Free Free Fall in Crimson by John D. MacDonald

patient!"
    That night in Annie's cabana, she had thrown a pale green towel over the lampshade. It gave the room an underwater look.
    The fan overhead made a small ticking sound. The waves were louder. A mockingbird tried silvery improvisations. She was saying, "And so, of course, Sam couldn't believe that any of his people were stealing. It had to be my people. He acted as if he was doing me a big favor, checking that big order item by item. But then the discrepancies began to show up. Short cases, opened and resealed. And his face sagged and his voice got tired. I felt so sorry for him. All his people have been with him for years and years, and he has been so good to them. And it did look as if one person couldn't have done it. It had. to be two working together. I got credits on the other shortages we had picked up. He was really depressed when we left. I found myself Page 26

    wishing I wasn't a boss. But not for long. Not for long. You talked with Dr. Mullen, I hear."
    "Had a nice chat. Have you got a fantastic pelvic structure?"
    "My God! I don't know. You mean for babies. Well, I'd have a little problem, I guess. I always heard I would. My mother had two Cesarian deliveries. Why?"
    "Would you be prepared to watch your final child graduate from college when you are sixty-five?"
    "Hell, no! He can carry his diploma home to his poor old mom. What is this about, darling?"
    So I told her the conversation with Prescott Mullen. At first she was incredulous. Was I sure he wasn't joshing? When I convinced her that he was totally serious, deadly serious, in fact, she went into something close to hysteria. That then subsided into a giggling fit, and that turned into hiccups.
    "Poor big old brood mare-hic-can hear him saying-hic-roll over, Marcie Jean-hic-time to start number six-hic. And I wanted to get myself into a deal like that?-hic. Oh, God."
    I poured her more wine, and she sat on the edge of the bed to drink it out of the far side of the glass, holding it in two hands like a child. There was a pale narrow stripe across her back matching the pallor of her buttocks.
    She lay back again, saying, "All gone. Thanks."
    "Were you there when he gave Ellis the argument about maybe he should try hash or LSD for pain?"
    "Oh, yes. The last time he saw him. In June."
    "Did you know Ellis was in pain?"
    "I didn't know how much. He'd get up in the night and go up on deck. Sometimes he would get up from a meal and go walking. His face would twist. But he wouldn't let it twist if he knew you were watching. Prescott told me Ellis was probably in a lot of pain. After Prescott had gone back north, I tried to get Ellis to do what he had suggested. But he got angry with me. He wouldn't listen. He said he wasn't going to baby himself. He said he was not going to turn into a junky at the very end of his life. He said it was demeaning."
    "After talking it over, both Dr. Mullen and I have the feeling he went up there to Citrus City to make a buy. We think that was what the long-distance phone call was about."
    "But wouldn't it take more money than he had?"
    "What makes you think he had only two hundred dollars, more or less?"
    "But I took checks to the bank! I knew what we had and what we needed. I paid the bills. I made the deposits."
    "Let me ask it another way, Annie."
    "I've never let anybody else in my life call me Annie except you."
    "After he was killed, it was up to you to go through everything on the boat. You and the man from the bank. Tell me this. Did you come across anything-anything at all-which led you to believe that maybe there were some money matters you didn't know about?"
    "How did you know about that?"
    "Know about what?"
    "The Krugerrands. Those big gold coins from South Africa, guaranteed one ounce of pure gold in each one."
    "I didn't know about them at all. I just had the idea that he was the kind of man who would have to keep secrets from everybody, even you."
    "There were ten of them. Worth, I don't know, five or six