years when
he learned about the prisoners of war working on the Burma railway – the aptly
named, railway of death.

          Vincent Benedict and
Tom Frazer were waiting for Henry when he arrived at their office. Vincent
greeted him. "Come in and be seated Henry, Tom has been going over all the
old cases that bear any similarities to our present crime and he has
disappointedly found nothing we can go on. Any similar murder or assault has either
been solved and the perpetrator hanged or is serving time, and others that are
too far back in time to be possibly linked to the present crime. So it seems we
are looking for a new crime figure - presumably a young man."
    Tom and Henry concurred with
Vincent’s assessment.
    "To continue, I think he
has committed similar crimes and the only way he could have done this without
our knowing is they were perpetrated outside our jurisdiction. It adds to your
theory that he is on a ship."
    Vincent was running his
fingers along a gold topped fountain pen, his eyes shone like sunrays through
honey; they seemed to hold a font of information and a wealth of experience. He
laid his hands firmly on the desktop and spoke in a measured tone. "Have
you got the ports of call for the previous twelve months before May of this
year?"
    Henry handed the sheets of
paper from his envelope to Vincent and another set to Tom. He silently admired
the efficiency of Vera to have given him three copies. Good grief, he thought
as they read their papers, The Dorchester, what could her motive possibly be
for asking him to meet her there? Did she just fancy his company or was there
something more sinister lurking behind that pretty petite façade?
    Vincent looked up. "Well
Tom, what do you think?"
     "Very interesting, is
it correct to say Henry, that just four crewmen signed back on for this present
voyage and one of them is the company chairman's son, Oswyn P. Welland?"
    "Yes! And Captain Leavy-Hobbs
assured me we can eliminate him from our inquiries. His father being company
chairman, Lord Percy Welland."
     "I seem to recollect
some kind of inquiry involving a wealthy family of name.
    Vincent, do you remember
anything about the Welland inquiry?"
     "No, but I'll certainly
know shortly when I look up the files and I'll also look up those other three
crewmen and find if there is anything that has brought them to the attention of
the police.”
    He pushed back his chair and
held up the page with the list of ports. "I'll have to get an atlas and
brush up on my geography - not one of my best subjects. What about you Henry,
ever heard of some of these seaports?"
    "Believe it or not I'm
not even sure where some of the countries are. So you won’t be the only one
buying an atlas!"
    Vincent sat back grinning
like the Cheshire cat.
    "You'll know a lot of
geography if you have to do a twelve month voyage on that ship, and from where
I'm sitting it’s looking very likely that's going to be the only way to go. However,
we've got a lot of work to do before we'll know for certain if it's one of
these four."
    He leaned across the desk
tapping with a small glass paperweight. "I'll do the checks on .Welland,
Conrad, Tukola, and Sweeney, Tom, will you do the foreign side, writing to all
the foreign ports? Some of the larger cities you might be able to contact by
telephone or cable. By the way Henry, if push comes to shove will you sail on
this ship?"
    Henry shifted his frame in
the chair and spoke with conviction. "Yes of course I will, if you think
it's going to be the only way to catch the killer."
    "If it transpires he is
sailing on this ship and has murdered