Soul Sucker

Inspector Royce Jameson’s POV

Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Headquarters, Kingstown

Saturday, February 25, 2023

“JAMESON! Get in here!”

I set down my coffee and walked to the corner office. Knocking on the door, I entered when my boss gestured for me to come in. Deputy Chief Harold Piers, the head of the Major Crimes Unit at Police Headquarters, stood by the window, looking towards the harbor. “What’s going on, Chief?”

“I just got off the phone with the Coast Guard. Two people fell off a yacht midway between Kingstown and Port Elizabeth last night. The ship’s crew recovered the wife, but the husband is missing and presumed dead. The search is ongoing.”

There had to be more. Major Crimes wouldn’t get the case for an accidental drowning; the Coast Guard would file the paperwork. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“The missing man is an American multi-millionaire named Landon Street. Until a few months ago, he owned a crypto-currency exchange in Denver. He sold it a few days before marrying a young heiress named Ingrid Anderson on New Year’s Eve. They were on an extended honeymoon, cruising the Caribbean on their hundred-and-twenty-foot yacht.”

Shit. “You think the press will be all over this?”

“It’s possible. That’s not all.”

Of course. “What else is going on?”

“Mr. Street has many influential friends in the Gulf States. Our Prime Minister is already fielding calls from his counterparts in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, insisting we release their people immediately.”

It made sense now. “Mr. Street was entertaining guests last night.”

He nodded. “Five banking executives and their escorts. They are demanding transport to the airport, but the Coast Guard can’t let them go without an investigation.”

“And that leaves me.”

“It does. I’ve arranged for a speedboat to take you to the search area. You will interview the crew and guests and determine if there is evidence of foul play. The Prime Minister wants the banking people interviewed and released. They will return in the speedboat to their private jet.” I rolled my eyes at that. Men like that spend fortunes here, so they get preferential treatment. “The yacht will return to Kingston Harbor after the Coast Guard calls off the search. You can get off then.”

“Who knows about this, sir?”

“Officially, only a few dozen people in the Coast Guard and government. There’s no telling how many people the guests or the Captain called. That’s another reason to get started on the investigation immediately.”

“Understood, sir.”

He handed me a note with the name of the boat. “Pier four, Royce. Close this case quickly if you can.”

“Sir!” I saluted and did an about-face before striding out of his office. I grabbed my briefcase, stuffing in a few things before heading for the pier. The offshore speedboat had four big 200-horse outboard motors and was plenty fast in the calm seas. We pulled up to the stern of the Street Living, and I hopped on board.

“Welcome aboard, Inspector,” the Captain said as he offered his hand. “Any assistance you need, please let me know.”

“I’ll need a room, an office preferably, where I can interview witnesses. We’ll start with the male guests and work back to the crew,” I told him. “Where is Mrs. Street?”

“She’s sleeping in the main cabin with one of my stewards watching over her,” he replied. He gestured for me to follow up the stairway, then two more. “I wanted to send her to the hospital for observation, but she refused. She finally agreed to rest just after sunrise. She wants to be here when we find her husband.”

As the last person to see Landon alive, she was the last person I wanted to speak to, so it worked out. “Please inform your crew that no one is to speak to her before I do, and inform me when she awakens.”

“Of course, Inspector.” He stopped outside a door just behind the bridge. “This is my private office. Will this be acceptable?”

The space was about eight feet by ten, with a desk and two chairs. Charts and photographs covered the wall. “This will be fine, Captain. Send the first man up in five minutes.”

I sat at the desk and took out my laptop to take notes and a voice recorder. In the early part of the investigation, you wanted to get an idea of events surrounding the accident and how much direct knowledge each person had.

Ninety minutes later, I let the bankers and their dates go after they signed statements. Their stories were both predictable and consistent. After dinner in Kingston and some time at a bar, they boarded the yacht to continue the party. The plan was to transit overnight to Little Savan Island and spend the day on the isolated beach. The party started on the sun deck around the Jacuzzi and bar as they departed the harbor. By midnight, pairs started disappearing into staterooms or the salon below. Landon Street and Ingrid headed to the main cabin around one in the morning.

One couple who stayed on the sun deck reported hearing the married couple ‘having loud and vigorous sex’ with Ingrid screaming out Landon’s name more than once. The last scream sounded different, and thirty seconds later, the Captain announced the Man Overboard. Everyone had to muster on the main deck, and all were present when a crewman on a Jet Ski brought Ingrid back from the dark ocean.

No one saw Landon fall, and Ingrid said he never surfaced after they hit the water.

My next interview subject knocked. The Captain told me he was the only long-term guest on board and was traveling alone. The tanned male was in his forties with perfect black hair and a designer suit. In the tropics, that meant either a lawyer or a politician. “Doug Graves,” he said as he offered his hand. “I’m Landon’s friend and lawyer.”

“How does that work?”

“I was lucky enough to be the guy he needed when he was starting up the Exchange. We hit it off, and I’ve represented him ever since.”

“What do you know of the accident?”

“Almost nothing,” he replied. “I retired to my stateroom about midnight, pounded some water to stave off the hangover, and didn’t wake until the man overboard announcement.”

“Can anyone confirm your whereabouts?”

He looked nervous. “I’d rather not say.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You realize I’ll be interviewing everyone at least once? It’s bound to come out.” He was protecting someone. “Were you having an affair with Ingrid?”

Doug laughed. “Her? No way. Landon is banging her like a broken screen door ten times daily. I thought it would taper off after a week or two, but they won’t stop! I don’t know where they get the energy, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked in on them screwing on a table or a piece of furniture.” He leaned forward and whispered. “Look, I’m sleeping with a crew member. Her husband doesn’t know, so I’d appreciate it if this doesn’t get out.”

Ah. “As long as your stories match, I see no reason to include that in my report,” I said evenly. “Who is it?”

“The Chef,” he replied.

“Do you have any reason to believe Ingrid might want Landon dead?”

“Inspector, I’ve never seen two young people in love like them. She worships that man, and she is his everything.”

“Money?”

“I negotiated the prenup myself. Ingrid was a rich woman before the marriage, but you’d never know it. It’s like the money doesn’t matter to her.”

While he reviewed his statement, I called the Captain and asked him to start sending the crew through, beginning with the onboard chef. She was reluctant to say anything but confirmed she was in bed with Doug when the announcement woke them. I had her leave her exact whereabouts vague and sign a statement with what she did know.

The rest of the statements were similar. Most of the crew was on duty on the bridge or sleeping. The two others were the bartender on the sun deck and the deckhand cleaning up on the main deck. The bartender confirmed the details about the drunken escapades during and after the party, while the deckhand confirmed the other stories. “Did you see or hear Mr. and Mrs. Street before they went overboard?”

The young man nodded. “Kind of hard NOT to hear Mrs. Street when she gets going. She’s a screamer. Mr. Street sure knows how to ring her bell! Hard and often, if you know what I mean.”

“They were having sex?”

“Of course. We have to stay professional and try not to notice, but damn! She’s one hot woman, and those two are fucking all over the ship! Last night I spotted them on the railing outside the main cabin. She sat on the rail while he stood between her legs, pounding away. I went back to wiping down the deck furniture. Maybe two minutes later, I heard them going over.”

“What did it sound like?”

“I heard a loud thump, then she screamed right before the splash. I ran to the port side and saw the foam from the splash and an arm. I screamed out MAN OVERBOARD and ran for the life ring. By the time I tossed it in the water, I couldn’t see anything.”

“Did you see either of them after that?”

He shook his head. “Not until Mrs. Street came back with Skip on the jet ski. She was naked, which was normal for her, and had swallowed a lot of seawater. She was crying, coughing, and yelling for Landon. The head stew wrapped her in a towel, and she stayed there while we kept looking.” He wiped a tear. “I feel like I let them down. The Streets were good people, and I love being on this crew. If I’d acted a little faster or made a better ring toss, maybe he’d still be alive.”

“And maybe if Landon hadn’t been drinking all night, he’d have been able to swim,” I replied. “You did the best you could.”

“Yeah.”

The Captain was last. His statement aligned with the others I’d gotten. He’d nearly finished writing it when someone banged on the door and asked him to come to the bridge. I followed him forward, where the First Mate was steering at maximum speed towards a Coast Guard boat on the horizon.

They’d found him, thanks to the gulls and seabirds diving around the chum slick. The Chief on the boat warned us not to let the wife see the body as the sharks had gotten to it. They had it in a body bag before we came alongside.

I had the Captain verify his identity before I made the death notification. Ingrid didn’t take the news well, and I’d have to wait until she calmed down to talk. The Chief Steward in the main cabin to make sure she rested.

We headed back to Kingston while I called my boss on the satellite phone and gave him the news.

I wrote my report on the transit back, finally interviewing Ingrid about an hour before we entered the port. They were making love on the railing when she leaned too far back. Landon tried to save his wife, but went over himself. Once they hit the water, Ingrid let go. She made it back to the surface, but she never saw him again.

It was an open-and-shut accidental death case.