“So what’re you going to do?”
“Change the subject.”
“Fine,” she bit out, then went quiet.After a full minute she resumed her rocking.Her expression, which had been as cross as her voice moments before, slowly gentled to the one I knew and loved.
Nothing had been settled.I felt as confused as I’d been when I arrived.Somewhere deep inside, I knew that Swansy wasn’t all wrong, but I couldn’t quite separate the right part from the wrong part, and the whole thing was getting me down.I needed a diversion.
“Swansy, about this business with Cooper,” I began, testing the waters to see if she’d go along with the change.I took her silence as a positive sign.“I’ve been thinking.”
“Don’t know when you’ve had time to do that,” she murmured to herself—wholly for my benefit.I figured she couldn’t quite let me get away scot-free, but it could have been worse.
“I’ve been thinking,” I repeated, gaining courage as I turned my mind in the direction of those thoughts.“Something isn’t quite right.”
“Course not.Cooper’s in trouble.”
“I know that, and I know that Peter is doing everything he can possibly do on the legal end.Still, something isn’t quite right.”
Swansy rocked.
“On this end,” I added.
Swansy rocked.
“I’ve been thinking.Someone has to know something he’s not telling us.I can’t believe that a total stranger waltzed onto theFree Reign,went straight to Cooper’s cabin, straight to the laundry bag with his name on it and stashed stolen diamonds there, then waltzed back off the boat without anyone knowing a thing about it.Cooper never leaves the boat unattended.Someone was there the whole time.All along, we’ve contended that the person on guard was asleep when whoever it was stashed the diamonds.I keep wondering about that.”
Swansy continued rocking, encouraging me on with a soft, “Um-hmm.”
“The guard is assigned on a rotating basis, so theoretically any one of the crew members could have been on duty when the diamonds were stashed.Peter and I talked with each of them.Except for Benjie.”
I watched her closely, but she gave nothing away.So I went a step further.“Those men are all hard-working guys.When they finally agree to talk, they’re blunt, heart-on-their-sleeve fellows.Neither Peter nor I had cause to doubt any of them.But we weren’t able to talk with Benjie.”
The creak of the rocker came and went, came and went.
“Benjie is the only member of that crew who has the slightest blemish on his record.”I threw an arm to the top of my head and looked toward the ceiling.“I mean, I know it’s absurd even to be thinking this, because he’s only twenty, and he’s strictly a two-bit troublemaker, and I can’t imagine how he’d possibly have connected with anyone big enough to be involved in smuggling diamonds into the country—” Grabbing a breath, I looked back at Swansy.“But, damn it, Benjie is sohostile.I think he knows something.”
My words hung in the air for a good long time before breaking apart like so many pieces of dried mud.I waited for Swansy to pick up the gauntlet in Benjie’s defense.After all, she’d known him far longer than I.She remembered when he’d been born.
But she didn’t pick up the gauntlet.Instead, she said, “Could be.”
I grew instantly alert.“Could be?”I repeated expectantly.
She rocked silently.
“Lord, Swansy, don’t stop there.You know something, don’t you?”When she didn’t answer, I said, “This is Cooper’s future we’re talking about.The trial won’t be happening for a good three months, and in the meanwhile he’s going through hell.We both know that he’s innocent, but if you know something else—”
“I don’tknowsomething.But there are certain possibilities.”
“Like Benjie being involved in the smuggling.Why would he have done it?Who would he have done it for?And how could he stand around here and keep his mouth shut when his own brother is taking the flak?”
As Swansy rocked, she pursed her lips.I schooled myself to remain silent.After all, if she could pull a Swansy on me, I could pull one right back on her.
It worked.After a time, she said, “Nothin’ was ever simple when it came to Benjie.There’s a whole lot goin’ on in his mind.Maybe he has a right to it.I don’t know.An’ maybe he has a right to take it out on Cooper.I don’t know that, either.But I wouldn’t be surprised if he knows more than he’s lettin’ on.”
“I’m going to talk with him,” I said and started to rise from the chair.
“Stay put,” Swansy ordered.She waited until she heard the rustle of the cushions before sittingforward in her rocker and reaching for my hand.“Think first, Jillie.Don’t do anythin’ rash.I may be all wrong, and if that’s so, you’re only gonna stir up hard feelings.”
She had a point.But I couldn’t sit and do nothing.Besides, I was a fast thinker.“Okay,” I said.“I’ve thought.And what I’m going to do, very calmly, is to talk with Cooper.He’s protective of Benjie, so I won’t make any accusations, but a few subtle questions might do it.I want to know whether Cooper has any suspicions of his own.”
