Dead in the Dog

Four weeks later, Tom Howden was lying on his stomach on the warm sand of Batu Ferringhi beach, on the north coast of Penang Island. Alongside him, Lynette Chambers was dozing with a straw sun hat over her face and nearby a dozen other members of both the RAMC and QA Messes were lounging about, enjoying a leisurely weekend. Penang was a couple of hours’ drive from Tanah Timah, but due to the car ferry from the mainland, it was easier to reach than Pangkor. An old-fashioned hotel, The Lone Pine, sat amongst the palm trees almost on the edge of the beach, and after one of its famous Sunday curries eaten at tables under the trees, lying down was obligatory!

Tom stared out at the blue sea under a blue sky, still bemused that it was not the grey Tyne under rain clouds. He mulled over all that had happened in the past few weeks, as now life was returning to normal at BMH. The coroner’s inquest on the three victims from Gunong Besar had been held in the Police HQ on the previous Wednesday. The lawyer-coroner from Ipoh played down the drama as much as he could and rapidly brought in verdicts of murder by Rosa Mackay on James Robertson and suicide ‘while the balance of their minds was disturbed’ on the two Mackays. As to the suicide notes, he declined to make them public, but stated that he was satisfied that their contents confirmed the conclusions of the court.

Desmond O’Neill had returned two days after the dramatic events up at Gunong Besar, but was in a silent, withdrawn mood and Tom’s involvement in the affair was never even mentioned.

A week later, the CO vanished and belatedly, Alf Morris was able to inform the Mess that he had been suddenly recalled to the UK to take up a desk job at the Medical Directorate of the War Office. A new Commanding Officer was on his way out by air and until he arrived, Major Peter Bright was acting as temporary CO.

It was all rather mysterious and those few in the know, who included Morris and the physician John Martin, maintained a discreet silence, though they hinted that as O’Neill was so near the end of his tour and as his wife had refused to stay any longer in the Far East, compassionate grounds were involved. The whole of the hospital took this excuse with a large pinch of salt, but made no complaint about the marked improvement in the atmosphere that resulted. The business about the arms kote was also swept under the carpet, with vague murmurings from Alf Morris that O’Neill had been obsessed with security at the hospital.

Peter Bright was very relaxed in his new role as CO, and he used his new authority to award himself plenty of free time, shooting off to Penang in his sports car at frequent intervals. Undoubtedly, he was visiting the fair Diane in the Eastern and Oriental Hotel, Penang’s equivalent of Singapore’s Raffles. The efficient gossip system reported that she had passed up her intended passage on the first UK-bound ship, as she suddenly found the attractions of Penang much to her liking.

Similarly, David Meredith, the gloomy Welsh anaesthetist, was seen to smile on several occasions, obviously having been reconciled with his own lady love, Lena Franklin.

As to Gunong Besar itself, Les Arnold announced that Diane Robertson had accepted an offer he had made to buy the estate. He magnanimously offered to supervise the rubber production there until probate and other legal matters allowed him to move in. All in all, things had worked out well in the end, albeit after three tragic deaths, for which Tom suspected that James Robertson would have had some tough questions to answer from Saint Peter when he arrived at the Pearly Gates.

He rolled over on to his stomach and smiled happily at Lynette, whose pleasant face was only a few inches from his own. He had the feeling that even after only two months in Malaya, his life had taken a turn that would last for the rest of his life.

Risking the eagle eye of the Matron, who sat in a deckchair twenty yards away, Captain Howden RAMC craned his neck towards Lieutenant Chambers, QARANC and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

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First world edition published 2012

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Copyright © 2012 by Bernard Knight.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Knight, Bernard.

Dead in the dog.

1. Pathologists–Fiction. 2. Singapore–Social