Free A Death in Geneva by A. Denis Clift

brushed her away.
    â€œTina, you’re the most delectable morsel afloat. No need to bother with more food,” Tooms called. “Tell me about this well-earned vacation of yours.”
    â€œ Jaruka, thumma, jaruka, thumma jaruka .” She kissed him, a warm, lingering kiss on the cheek.
    â€œI know,” Tooms answered, “felt the same myself countless times. What brought that to mind?”
    â€œArabic, Oats, my darling scholar. Don’t your fish know the tongue of the desert? ‘Your neighbor, then your neighbor, then your neighbo,—very philosophical, don’t you think?”
    â€œGood for apartment living.”
    â€œI am reading, reading a great deal about the Arabs, slowly transforming myself into a desert almanac. A camel, dear Oats, does four miles an hour at a walk, eight if he holds to a steady trot, and thirteen running as fast as his little feet will carry him. There is a new play—too soon, but it is there, with a benefit in less than a month. It is speckled with Arabia, and so will I be.” She glided away. Tooms gave her a bon voyage wave without moving from the rail. Ghadira had carried the Grand Siege to the fall of St. Elmo.
    â€œCorrect me, my friend”—Starring grasped the professor’s wrist—“the Turks were so bitter when they finally took St. Elmo that they mutilated the bodies of the few Knights they found, sliced out their hearts, hacked off their heads, nailed them to crosses, and floated them over to St. Angelo?”
    Ghadira nodded, “The most brutal episode of the entire siege. De la Valette took one look, immediately executed the Turkish prisoners held within his walls, loaded their heads into cannons, and fired them back into the Turkish lines.” Starring pounded his fist on the rail in excitement.
    They moved back into the ring of light and chairs, pausing to be served from a table richly spread with salads, smoked trout, whitefish, salmon, lobster, hot breads, and pastries. Tina returned to her chair with a champagne in each hand. “A new diet, Gus, darling. Do have some more and do give me a cigarette.” She reeled back from the flame of his lighter. “A light, darling, not a sun tan.” Her voice was louder. “I have a very fair skin, and I am very envious of Miss Renfro’s glorious color. Do you have regular sessions at the beach, darling?”
    Leslie Renfro had mapped her strategy for the evening before setting foot on Starring’s ship. She ignored the baiting, passed her plate to a steward with the meal untouched.
    â€œDelicious, delicious.” Starring had already finished and punctuated his verdict with a flourish of his napkin. The Maltese professor had resumed his history. When he finished, the islands still safe in the hands of the Knights, Starring rose.
    â€œBrilliantly told, my friend; a splendid tale of a proud people.” He proposed a toast to Ghadira and to the success of the Oceanic University of the World Conferences.
    â€œTommie”—Ghadira’s glass was raised in response—“as our president said this evening on this very deck, none of this would have been possible without you. Your announcement this evening of the new pier and laboratory was colossal, absolutely colossal, banner headlines fully deserved tomorrow.”
    â€œOats sketched out this project for me two years ago. He deserves the credit.”
    The chief scientist beckoned to one of the white jackets. “One more of Kentucky’s finest; the praise has made me dry.”
    Starring continued. “The Towerpoint fleet plies the Mediterranean—plies every ocean, my friends. This is only the first. Malta will be the model. We’ll work together, Dr. Ghadira, Towerpoint and Malta. We’ll put the knowledge of your graduates to work, no lacking attention . . .” He again had looked toward Tooms’s guest as he had addressed the words.
    She leaned forward,