“With piston engines, you rev up to a couple of thousand rpms, then test the magnetos and the propeller and look for low oil pressure or other problems. It’s the last thing you do before takeoff, and it’s a very important check.”

“Any idea what happened?” Kramer asked.

“Engine fire; we saw the flames. He dived to try and blow out the fire, and when he couldn’t he ditched in the water, but he stalled and cartwheeled. We saw the airplane come apart. We went out in a boat and found Chester’s body, but the two women apparently went down with the fuselage.”

“Who were the two women?” Kramer asked, scribbling in shorthand.

“One was a local lady; don’t know her name; the other was Elizabeth Manning of Palm Beach. She stayed here last night.”

“The lady in the straw hat?” Forrester asked.

“That’s the one.”

“Any relation to Allison Manning?” Kramer asked.

“Not really; she was Paul Manning’s ex-wife.”

“What was she doing here?”

“I think she had some idea of claiming part of Manning’s estate,” Stone said. “But that’s all being handled in Connecticut, so she went home.”

“Did she have some legitimate claim?” Kramer asked.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Stone said. He was skating close to a line here, but he hadn’t quite crossed it.

“Palm Beach, you said?”

“That’s right.”

“What did she do there?”

“She said she wrote a society column for one of the local papers.”

“That’s all you know about her?”

“That’s it,” Stone said.

“Is there going to be some sort of investigation of the accident?” Kramer asked.

“Beats me,” Stone said, “but the airplane went down in water deeper than a hundred fathoms, so I doubt if they could find much of it, even with a load of experts, which they don’t seem to have around here.”

“That’s over six hundred feet,” Forrester said. “No diver could go that deep; they’d need some sort of submersible, I think.”

“Something the St. Marks Navy, if there is one, probably doesn’t have,” Kramer chipped in. “Do you know if she had any family?”

“She didn’t say, but I got the impression she was unmarried. Her passport was still in the name of Manning, and they had probably been divorced for a good ten years.”

“How long had Manning been married to Allison when he died?”

“Four years.”

“Did the two women know each other?”

“They never met.”

“You think the other Mrs. Manning just came down here in the hope of money, then?”

“Seems that way, but please don’t quote me as having said so.”

“Is somebody notifying next of kin?”

“I suppose the local police will handle that.”

“Stone,” Forrester said, “do you think she might have been some sort of help to you at Allison’s trial?”