"I hope my friends can find a few nicer things to say about me when my time comes," Captain Hackett said as he and Tobin walked along the deck back to Tobin's cabin. "You noticed that, huh?"
"He wasn't nearly as much of a jerk as most people thought."
"Sure he dumped his wife but how could that possibly help her have a stroke?"
The captain said, "I don't suppose he did much worse to that little handicapped boy who wet his pants than slap him a time or two." He pawed at a chin in need of a shave. "Was he really that much of a jerk?"
"You're asking the wrong guy."
"Why?"
"Because he was unpleasant to me. He let it be known that he considered me a very weak guest panelist and he treated me accordingly. Plus he made jokes about my height."
"Oh, yes. They call you 'Yosemite Sam.' I think my wife told me that."
"I love that name."
"Are you serious?"
"What do you think?"
They walked on a bit. The night was beautiful, the ocean endless, the thrum of powerful engines reassuring evidence of man's illusory dominance over the ocean.
"You don't think she did it, do you?"
"No," Tobin said. "And based on how everybody reacted tonight-Sure he was a wife-beating, child-molesting, embezzling sonofabitch but deep down all he needed was old-fashioned love-I'd say there are at least several other equally good suspects."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning that if we look beneath the surface, we'll probably find all sorts of reasons he was killed-by one of them."
Captain Hackett sighed. "It just wouldn't make sense that she didn't kill him."
"Of course it would. She'd be the perfect setup."
They reached Tobin's cabin. "They really didn't seem to be very moved by his death, did they?"
Tobin smiled. "I remember back in 1953, when I was very young. I was over at a friend's house watching TV-they were the only people on the block with a set-and news came that Stalin had died. They interrupted 'Mr. Peepers.' I've never forgotten it. Everybody was euphoric because Stalin had died. It seemed as if everything in the world was going to be all right." He nodded back toward the lounge. "I kind of had that same sense tonight, didn't you?"
"Nothing you could prove," the captain said.
Tobin said, "Not yet, anyway.”