Stuart Woods - Dead In The Water

"It's seven-fifteen," Burrows said. "We have to set up for our eight o'clock interview."

Stone shook his head. "I haven't finished breakfast yet, and I don't know if Allison is even up." Suddenly he felt a naked body slither between his legs and up the ladder behind him. "Why don't you go back to the Shipwright's Arms, have some breakfast, and come back at eight?" He heard Allison sneaking across the cockpit behind him, then the rattle of his boarding ladder, followed by a tiny splash. He stepped off his boat, crossed the pontoon, hopped into the cockpit of the larger yacht, and yelled down the hatch. "Allison, you up yet?" He pretended to listen for a moment, then looked up at the television crew. "She's up, but nowhere near ready," he said. "Come back at eight."

The disappointed crew turned and began walking back toward the pub. As Stone stood in the cockpit, Allison climbed up the stern ladder into the cockpit and, soaking wet, slipped past him and down the companionway ladder.

"I don't know if I can be ready by eight," she said, laughing.

"You'd bloody well better be," he muttered, refusing to look at her.

"If we hurry, we could get in a quickie before they come back," she said, pulling the hair on his legs.

"Ouch! I'm getting back to my boat right now. You get yourself together." He fled the yacht and went back to his own.

At eight o'clock sharp he emerged, dressed, to find the crew standing on the dock, waiting. "Just a minute," he said, I'll see if she's ready.

As he spoke, Allison climbed into her own cockpit, wearing a sleeveless cotton dress that showed off her tan, yet made her look like a high school senior. "Good morning!" she cried, delivering a dazzling smile. "I'm Allison; come aboard, all of you."

As the crew climbed aboard, Stone took deep breaths and tried to get his pulse rate back down to normal.

I must be crazy, Stone thought as the interview began. I've let this girl go on TV, before an audience of millions and at the mercy of a reporter on her first assignment who would kill for a success, which she might not define as I would, and with no preparation whatever. He watched from the pontoon as Chris Wheaton tossed Allison a few softball questions to relax her, then tensed as the real questioning began. Jim Forrester from The New Yorker had shown up and was sitting quietly beyond camera range, listening and taking notes.

"Allison," Chris Wheaton said, sounding really interested, "when you and Paul left the Canary Islands and set sail for home, how much sailing experience had you, personally, had?"

"Well, I had sailed across the Atlantic and around Europe with Paul, but he had always done the sailing. The boat was rigged for single handing so he took care of that, and I just kept house-or boat, I guess."

"So how was it, after Paul's death, that you managed to sail this very large yacht all the way across the Atlantic all by yourself?"

Allison launched into an explanation of how she had learned enough celestial navigation to find her latitude and how she had managed the sails by using only the main most of the time.

Wheaton seemed fascinated by her reply and satisfied with her answer. Forrester seemed almost to be taking a transcript of the proceedings. Wheaton continued with questions about the sailing of the boat, and Allison grew visibly more relaxed. Then Wheaton changed tack, and Stone knew that the questions were not coming in the order in which they would appear in the edited version of the interview. Wheaton probed the depths of Allison's marriage to Paul Manning, taking her over and over the same ground, looking for what might appear to be a motive for murder. To Stone's surprise, Allison stood up to it beautifully, genuinely seeming to try to answer every question put to her, holding nothing back.

When a halt was called for the first change of tape, Wheaton turned to Stone. "You want a break?"

Stone looked at Allison and she shook her head imperceptibly. "No," Stone replied. "Go ahead."

Wheaton got the signal from her producer; she turned back to Allison. "Allison, how much life insurance did your husband have?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Allison replied. "Ashore, the division of our lives was pretty much the same as at sea. He handled the business, I handled the house. I never made an investment, bought a life insurance policy,or even wrote a check, unless it was for groceries or clothes. Paul had people who handled the business end his career, and they're sorting out the estate now, I guess, and when they tell me where I stand, then I'll know. I'm told it will be some weeks before it's all figured out. I do know from what Paul said in passing that although he owned an expensive house and boat, they have large mortgages on them, so I don't know yet what will be left when everything is settled."

"Are you going to keep the big house in Greenwich and this beautiful yacht?"

Allison shrugged. "The house was always too big for even the two of us, since we didn't have any kids, and I don't know if I would want to live there alone; I just haven't thought that far ahead. As far as the boat is concerned, what would I do with it? Anyway, the memories are too painful; I don't think I could ever sail on her again without Paul." She brushed away a tear. Perfect, Stone thought.

There were two more changes of tape before the interview ended, but Allison kept going. Apart from an occasional sip of orange juice, she never paused. Finally, they were done, and the crew began to pack up their equipment. Allison chatted idly with Chris Wheaton and Jim Forrester, answering questions about her yacht.

"It's nice to see you again, Jim," Allison said. "Paul and I enjoyed your company in Las Palmas, and we were sorry not to know you were in Puerto Rico until we saw you as we were leaving port."

"I was sorry, too, Allison," the journalist replied. "Do you think we could get together later today or early tomorrow for a few minutes? I have some more things to ask you."

"I'm sure we can," she replied. "Let me talk to Stone about my schedule, and I'll get back to you. Where are you staying?"

"At the Shipwright's Arms."

"Good. I'll call you."

Wheaton and Burrows thanked her for her time and, with Jim Forrester, left the boat. As they were walking up the pontoon, Chris Wheaton stopped and spoke quietly to Stone. "That was some performance," she said. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I'm glad it went well," Stone replied. "You should be able to get an awfully good segment out of that."

"You bet I will," Wheaton said, then she looked back at Allison, who was standing in the cockpit, looking out over the harbor, sipping her orange juice. "She's really something," she said. "You won't have any trouble getting her off."

"I wish I could believe that," Stone said, "but from what I've seen so far, I think the odds are heavily against her. Sir Winston Sutherland wants her neck in a noose, for whatever reason, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to stop him."

Wheaton looked at him closely. "Jesus," she said with wonder, "you really think she's innocent, don't you?"

Stone looked at her in amazement. "Of course I do; after all that questioning, don't you?"

"Not for a minute," Wheaton replied. "Listen, over the years I've interviewed a couple of hundred people who were either accused of murder or who had just been convicted or acquitted; I learned to tell the guilty from the innocent, and let me tell you, not more than ten of them were innocent." She pointed her chin at Allison. "And she's not one of them."

"Show me one hole in her story," Stone said.

"There isn't one. But she's guilty just the same. Call a woman-to-woman thing, if you like, but I look in those beautiful blue eyes and I know."

"Is that what you're going to say on 60 Minutes?"