Read Online Huckleberry Finished by Livia J. Washburn - Free Book Online Page B

on the boat. I’m sure a lot of people just come for the gambling.”
    â€œOh, yes,” Travis said. “The gambling. Any trouble there?”
    I took a deep breath. I didn’t have any reason to withhold the truth from her. And for all I knew, both Rafferty and Captain Williams had already told her all about it. If I didn’t mention the incident that had occurred that afternoon, Travis was bound to wonder why.
    Of course, if Williams and Rafferty hadn’t said anything about what happened, then Travis might be suspicious of them once I brought it up.
    But that was their lookout, not mine, so I said, “Yes, as a matter of fact, there was some trouble,” and proceeded to tell her about it in as much detail as I could remember.
    I couldn’t read her face, couldn’t tell if this was the first time she had heard the story or the third. She made some notes as I talked. When I was finished she asked, “Do you know the name of the man at the roulette wheel whom Mr. Webster accused of cheating?”
    I shook my head. “No, I’m afraid not. But I’m sure the captain or Mr. Rafferty can tell you.” If they haven’t already, I thought.
    â€œSo after the meeting in Mr. Rafferty’s office, you escorted Mr. Webster back to his cabin?”
    Now I had to make up my mind. I didn’t want to keep the truth from the police, even if it made me look a little foolish, so I said, “Not exactly.”
    For the first time, I saw a spark of real interest in Travis’s eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
    â€œI mean the rascal pulled a trick on me.” I felt bad about calling him a rascal as soon as I said it, so I hurried on, “I mean, Mr. Webster led me to believe that the cabin he went to was the one assigned to him, but it really wasn’t.”
    â€œAll right, that’s not clear to me. He went into someone else’s cabin?”
    â€œNo,” I said. “He stopped outside the door of Cabin Seventeen and told me it was his cabin, but he didn’t go in just then, and I didn’t wait to watch him go in. I left him there, just outside the door.”
    â€œHow do you know it wasn’t his cabin?”
    â€œBecause I went back there later looking for him, and I ran into the man who really has the cabin.”
    â€œWhat’s his name?”
    I hated to get Vince Mallory mixed up in this, but I didn’t see that I had any choice. Besides, Detective Travis could get the information in a matter of minutes by asking the captain or Rafferty.
    â€œVince Mallory,” I said.
    â€œIs he one of your clients as well?”
    â€œYes, he booked the tour through my agency.”
    â€œWere you acquainted with him before the cruise?”
    â€œNope. I mean, no.”
    â€œAnother man traveling alone?”
    â€œYes, but in this case, I know why. He’s a history and literature buff. Most of the clients who go on my tours are. In this case, Mr. Mallory is very interested in Mark Twain. He’s going to write his doctoral dissertation on Twain.”
    At least, he was if he decided to go back to grad school, I thought. It seemed like a reasonable enough assumption.
    Detective Travis said, “Do you have any idea why Mr. Webster would pretend that was his cabin when it really wasn’t?”
    â€œNo. The only thing I can figure out was that he did it so I wouldn’t be able to find him when I came looking for him.”
    â€œWhy would he think you’d be looking for him later?”
    â€œWell…he wouldn’t. Unless he was already planning not to get off the boat when it docked at Hannibal.”
    That was pure speculation on my part, of course, but Detective Travis didn’t seem bothered by it. She wrote some more in her notebook, then said, “You think he wasn’t really going to take the deal Mr. Rafferty offered him. He planned to cause some sort of trouble instead.”
    Those