Jane Barclay used the word ‘mausoleum’.
‘That’s right! I couldn’t think what this reminded me of until you said that. Now I’ve got it! I was taken to see the Escurial outside Madrid – you know, where the Spanish kings are buried, each in their marble sarcophagus, one above the other, right round the walls. These steel freezer cabinets are just like that.’
She shivered again – partly because of the cold and partly from some idea that there was something sinister about all this shining steel.
‘Now,’ said the Chief Steward, pausing, ‘Lord Edward, you may wish to come inside this room with me. It’s the coldest of the rooms. I don’t recommend the ladies enter without first returning to their cabins for coats. It’s kept well below freezing – approximately zero Fahrenheit – and no one could survive unprotected for more than an hour and, long before that, you would start suffering from hypothermia.’
‘So how do the cooks – or whoever – manage?’ Verity asked.
‘The cooks don’t come in here,’ he explained. ‘We have three butchers and they wear protective clothing, including masks, when they select the meat or fish to be unfrozen.’
Mrs Dolmen shivered and pulled her wrap over her shoulders. Verity, seeing that she was becoming uncomfortable, said, ‘Well, get on with it then, Edward. We’re beginning to freeze and we want to return to civilization.’
The Chief Steward ushered him in through the heavy door, pulling it shut behind them. ‘We have to keep the temperature at the right level,’ he explained as Edward looked behind him with some alarm. The place was illuminated by bright white lights which increased the feeling of being in some nightmare arctic country. He could see animal carcasses hanging in ranks from hooks on a rail in the ceiling.
‘How do you move such great weights?’ he inquired.
The Chief Steward pushed a button. Slowly, with much clanging and clanking, the carcasses began to move along the rail swinging slightly and looking for all the world like a procession of scarlet-robed prelates – except that through his steaming breath Edward could see that these were not hooded but headless.
Then he let out a cry of horror and pointed. ‘What’s that, for God’s sake? Stop the machine.’
The Chief Steward pushed the button again and the swinging carcasses came to a halt. Hanging from one of the hooks was the body of a man. He was quite naked. There was a rope about his neck attached to one of the metal hooks. The two men stood almost literally frozen to the spot, mouths agape at the horror before them. Edward shouted, ‘It’s Tom Barrett,’ and began to run, or rather stagger, towards the still swinging corpse. As he did so, the Chief Steward cried a warning. ‘Don’t touch! If you do, your hand may freeze to the metal. There’s nothing we can do. Come outside and I’ll summon the butcher.’
But the butcher had already been about his business.
5
Verity had taken Mrs Dolmen back to her cabin in a state of shock, crying hysterically and calling for her husband. Only when he and then the doctor arrived did she feel able to leave the distraught woman. She was clearly of a very nervous disposition and Verity wondered if she ought to sympathize with Professor Dolmen for having to put up with his wife’s nerves or blame him for the state of them. Of course, it had been a great shock to all of them when they heard Edward’s shout of horror and he and the Chief Steward had burst out of the cold room but it wasn’t as if the ladies left outside had actually seen anything. The Chief Steward had gone off to fetch assistance and inform the Captain of what they had found. Edward had remained on guard outside and had at first refused to tell anyone what the matter was. At Verity’s insistence, he had finally divulged that they had discovered the body of Tom Barrett but, to her fury, he resolutely refused to let her enter the room and view the corpse
‘That’s right! I couldn’t think what this reminded me of until you said that. Now I’ve got it! I was taken to see the Escurial outside Madrid – you know, where the Spanish kings are buried, each in their marble sarcophagus, one above the other, right round the walls. These steel freezer cabinets are just like that.’
She shivered again – partly because of the cold and partly from some idea that there was something sinister about all this shining steel.
‘Now,’ said the Chief Steward, pausing, ‘Lord Edward, you may wish to come inside this room with me. It’s the coldest of the rooms. I don’t recommend the ladies enter without first returning to their cabins for coats. It’s kept well below freezing – approximately zero Fahrenheit – and no one could survive unprotected for more than an hour and, long before that, you would start suffering from hypothermia.’
‘So how do the cooks – or whoever – manage?’ Verity asked.
‘The cooks don’t come in here,’ he explained. ‘We have three butchers and they wear protective clothing, including masks, when they select the meat or fish to be unfrozen.’
Mrs Dolmen shivered and pulled her wrap over her shoulders. Verity, seeing that she was becoming uncomfortable, said, ‘Well, get on with it then, Edward. We’re beginning to freeze and we want to return to civilization.’
The Chief Steward ushered him in through the heavy door, pulling it shut behind them. ‘We have to keep the temperature at the right level,’ he explained as Edward looked behind him with some alarm. The place was illuminated by bright white lights which increased the feeling of being in some nightmare arctic country. He could see animal carcasses hanging in ranks from hooks on a rail in the ceiling.
‘How do you move such great weights?’ he inquired.
The Chief Steward pushed a button. Slowly, with much clanging and clanking, the carcasses began to move along the rail swinging slightly and looking for all the world like a procession of scarlet-robed prelates – except that through his steaming breath Edward could see that these were not hooded but headless.
Then he let out a cry of horror and pointed. ‘What’s that, for God’s sake? Stop the machine.’
The Chief Steward pushed the button again and the swinging carcasses came to a halt. Hanging from one of the hooks was the body of a man. He was quite naked. There was a rope about his neck attached to one of the metal hooks. The two men stood almost literally frozen to the spot, mouths agape at the horror before them. Edward shouted, ‘It’s Tom Barrett,’ and began to run, or rather stagger, towards the still swinging corpse. As he did so, the Chief Steward cried a warning. ‘Don’t touch! If you do, your hand may freeze to the metal. There’s nothing we can do. Come outside and I’ll summon the butcher.’
But the butcher had already been about his business.
5
Verity had taken Mrs Dolmen back to her cabin in a state of shock, crying hysterically and calling for her husband. Only when he and then the doctor arrived did she feel able to leave the distraught woman. She was clearly of a very nervous disposition and Verity wondered if she ought to sympathize with Professor Dolmen for having to put up with his wife’s nerves or blame him for the state of them. Of course, it had been a great shock to all of them when they heard Edward’s shout of horror and he and the Chief Steward had burst out of the cold room but it wasn’t as if the ladies left outside had actually seen anything. The Chief Steward had gone off to fetch assistance and inform the Captain of what they had found. Edward had remained on guard outside and had at first refused to tell anyone what the matter was. At Verity’s insistence, he had finally divulged that they had discovered the body of Tom Barrett but, to her fury, he resolutely refused to let her enter the room and view the corpse
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