doorway slowly and cautiously.
David was sitting on the floor of the cabin, just inside the door. He had a blue-and-white marble in his hand. Frank saw dozens more marbles scattered across the polished planks.
The crew member sat up. Frank recognized him.He had handled the mooring line during their departure the day before. âWoo!â he said, rubbing the back of his head. âWhat hit me?â
âYou slipped on a marble,â David told him. âSorry about that, ahâwhat was your name again?â
âChuck . . . Chuck Arneson,â the guy replied. âWeâd better pick these up before somebody cracks their skull. Howâd they spill anyway?â
âI can make a pretty good guess,â David said. He got to his feet and massaged his hip.
From behind Frank and Joe, a tiny voice said, âDaddy? I have something to tell you.â
David sighed. âYes, Evan? What is it?â
Evan slipped past Frank and Joe. âWell . . . I heard you and Frank and Joe talking about robbers,â he said. âAnd I was afraid a bad guy would come in our room. So I put my marbles on the floor to make him fall.â
âIt worked,â David said with grim humor.
âI would have told you,â Evan continued. âBut I didnât know where you were. And then I went up to breakfast and I sort of forgot. Iâm sorry. Are you okay?â
âIâm fine,â David said. He reached over and tousled his sonâs hair. âBut next time, check with me before you set any traps for bad guys. Okay?â
Evan grinned with relief. âYou bet!â
Frank and Joe helped pick up the marbles. Then they returned to the salon with David and Evan. David carried an envelope in his hand. The room fell silent as they went in.
âIâve looked over your solutions to last nightâs crime,â David announced. âThey are all worthy tries. Iâm going to post them on the bulletin board next to the stairs for you to read. Then, in ten or fifteen minutes, weâll come together again to talk about the results.â
The five finalists barely waited for David to tack up the entries before they clustered around to read them. Meanwhile, Lisa cornered Joe. She wanted to know what the commotion had been about earlier. He told her about Evanâs marbles. She asked for a preview of the scores in the contest. Joe admitted he had no idea.
Lisa wanted his general reactions to the voyage so far. Joe talked about the boat, the sea, the weather, and the great group of contestants. He aimed his words at Lisaâs tape recorder. In his head, however, he was focused on the mystery of the intruder from the night before. Finally he muttered an excuse and went to look for Frank. He found him on the afterdeck.
âNotice anything?â Frank murmured. âNo anguished cries from anyone whose entry was altered.â
âSo either nothing was changed or our visitor last night came to touch up his own entry,â Joe replied.
Frank nodded. âThatâs what it looks like. Unless . . . I canât stop thinking we were meant to notice that someone had fiddled with the entries. But why?â
Joe had the feeling an answer to Frankâs question was lurking just out of sight. Suddenly he snapped his fingers. âHow about this? One of the contestantswas sure heâd messed up. So he decided to push us into throwing out the results. That way his poor showing wouldnât hurt him. Or her, of course.â
âThat fits,â Frank said slowly. âThe funny part is, from what David said, everybody did about the same. So breaking into our cabin was wasted effort.â
âBut whoever did it couldnât have known that.â Joe glanced inside. âSpeaking of David, it looks like heâs ready to start.â
Joe and Frank returned to the salon. David gave them a nod and a smile. Then he said, âThe setup last
Learning to Kill: Stories