“What I said! There’s a girl in there. I don’t know if she’s drowned or what. But she’s dead.”

Johnny’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t give me that bullshit. I got work to do.” He looked past her as the next boat emerged into the light. “You better get the hell out of here before Horace sees you.”

“I swear to God, I’m telling the truth. You can kill me if I’m lying.”

“Jesus, why the hell would I kill you? You’re nuts! Get outta here.”

Johnny shoved her aside and headed for the next boat.

“Damn it, Johnny, look—”

She dug into her pocket for the soiled yellow hair ribbon. “This is hers. I saw her go into the tunnel this afternoon, but she didn’t come out. She’s in the water right before you get to Satan, right-hand side as you’re heading this way—she got snagged on something. Swear to Jesus, Johnny, just go look!”

Johnny continued to stare at her. Finally, he looked at the tunnel.

“All right,” he said, and pitched his cigarette into the water. “You cover for me, I’ll go inside and see what’s what. But if you’re lying, I won’t need to kill you, ’cause Horace will.” He tossed her the boat hook. “Don’t let anyone fall in. I’ll be right back.”

She spent the next few minutes grabbing each boat and holding it steady as customers disembarked. More than a few of the women were flushed, their clothes rumpled. Several of the men grinned and winked at Pin behind the women’s backs.

“Here, ma’am, be careful,” she warned, taking hold of an older lady’s hand to help her onto the walkway where her husband waited. The woman took her husband’s arm.

“Thank you, young man,” she said.

Pin peered anxiously into the tunnel, looking for Johnny. When someone tapped her shoulder, she jumped, then turned to see Johnny, his face white as milk.

“You’re right. There’s someone dead in there. I don’t know how you knew about it. I don’t want to know. I told Horace—all I can say is you better not be here when he comes round.”

He snatched the boat hook from her and slapped a magazine into her hand. “Larry left this at the booth for you. You need to stop reading detective stories.”

She glanced at the next boat floating toward them. “Isn’t Horace going to shut it down?”

“Horace wouldn’t shut this fucking thing down if it was on fire. He says he’ll go see for himself in a couple minutes. Now scram before he comes looking for you.”

Chapter 28

Chapter 28