“Has the schooner Pelorus sailed?” he queried, after introducing himself as a member of the Exchange.
“Towed out with the tide about five o’clock this morning, Mr. Pritchard.”
“What towed her out?”
“A Crowley gasoline tug, sir. Wait a minute until I get the glass on her. She’s just coming back after dropping the Pelorus off the Gate.” A silence. Then, “Crowley Number Thirty-four.”
“Thank you.” Dan hung up and turned to Sooey Wan. “Bring me a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. Get Graves out and tell him to have the car waiting in front in fifteen minutes,” he ordered, and leaped for his shower bath. By the time he was dressed Sooey Wan appeared with the coffee and just as Crowley tug Number Thirty-four slid into her berth to await another towing job, Dan Pritchard appeared on the dock and hailed her skipper in the pilot house.
“You towed the Pelorus out a couple of hours ago. Did you happen to observe whether she carried any passengers?”
“I did. One, sir. A young lady.”
“Describe her.”
“A handsome young lady, sir, dark complected in a way, and yet not dark. Struck me she might have just a drop of Island blood in her, sir. She was wearin’ a blue suit but no hat, and when I saw her first as I bumped alongside she was settin’ on the main hatch coamin’ and she’d been cryin’.”
“Any baggage?”