Boris Akunin [Erast Fandorin Murder on the Leviathan (epub)

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.By the evening of the following day Gauche already knew that the three letters on the golden whale were not the initials of some high liver hopelessly mired in debt, but the insignia of a newly established Franco-British shipping consortium.The whale proved to be the emblem of the miracle-ship Leviathan, newly launched from the slipway at Bristol and currently being readied for its maiden voyage to India.The newspapers had been trumpeting the praises of the gigantic steamship for more than a month.Now it transpired that on the eve of the Leviathan's first sailing the London Mint had produced gold and silver commemorative badges: gold for the first-class passengers and senior officers of the ship, silver for second-class passengers and subalterns.Aboard this luxurious vessel, where the achievements of modern science were combined with an unprecedented degree of comfort, no provision at all was made for third class.The company guaranteed travellers a comprehensive service, making it unnecessary to take any servants along on the voyage.'The shipping line's attentive valets and tactful maids are on hand to ensure that you feel entirely at home on the Leviathan,' promised the advertisement printed in newspapers right across Europe.Those fortunate individuals who had booked a cabin for the first cruise from Southampton to Calcutta received a gold or silver whale with their ticket, according to their class - and a ticket could be booked in any major European port from London to Constantinople.Very well then, the emblem of the Leviathan was not as good as the initials of its owner, but this only complicated the problem slightly, the commissioner had reasoned.There was a strictly limited number of gold badges.All he had to do was to wait until 19 March (that was the day appointed for the triumphant first sailing), go to Southampton, board the steamer and look to see which of the first-class passengers had no golden whale.Or else (which was more likely), which of the passengers who had laid out the money to buy a ticket failed to turn up for boarding.He would be papa Gauche's client.Simple as potato soup.Gauche thoroughly disliked travelling, but this time he couldn't resist.He badly wanted to solve the 'Crime of the Century' himself.Who could tell, they might just give him a division at long last.He only had three years left to retirement.A third-class pension was one thing, but a second-class pension was a different matter altogether.The difference was 1500 francs a year, and that kind of money didn't exactly grow on trees.In any case, he had put himself forward.He thought he would just nip across to Southampton and then, at worst, sail as far as Le Havre (the first stop) where there would be gendarmes and reporters lined up on the quayside.A tall headline in the Revue parisienne: ' "Crime of the Century" solved: our police rise to the occasion.' Or better still: 'Old sleuth Gauche pulls it off!'Ha! The first unpleasant surprise had been waiting for the commissioner at the shipping line office in Southampton, where he discovered that the infernally huge steamship had 100 first-class cabins and ten senior officers.The tickets had all been sold.All 132 of them.And a gold badge had been issued with each and every one.A total of 142 suspects, if you please! But then only one of them would have no badge, Gauche had reassured himself.On the morning of 19 March the commissioner, wrapped up against the damp wind in a warm woolly muffler, had been standing close to the gangway beside the captain, Mr Josiah Cliff, and the first lieutenant, M.Charles Renier.They were greeting the passengers.The brass band played English and French marching tunes by turns, the crowd on the pier generated an excited hubbub and Gauche puffed away in a rising fury, biting down hard on his entirely blameless pipe.For alas, due to the cold weather all of the passengers were wearing raincoats, overcoats, greatcoats or capotes.Now just try figuring out who has a badge and who doesn't! That was unpleasant surprise number two.Everyone who was due to board the steamship in Southampton had arrived, indicating that the criminal must have shown up for the sailing despite having lost the badge.Evidently he must think that policemen were total idiots.Or was he hoping to lose himself in such an immense crowd? Or perhaps he simply had no option?In any case, one thing was clear: Gauche would have to go along as far as Le Havre.He had been allocated the cabin reserved for honoured guests of the shipping line.Immediately after the ship had sailed a banquet was held in the first-class grand saloon, an event of which the commissioner had especially high hopes since the invitations bore the instruction: 'Admission on presentation of a gold badge or first-class ticket'.Why on earth would anyone bother to carry around a ticket, when it was so much simpler to pin on your little gold leviathan?At the banquet Gauche let his imagination run wild as he mentally frisked everyone present.He was even obliged to stick his nose into some ladies' decolletes to check whether they had anything dangling in there on a gold chain, perhaps a whale, perhaps simply a pendant.He had to check surely?Everyone was drinking champagne, nibbling on various savoury delicacies from silver trays and dancing, but Gauche was hard at work, eliminating from his list those who had their badge in place.It was the men who caused him the greatest problems.Many of the swines had attached the whale to their watch chains or even stuck it in their waistcoat pockets, and the commissioner was obliged to inquire after the exact time on eleven occasions [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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