Free Cut and Run by Donn Cortez

two are hilarious,” said Alexx. “You should take your act on the road, maybe do the cruise ship circuit.”
    â€œDon’t have the time,” said Wolfe. “I have witnesses to interview.” He glanced at Delko. “None of which can breathe underwater.”
    â€œGo,” said Delko. “At least the fish jokes will stop.”
    â€œOnly until I get back,” said Wolfe. “Then it starts aaaall over again…”
    Wolfe left the autopsy theater and headed for the interview rooms. He’d asked that the survivors of the attack meet with him there individually after giving their initial statements; he wanted to test each of their stories separately, see how consistent they were.
    First up was Jillian Kastel, one of the working girls who was trapped in the freezer. She was a tall woman, with sharp Slavic features and dark hair with violet highlights. She had regained some of her poise since the last time Wolfe had seen her, and now regarded him with a mixture of icy politeness and slight amusement, her back straight as a lamppost.
    â€œMs. Kastel,” said Wolfe, sitting down across from her. “I was wondering if I could just ask you a few more questions to clear up some details.”
    â€œI’ll tell you what I told the other officer,” said Kastel. Her voice was deep and rich, with just a hint of Eastern Europe in it. “I didn’t see a thing. I was with Mister Dragoslav in his cabin when the shooting started. He told me to follow him and we ran into the galley, then hid in the meat locker. We heard more shooting, then it stopped.”
    Wolfe glanced down at his notes. “Right. And you were in there for how long?”
    â€œAbout half an hour. Then there was a big impact and we were all thrown to the floor. I thought we’d been rammed.”
    â€œWeren’t you worried the boat might sink?”
    She gave him a cool, appraising look before answering. “I was, yes. But Mister Dragoslav calmed us down, assured us that if that were the case he would be able to tell.”
    â€œYou must have a lot of faith in him.”
    â€œHe is a…persuasive man.”
    â€œAnd a generous one?”
    Her eyes became noticeably colder. “Very.”
    â€œSo, after half an hour you’re still in the freezer. You’re not sinking, so you must know you’ve run aground. You still don’t come out, even after the boat is searched by police officers—why?”
    â€œIt was Mister Dragoslav’s decision. He said he thought the pirates—”
    â€œâ€”might be trying to trick you, right. That doesn’t really hold up. I mean, waiting a half hour, sure, that I could see. But after you’ve run aground? Dragoslav must have known you were safe at that point.”
    â€œI don’t know. He wanted to wait. We didn’t start calling for help until we tried the door and found out the crash had jammed it.”
    Wolfe nodded. He thought he understood—Dragoslav’s plan had been to slip ashore without alerting the police, if at all possible. “So, I understand how you and Dragoslav wound up in there. How about everyone else?”
    â€œMrs. Faustino was in the galley with the chef—they followed us in. The other girls were with me and Mister Dragoslav.”
    Wolfe raised his eyebrows. “All four of you?”
    She gave him a tolerant smile. “As I said—he’s very generous.”
    â€œSo this isn’t the first time you’ve… entertained Mister Dragoslav.”
    â€œI don’t see how that’s relevant.”
    â€œJust trying to establish the nature of your relationship, Ms. Kastel.”
    â€œIs there anything else? I’ve told you everything I know.”
    â€œOh, I doubt it.” Wolfe gave her a smile as cold as her own. “But I’m used to that. And you know what? I wind up finding things out, anyway.”
    The next woman he talked to was a