Giles shuddered. “You’d think she could pull herself up. She was young and healthy. Not overweight.”
Aunt Julia spun around and pointed at him, like the detective in one of her novels. “Precisely! She most likely could have pulled herself up. If it had been an accident. But it wasn’t, you see. And the person who pushed her was there to finish her off. Seeing that she was holding on and about to claw her way back up, they hopped over the railing and stomped on her hand until she let go and fell to her death.”
Aunt Julia said the word “stomped” with such force that Giles jumped. His face turned white. “That’s rather grim.”
Aunt Julia shrugged. “Perhaps, but if you noticed the way her hand—the very hand missing this fingernail—was misshapen, you’ll see that I am correct. I’m sure Doctor Montford will agree with my assessment.”
Giles still didn’t want to believe it could be murder. “Her hand could have been crushed in the wheel.”
“I think not. When she fell into the paddle wheel she became lodged in the core. I watched them try to pull her out. If she hadn’t she would have fallen into the river when the wheel turned. I’m sure the killer was hoping that she would be dumped right into the water. We might not have even known she’d fallen until it was discovered she wasn’t on the boat.”
“But if she fell on her hand—”
“Sorry, Giles, but she didn’t. Her hand was raised in the air. So she couldn’t have injured the hand in the fall. It had to have happened before. Which means this was murder.”
Giles slumped into a chair. “I suppose I’ll have to alert the authorities. Sven already has a call in to our destination port of Vicksburg. It’s three days away, but that’s the nearest port that can handle this boat. I was hoping they would simply collect the body and we could go on our way. Now I suppose there will have to be an investigation.”
Aunt Julia frowned. “Yes, an investigation would be the thing. But just who would investigate? Local police?”
Giles shook his head. “No, I believe it goes to the county.”
“And we’re still in Mississippi.”
“Yes.”
“Darn it!” Aunt Julia did not look pleased. “That would be Artemis Leonard.”
Aunt Julia spat out the name and with good reason; she had butted heads with Artemis on matters of murder before. Nora wouldn’t exactly call them rivals, since Aunt Julia wasn’t law enforcement, but when Aunt Julia had tried to help on a murder case at Grandview Plantation earlier in the year, Artemis had been quite unappreciative. Then again, Julia could be a little pushy in a quirky old-lady kind of way. But she had been the one to put the clues together to solve the case. And Artemis had taken all the credit, much to Aunt Julia’s chagrin. Of course, Julia couldn’t push for credit since people were starting to wonder how she knew so much about murder and clue collecting. She had to keep her pen-name secret. According to her publishers, a male author sold lots more books than a female author. Nora couldn’t quite get on board with that thinking, but she supposed the publishing business might be a bit behind the times.
Judging by the way Aunt Julia’s eyes were narrowed and the set of her jaw, Nora could tell the wheels in her mind were turning. This time she wanted a chance to find the killer first and prove to Artemis Leonard that she was the better detective.
“Is he that bad?” Giles asked.
“He’s horrible. A grandstander. He’ll drag the case out for weeks. He’ll make sure it’s in the papers,” Aunt Julia said.
As she spoke, Giles paled. “I suppose I don’t have any choice.”
“Maybe you do.” Aunt Julia sat next to him. “I don’t want to brag, but I have quite an eye for clues. I read a lot of mystery books, you know, and have had a hand in solving some cases. Not that Artemis Leonard would admit it.”
Giles looked skeptical. “What do you propose?”
“What if the murder was already solved before Artemis came on board? There would be nothing to put in the papers, we could keep the story contained and word might not get out to disparage the name of the Miss Delta Belle.”
“That would be wonderful!” Giles’ face lit up, then his smile dimmed. “But how would we do that?”
Aunt Julia glanced at Nora. “With the help of my niece here, I think I can solve the case. But I might need you to help us gain access to certain areas of the ship. Is that possible?”
Giles nodded eagerly. “Yes, of course.”
Aunt Julia smiled. “Great. Now, where exactly is the body?”
“Doctor Montford said we need to keep it cold since we can’t come into port for a few days. We have it near the freezers.” At Nora’s shocked look he added, “Not with the food, that’s already been removed.”
Julia nodded. “Then it will be well preserved.”
Nora grimaced. Aunt Julia really was becoming quite desensitized when it came to matters of death.
Julia turned to Giles. “So back to the question at hand. Would you like me to try to solve the mystery?”
Giles nodded. “I would appreciate that very much.”
Aunt Julia turned to Nora. “Well then, I best retire to bed. We only have three days to solve this so I must start my investigation with a fresh mind bright and early tomorrow.”
Chapter Six
Aunt Julia was up early the next morning. She sat at a small table under the window in her cabin. Her fountain pen flew across a piece of paper, ink splattering here and there because she was jotting down clues so quickly.
“What have you got so far?” Nora stood looking over her aunt’s shoulder.
Nora herself was no slouch in the sleuthing department. She supposed some skills had rubbed off after helping her aunt work out various scenarios in her books, not to mention the handful of mysteries that seemed to crop up and need solving on their various trips. But her studies in psychology had also armed her with knowledge and various skills that helped in investigations. She knew that certain events in one’s past could result in certain personality traits in their later years. She knew what traumas might turn one into a killer. She also knew which types of people might be violent, impulsive killers and which would prefer a premeditated murder. Her finely honed skills of observation enabled her to tell when someone was lying and she knew which questions to ask to get the answers out of a suspect without them even realizing she was interrogating them.
“Oh, I have many suspects, but the thing I wonder most about is… what was Delilah doing on the sun deck at two in the morning?”
“Good question.” The scene flashed through Nora’s mind. “She was fully dressed so presumably she had not been to bed.”
“Was there a party, or was she meeting someone?” Julia asked. “I know that performers often have different schedules. Perhaps they did have a party after dinner was over, but with whom?”
Nora glanced out the window, watching fertile green countryside pass as they glided along. “Most of the guests were in pajamas. The Hinchcliffes and Percival Montford. The two singers and some men I recognized from the band were all in street clothes, which might indicate there was some kind of party happening, and Max Lawton wore a suit as did two of the men I remember dancing with. They did mention a late poker game so that could be why.”