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duke o' york
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Chapter Six – DeNile knowledge
As the numbers dwindled even further aboard the Apolyton, everybody began to think really hard about the clues that the careless killers had left behind them. When this didn’t get them anywhere, they just went back to their effective tried and trusted system of block voting. It did not take long for enough votes to be cast to consign yet another traveller to the bottom of the Nile, and the Captain announced that the mafia was Skanky. The now-traditional brown leather handbag descended with dizzying speed, and before long the unfortunate barman had descended into the Nile, aided on his way by the careful attention of Geomodder.
The Captain didn’t take long to decide that perhaps Jonny was not the best person to take over the duties at the bar, and so he appointed his purser as the new barman. Secretly he hoped that the losses to spillage would be reduced, as there was no chance of a good Muslim necking the rest of the bottle after pouring a single glass of wine.
Geomodder was relieved to hear that his workload would not be further increased as a result of Skanky’s death, and immediately set to work writing out his CV in the hope of getting a sinecure on a Mediterranean cruise or something, anything better than the hunk o’ junk Apolyton. The passengers enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, sad that they had lost their barman, but pleased that the shadow of the mafia would no longer be cast upon the ship.
During the day, the noble pairing of the Earl of Octavian and the Duc de Pavelles make their debut on the tennis court against Tubbs and Jim Rockford. Inspector Morse took over the umpiring duties, and Miss Marple fell asleep in a deck chair while watching the “action”. Theben and HongHu took their card games outside, but the wind was too strong, and so they gave up after a while and returned to the empty bar. Without Skanky and Rasputin, it was far too quiet in the bar. With the suspicion that either of them could be the mafia then it was very quiet in the bar, with neither wanting to say anything that might make the other select them as a victim.
The day passed peacefully, and despite the irritating quacking of the duck perched atop the wheelroom, they were much refreshed when they went back to their quarters to prepare for dinner.
As he arrived in the dining room, Columbo felt the ship lurch to the left, a movement that nearly threw him to the floor. Other passengers started, and they raced to the wheelroom to see what had happened to the Captain’s trusty “steering aid”. Upon arrival, they could see that the trusty steering aid still had one end tied to the wheel, but that the other end was around the neck of Nuclear Master, whose body hung over the side of the ship. It took Bulldog Drummond, Jonny and Derrick to hold the rope steady while Geomodder cut it away from the wheel and put the Apolyton back on course. They dragged up the body of the strangled captain, but could tell nothing from it, and soon released the rope.
“Poetic, almost, that the good captain has been buried in the river upon which he made his living,” said Miss Marple, but none of the others were thinking about poetry at that time. As they made their way back into the dining room to discuss the latest killing, Pave knocked over a bottle on the floor of the wheelhouse. He picked it up to examine, and it proved to be a bottle of White Horse Scottish Whisky. It was inconceivable that the Captain had been drinking it, and the barman was no longer aboard, so who could have left it there? The murderer?
Taking to his new responsibilities like a duke to water, Geomodder called everybody together and instigated another vote. They would have until the morning to mull over the incidents of the day and then return their separate verdicts on the likely identity of the killer.
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Apolyton Time is 00:36. |
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27-05-2004 03:42
ACK!
Find one clue in the story that even suggests me 
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