Free Clifton Chronicles 02 - The Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer Page B

again headed for Emma’s bunk, but this time when she said, ‘Wrong girl,’ firmly, he left immediately. She lay awake wondering who it could possibly have been.
    On the sixth day, Emma learnt nothing new about Harry or Tom Bradshaw, and was beginning to fear that she might arrive in New York without any leads to follow up. It was during dinner that night that she decided to ask Peggy about ‘the one that survived’.
    ‘I only met Tom Bradshaw once,’ said Peggy, ‘when he was roaming around the deck with his nurse. Well, come to think of it, he wasn’t exactly roaming, because the poor man was on crutches.’
    ‘Did you speak to him?’ asked Emma.
    ‘No, he seemed very shy. In any case, Kristin didn’t let him out of her sight.’
    ‘Kristin?’
    ‘She was the hospital nurse at the time, worked alongside Dr Wallace. Between them, they undoubtedly saved Tom Bradshaw’s life.’
    ‘So you never saw him again?’
    ‘Only when we docked in New York, and I spotted him going ashore with Kristin.’
    ‘He left the ship with Kristin?’ said Emma anxiously. ‘Was Dr Wallace with them?’
    ‘No, just Kristin and her boyfriend Richard.’
    ‘Richard?’ said Emma, sounding relieved.
    ‘Yes, Richard something. I can’t remember his surname. He was the third officer. Not long afterwards he married Kristin, and we never saw either of them again.’
    ‘Was he a good-looking man?’ asked Emma.
    ‘Tom or Richard?’ asked Peggy.
    ‘Can I get you a drink, Peg?’ asked a young man Emma had never seen before, but had a feeling she would be seeing in profile later that night.
    Emma was right, and she didn’t sleep before, during or after the visit, as she had something else on her mind.

    The following morning, for the first time on the voyage, Emma was standing behind the information desk waiting for Peggy to appear.
    ‘Shall I prepare the passenger list for disembarkation?’ she asked when Peggy finally arrived and lifted the counter flap.
    ‘You’re the first person I’ve ever known to volunteer for that job,’ said Peggy, ‘but be my guest. Someone has to make sure it’s up to date in case immigration decides to double-check any of the passengers’ details once we’ve docked in New York.’
    Emma went straight through to the back office. Putting aside the current passenger list, she turned her attention to the files of past crew members, which she found in a separate cabinet that looked as if it hadn’t been opened for some time.
    She began a slow, meticulous search for the names Kristin and Richard. Kristin proved easy, because there was only one person with that name, and she’d worked as a senior staff nurse on the Kansas Star from 1936 to 1939. However, there were several Richards, Dicks and Dickies, but the address of one of them, Lieutenant Richard Tibbet, was in the same Manhattan apartment building as Miss Kristin Craven.
    Emma made a note of the address.

10
    ‘W ELCOME TO the United States, Miss Barrington.’
    ‘Thank you,’ said Emma.
    ‘How long do you plan to be in the United States?’ asked the immigration officer as he checked her passport.
    ‘A week, two at the most,’ said Emma. ‘I’m visiting my great-aunt, and then I’ll be returning to England.’ It was true that Emma had a great-aunt who lived in New York, Lord Harvey’s sister, but she had no intention of visiting her, not least because she didn’t want the rest of the family to find out what she was up to.
    ‘Your great-aunt’s address?’
    ‘Sixty-fourth and Park.’
    The immigration officer made a note, stamped Emma’s passport and handed it back to her.
    ‘Enjoy your stay in the Big Apple, Miss Barrington.’
    Once Emma had passed through immigration, she joined a long queue of passengers from the Kansas Star . It was another twenty minutes before she climbed into the back of a yellow cab.
    ‘I require a small, sensibly priced hotel, located near Merton Street in Manhattan,’ she told the