Sheridan drank some vodka. “I have to admit I knew who you were when you were standing on the wharf. Someone pointed you out to me and I wanted to talk to you.” He smiled apologetically. “People gossip a lot in a place like this … Your cousin was coming over to talk to John Bemis, the Lucella’s captain, that afternoon. He claimed to know something about an act of vandalism that kept us from loading for a week. In fact that’s why we were tied up across the way: we were supposed to be taking on grain at that Eudora elevator, but we ended up with water in our holds. We had to dry them out and get Board of Health clearance again before we could load.”

“You mean someone deliberately put water in your holds? That was the vandalism?”

He nodded. “We assumed it was done by a disgruntled crewman. We asked him to leave the ship. He didn’t raise a fuss about it so I think we were right. But your cousin sounded serious, and of course Bemis wanted to talk to him. You wouldn’t know anything about what was on his mind, would you?”

I shook my head. “That’s part of the problem. I hadn’t seen Boom Boom for two or three months before he died. To tell you the truth, I was mostly worried that he might have—well, let himself fall because he was terribly depressed about not being able to skate or play hockey anymore. But, from what you’re saying and what Pete Margolis at the elevator said, he’d gotten pretty involved in what was going on down here, not depressed at all. I’d sure like to know, though, if anyone on the Bertha or the Lucella saw the accident firsthand.”

Sheridan shook his head. “It’s true we were tied up across the way, but the Bertha Krupnik lay between us and the wharf. I don’t think anyone on the Lucella could have seen anything.”

The waiter came back to take our orders; we told him we needed a few minutes to study the menu. He was back again within thirty seconds, coughing apologetically.

“Mr. Grafalk wants to know if you and the lady would join him and Mr. Phillips at his table.”

Sheridan and I looked at each other in surprise. I hadn’t noticed either of them come in. We followed the waiter across the rose and purple carpet to a table in the corner on the other side. Grafalk stood up to shake hands with Sheridan.

“Thanks for interrupting your lunch to join us, Mike.” To me he added, “I’m Niels Grafalk.”

“How do you do, Mr. Grafalk. I’m V. I. Warshawski.”