And Mrs. Fry’s, Laurel thought. She held her tongue about that.
“We never exchanged more than a few words,” said Carter. “Hard to see his features now.”
“Yes, I know, but it’s Mr. Pye.”
“And you found him how exactly?”
Laurel waited until Call joined them. “I was diving. Mr. Landry threw a coin in for me to find.” She shrugged carelessly. “Something my brothers and I played at when we were children.”
Dillon heard part of this exchange. He held up a hand to show off the coin. “Found it!” he called to them. “You want it back, Call?”
“It’s yours now. You find anything else?”
Dillon shook his head, flinging water from his hair. “Sorry.”
“You might as well get out,” said Call. He turned to Carter. “I asked him to look for Pye’s saddlebag in the event it had gone into the pool along with Josey Pye.”
Carter raised both wooly eyebrows in surprise. “You think that’s likely?”
“I couldn’t rule it out.”
Before the sheriff could comment or ask another question, Laurel said, “I’ve been in contact with Mr. Stonechurch. He’s sending a doctor to examine the body.”
“Really? Looks like a drowning to me.”
“When I found him, he was attached to a rope that bound his legs.”
Call said, “You can still see the evidence that he was tied in the flesh above his ankles.”
Carter stayed hunkered and inched forward. He pulled up one of the pant legs. “Yep. There it is.” He stood, shook out stiff legs. “Where’s the rope?”
Laurel’s expression revealed guilt. “I accidentally unbound his legs when I was tugging on the rope. I broughtthe rope to the surface and Mr. Pye bobbed up behind me. I’m afraid I tossed the rope away at that point. I’m not sure why. I just did. It’s certainly downstream by now. I don’t think it serves any point to search for it.”
“Probably not.” He regarded Call. “Dillon says you’re not much of a swimmer, Mr. Landry.”
“True. Did he mention he’s been teaching me a few tricks to keep my head above water?”
“He did.” Carter adjusted the tilt of his hat, bringing the brim lower. “So you were standing around while Laurel Beth was swimming. Do I have that right?”
“Indeed, you do.”
“Tossing her coins.”
Call held up an index finger. “One coin.” He glanced at Laurel. “I wasn’t convinced she could find it. Seems I was right.”
Laurel heard the teasing in Call’s voice that Carter missed. She gave him a reproving look.
The sheriff pointed to the top of the falls. “Dillon said he saw you haul yourself over the top. I wasn’t sure I believed him until he pointed out that your socks and boots were here.” He didn’t wait for Call to confirm. “What were you looking for?”
“Anything that might point to Josey Pye’s presence up there.”
“And?”
Call shook his head. “Nothing.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Laurel give a start. He made a quick quelling motion with his fingers to warn her not to say anything about the greenback. “Doesn’t mean he wasn’t there, just that I didn’t find any evidence of it.”
“Huh. Almost broke your fool neck for nothing, then.”
“I told him the same,” said Laurel, relieved that she hadn’t spoken out of turn about the greenback in Call’s pocket.
