Page 27 of Murder in Portofino

‘I got out to the yacht at just before eleven. There were a lot of pretty drunk people sitting around looking stunned, but about half of the guests had already disappeared to their cabins. We took statements from the captain and from the crewmember who discovered the body, but otherwise I put everything on hold until this morning. The anchor-watch guy found the body curled up in a foetal position in a pool of blood and although he saw the horrific cut across the throat and knew the man was dead, it was only when we turned the body over that we found the knife in his heart.’ He caught my eye. ‘Another one of the steak knives, but I’m not broadcasting the fact.’

‘An opportunistic weapon and the same killer by the sound of it, unless it was a copycat murder – although nobody’s supposed to know that Van der Groot’s murder was committed with one of the yacht’s own knives. Strange that they left the knife there to be found. I’d have dumped it in the sea.’ I caught his eye. ‘Of course, this makes it almost certain that the killer is to be found on board the Regal Princess, and that means that our idea of the first victim being stabbed by Mario Fortunato and his mysterious henchmen is much less likely.’ I was secretly pleased that this indicated that Heather Greensleeves hadn’t hooked up with a killer after all. I had rather liked her.

‘I agree. We need to focus on the people on board the Regal Princess. As for the murder weapon being left with the body, I know what you mean, but maybe in the heat of the moment, the killer panicked. What are your plans now? You’re very welcome to sit in with me, or do you want to do your own thing?’

I’d been thinking about this on the way over. ‘I think it might be better if I distance myself from your investigation – at least initially. Maybe that might encourage a few of the guests that I interview to open up to me about things that they wouldn’t have wanted to discuss with the police. In fact, Neil Vaughan has just texted me to offer to send their launch to pick me up, so I think I might take him up on that. That way, you and I will arrive separately and that should further distance us in the eyes of those on board. I’ll text you when I’ve finished and if you do the same for me then we can meet up back here and discuss our findings. How does that sound?’

Guido agreed and I sent off a text immediately to the yacht asking for a ride. While waiting for a reply, I floated an idea that had been running through my brain since hearing of the murder of the deckhand.

‘One of the main problems we’ve had as far as the first murder’s concerned is that the information we were originally given was that a lone figure had been seen leaving the yacht in a dinghy and that neither that person – assuming it was Van der Groot – nor the dinghy came back. This, of course, made it likely that Van der Groot had been murdered on his way to the shore after witnessing Fortunato and his cronies up to no good or maybe he got himself killed after arriving in Portofino. The finger of suspicion now definitely points at both murders having been committed by somebody on the Regal Princess, but the man who provided that information is now our second murder victim, so what does that mean as far as the first death’s concerned? Did Van der Groot’s murderer think that the deckhand might have been able to identify him? If so, was Schiller killed by Van der Groot’s murderer to shut him up? Alternatively, was Schiller lying about what he saw? Was he maybe a willing accomplice or even the sole murderer? Did Schiller stab Van der Groot in the dinghy when it was still with the yacht and then tip the body into the water, untie the dinghy and then dream up the story of having seen it going off with Van der Groot in it?’

Guido had clearly been thinking along the same lines. ‘I’ve spoken to the Coastguard and they say definitively that if the dinghy and the body had been dumped over the side of the yacht out there where they were moored on Saturday night, almost a kilometre from the coast, both would have drifted way out to sea, rather than ending up on the coast where they did. So the body and the dinghy must have been dumped much closer to the coast, but that doesn’t make sense unless the killer was then returned to the Regal Princess by another boat and nobody noticed the sound of the engine, but if so, who on earth was driving that? There must have been an accomplice.’ He glanced at me. ‘Maybe the same two men you heard in Lucca.’

This had been worrying me, too. ‘Point taken. Besides, even if Schiller did kill Jerome Van der Groot – and God knows why he would have done – then who killed him?’

Guido nodded slowly. ‘Like you say, if Schiller murdered Van der Groot, who murdered him and why? Revenge – somebody knew Schiller had done it and wanted him to get a taste of his own medicine? I seriously doubt it. From what I’ve been told, I don’t think there’s a single person on board the yacht who liked Van der Groot enough to buy him a drink, let alone avenge his murder.’

I felt sure he was right about that. ‘I agree, and that makes it even less likely that Schiller killed Van der Groot in the first place. But if Schiller was murdered because the killer was afraid of having been spotted, the problem is how did the killer know that he or she had been seen? Surely if the murderer had realised on Saturday night that they’d been recognised, they would have disposed of the witness immediately, not waited two days to do it. And as for Schiller, surely he would have told you as soon as he saw you on Sunday.’

‘Not necessarily.’ Guido leafed through some papers on his desk and produced a sheet. ‘The German police have been very efficient and they sent us through their report on Schiller yesterday evening while you and I were having dinner. Veronese and I both thought he was a suspicious character and it turns out he did indeed have a criminal record in Germany: not for violent crime, but for extortion. He was jailed for eighteen months a few years back. It seems he specialised in getting compromising information about people and then blackmailing them in return for keeping quiet. Getting a job on a yacht like this full of wealthy and, in some cases, famous people must have provided him with all sorts of opportunities.’

This was really interesting – although it didn’t reflect well on the thoroughness of the staff vetting procedures used by the owners of the Regal Princess. I looked across the desk and caught Guido’s eye. ‘Of course, that would explain why there was the delay before killing him. Schiller must have seen something the other night so he approached the murderer on Sunday or Monday, presumably asking for money, threatening to expose them if they didn’t pay up. How’s this for a scenario? Van der Groot’s murderer arranged to meet Schiller last night on the rear deck of the yacht to hand over the cash, and while the German was distracted, maybe counting the money, our murderer cut his throat and stabbed him.’

‘Exactly what I’ve been thinking – although there’s still the conundrum of how Van der Groot’s body ended up where it did. What this means is that we’re now almost certainly looking for a double murderer, and it’s 99 per cent certain that he or she is on the Regal Princess.’

I nodded in agreement. ‘Or there were two murderers. Otherwise, how did Van der Groot’s killer get back to the ship? It’s looking highly unlikely that Mario Fortunato and the other arms smugglers killed Van der Groot so does this mean you’ll have to release them now?’

‘I’m still holding onto him and the Libyans until this afternoon, by which time I’ve been promised the results of fingerprint and DNA analysis from the boxes of arms found on Fortunato’s boat as well as the knife sticking in Schiller’s heart. But if they come back clean, then I don’t really have much option but to release the Libyans and all I can charge Fortunato with is possession of contraband weapons. Yes, the public prosecutor says that will definitely see him go to trial, but with good lawyers – and his kind always have good lawyers – he’s unlikely to get a lengthy sentence.’ He gave an exasperated sigh. ‘It’s infuriating. We wanted to roll up the whole chain all the way back to Bratislava or wherever. Still, at least we can put him away for a bit and it might slow the provision of illegal arms for a while, but it’s not the conclusive result we were hoping for.’

At that moment, my phone bleeped and I saw a text telling me that the launch was on its way to the jetty to pick me up. I stood up, gave Guido a wave, and Oscar and I headed down to the waterfront for our trip out to the Regal Princess. As I walked down the narrow street, I couldn’t help reflecting that I was soon going to come face to face with one or even two murderers. I glanced down at Oscar beside me.

‘Just like old times, eh, buddy?’

He glanced up at me, but I noticed that he didn’t wag his tail.

16

TUESDAY MORNING

Neil Vaughan was on the launch when it arrived at the jetty and I saw him talking to the deckhand at the wheel. As a result, the boat moored up and Vaughan climbed out. We shook hands and he outlined what he wanted to do.

‘The launch will wait for us. I’d like to find a quiet spot around here where you and I can sit down and talk first without being overheard. That damn yacht is far too claustrophobic. Everybody knows everybody else’s business.’

As we headed for a waterside café, I deliberately didn’t mention the recent murder, hoping to make it look as if I had had little or no contact with the Carabinieri and their investigation. It didn’t take long before Vaughan broke the news of Schiller’s death to me and I made sure I looked suitably shocked before asking if he had any details of what had happened or any suspicions as to who might have done it. He waited until we’d found a table at the far end of a café terrace with nobody around us before he answered.

‘It happened last night after dinner and the police were all over the yacht until past midnight. The deckhand who found the body said the victim had his throat cut.’

‘And you have no idea who might have done it?’

He shook his head. ‘I just don’t understand it. If my theory that Jerome might have been murdered because he was about to unmask the person who’s been stealing from the company is correct, then what possible involvement might the deckhand have had?’

I decided that it wouldn’t do any harm to voice the possible blackmail scenario Guido and I had been discussing. I ran through this quickly, pretending it had just struck me and ending up with the words, ‘So if this latest victim had identified Van der Groot’s killer on Saturday night and was trying to blackmail him or her, the murderer might have killed him instead of paying him off.’

Vaughan looked appalled. ‘So this means that I’m living on a yacht with a serial killer!’ His face paled. ‘God knows who’ll be next.’

I tried to offer some comfort. ‘Try not to worry too much. I’m sure the Carabinieri are on the case and the lieutenant struck me as a good man. You never know, maybe my inquiries into the financial irregularities you mentioned will result in some information that might help him unmask the perpetrator.’ I waited until a waitress had taken our order for two coffees before pressing Vaughan on the subject of the company’s finances. His answer was fascinating.

‘Everybody had it in for Jerome, and I’ll admit that he wasn’t the most pleasant of characters. The simple fact of the matter, though, is that the company’s now in dire financial straits, but it certainly wasn’t all down to poor decisions on Jerome’s part.’ He looked up and caught my eye. ‘Like I told you on the phone, I’m virtually certain that somebody’s been stealing from the company – and not just a few pounds here and there. I’ve been looking back through the accounts for the past twelve months and I’ve discovered a number of payments to an anonymous account in the Cayman Islands totalling somewhere in excess of two million pounds. There might be more. I would need to spend quite a few days going through everything line by line, but you can’t syphon off two million pounds a year from a company our size without it having a huge impact on our solvency.’

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