12
I sat up very late. To be precise, I sat up all night. At this point, I wanted to know what Mr. Lodimmick’s cause of death was. If it was natural causes of any kind, I could put my suspicious mind to rest and brush the rest off as coincidence. Since the ship had never before needed its own coroner, one was not stationed on it. The detective mainly handled cases of theft. This meant I had to wait until the coroner from Ventstot boarded and performed the deed.
As I spent the day performing my duties in reception, my father wandered around and continuously checked in with me. He would tell me to increase this employee’s wages or decrease that one’s, and then wander off again.
“Vixie, I saw a large amount of luggage being removed from the ship. What’s that all about?”
“Well,” I replied, “some people travel a lot heavier than us and they like to express their luggage home. That is also the way they send their souvenirs home—especially the larger ones. However, them leaving the ship and new people boarding are the priority. So, once those things have occurred all the luggage leaves and is sent directly to the owners’ homes. We also help shipping things from one planet to another if we have space in our hold. I am not sure which you saw exactly.”
“Excuse me,” Detective Marshaggins said, approaching the window. “The Head Inspector of the Ventstot authorities has come to oversee the autopsy and superintend the removal of the body of Cagginald Lodimmick. He brought the coroner with him. He would like to see you, Sir.”
There was no way I was going to let my father have all the fun by himself, so I slipped out of the office and followed them.”
“Where are the remains?” the Head Inspector asked as soon as we approached.
“It was my belief they were stored in the ships morgue.”
“I’ll be back with questions for you,” the inspector gave the least hint of a professional smile. and headed off with the woman I presumed was the coroner and the ship’s Detective Marshaggins.
In a few minutes, Detective Marshaggins was back. “Baron Thomatian would you be so good as to come with me down to the morgue for a minute?” My father and I exchanged puzzled looks.
“Certainly,” my father replied.
“May I come with?” I asked quickly.
“As you wish,” the detective replied.
In the morgue, where the body of Cagginald Lodimmick had originally been placed, were the Head Inspector, the coroner, General Ribereus, two of our ships’ gendarmeries and two of the authorities from Majriti.
“Well?” said my father, after he and the General and I had exchanged bows. The coffin was out and laid across two chairs.
“I see a coffin has been obtained,” I remarked.
“Quite right,” the coroner said raising the lid. I gasped.
“It’s empty,” my father observed unthinkingly.
“Just so,” said the Head Inspector. “The body of the deceased has disappeared. General Ribereus informs me that he can throw no light on the affair.”
“Indeed, I cannot!” said the General, and though he spoke with sufficient calmness and dignity, you could see that he was deeply pained, even distressed.
“Well, I’m—” murmured my father and stopped.
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