Brose's expression was droll. "You think somebody was wandering around and just sorta dropped a coin like that? I figure it was washed up from someplace else or maybe worked its way up through the sand over the years. Earthquakes, maybe. They move the ground, you know."

"So they do," Judith said dubiously-and changed the subject. "What's going to happen with the proposed sewer project?"

Brose shrugged. "Who knows? The only one who can really decide is ol' Quimby." His long face hardened. "Too bad he didn't get knocked off instead of poor Ern."

"Are you saying a vote wouldn't change anything?" Judith asked.

"Only if it went Quimby's way." Brose looked down at the beach. "Hey-do you think some of those folks are looking for old coins? Maybe I started a fad."

Judith followed his gaze. Three people were bent down not far from the boathouse. "Maybe. But they could be clam digging."

"No buckets," he noted.

"You're right. Can you tell who it is?"

"Well . . ." Brose craned his neck and squinted his eyes. "Not till somebody stands up." He paused. "Ah! It's the Johnsons, Charles and May. Old-timers here. Surprised they can still bend." He pointed to the drab-green house behind Judith. "That's their place."

"They were sitting in our row last night," Judith remarked. "They moved fairly fast when the meeting was over."

"Probably scared they'd get trampled." Brose took another look at the beach, where the third person in the group had stood up. "That's Mel Friedman. You were sitting by him and his wife, right?"

"Yes," Judith said. "I'd met them on an earlier visit here. Maybe I'll go join him and the Johnsons."

Brose nodded. "See if they were looking for more old coins. See ya later." He started up the hill.

Just as Judith reached the steps, she saw Mel coming away from the Johnsons and heading toward her. She decided to wait. The wind was blowing harder, but at least it was dispelling the clouds.

"Hey," Mel called as he moved a bit faster. "You coming down?"

Judith shook her head. "It looks like you're coming up."

"I am," he said with a grin as he started up the steps. "I'm not in the mood for buried treasure."

Judith didn't speak until Mel joined her. "Is that really what you were looking for?"

"No," Mel replied, "but the Johnsons were. They swear that an English ship was wrecked around here a couple of hundred years ago. I've never heard of that, but it could be true. Both Sarah and I are from Southern California. We didn't move up this way until after we were married and I finished dental school at the University while she got her nursing degree."

"How long have you lived here, Mel?" Judith asked as they moved away from the steps.

"Full-time?" Mel's high forehead creased. "Almost three years. But we bought in over twenty years ago." He gestured to his right. "That gabled cottage is our house. Do you want to step in for a cup of coffee and say hi to Sarah?"

Judith wanted to say yes, but she figured Renie was getting anxious to leave for Langton. "Could I bring my cousin later today? I left her in charge of our aunt and uncle's house. She may be dismantling it."

Mel laughed. "Sure. Come down anytime, okay? We'll have cocktails instead of coffee later on."

Judith figured that if she and Renie had drinks with the Friedmans and then with the Sedgewicks, they might both be hammered by the time Jane served dinner. But she didn't want to refuse. "That sounds fine. See you then. Tell Sarah I'm looking forward to the visit."

"Will do. Say," Mel said, lowering his voice, "do you stay up late like your aunt does?"

"Fairly late," Judith responded. "Why?"

"I don't imagine Vance or Vince mentioned it," he said, his voice almost a whisper, "but the last couple of weeks Sarah and I've noticed a boat that goes out after midnight. That's about the time we go to bed and our bedroom looks out over the water. Vance and Vince have seen it a couple of times, too. I wondered if you noticed anything last night. We weren't sure because the fog didn't start to lift until about then."

"We turned in before that," Judith said. "What do you think it is?"

"We don't know. You hardly ever see a small boat from here so late during the winter. It usually disappears out of range by Scratchit Head. It must come back, but we've never stayed awake long enough to notice."

"Maybe we'll stay up later tonight. Renie's a real night owl."

Mel made a face. "Now I feel kind of foolish for mentioning it. Vance was curious, too." He chuckled softly. "I guess this time of year we're pretty hard up for amusement on The Rock."

Judith smiled. "I call it human interest. It's normal to be curious."

She didn't add that sometimes being curious was also dangerous.

When Judith returned to the house shortly before noon, Renie was on the sofa, doing the newspaper's crossword puzzle.

"What's a six-letter word for a pain-in-the-butt relative?" she asked as Judith came through the door. "Don't tell me. It's J-U-D-I-T-H. I'm perishing from boredom."

"I'm not the entertainment committee," Judith declared. "I thought you brought work with you."

Renie sneered. "I told you I finished most of it before we left. I only have to do some tweaking."

Judith was brushing her windblown hair. "I picked up some bits of news, including a really weird woman."

Renie feigned shock. "You picked up a weird woman? You couldn't find a weird man?"

"No." Judith sat down by the front window. "I saw an older woman coming up the hill. When I said hello, she asked me who I was and then shrieked before running off down the last road before the beach."

"Sounds like par for the course on The Rock. Boredom and booze can make anybody goofy."

"You're exaggerating," Judith retorted. "We're here during the quiet season. You know from visiting the island in good weather that these folks have plenty to do. It's as if they hibernate in winter."

"If you saw a bear on the beach, I'm leaving. Especially if he was wearing a bathing suit."

"Get serious. What happens to us when it snows on the hill and we're marooned?"

"Okay, okay," Renie said, looking resigned. "We're stuck unless we want to ski or sled. Which I do not. The one time I went skiing a little kid skied between my legs. That did it. Where did Weird Woman go?"

"For all I know, she went home. I did find out the Johnsons live in that green house on the corner. They were on the beach with Mel Friedman looking for rare coins. Brose Bennett thinks he started a fad."

"Ah." Renie grinned. "I assume you interrogated him?"

"We chatted," Judith said. "Brose insists the vote on the sewer line is meaningless because Quentin Quimby will do whatever suits him. He also felt it was a shame that Quimby wasn't the victim instead of Ernie."

"I doubt Quimby would agree," Renie murmured. "So the old coot really runs this show. How did the Johnsons feel about that? They're kind of old, too."

"I didn't go to the beach," Judith replied. "Mel left the Johnsons to their treasure hunting. He told me that he and Sarah, along with Auntie Vance and Uncle Vince, have seen a boat that goes . . . Oh-here's the postal van. I might as well get the mail now." She got up, opened the door, and shouted down to whoever was parking by the mailbox. A short, spare man in crimson all-weather gear hopped out of the vehicle and looked up at her.

"Excuse me," she called out. "I'm coming down to get the mail."

"Don't bother," he said, staring up the stairs. "It's all junk. My hernia's killing me." He met her halfway and handed over a dozen pieces-of junk. Judith thanked him and went back inside.

"Do you want to go into Langton now?" she asked Renie.

"Yes. I'm hungry."

"Of course. I am, too. Let's do it."

The cousins made sure everything that needed turning off was actually off and headed out to the Subaru. As soon as they were on the county road, Judith remembered to finish telling her cousin about the mysterious boat that had been spotted going out after midnight.

"A phantom ship?" Renie said after her cousin concluded the recital. "That sounds intriguing. No theories?"

"Mel indicated they had no idea," Judith replied, taking the turn to the highway that would lead them into Langton. "Auntie Vance has a good imagination, so if she could think of any explanation she'd have said as much. If she hadn't been in such a hurry to get ready to leave, she might have told us about it."

"She was probably worrying about Aunt Ellen," Renie said. "I wonder if Uncle Vince and Uncle Win will get a chance to complete a sentence with our aunts around."

"Uncle Vince won't stay awake that long and Uncle Win may've forgotten how to talk." Judith slowed down as she saw a big truck ahead of them. "Will you stay up to see if that boat appears after midnight?"

Renie laughed. "We both will. You don't have to get up at six."

"You're right," Judith agreed. "This is almost like a vacation."

"Complete with corpse," Renie said. "Gosh, when have we had a real vacation without one of those?"

"When we went to Europe back in 1964," Judith replied, finally seeing sufficient straightaway to pass the plodding truck. "I wonder if we should tell Jacobson about that boat. He may know something about it."

"You think somebody has reported it?"

"One of the locals might've mentioned it when they were being questioned about Ernie's murder."

"Maybe," Renie allowed. "Where shall we eat?"

"How about the cafe above the the Sun Store?" Judith suggested. "We can browse the shop on the main floor afterward."

"Sounds good to me."

Five minutes later they were on Langton's main street. The town was perched high above the water, facing east to the mainland. The summer flowers were gone from the sidewalk planters and the trees were bare of leaves. No tourists strolled from shop to shop, ogling the local wares. Foot traffic was sparse. Judith thought the little town looked a bit bleak without the summer bustle in the three blocks that made up its commercial area.

But the upside was that there were plenty of parking places. Judith pulled into a spot only two doors down from the cafe.

The second-floor dining section was fairly busy. The cousins were shown to a table for two overlooking a pocket park off the street. The only thing in bloom was a cluster of winter crocus, pale as a cloud, but thriving among the moss that covered boulders claimed from the beach.

"Smoked salmon!" Renie exclaimed, practically licking the menu.

"Sounds good to me," Judith agreed. "A small salad to go with it?"

"Of course." Renie was beaming.

Judith wasn't. She was facing the entrance and saw Quentin Quimby being wheeled into the restaurant by his son and daughter-in-law. "His Majesty has arrived," she murmured. "Don't stare."

Renie did just that, though she kept her voice down. "They're being seated right in back of you."

Judith brightened. "Maybe we can overhear them."

"The window!" Quimby shouted. "Move me closer, dammit!"

Renie grimaced. "You really want to hear that?" she asked under her breath.

"Why not? I can't see them." Judith stopped speaking, intrigued by the old man's barked orders to his mumbling-and apparently bumbling-caregivers.

"He's a caution," Renie muttered. "Maybe they'll push him out the window. Then you could chalk up another corpse."

A ponytailed young man approached the cousins with one eye on the Quimbys, who had subsided into merciful silence. Renie put her menu aside. "Is it illegal to yell 'obnoxious' in a semicrowded cafe?" she asked the server, assuming her best aging-ingenue expression.

"Not a chance," the server replied softly. "The old guy owns part of the island. I'm Jonathan and I'll be running your interference with Mr. Q." He leaned even closer. "Sometimes he asks the other patrons to move. It's nothing personal."

"It is if it's me," Renie said. "I'll have the lox with all the trimmings and a small Caesar salad with a pound of shrimp."

Jonathan seemed unfazed as he turned to Judith, who ordered the same thing, but added, "My cousin's exaggerating. She's kind of a pig. A small pig, I mean. The usual amount will do."

Jonathan grinned, revealing dazzling white teeth. "Okay. I'll see what I can do for you and Piglet." He headed back to the service counter.

Renie wrinkled her nose at Judith. "Does that mean you're Pooh?"

"I feel like Eeyore," Judith said. "Who keeps bumping my chair?"

"The King of The Rock," Renie replied. "He's still twitching. Do you remember the names of his son and daughter-in-law?"

"I don't think I ever heard them." Judith winced as the sound of banging startled her from behind. "What now?"

"I think," Renie said, leaning sideways to get a better look, "Mr. Q. wants to be served. Or else he's rearranging his utensils piece by piece."

"I'd like to rearrange him," Judith said. "Maybe we're the ones who should ask to be moved."

"But then you couldn't overhear him," Renie pointed out.

"They aren't actually talking," Judith responded. "Maybe his family members aren't allowed to speak in public. Ah! Here comes a young woman to take their orders. A very pretty young woman, I might add."

"She's a dish, all right," Renie murmured as the smiling strawberry blonde passed by. "Why do I think she's not just another server?"

"Maybe," Judith whispered, "she serves something other than food. What's she doing?"

"She's not taking off her clothes yet," Renie murmured just as Judith heard a hearty, if raspy, guffaw erupt behind her. "Q.'s mood is improving. Do you remember Auntie Vance talking about him? I don't."

Judith shook her head. "Not really. She occasionally mentioned-and I quote-an 'ornery old codger' and a 'horse's ass,' but I don't recall her giving him an actual name. Our aunt prefers not discussing people she doesn't like. She just ignores them and does as she pleases. With her big, bad, and often bawdy mouth, maybe even Q. wouldn't confront her."

"He's acting coy at the moment. Oh, ick-Pretty Woman's tickling his chin. And tugging his earlobe. Double gack."