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hair was really remarkable, white hair so strong and thick, so perfectly white it seemed that that was what hair was meant to be, and any other color not quite right. "--That's how all men are killed at sea, Mrs. Reed, except in wartime. There's a mistake, then just one more thing happens, and that's that."
    "All right. ... All right. I happen to know that wasn't true with Frank, but you think I'm just being ridiculous."
    "No, I don't. I think--"
    "Oh the hell you don't!"
    Cold blue eyes, now. "If you'll just be quiet a minute, Mrs. Reed. I'll tell you what I do think. ... I think you're trying to make some sense out of a tragedy. That such a terrible thing could have happened by just a little carelessness, by just a stupid accident. And what I've been trying to tell you is that most terrible things happen just that way."
    "And that's it--that's the only way he could have died?"
    "If you're talking about foul play, Mrs. Reed--unless you kept something back from my deputy when he talked with you about this case--if you're talking about foul play, because supposedly there was no reason for anyone to harm your husband. No money involved: no big inheritance; no big insurance; no gambling debts. And no known personal enemies." He shook his head at the lack.
    "And no ... intimate involvement with another person by either of you to cause that kind of trouble. Now, is that right, Mrs. Reed? Or do you have something else to tell me?"
    "No, I don't. I had no other "involvements," and neither did he. There was no reason for anyone to hurt Frank."

    "All right. And the county coroner and a Coast Guard physician both examined your husband--and except for a bruise at the small of his back, probably from going over the cable rail when he went, there wasn't a mark on him--and also let me tell you something, Mrs. Reed. ..." Joanna watched the chief's left hand, lying relaxed on his desk as he talked. Was there the finest tremor there? Notice that his handsome and formidable machinery was beginning to decay? There was certainly a fine tremor. ...
    "--Let me tell you, I attended the FBI Academy at Quantico. I have attended many classes and training programs with the state police. I have worked on a number of serious crimes out here through the years, very serious felonies--including homicides, you name it. They are not angels working these waters out here. And we don't always get summer tourist angels out here, either--"
    "I'm sure--"
    "So, when we get a death, we damn well check it out. I want you to understand that.--I do not take any drowning as an accident until my people have checked it out. You were asked right up front, day or two after we had to notify you--you were asked if there was any party at all who might have had an interest in harming your husband--"
    "I said there wasn't."
    "Well, if that's true, Mrs. Reed, then what are we talking about, here? Aren't we talking about an accident? Unless you want to change the statement you made."
    "No, I don't."
    "Well, then, where does that leave us, Mrs. Reed? You tell me."
    "I suppose it leaves you satisfied about Frank's making a first-time mistake, followed right away by a first-time accident. And I still don't believe it. I just ... I know it didn't happen that way. That's all. It's just something I know."
    Chief Early stood up. "Then we're wasting each other's time on this, aren't we? And frankly, I don't have any more time to waste--no offense, now. I am--"
    Hand across the desk again. "I am real sorry for your loss. These things are never ... never easy."
    "I think," Joanna said, and stood up, too. Couldn't just stay sitting there.
    "--I think some are easier than others." She didn't want to take his hand, and was angry that she did.
    Was still angry as she went down the station's steps --and furious with Frank.
    Also felt foolish for having put on a dark-blue business suit in the summer, for God's sake, to seem a proper widow for that cold policeman.--But so angry with Frank about