“I have it all worked out.” He paused. “But I don’t know if I should be telling you this.”

“I could have arrested you a dozen different times if I wanted. Right now I’m the only friend you have in the world. Tell me how … oh shit!”

“What’s the matter?”

“Amy just came on the deck with David! They’re standing at the rear of the boat!”

Matt suddenly felt very small. “So?”

“She’s going to kill him! Stop her!”

“No. He just woke up is all. She won’t kill him. She wouldn’t do that to me.”

“I can see them both in my binoculars! She’s pointing down into the water! She has him leaning over the side of the boat! Trust me, she’ll push him over the side!”

“No.”

“Matt! She’s setting you up!”

He might have gone into shock right then. Later on he was not sure. In the last year he had performed a number of complex feats under extraordinary pressure. He had never failed the test. But in that moment he felt his world topple. Everything he knew was false. Kathy was Kelly. Amy’s love was not love. And he was about to go to jail for a murder he had planned but never intended to commit. Kelly was right, it was crisis time, and he could not react. He could not even speak.

The moment stretched forever and ran into a stone wall.

“Your loving girlfriend just pushed her husband overboard,” Kelly said quietly.

Matt drew in a ragged breath, straining to get control of—at least—his body. “Can you see him in the water?” he asked.

“No.”

“How long will it take you to reach here?”

“You are pulling away rapidly. But I can reach David in two minutes.”

“I can get to him in less time. I’ll see you there.”

Matt did not give her a chance to respond. He tossed his equipment into his bag and grabbed his Farallon and rushed out of the storage room. He ran right into Amy. No sorrow on her face now; she positively glowed.

“What have you done?” he demanded.

She acted innocent. “Nothing.”

“You just pushed David overboard!”

Curious to see such innocence transform into wrath in the space of one second.

“I did it for us!” she swore. “Because you were too much of a wimp to do it!”

“Damnit! Now I have to save him!”

She grabbed his arm as he turned. “You save him and you ruin us both!”

He stared at her. “I don’t care anymore, Amy. I just don’t care.”