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done nothing
wrong. But sweat glands and nerves seldom respond to logic. I knew that well
enough from being on the questioning side of an interrogation.
    “Can we begin with why you were on the Queen this
afternoon?” Delaney asked. “According to my notes, you live in South Carolina.”
    I took a steadying breath. At least the first answer was
easy. I explained I was on vacation, visiting May and Ross Carr, my aunt and
cousin. I’d agreed to waitress last minute as a favor to Ross.
    The sheriff scribbled a note, then pinned me with a cold
stare. “Why weren’t you on the guest list for the party?”
    Huh? Where did that question come from?
    “I’d met Jake Olsen once at the Maritime Museum. We weren’t
friends. He had no reason to invite me.”
    The sheriff’s eyebrows lifted. “Yes, but I’m told you and
Mrs. Olsen are long-time friends. Why didn’t she invite you?”
    “Friends who hadn’t seen each other in literally decades. I
had no idea she’d married Jake Olsen, and Darlene didn’t know I was in town.”
    The sheriff tapped his pen on his notepad. “Okay, let’s talk
about your actions on the Queen. Did you serve any food or beverages to Mr.
Olsen?”
    The man was getting my Irish up. I felt my cheeks flame—an
early-warning sign I’m angry. Was the sheriff suggesting I’d poisoned my
friend’s husband?
    “Yes, I brought a tray of champagne flutes to a group that
included Darlene and her husband. Mr. Olsen helped himself to a glass of the
bubbly. Darlene took a glass from that same tray. As far as I know, no one else
who drank the champagne fell over dead.”
    A small smile tugged at the corner of Delaney’s mouth,
pleased he’d ruffled me. Probably figured I’d say something stupid and confess
in a fit of pique. I willed myself to calm down and smiled. I could play that
game, too.
    “According to eyewitnesses, Mr. Olsen finished the champagne
you provided just before his collapse,” Delaney said.
    “How interesting.” I looked directly into the sheriff’s cold
gray eyes.
    “Yes, it is.” My return stare didn’t coax the sheriff to
blink. “Now, tell me how you came to leap into the water just seconds after Mr.
Olsen fell overboard.”
    “I was headed down the stairs to the galley when I saw a
body fall from the top deck. I recently found a drowning victim—a friend. I
couldn’t bear the thought of someone else dying that way without making an
effort to save him.”
    The sheriff kept his gaze locked on mine. “Save him, huh? At
least two eyewitnesses seem to think your ‘lifesaving’ efforts pushed Mr.
Olsen’s head under water.”
    My fingers squeezed the pillow I longed to throw in
Delaney’s face. “Nonsense. The man was floating facedown when I reached him. I
flipped him over and held his head above water until the lifeboat reached us.
Unfortunately he was dead when I reached him.”
    Delaney looked up from his scribbling with a raised eyebrow.
“What makes you so certain? Care to venture a guess on what killed him? Poison,
maybe?”
    “I haven’t the faintest, Sheriff. Is that all? If you’re
going to play bad cop, can we do it later? I have a friend who just lost a
husband. She needs me.”
    Delaney snapped his notebook shut and picked up the
recorder. “Fine. I hope you don’t plan to leave town.”
    “Not for two weeks. I’m staying with my aunt, May Carr. You
can contact me there after tonight.”
    I stood and walked out without a backward glance. How did
the sheriff come up with the notion I had a nefarious motive for my dive into
the lake? Talk about ridiculous.
    A possibility dawned. Not how, who.
    Quentin Hamilton. He’d be all too happy to seize innuendo
and make me a suspect.
    I rejoined Darlene on the patio. We talked and watched the
lake until darkness drove us indoors. I didn’t share the sheriff’s insulting
questions. No need to upset my friend more. Jake was dead before I reached him.
That meant no one could pin a drowning on me. And, even if