It's a Sin to Kill Read Online Free Page B

you don’t remember anything after drinking a cup of coffee with Mrs. Camden?”
    â€œTwo cups of coffee.”
    â€œWas she carrying a purse?”
    â€œI don’t remember.”
    â€œDid she say anything about money?”
    â€œJust in connection with me skippering the
Sea Bird
up to Baltimore.”
    Mary Lou fingered the bills again. “Hmm.”
    Ames returned his fingers to the edge of the bunk. “Then you believe me?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Mary Lou said. She studied her husband’s deeply tanned face. “You might cheat on me, Charlie, even loving me as you do, or say you do. That’s the way men are. It’s the way men are made, I guess.” Her wet gray eyes continued to search his face. “But I know you’re not a thief. And you’re worried, aren’t you?”
    â€œYes,” Ames admitted. “I am.”
    â€œHow much blood was there in the cabin of the
Sea Bird?
”
    â€œEnough. The carpet was soaked with it.”
    â€œSplattered around? Like there’d been a fight?”
    â€œNo. Just on the carpet.”
    â€œDo you remember fighting with anyone?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œAre there any marks on you?”
    â€œNo.”
    Mary Lou was practical. She blew her nose and said,“Well, sitting here worrying isn’t going to get us anywhere. The thing for us to do is to find out where Mrs. Camden is now and have a talk with her, ask her if she knows where this money came from.”
    She lit the burner under the coffee pot. “Are you too sick or can you keep a cup of coffee on your stomach?”
    Ames stood up, indignant. As always, he bumped his head on the low ceiling. He spoke through a blur of pain. “Goddamn it, Mary Lou. I wasn’t drunk last night. I wasn’t even drinking. Of course, I can keep a cup of coffee on my stomach. I’m not sick. I’m scared.”
    â€œOf what?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    When the coffee was hot, Mary Lou filled a mug and handed it to him. “Drink this. It may help.”
    Ames gulped the hot coffee. It tasted good. It melted the bitter film in his mouth and dissolved the lump in his stomach.
    Mary Lou put the wad of bills under the thin pad on the bunk. “For now. I only wished it belonged to us.”
    Ames drained the mug and set it in the small sink. “I don’t know if I do or not.”
    He followed Mary Lou into the cockpit of the
Sally
. The condensation had dried. The sun was high enough to be warm. The
putt-putt
of the two cycle motor that supplied water to the bait well reminded Ames he was due to shove off with a charter party at eight o’clock. Ames looked at his watch. It was seven forty-six. His “sports” would arrive any minute. The
putt-putt
sounded like it was laboring. Ames adjusted the carburetor and wiped his greasy fingers on the leg of his dungarees.
    â€œHow about my charter party?”
    Mary Lou said, “Give it to one of the boys who is not booked. I don’t think the
Falcon’s
going out.”
    As she scrambled up on the pier, Ames caught a flash of slim well formed legs and satin soft thighs. His pulse beat a little faster. Most of his headache went away. Mary Lou had a prettier body than Mrs. Camden could possibly have. Mrs. Camden was forty, at least. She admitted to being thirty-five. She was currently working on her fourth husband. He’d had nothing to do with the blonde woman. Ames was positive of that. He hoped.
    He followed Mary Lou. Four boats down the basin ShepRoberts was sitting in the cockpit of the
Falcon
. His feet were propped on his empty bait well as he sat squinting under the brim of his dirty white captain’s cap at the hopeful fishermen on the high catwalk running the length of the pier that spanned the pass.
    Ames asked, “How’d you like a charter, Shep?”
    Shep spoke without turning his head. “Ain’t got no