Murder Walks the Plank by Carolyn Hart Page A

She’d never, ever do anything like that.” How could she make Billy understand that Pamela never met a rule she hadn’t embraced? “She’d rather die than cause a public scene.”
    Mavis cleared her throat. “Maybe she felt sick. Or faint. Maybe she started to fall and she slipped between the railings.”
    Billy squinted his eyes in thought. “A chest-high wooden rail runs from stanchion to stanchion and knee-high metal rails. I don’t see how anyone could fall accidentally.”
    Ben scratched at his bristly jaw. “Looked to me like she must of come off that portion of the deck by the upper lifeboat—and that’s behind a chain. Ain’t nobody got no cause to climb over that chain.”
    â€œLook”—Annie shoved a hand through her hair—
    â€œwhy don’t we check it out? Ask people who were near that spot?”
    â€œI expect someone would already have spoken up if she’d been seen. And Ben knows his boat. If he’s right,she must have jumped.” Billy spoke with authority, a man who’d covered a lot of accident scenes. “You say she wasn’t the kind for a big scene. Likely she waited until the deck was empty and then she got over the rail. But we can try.” His tone was equable. He flung up a meaty hand, gestured. “Hey, Cole, come over for a minute.”
    Cole Crandall stiffened. He looked like a truant summoned to the principal’s office, wild-eyed and nervous. “Yeah?”
    Billy waved his hand again. “You were closest to the spot where she went over.”
    Cole Crandall moved slowly across the saloon. He stopped a few feet away from Billy. “Yeah?” He hunched his thin shoulders, jammed his hands deep in the pockets of baggy black shorts. He averted his face from the table and its still burden.
    â€œOkay, son.” Billy was reassuring. “Tell us what you saw.”
    Cole licked his lips. “I didn’t see her. ” He emphasized the pronoun, but he wouldn’t look at the table. His face wrinkled in a puzzled frown. “Most people had gone in to get food. There wasn’t anything going on where I was. I was between those two lifeboats. I kept walking up and down the deck, but there wasn’t anybody out there. Anyway, it was real hot and I decided to go get a Pepsi. I must have been inside when she went overboard. I’d just stepped back on the deck when everybody started yelling.” He rubbed his cheek with his knuckles. “I looked and she was in the air.” He ducked his head toward the floor.
    Annie had a sudden, hideous picture: Pamela head down, plummeting toward the water. Annie reached out a hand. “How did she fall?” Her words came fast. “Was it a jump? Like somebody leaping from a diving board? You know, hands up in the air, feet first toward the water? Or was it a real dive? Was she screaming?”
    The teenager took a step back, shaking his head. “She was turning over and her arms and legs kind of flopped. She wasn’t making any noise. There were screams, but they were coming”—he waved his hand—“from the front of the boat.”
    Annie swung toward Billy. “That means she was already unconscious.” Annie struggled for understanding. If Pamela didn’t jump—and she didn’t—and if Pamela didn’t fall—and why should she?—and if Pamela was unconscious when she went over the rail, then Pamela was pushed.
    But Billy’s face was placid. “Looks like she bumped her head as she went down.” His eyes squeezed in thought. “Yeah. Say she took a leap and her feet went out from under her so her head came down on the rail. That knocked her out and she fell like a dummy.” His nod at Cole was approving. “Anyway, you didn’t see anybody near the spot where she went over. Right?”
    Cole rocked back and forth on his sneakered feet. “You mean,