Jane Carter Historical Cozies: Omnibus Edition (Six Mystery Novels) by Alice Simpson

Author:Alice Simpson [Simpson, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Jack bent closer to examine the strange tattoo. Between the two foremost arms of the octopus was sketched a single word, All.

“All,” he read aloud. “What does that signify?”

His question angered the man on the couch. Snatching the shirt from the captain, he made a feeble, ineffectual effort to get his arms into it.

“I want out o’ here,” he muttered. “Quit starin’ and give me a hand!”

“Take it easy,” advised the tugboat captain. “We was just tryin’ to see if your back was badly hurt.”

“Sorry,” the man muttered. Relaxing, he leaned weakly against the leather cushions. “I ain’t myself.”

“You swallowed a little water,” remarked the captain.

“A little?” growled the other. “Half the river went down my gullet.” As an afterthought, he added: “Thanks for pullin’ me out.”

“You’re welcome,” responded the captain. “Ex-sailor aren’t you?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“I can usually tell ’em. Out of work?”

“No.”

“You haven’t told us your name.”

“Richard Hamsted,” the man replied after a slight hesitation.

“We tried to catch the man who pushed you off the bridge,” Jack said. “He got away.”

“No one pushed me off the bridge,” the man said. “I fell.”

“You fell?” I said. “I saw you and another man struggling—”

“You saw wrong,” the sailor interrupted. “I was leaning over, lookin’ into the water an’ I lost my balance. That was how it happened.”

“As you please, Mr. Hamsted,” said Jack with exaggerated politeness. “Oh, by the way, what’s the significance of that octopus thing on your back?”

“Leave me alone, will you?” the sailor muttered. “Ain’t a man got any right to privacy?”

“Better not bother him while he’s feeling so low,” said the tugboat captain. “I’ll get him into some dry clothes.”

“Nothing we can do?” I asked.

“No, thanks, he’ll be all right.”

“Well, so long,” said Jack.

“Jack, what was the matter with that fellow?” I demanded in a whisper as soon as we were back on shore. “I didn’t get a good look at that tattoo on his back.”

“It was as strange a tattoo as I’ve ever seen. The picture of an octopus. Between its forearms was the word, All.”

“What could that mean?”

“I would have asked, but Mr. Richard Hamsted wasn’t in a talkative mood.”

“It seems rather mysterious, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Jack took my arm to help me back up the steep bank. “Sailors have some funny ideas regarding self-decoration. This Hamsted was a peculiar fellow.”

“It was odd that he would lie about being pushed off the bridge. Jack, will you write about it for the paper?”

“The story isn’t worth more than a few lines. We can’t say that Hamsted was pushed off the bridge.”

“Why not? It’s true.”

“Hamsted would deny it, and then the Examiner would appear ridiculous.”

“If I owned a paper, I would certainly use the story,” I said. “It has wonderful dramatic possibilities.”

“Serious journalists aren’t supposed to be swayed by such things as ‘dramatic possibilities.’ Your father never would agree to write such a story. You talk him into printing the yarn, and I’ll be glad to write it.”

“Oh well, I suppose I might as well forget about it,” I grumbled.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.