Free Death of a Hot Chick by Norma Huss

lady
friend?”
    Slim grinned, but he didn’t answer, just
kept on rubbing teak, changing rags often.
    “ Want me to sand the next bit?” I
asked, and with his nod, I started working. The two of us worked
easily together, and Slim would talk when he wanted, not before.
However, he didn’t mind a bit of chatter.
    “ I’m fixing up my boat. Snapdragon . Takes a lot of
money.”
    “ Yeah. Heard that.”
    He had already known? “Just curious. Who
told you?”
    Slim started whistling, but he didn’t
answer. Twenty minutes later, he said, “You want some water? I got
me my thermos here.”
    “ Sure.”
    As he poured, he said, “You know her,
too.”
    Aha. He couldn’t keep quiet, but was this an
answer to my question? “Yeah?”
    “ That newspaper gal that just got that
there night-time column.”
    “ Teddy! She’s the lady friend?” Not
the secret source of knowledge.
    Slim gulped water before he answered. “Yep.
She done me a favor once. Put in a word for me, she did.”
    I didn’t ask. “Good to have friends like
that.”
    “ You bet. And she likes to hear stuff
I hear. Lotta times she puts it in the paper.”
    “ She’s always looking for stories.” I
brushed sawdust off the teak. “Do you want the deck sanded and
varnished?”
    “ No varnish, the guy said. Just oil.
Some more teak along this here way.” He picked up supplies, and
added, “I told her about your boat, you know.”
    I gathered my supplies and followed Slim.
“That I have it, you mean?”
    “ Nah. I din’t know t’was yours then.
Told her about that there fool Chester. He thinks that uncle of his
wants the boat back just because it’s a boat.”
    We’d moved around to another area of
weather-beaten teak. I chose a square of sandpaper. Slim was
finally eager to talk and I wanted to hear it all.
    “ And he doesn’t?“ I didn’t look
up.
    “ Way I see it, Pop got some kinda
secret hid in that boat.” Slim lined up his supplies.
    “ Like loot or something?”
    Slim started sanding. “You got it.”
    “ And Chester doesn’t know it? But
Teddy does.” And now I did, too. Just a rumor, or an actual fact?
Had Nicole known about any supposed loot in the boat? Maybe she
believed the rumor, told someone. Looked for it—found it, or didn’t
find anything. Was that why she’d been killed? “So, what else do
you tell Teddy?”
    “ Oh, stuff. Like who goes off for a
weekend. You know.”
    “ Uh-huh.” Like maritime shack up, I
guessed.
    “ Maybe what Monty says.”
    So, what could Bayside’s marina manager say
to interest Teddy? “Yeah?”
    Slim poured more teak oil on the wood and
rubbed a good five minutes before he answered. “Monty didn’t want
that little lobster trawler you got staying in his marina. Not
after Chester got rid of her. I figure, ’cause of Pop. ’Course, he
didn’t tell that Nicole gal any of that.” Slim cackled, pleased
with some secret joke. “Told her about a million things, he did.
About a convention of boats coming in. About a big down-payment for
new contracts. About a waiting list a mile long. Don’t remember
what all.”
    I smiled and nodded to encourage Slim. “Then
he told you?”
    “ He don’t tell me nothing. He got a
loud voice and I got ears, is all.”
    ~ ~
    Kaye’s voice came from outside. “It’s later.
I’m here.”
    Later was right. I’d just put my supper
dishes away. I opened the door and said, “You’re supposed to say,
‘Permission to come aboard.’ And then I say, ‘It’s too late.’ ”
    “ I brought pineapple upside-down cake
and a thermos of hot chocolate,” Kaye said as she waltzed past me
and into my floating home.
    “ Okay. So, what do you want
now?”
    “ You are so suspicious.”
    “ No more than usual.” I got two forks
and two mugs. I’d pay, one way or another, but I couldn’t pass up
Kaye’s home-made goodies. “You will join me, right?”
    “ Just the hot chocolate.” Kaye swirled
the thermos, then filled the two cups. “I had my