Dead Man Waltzing

With my stomach settling, I drifted toward the stern, drawn by the rhythmic slap of the paddle wheel slats against the water. As I approached the edge of the cabin I heard voices, low-pitched, apparently arguing. I slowed, not wanting to interrupt. Whoever the speakers were, they must be pressed up against the back of the cabin, the only wall that wasn’t glass, just around the corner from where I now stood. I was about to back away, allowing them their privacy, when I heard a single word: “Corinne.”

I stiffened. It was a man’s voice, but I didn’t recognize it. An unintelligible murmur followed, and I found myself creeping closer to the end of the cabin, hoping they wouldn’t come around the corner to find me flattened against the wall, eavesdropping. The wind died for a second and I heard a woman’s voice. Greta?

“… don’t know. Corinne never-”

The man’s voice cut her off. “We can… Turner won’t-”

Frustrated by catching only snippets of the conversation, I inched farther along the wall, just as the boat turned, plunging a bit as it came crosswise to the waves. It jolted me against the wall with a solid thud. Knowing the whispering couple must have heard the bump, I decided to reveal myself before they came looking for me. I’d brazen it out and act like I was just out for fresh air, attracted by the paddle wheel, which, I realized, had the merit of being true. I straightened my spine and stepped forward, glancing casually over my shoulder as I passed the end of the cabin, hoping to see the whispering pair.

No one huddled against the back wall. Realizing they must have gone around the far side of the cabin, I spun on my heel and slipped on the wet deck. One knee smacked into the deck, and I let out an exclamation of combined pain and frustration. By the time I regained my footing and limped around the cabin, there was no one in sight. A seagull perched on the flat roof fluffed his feathers and cocked his head at me. “Ki-yi-yi,” he jeered.

“Oh, stuff it,” I said.

The Plantation Queen had maneuvered into the small harbor area by now, and revelers began to stream from the cabin as the captain brought the boat alongside the dock. I looked for Danielle, but didn’t see her in the press of people. I’d meet up with her on the dock, I decided. It seemed like half an hour, but was really only ten minutes or so before the crew secured the boat against the dock so it bumped against tires, and maneuvered the gangway into place. Despite crew members urging people to descend the gangway slowly, to watch their step, the crowd surged forward like teenage girls pushing into a Taylor Swift concert where the seating was up for grabs.

I moved forward with the crowd, going with the flow. I was on the outer edge of the gangway, watching my feet to make sure my heels didn’t catch as they had when I boarded. So I didn’t see whose elbow jabbed me in the side, knocking me off balance so that I teetered for a moment on the edge of the plank before plunging into the murky Potomac.

Chapter 17

I barely had time to snatch a breath before I splatted into the water, fanny-first. The scummy water closed over my head. I kicked hard for the surface and felt one sandal drift away. Damn, I thought, as my head popped out of the water and I took a breath. I liked those sandals. Excited voices called from the gangway, the boat, and the dock, and a waving array of hands reached down to me. Oil slicked the water with rainbow colors, and fast-food wrappers, cigarette butts, and other trash floated around me. The ick factor outweighed any fear of drowning. I could swim and I was only feet from the shore… it wasn’t like I was in danger, except maybe from the hull of the Plantation Queen, which loomed a little too close for comfort.

Taking two strokes toward the dock, I reached up and grabbed for a helping hand at random, feeling a strong hand close over mine. A second man grasped my other arm and the two hauled me straight up from the water until my torso fell over the dock. I suspected I looked more like a half-drowned muskrat than a seductive mermaid as I sat up and slicked soggy hair off my face. “Thanks,” I gasped.

A bearded crew member, the braid on his sleeve suggesting he might be the captain, hurried over. “Are you all right, miss?”

“Fine,” I said, “although I’ve lost a shoe.”

He gave my remaining sandal a disapproving look. “Those heels are dangerous. Not suitable for boating. It’s not surprising that you tripped.”

From my dock-level perspective, I had a great view of a lot of feet, and almost all the women wore shoes just as impractical as mine. I shot the captain a look and got to my feet, pulling off my sandal so I stood barefoot on the dock. I thought about telling him that I hadn’t tripped, that I’d been pushed, but thought better of it. I’d sound like a crazy lady. There was no way I could prove someone deliberately knocked me into the water, and I had no clue who it was anyway. I accepted the towel someone handed me and wrung out my hair before draping the fluffy white cotton around my shoulders.

“Stacy!” Danielle skidded to a halt beside me. “I was still on the boat… I saw you fall. Are you okay?” Her pretty features twisted with worry and she hugged me, disregarding my soggy state. “Your dress!”

I looked down at the sodden silk clinging to my curves. “I think it’s a goner.”

“Come on. Let’s get you home.”

The captain, probably relieved that I hadn’t uttered any of the words small-business owners most dread-“sue,” “fault,” or “lawyer”-gave me a smile and promised me a free trip on the Plantation Queen anytime I wanted. I thanked him and looked around at the diminished crowd as Danielle dragged me away. I didn’t recognize anyone. Whoever had pushed me was long gone.

The rain had quit as suddenly as it started, and the sun had reappeared, turning the puddles and soaked earth into a soil-scented steam bath. Danielle signaled for a taxi, but I told her I’d rather walk. She gave in after a brief argument and we started back toward my house. I carried the lone sandal in one hand and left a trail of drips all the way home. The sidewalk’s warm bricks felt good against my bare feet.

“You might need a tetanus shot,” Danielle said as I unlocked my front door. “There’s no telling what was in that water.”

“They gave me one when I got shot,” I said, stripping to bra and undies in the foyer so I wouldn’t drip all over the hardwood floors. The scar on my left arm was still livid and I ran my fingers over it, remembering the terror I’d felt when facing a murderer with a gun. Danielle fetched a garbage bag and I reluctantly balled the dress up and stuffed it in. “I liked that dress,” I said.

“How did you slip, anyway?”

I headed for my bedroom and a warm shower, Dani trailing me. “Someone pushed me.”

“What!” Danielle settled on the bed while I disappeared into the bathroom, stripped, and got in the shower.

Warm water sluiced over me, washing away the film left by the murky Potomac. “I said someone pushed me,” I yelled over the water’s pounding.

“Are you sure? There were a lot of people trying to get down the gangplank at the same time. Maybe someone bumped you by accident.”

I stayed silent, ninety percent sure the elbow in my ribs had been deliberate. After a moment, Danielle continued, “Well, if it wasn’t an accident, who was it?”

I’d given that some thought on the walk home. “Greta or Conrad Monk,” I suggested, “or Sarah Lewis. I don’t think I knew anyone else on the boat.” Getting out of the shower, I turbaned my hair in a towel and wrapped another one around myself. I walked into the bedroom.

“I knew you shouldn’t have made up that story about having the manuscript,” Danielle said with gloomy “I told you so” satisfaction. “Someone’s already trying to bump you off.”

“Oh, please. No one tried to kill me. There were dozens of people around and the water wasn’t that deep and I was six inches from the dock. If someone had wanted to kill me, he or she would’ve done better to toss me off the boat in the middle of the Potomac and hope I couldn’t swim.”

Danielle’s silence conceded my point. Ducking into the closet, I got dressed and reappeared in shorts and a T- shirt. “What are you going to do now?” Dani asked.