Read It's a Sin to Kill for Free Online

right.”
    State’s Attorney Keely had been in Orlando. This was thefirst session he’d sat in on. “How much you got on him, Bill?” he asked White.
    White said, “Everything but the body.” He fingered through the papers on his clipboard. “The lab reports that the blood on his skivy and that on the carpet in the main cabin of the
Sea Bird
are both B RH Positive.”
    â€œThat’s Mrs. Camden’s classification?”
    â€œWe don’t know yet,” White said. “We’re hoping it’s one of the things that Mr. Camden can tell us.”
    â€œYou’ve contacted him then?”
    â€œThis morning. Long distance. He’s on his way down.” Sheriff White looked at his watch. “He should get in any time.” White continued: “We found this money under the pad of one of the bunks of the
Sally
. We found a gun in the head of the
Sea Bird
with two expended shells. Ames’s right hand shows powder burns. Mrs. Camden’s maid, a French girl by the name of Celeste, has positively identified Ames as the man she saw aboard the
Sea Bird
.”
    â€œI admit I was there,” Ames said.
    Neither man paid any attention to him. “Is the maid still in the station?” Keely asked.
    â€œI think she is,” White said. “I didn’t know if you’d get back t’night or not, so I brought her in to have her make a deposition.” He looked at one of the officers standing against the wall. “See if Mrs. Camden’s maid is still here, will you, Harry?”
    â€œSure thing, Sheriff,” the plainclothesman said.
    White looked at Ames. “Look, Charlie. I’m just as tired as you are. You know without me telling you that you’re in a bad jam. The way I got it over the phone, Camden is the kind of guy who’ll spend a lot of money, if necessary, to nail this thing on you.
    â€œYou’re a local boy. I knew your old man. I liked him. I like you. I like Mary Lou. I’d hate to see you go to the chair. I know what these rich dames are like. I been sheriff twenty years. I could tell you things that would pop your eyes. Up north they may belong t’the D.A.R. and teach Sunday school every Sunday. But when they git down heah they’s a lot of ‘em throw away their morals with their girdles. They think jist because they got dough they can buy any husky young guy an’ for some reason they go strong for charter boat captains.
    â€œYou want me t’tell you what I think happened?” Whitecontinued without waiting for Ames to speak. “Mrs. Camden’s had three husbands. She’s married to a fourth. That’s the tipoff right there. She was one of them nymphe. And your story about drinking coffee is a lot o’ crap. You’re a good-lookin’ guy, Charlie. You’re young. You’ve been around. Mrs. Camden knew Mary Lou works at the Beach Club until almost four in the morning. She showed up at the
Sally
with a bottle and a yen for you. You got stinkin’ drunk together. Then, afraid Mary Lou might come home earlier than you expected, you moved the party to the
Sea Bird
. You had a hell of a time. The condition of the cabin proves it. Then, like drunks will, you got to quarreling. You knew she had a lot of money. You want a new boat. You tried to get her to buy you one. But she was a good business woman and you weren’t
that
good.
    â€œShe laughed at you an’ hit made you mad. You had a tussle. During it, she took her gun out of that little cabinet by the bunk. You tried to take hit away from her an’ hit went off twice an’ kilt her. You didn’t mean for hit t’happen but she was dead. You got scared. You did the first thing that come to your mind. You threw her body overboard, knowin’ the tide was runnin’ out an’ would carry hit out into the Gulf.”
    Ames said, tight-lipped, “Then I let her maid see me and I picked up five