Lady Em had ordered breakfast to be served at eight o’clock. Raymond tapped on the door, then unlocked it and wheeled in the serving cart. The door to the bedroom was half open and he could see that Lady Em was asleep in her bed. Not sure of what to do, he decided to go to his station and phone to tell her that her breakfast had been delivered.
When she did not answer after seven rings, a suspicion began to take root in his mind. Lady Em was old. He had seen the array of medicines in the bathroom closet when he tidied up the suite. Elderly people dying on cruise ships was a regular occurrence.
Before he contacted the doctor, he went back to the suite. He knocked on the partially open door of the bedroom and called her name. When there was no response, he hesitated, then walked into the bedroom. He touched her hand. As he had suspected, it was cold. Lady Emily Haywood was dead. Unnerved, he reached for the phone on the night table.
He could see that her safe was open and jewelry was scattered on the floor. But I’d better leave it there, he thought. I don’t need to be accused of stealing. After making the decision, he phoned the ship’s doctor.
Sixty-eight years old, with iron-gray hair, Dr. Edwin Blake had retired from his successful practice as a vascular surgeon three years earlier. He was a longtime widower with grown children, and a friend at Castle Line had suggested he might enjoy traveling as the head of the medical facility on an ocean liner. As it turned out, he thoroughly enjoyed that opportunity and was very pleased when he was invited to switch to the Queen Charlotte.
After receiving the call from Raymond, he rushed up to Lady Em’s suite. At one glance he was able to confirm that she was dead. But then he was immediately concerned by the fact that one arm was dangling off the edge of the bed and the other raised above her head. Bending over closely, he examined her face and observed dried blood at the corner of her mouth.
Suspicious, he looked around and noticed that the other pillow was haphazardly lying on the coverlet. He picked it up and turned it over, then saw a telltale smudge of blood on it. Not wanting to have Raymond even guess his thoughts, he hesitated, then said, “I’m afraid this poor lady suffered a last instant of terrible pain in the heart attack that took her life.”
He took Raymond’s arm and escorted him out of the bedroom, then shut the door behind them. “I will inform Captain Fairfax of Lady Haywood’s passing,” he said. “Please be aware that you must not say one word about this to anyone.”
The authority in his voice ended Raymond’s intention to be on the phone to let all his friends on the staff know what had happened. “Of course, sir,” he said, “but it is a very sad occurrence, isn’t it? Lady Haywood was a very gracious lady. And to think that only yesterday Mr. Pearson’s dreadful accident occurred.”
This was no accident, Dr. Blake thought grimly, as he started to leave to speak to the Captain. Then he stopped. “Raymond, I want you to stand guard outside this door. Absolutely no one is to go into this suite until I return. Is that clear?”
“Absolutely. Lady Haywood’s assistant has a key. It would be dreadful for her to come in before she is informed of what happened, wouldn’t it?”
Or before she tries to destroy any evidence if she’s guilty of murder, Edwin Blake thought.