The House of Crow by John W Wood

Author:John W Wood [Wood, John W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Creativia
Published: 2015-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

MURDER ON THE WATERFRONT

The knocking on the bedroom door was loud and persistent. Crow rolled over and found the other side of the bed empty but still warm.

“Crow,” The knocking started again. “Crow, wake up!”

“Earl? Come in!”

The door opened, and Earl entered the room. He had pulled on a pair of pants and tucked his nightshirt in around his middle. “Virgil's here. We've got to talk.”

Crow sat on the edge of the bed. “Doesn't anything ever happen around here in the afternoon?” He asked.

“Come on, we haven't much time, Charles's already out there. Besides, it's after five.”

“Oh, well hell, I thought it was early! Let me get some pants on, and I'll be right out.”

Crow found everyone in the main room. Coffee was brewing, and Virgil and James were standing by the fireplace talking to Earl and Charles. When Crow saw them, apprehension ran a cold finger up his spine.

“Is McCauley all right?” he asked.

“McCauley's fine. It's the captain of The Lady's Wish. They killed him,” Virgil told him.

“Killed him? Who killed him?”

“McCauley was there. He said they'd talked to two of the crew of The Lady's Wish about what happened while at sea. Seems the captain was in his cabin drunk when a storm hit. On deck, he made a mess of things, and that's how they lost a man and the mainsail.”

“Why kill him for that?”

“He's the reason two girls are dead. He raped and killed one and another killed herself by jumping overboard while she was being dragged to his cabin. John Lundy's contact, the one buying the girls, moved on when the ship was late. He ain't coming back.”

“You say McCauley was there?” asked Earl.

“That's right. McCauley was with Connery when he and Lundy talked to the two crew members. McCauley said Lundy went haywire. He started ranting about not being able to trust anyone. Then he told Connery to find the captain and to bring him to him. It didn't take them long. Connery and McCauley went to the Green Lantern, and there he was. McCauley said that Connery was really nice to the captain, saying Lundy wanted to see him. So they walked back to the office and Lundy went up to the captain and without a word hits him in the face with his fist. The captain goes down like he's shot. When he hits the floor, Lundy puts the boots to him. McCauley says that he and Connery had to pull Lundy off him.”

“This happened last night?”

“Yeah, Connery told McCauley to leave at that point. He thinks Connery was looking out for him because he's new and Lundy already had questions about him.”

“Do we know what they did with the body?” Crow asked.

“McCauley circled around and watched. They took the body out on the wharf by the ship and threw it into the harbor. Probably to make it look like an accident.”

Charles spoke up. “Damn, they may never find the body. It'll be washed out with the tide.”

“Oh, they'll find the body,” said James.

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