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Appelbaum.”
    â€œIs this about those three murders?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI just wanted to clear out the boats on Saturdays and Sundays, so our skindivers’ club could explore the harbor area.”
    â€œDid you ever go diving out there? At night?”
    â€œIt would be damned dangerous. Nobody but a nut would dive around those power boats.”
    â€œSome nut did. Where were you Tuesday night?”
    â€œOut with my girl.”
    â€œAnd last Saturday?”
    â€œAt a movie—alone.”
    â€œA week ago Saturday?”
    â€œAt a poker game.”
    â€œYou have a fast memory.” Then, to Fletcher, “Check him out and let me know what you find.”
    Leopold went back to his office to brood over the piles of reports. Then he got out a Department of Commerce chart of the harbor and studied it for a long time. It told him nothing.
    Toward evening Fletcher came back, looking discouraged.
    â€œI checked Appelbaum out. The poker game alibi is cast-iron, although the other two have holes in them. If the same guy did all three jobs, he’s in the clear.”
    Leopold stared out the window at the lowering sun. “Could it be that’s why the same gun was used?—to make it look like one killer when it was actually several? Three men, passing the gun on from one to another, enabling one of them to always have an unbreakable alibi?”
    â€œThree nuts?” Fletcher asked. “Three nuts who are expert skindivers—and killers, too?”
    â€œYou’re right,” Leopold sighed. “Mass murder like this is a one-man crime.”
    Fletcher nodded and went out, closing the office door behind him. For some time Leopold stared out the window again, watching the lights of the city as they turned on for still another night. He felt sick.
    Finally he pulled out the long list and went over it once more, from Adams to Zwigg. But it always came out the same…
    Browning came in with a harbor map. “Can I bother you a second, Captain? I think I’ve got an idea on the phantom.”
    Leopold’s eyes lit up. “Let’s hear it.”
    Browning spread the chart out on Leopold’s desk. “The killer had to come from somewhere—right? I don’t think he came off another boat; that would be too risky. We might search them and find his gun and suit, or someone might see him climbing on board, or notice the same boat in the area on all three occasions. No, I think he swam from land.”
    â€œI’ll buy that,” Leopold agreed. “Keep talking.”
    â€œWell, the harbor is open to the Sound on the southeast, which leaves land on the other three sides. Did he come from the southwest? I don’t think so—it’s true a finger of marshland stretches out into the water there, but it disappears at high tide, and the last two murders were committed around high tide.”
    â€œGet to the point.”
    â€œThe diver must be operating from one hidden spot where he can get into his gear unnoticed. Look at this chart again: the entire northwest quadrant is taken up with bathing beaches and the casino grounds. He certainly wouldn’t take a chance on entering or leaving the water there, with midnight lovers and beach parties in full swing. Due north of the harbor are the docks, another busy area night and day. It narrows down to the northeast quadrant—where there are a number of cottages, but also one or two fairly deserted stretches. He wouldn’t be a cottage owner—crazy killers don’t strike that close to home. So that leaves one of these stretches of bluff right along here.” His finger jabbed at the map. “I know this area, Captain—it’s quite rocky, with not enough land below the bluff for a beach. It would be perfect for our man. It’s my hunch he has his gear and the gun hidden there.”
    Leopold felt a rising excitement. “It’s worth a try. Good