The Atlas Murders by John Molloy

point
in contacting the powers in underdeveloped, Celebes; they wouldn't have
records, they are still very tribal."
     
    Fearing a bad reaction from
Henry, Vincent had deliberately saved Tom’s report to last.
     "Now Tom, you have the
chair. You’ll need to be seated when you hear what Tom has discovered."
    Taking his seat, Tom opened
up his folder, shifted around a little on his chair and began to read: "I
have a report from the chief of police in Karachi, Pakistan. A young girl’s
body was found behind some warehouses on the docks, estimated to have been dead
some three days. If this timing is correct our ship Rangoon was in port at that
dock when she was killed. "
    Henry was writing on a note
pad; he stopped and looked up at Tom. "How did she die?"
    "Her death would bear
some of the similarities of Shirley's murder. She was strangled, sexually
assaulted, severe bruising on her body, particularly her face. But strangely,
she had some of her cloths stuffed into her mouth. She also had three fishing
hooks stuck in around her nose and ears.”
    Henry sat up and laid his
note pad and pen on the desk - he looked visibly shaken. "I'm sorry
gentlemen but I never disclosed the full extent of the post mortem report on
Shirley's body. I have a copy here for each of you. You will see that her clothes
were stuffed into her mouth and also that fish hooks were attached to her nose
and ears."
    "So" Vincent said,
"this is a replica of Shirley's crime."
    Tom turned over a page.
"We have more of the same. A port on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, Rosetta,
had a similar case. A young girl murdered and her body found near the dock area
half buried in loose sand. It was estimated she was dead two days when a search
discovered her body. She was only thirteen years old. The Rangoon sailed four
hours after the discovery, and the police would have liked to question some of
her crew as she was the only ship docked in that area. The same brutal rape and
murder, also the same fish hooks and clothes stuffed into her mouth."
    "My God," exclaimed
Henry, "the fish hooks again."
    "I have three more all
the same. A young girl was found in Port Louis on the island of Mauritius, her
body was found floating in a shallow part of the harbor. The Rangoon was in
port at the same time and the exact replica of mutilation as the other bodies
including the fish hooks. Another body was found in the port of Lomo, in Togo,
West Africa. A young girl just fifteen years of age. The same tell-tale fish
hooks and cloths stuffed into her mouth. Her body was found hidden under bales
of cotton. The pathologist estimated she had been dead for approximately seven
days, and that is how long she was reported missing. The police think she was
working as a prostitute in and around the dock area. The Rangoon was in port
until two days after the supposed murder date. The next victim was in the port
of Pak Phanang, Thailand. She was sixteen and believed to be working as a
street prostitute. Her body was found in a drain on a road about half mile away
from the dock area, with the same mutilations as the others. The Rangoon sailed
the day after the body was found. The local chief of police said he suspected
it could have been a crewman from that ship. He didn't elaborate why, but he
must have had some reason. If the ship had still been in port he would have
questioned the crew, but by the time the autopsy was complete, the ship had
sailed. That then gentlemen is the grim and gruesome report, and may I add,
very disturbing."
    Henry sat staring at the
sheet of paper on the desk in front of him. Then he lifted his head - his eyes
were blank. His face had turned to an ashen pallor and bore the torment of
having looked across the Styx and seen Hades.
     Vincent shoved his chair
back and the noise on the bare timber floor brought a sense of reality to
Henry, who shifted round on his chair, his pen fell out of his trembling hand
onto the floor. He bent over to pick it up, then getting to his