At the end of Kerry
Greenwood's book Taman Shud which investigates the mystery of the
Somerton Man is a short story in which Phryne finds the body of the
Somerton Man. The story is therefore set in 1948 and it is
interesting to see how Phryne has matured as she would be 48 in this
story. Kerry Greenwood herself says that other than not liking Dior's
New Look Phryne would be as wonderful as ever.
Here is a synopsis of the
story:
The story starts during the
second world war and describes who rather than watching the Germans
march on Paris Phryne escapes on a Plymouth bound fishing boat and
heads to London. Phryne only decides to join the French Resistance
when little ships starting bringing the wounded back from Dunkirk.
Phryne took the name the
Black Cat – 'La Chatte Noir' and headed to Tours but the war had a
hard effect on her streaking her hair with gray and causing wrinkles
around her eyes. For Phryne the end of the war came not a moment too
soon but she decided she could not head back to London as it had been
destroyed in the war so instead she heads back to Australia and takes
a holiday home in Adelaide where she can relax and be free of the
nightmares of war.
So Phryne is distraught and
angry when she discovers the body of a man on Somerton Beach. She
recognises the man as a young German who had been captured by the
Marquis and had refused to answer questions even under the threat of
torture. Phryne realises that the man is older but it is the same
face. Fighting back a sob Phryne tells herself to go up to one of the
big houses and have the police called as it is not her dead man!
She notices that the body
doesn't have a mark on it and there are no marks in the sand around
his feet. It looks like the man has sat down not feeling well and
died. She notices his clothes a brown suit, a top coat, white shirt
and a tie tied with a Windsor knot which is still in place. Phryne
sees the secret smile on the man's face and wonders what colour his
eyes are. She then runs up the stairs of one of the houses and has
them call the police.
Phryne returns home to Marie
a 12 year old orphan she acquired in Carcassone after her parents
were killed by a shell. As Marie was a Jew and there were no Jews
left in town Phryne took her back to Australia with her. Marie sees
Phryne's face and asks what the matter is. Phryne tells her about the
man on the beach. Marie sees Phryne is shaken and offers her some tea
with cognac.
At a pub on Hindley Street
two man are sat at a table talking. The smaller darker man asks 'when
does she leave' and his red headed companion Damien tells him
'evening'. The other man Brian asks him to waste a few words on him
and asks which evening and Damien tells him tomorrow and it is words
that got them into this mess. Brian agrees and asks if Damien is
going. Damien says that he is and asks Brian if he is headed for
Melbourne. Brian tells him yes on the morning train and asks if there
is no sign of a suitcase. Damien says 'he probably left it at the
station'. Brian tells him there is no sign and that they will
probably raid the station that night and that he may have left it in
a locker. He says they are not going to like it and Damien agrees.
Brian says he is likely going to his death with the news of their
failure and the men both leave.
Phryne has her tea and
brandy and is taking a bath when the police arrive. The policewoman
Constable Hammond. Phryne ask Marie to make a pot of tea and Marie
baulks at the sight of the policewoman. Phryne explains that Marie
had only seen people in uniform in the war and they all wanted to
send her to Ravensbruck.
The policewoman asks for
Phryne's account of finding the man on the beach and then tells
Phryne that the bigwigs have told them that she was in the resistance
during the war and asks if she knew the man. Phryne explains she
doesn't know the man and has never seen him before and asks what
the big mystery is and WPC
Hammond explains they don't know who the man is as there was no
identification on his body, no labels on his clothes and nothing on
his body except for a piece of paper with the words TAMAN SHUD
written on. Phryne recalls they are the last words in The Rubaiyat of
Omar Khayyam and mean the end and asks if it was a suicide but the
policewoman says no as the pathologist can't find cause of death and
it seems the man just sat down and died.
The policewoman says there
is something about the man's face like he had a secret and died well
but her sergeant says that is too fanciful. Phryne agrees with the
policewoman and says she saw it too. She says according to the
pathologist the man was very healthy and there was no reason for him
to die.
Phryne says they should look
at the mystery and discounts suicide as they normally leave a note.
The policewoman says he only had the scrap of paper with Taman shud
on it. Phryne asks if it was handwritten and the policewoman tells
her it was torn from a book so Phryne says they need to find the
book. She says the man has been searched as people could conceivably
remove clothing labels for various reasons but everyone carries
something in their pockets such as money or a travel ticket. Phryne
asks how the man would have got to the beach and if he was wearing a
watch. The policewoman says no. Phryne says it is no ordinary theft
and if there was nothing wrong with the man why did he die. The
policewoman says he could have been scared to death but Phryne says
he did not look scared.
The policewoman finishes her
tea and says she had heard of Phryne and her mystery solving before
the war. She ask Phryne if she would help solve this mystery as she
has any level of clearance and if she solves the mystery there may be
a promotion for her. Phryne agrees and tells her to come back when
she has more information. The policewoman leaves and Marie tells
Phryne that the policewoman want to use her.
For two days Phryne resists
the urge to call people she had known in France as she did not want
to get involved and the papers were full of the mystery of the
Somerton man. Phryne did not call until WPC Hammond return with a
code and asked her if she was any good at code-breaking. Phryne says
she was not involved in code breaking but contacts Bernard Cooper who
had been at Bletchley during the war.
WPC Hammond shows Phryne the
paper which looked like complete gibberish to her. The policewoman
tells her the book found in a doctors car which was parked near the
beach. The doctor found it the next morning and handed it in and the
Taman Shud matches it. Phryne asks WPC Hammond if she's sure the code
is all there as there is a strange cross over the O in the third
line. Phryne tells WPC Hammond she will take the code to Bernard and
not to worry about clearance as he had the highest clearance possible
and worked on the Enigma code. Phryne tells her she should have an
answer from Bernard in a day or two an asks if there is any other
news. WPC Hammond tells her that she is not sure if it is connected
but someone broke open in the lockers in the left luggage room at
Adelaide Central Station. They didn't take anything but left luggage
strewn everywhere. Phryne asks what they were looking for and WPC
Hammond says she thinks it was a suitcase that the police had found
earlier in the day. She says the suitcase did not contain any wallet,
keys or passports but the clothes were the right size for the man and
it contained a laundry bag with a name Kean or Keane stencilled on
it. Other than that there was only the clothes, a toothbrush and
shaving equipment that was all American made. Phryne says it may not
have belonged to the man and asks if their were any initials and WPC
Hammond says T or AE. She says she thinks it could have been Tony or
Anthony E Keane but there is no one of that name missing in South
Australia and they have not heard back from the other states yet.
Phryne says that is promising and says she will go and see Bernard.
She asks if there is anything more from the pathologist. WPC Hammond
says no but the pathologist is convinced the man was murdered thought
there are no poisons in his system but there are poisons that leave
no trace. She says the pathologist is basing his theory on the man's
face. Phryne says if he took poison there would be a bottle or paper
but Hammond says he could have thrown it into the sea. Phryne says
she will go and see about the code and call Hammond when she has an
answer but Hammond tells her not to call and that she will return in
two days.
Phryne calls Bernard Cooper
and finds him home. Bernard is astounded she is there and invites her
to dinner that night. Bernard asks if anything is the matter and
Phryne says no but she has a puzzle for him. Bernard says he thought
she was coming for the pleasure of his company and asks her to come
now.
Phryne tells Marie she is
going out and Marie tells her she too is heading out to the pictures
with the greengrocer George. Phryne hops in her Sprite and drives up
the hills to Bernard's House. Bernard is waiting for her when she
arrives. Phryne notices that Bernard has aged and he thinks the same
of her. Bernard invites her in and tells her he has champagne on ice.
Bernard talks on and Phryne accuses him on babbling and asks what the
matter is. Bernard tells her that he never thought he would get old.
Phryne agrees but says she is not old yet. She tells Bernard to pour
her a drink and says that he is still the same shaggy bear that she
loved in London and she still loves him. Bernard says he still loves
her and can not get her out of his mind. Phryne asks if Bernard is
alone and asks after Stephanie. Bernard tells her Stephanie died of
heart disease two years before. Bernard asks Phryne is she remembers
how they used to talk about the hills and the wine during the blitz.
He says Stephanie only got to enjoy it for a year before she passed
away. Phryne takes his hand to comfort him and he tells her he is
glad to see her so she kisses him. Bernard then asks about the
puzzle. Phryne sense that the kiss started something that would take
Bernard some time to adjust to Phryne produces the paper to show him.
It reads:
mrgoadard
mtbimpanetpmliaboaqc
ittmtsamstgab
Bernard says it is not an
alphabet code and is probably a box code or an ETAIONSHRDLUCWME.
Bernard asks where it was found. Phryne tells him it is the code
found on the Taman Shud man. But Bernard doesn't get any news where
he is and so doesn't know about the case. Bernard works on the code
and Phryne leaves him to it and wanders through the house. Whilst she
is wandering the house Phryne thinks that she liked Stephanie
Bernard's deceased partner which is why she didn't persist in the
affair with Bernard.
Phryne sits down to read
some magazines when Bernard calls her in and tells her the code is
unbreakable unless they have the codeword. Bernard asks if there is
something she hasn't told him and Phryne says that the codeword is
Taman Shud and she would like to make love with him. Bernard makes a
note of the codeword and agrees to her second proposal hugging Phryne
to him.
At the station WPC Hammond
is drinking tea when a paper is thrown on her desk which she is told
to circulate. She is told the tailor said the man was American or at
least his clothes were made in America. Her superior asks if she has
had any bright ideas but she says no and he tells her he doesn't know
why women were let into the force. WPC Hammond responds frostily and
her retracts his statements telling her to check all the ships to see
if anyone has lost a crewman.
A young man leaves the
railway and heads to the railway hotel for a beer. He is fair-haired
and blue eyed and has a pale complexion. The barman asks if it is too
hot for him and the man replies far too hot with a faint Canadian
accent. The barman moves the man's hat which has PH marked on the
band and the man asks for another beer and asks the barman if he will
join him.
Phryne and Bernard are in
bed, Phryne lifts her head of Bernard's chest and he groans. Phryne
asks what the matter is and Bernard tells her he is remembering. He
says bad memories always come back after good times and Phryne agrees
so they swap memories. Phryne tells him about the young German
soldier a Wehrmacht who had to be captured because he had information
about when a train was coming in containing the Resistance prisoner
Jean Moulin. Bernard recalls Jean Moulin was killed in Lyon by Klaus
Barbie. Phryne says they did not know that then and she had to keep
watch while the young man was questioned but he would not talk so
they killed him.
Bernard tells her that he
found a message when he was decoding that said 'Destroy Coventry'. He
tells her he decoded it 12 hours before the bombers came and that he
knew it would happen but did nothing as if he had warned Coventry
then the Germans would know that the British could break their codes.
Phryne kisses Bernard and
she asks him how he got a scar on his hip he says the blitz and asks
how she got a scar on her thigh. She tells him a Gestapo man did not
like her answers but she got away as she has friends. Bernard says he
knows as Archie has been on the phone telling him to help her and
make sure she doesn't get in trouble. Phryne asks what trouble she
could get in in Adelaide and Bernard says as long as she hasn't
bought her dead man with her. Phryne promises she hasn't. Bernard
says he will get up and make tea and then they can solve the puzzle.
Bernard says that if they
presume that Taman shud is the code word and look for the frequency
of letters in the English language they should be able to solve it
easily. Phryne asks what is the code is in a different language.
Bernard says then they are in trouble. Bernard continues to try to
solve the puzzle but finds it is not as easy as it looks. He gets AUR
GT ST US AEK. Phryne tells him the dead man's initials are AEK and
that GT could mean go to and ST could be station and that they may
have been American which can count for the US. They ponder over the
AUR and wonder if it could be gold as it is the Latin term for gold.
They then look at the next line and get ANT in the middle which is
probably proceeded by W making want. They work out the sender of the
message appears to be WT K. They know that WT stands for wireless
transmission so think K might be a person.
Phryne then asks Bernard is
he is not going to tackle the rest of the letters and he tells her
that is the macron. Phryne asks what this is and Bernard says that
the O crossed out means that the message runs backwards from this
point or the rest is gibberish. Bernard reads on and is puzzled. He
asks Phryne if she did any code reading during her time in the
resistance and she says none. He asks her is she has heard of the
Irish/Nazi connection and she says no. Bernard tells her that he was
working for a while on transmissions that Nazi's sent to the IRA.
Bernard tells her there was always one name that came up when any
killing needed to be done and shows her the message which now read:
AUR GT ST US AEK WANT P- ENA – WT K. Bernard tells her the killers
were two brothers Patrick and Michael Heaney and that the Germans
don't like double vowels so called them Henay. There code name was P
and M Henay and that he think K might be P Henay.
The young man approaches the
station as the Melbourne train is getting ready to depart. He
approaches a small dark man and asks where the money is. Brian tells
him he used the stuff but the man wouldn't tell and just upped and
died. The young man says goodbye Brian and pushes him under the train
and walks away without being noticed.
Phryne says that if Bernard
is right they should call someone. Phryne calls Archie and tells him
that Patick Heaney is in their midst. Archie tells them about the
accident at the railway with Brian Sean Ryan and says he will look
for Patrick. Phryne asks if he knows him and Archie says yes and asks
if they have told anyone else. Phryne tells him Bernard and that her
companion knows where she is. Archie asks if they have told anyone
official and Phryne says yes WPC Hammond. Archie asks if she is
coming back to Adelaide and Phryne says not that night so Archie
tells her he will have it cleared up by the morning and when she
comes back she should call on him.
When she gets of the phone
Phryne asks Bernard who Archie is. Bernard tells her he is in
parliament and he will come with her if she wants but he doesn't got
to the city often. Phryne tells him to stay where he is and she will
come and join him on occasion. Bernard says that sounds lovely and
says he will write out the message and then they should go back to
bed.
Sir Archibald Donaldson
calls WPC Hammond who listens stunned that he is calling her. She
hands the phone to her sergeant who agrees to what Archie asks him
and when he gets off the phone tells her she is on loan to the Funny
People and as far as he is concerned they can keep her.
When Hammond arrives at
Archie's office he tells her that her dead man had some nasty
friends. He says she will be shown a lot of pictures and she should
say if she recognises anyone as her chief says she has a photographic
memory. Hammond sorts out 3 pictures which she hands to Archie as
people she recognises. The first is of a red-headed man and the
second a small dark man. She says she saw them outside the railway
hotel together the day before. The third a blonde man with blue eyes
she said she saw on Rundle street that morning.
Archie tells her who the men
are and says they will head off to where she saw Heaney that morning
with back up and see if they can find him. Hammond finds Damien
easily and the backup walk him away down the street but as he is
walking he is shot by a sniper by a pale young man. They drag him
into a side road and he asks for a priest so one of the attendants
runs to get one. They ask him about the man on the beach and he tells
them that the new stuff which was meant to be truth serum killed him.
He says the man Keane was running and had incepted a message which
told him they were on to him so he hid the suitcases and they never
found out where. He then asks again for a priest and after one has
been fetched and performed the last rite he dies.
The next day Phryne, Hammond
and Archie gather in Archie's office. Phryne tells Archie that the
man knew they were onto him so left clues to solve his murder then
went to the meeting having hidden a suitcase full of what must have
been the IRA's money. They shot him with scopolamine into his scalp
so no mark showed. It is meant to be a truth drug but some people
have a sensitivity to it and he died. Phryne is frustrated that he
died without revealing where the money is and says they should ride
the tram tot he beach is she hasn't been there for ages. Archie
agrees grumpily.
They get to Somerton beach
and exit the tram. Archie asks what they are doing there and Phryne
says going paddling or at least she is. Phryne heads down to where
Hammond first saw the man and dug in the sand. Phryne says she
wondered why the man would sit there and also where he would leave
something valuable to him and there's nowhere safer than under your
feet. Phryne scrapes away the sand and finds a suitcase. She tells
Archie to lift it carefully as these things are sometime booby
trapped but there appears to be no wires coming from it.
Phryne asks Archie is he
will open it but he says no as he notices thick yellow smoke coming
from the case. He tells them he would never have got it open as they
always contain a phosphorus bomb to destroy the contents but he is
not worried as he knows the contents would have been cheques from
prominent members of the Melbourne Irish community.
Hammond asks what will
happen to the murderer and Archie says he will get his comeuppance at
some point. She then asks about the Taman Shud mystery and he tells
her it will remain a mystery but her police work has been essential
and he expects to see her rise high in her profession quite soon.
Archie then asks Phryne if she would care to have lunch with him but
she tells him she has another engagement and takes Dulcie Hammond for
a quiet drink and a good lunch.
After lunch Phryne heads
home and pours herself a good glass of red wine. She recalls Keanes
smug looking face and realises it has lost its intensity. She then
call forth the image of the German soldier and realises she no longer
feels pains about the incident. So although the Taman Shud incident
had a disappointing ending it obliterated bad memories from her mind.
Phryne was lying in the sun
sipping wine when she receives a telegraph from Bernard
congratulating her and telling her that the last phrase in Rubaiyat
Taman Shud means an unsolvable mystery and asking her to come back to
him soon.
Phyrne picks up her copy of
the Rubaiyat opening it a random and reading a paragraph and then
calls Marie for more wine
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