Title: Just Like The Marie Celeste'
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Rating: PG
Length: 1,746
Summary: Inspector Stanley Hopkins of the Met River Police calls in Sherlock when he finds an abandoned vessel.


“Hi!”  Stanley Hopkins voice crackled slightly as it came over the phone.  “I’ve got something you might be interested in.  Any chance you can get over here?  I’ll text you details.”

“Sure,” Sherlock Holmes replied.  “We were just on our way back to Baker Street, but John can wait for his cup of tea.”

John Watson snorted and resigned himself to the change of direction as Sherlock knocked on the cabbie’s window and gave him the new destination.

As soon as they arrived Sherlock leapt out leaving John to wave to Stanley who was standing at the riverfront and pay the cabbie, before walking over to join them.

“Abandoned in the early hours of the morning,” Stanley was saying when John joined them.  “We brought a dog in, but there’s no trace of drugs and, as far as we can see, no blood or any other sign of violence.”

“So your question is, why would anyone abandon a top of the range motor launch.”  Sherlock nodded.  “Can we go on board?”

The police officer on duty acknowledged Stanley’s presence as he let the three men go past him.

“How much is a boat like this worth?” John asked.  “Two hundred thousand pounds?”

“A Sunseeker like this,” Stanley said, “Double it and then some.”  He paused to look around.

“If I didn’t know you better, Inspector Hopkins,” Sherlock said drily, “I would say there was lust in the tone of your voice.”

“Well, you have to admit, she is rather beautiful,” Stanley said admiringly.

“Hrmph!”

“A proper Marie Celeste,” John said.

“My mum always reckoned that was due to the daleks,” Stanley replied.

“What?” Sherlock and John chorused, before Sherlock added, “But you said abandoned when you phoned.  Why were you so sure no-one would be coming back?”

“A professional wouldn’t have moored here and left the vessel for long.  Maybe a couple of hours at most, but they’d have been gone by first light.”

“A professional?”

“The knots.”

“That ties in with what I’ve seen.  The professional crew member arrives, ties up, tidies up and departs, leaving their employer on board.  Then, either they fail to return at the appointed time, or they had finished their job.  Either way we need to find whoever the crew member was.”

“I’ll get on to it at once.”  Stanley took his phone out of his pocket and gave some instructions to his subordinate.

Sherlock waited until Stanley had finished before saying, “Which do you think is more likely?”

Stanley thought.  “If I had to choose, I’d go with a finished job.  There were no signs of any prepared charts, which I would have expected if they were planning to return and sail first thing this morning.”

“Which leaves Person X here, expecting a visitor.  And then the visitor would steer the boat.”

“Why not X?” John asked.

“Because if X was going to steer there would have been no reason to use a crew member to get here.”  Turning to Stanley Sherlock added, “Have you found out who owns the vessel?”

“She’s registered to a company in the Bahamas.  We’re trying to track her recent movements, but it will take time.”

“Which is something we may not have.  Right, I’ve finished here.  Let’s see what we can find outside, although I doubt there’ll be much since your lot has been stamping all over it.”

“We kept to the edge of the path as far as possible, although Jasper was quite insistent on going down the middle.”

“Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“Because he wasn’t behaving as if there were drugs – he’d found something else he liked the smell of – it might have been sausages for all I know.”

“But it was a fresh scent.  Where is he now?  Can we get him back?  It may not be much, but it’s the best lead we’ve got at the moment.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

While they waited for Jasper to return, Sherlock looked as closely as he could at the ground.  He found what he thought were the footprints of the crew member, but they only led to the steps which took the quickest route away from the river, which was what would be expected.

When Jasper arrived Stanley explained to his handler what was required and the two of them set off along the path.  However, they didn’t take either of the sets of steps which led towards the road, but finally came to a halt at an iron ladder which led down into the river.

“I can carry him down the steps if you want, sir,” the handler said.

“No point,” Sherlock replied, “Whether or not they went down the steps they must have got into a boat and departed that way.  Can you tell what the scent was he was following?”

“I couldn’t be sure, sir.  My best guess would be another dog, or more likely two dogs.”  The handler shrugged his shoulders.

Stanley thanked the handler for coming and they watched as man and dog departed, Jasper leaping around for the toy his handler had taken out of his pocket.

At that moment Stanley’s phone rang.  He answered it, listened and said “That’s interesting” before ringing off.

“An update?” Sherlock asked.

“Yeah.  A bloke’s just approached the port authorities in St Katherine’s Dock and informed them he’s come straight from the airport and his Sunseeker is missing.”

“And then insisted there’s no point contacting the crew to see if they’ve had a problem,” Sherlock added.

“You’re right,” Stanley said, looking surprised.  “How did you know?”

“It fits my theory.  But why two dogs?  Oh, of course!  Come on, we need to go to Maidenhead.  Now!”

Stanley led the way to his car and the three of them got in.  “I can’t just go busting in on another force’s patch,” he said as he started the engine.

“Sort it as you drive,” Sherlock replied.  “They can’t really complain; there’s no crime been committed – yet.”

“What about stealing the boat?” John asked from the back seat.

“Technically I believe that would only be a crime if it was done without the owner’s knowledge or consent.  In this case he knew about it, even if he didn’t consent.”

“What?” Stanley asked.

“I’ll explain later.  In the meantime just get whatever permissions you absolutely have to have.  And get them to look for a smaller boat – the sort with just a little cabin – with two medium sized dogs, which moored earlier this morning.”

“What breed of dog?”

“Do you expect me to know everything?”

***

They reached Bourne End Marina and Stanley parked, waving his warrant card at the parking attendant who had come over to complain.  They’d been sent details of a motor cruiser which met Sherlock’s description and they hurried over to where she was moored.

The man on board looked up as they approached and said, “Anything wrong gentlemen?”

“We’d like to speak to the lady,” Sherlock said.

“Sonia, there’s three geezers wanna word with yer,” the man shouted.

Sonia came out of the cabin, accompanied by two Samoyeds.

Sherlock nodded, as if satisfied they had found the woman he was looking for.  “You were wrong,” he said to her.  “None of your boys can be separated from each other.  He knows and came back this morning.”

Sonia looked startled and turned to face the man.

“What are you going on about?” the man asked.  Then, as Sonia made to step off the boat, he added, “Where do you think you’re going?”

When Stanley took out his warrant card and showed it, the man said, “I ain’t done nothing wrong.”

“Not yet maybe,” Stanley said, “but if you prevent this lady from leaving you will have.”

“Go on then.  But you ain’t taking me bleeding dog as well.”  He whistled and one of the Samoyeds turned and trotted to him, the other following his mistress off the boat.

As the four of them headed away from the cruiser Sherlock said, “Right, Stanley, we’ll get the train back, while you sort things out this end.  You won’t need us for that.  Call in when you come back and I’ll fill you in on the rest of the details.”

***

Later in the afternoon Stanley arrived at Baker Street.  He gratefully accepted the mug of tea John offered him, before settling in an armchair.

Stanley began by saying “Sonia told me she’s been the mistress of Gary Whiting for about eighteen months.  She had begun to tire of him, and so made overtures to Phil, his brother.  She and Gary had been in the south of France, so she came back by boat, whilst Gary flew elsewhere on business and was due to meet up with her in a couple of days’ time.  So she arranged for the crewman to take her to the point where we found the Sunseeker and for Phil, as you surmised, to meet her so they could go off for a day or two together.  However, when Phil came to meet her, he told her the plan had changed.”

Stanley looked at Sherlock, who nodded and added, “Whereas in fact as soon as the plans had been made Phil had told Gary and the pair conspired together with the intention of having Sonia disappear.  It’s not the first time one of Gary Whiting’s mistresses has vanished.  I think they take them abroad and find someone who will take the women off their hands.”

“In which case,” John asked, “Why didn’t Phil just leave with Sonia in the Sunseeker, rather than going to Maidenhead.”

“I rather think both brothers wanted to be present when the trade off was made,” Sherlock answered.  “Just to rub it in what a stupid mistake had been made.”

“And,” Stanley added, “If they were heading for North Africa they would have needed to take crew with them.  You couldn’t do that journey without a proper crew.”

“You’re still drooling over the yacht aren’t you?” Sherlock said.  “Wasn’t a rowing boat on the Serpentine good enough?”

“It sank!” Stanley replied.

“From what I understood,” John remarked, “That was because you two were too busy kissing to pay any attention to where you were going.”

“Maybe we should have another go,” Sherlock said.  “Although we should probably practice the kissing a bit more first.”

“In which case,” John said, standing up.  “I shall be the one to abandon you.  I’m going to the pub!”

Stanley laughed.  “We’ll catch up with you later.”