last thing I would ever want for a document that rightfully belongs in the public domain."
"Bet you coulda got millions for it at that famous auction place," Nana contended.
"Sotheby's?" I asked.
"Nope, eBay," said Nana. "You wouldn't believe what folks are sellin' these days. Some fella advertised an aircraft carrier a couple a months back. I thought about biddin' on it, but I chickened out."
I looked at Tilly. Tilly looked at me. We both looked at Nana. "No place to store it?" I teased.
Nana shook her head. "Didn't wanna pay the postage."
I laughed in disbelief. "Why would you bid on an aircraft carrier?"
"For your father's birthday, dear. By the time you reach my age, you run outta good gift ideas, so it was either that or a necktie." She eyed the articles she'd arranged on the bed, then opened her pocketbook wide and poked her head inside. "Osmond give me one a them rocks from the spa when I seen him in the hallway, but I don't know what I done with it." Sweeping her scavenger items to one side, she dumped the contents of her pocketbook onto the bed in a Mount Everest of a pile. I eyed it in amazement. Wow. She'd really cut back on the nonessentials.
"They've chained off the area where Professor Smoker was pushed overboard," I announced, as Nana began the slow process of sorting through her things.
Tilly nodded sagely. "The captain must be quite shocked by this turn of events. Cruise ships are probably more secure than gated communities. I read that being on a cruise ship is safer than virtually anywhere else in the world, except the teacup ride in the Magic Kingdom. Do you realize that in the last twenty years, there hasn't been one cruise passenger death related to a maritime accident? Twenty years. Can you imagine?"
"Quite a streak," I admitted uneasily. I had a streak of my own going: largest number of dead bodies found by a non-European while traveling abroad. At least this time, someone else had found the body...or not found it, as the case may be. "Do either of you know who handles criminal investigations aboard ship?"
"They explained that on the A&E special." Nana waved a hair pick triumphantly in the air. "I been lookin' for this for months! Musta been hidin' at the bottom of my pocketbook." She leveled a severe look on the gargantuan bag. "Your grampa always said I should downsize. He mighta been right. Anyway, that show was sayin' every cruise ship has a private security force aboard, kinda like them fellas what guard those fancy buildin's in New York City, but they're not law officers, so they don't know nothin' about police procedures."
"So who decided to chain off the area around the crime scene?" I asked.
Tilly laid her walking stick in her lap. "It seems logical to assume that the chief security officer and the ship's captain were probably instructed to do that by either the Coast Guard, the FBI, or some other mainland law enforcement agency."
Nana nodded agreement. "Cruise ships got the right to ask help from any law enforcement authority they want."
"Did you learn that on your A&E special, too?" I asked.
Nana shook her head. "Reruns a The Love Boat."
"So do you think they'll ask the authorities to come aboard when we reach Kauai?" I persisted.
"I suspect that might be why they cordoned off the crime scene," said Tilly. "To preserve the area as much as possible for the island police, though I'm not sure how much evidence can be preserved on a windswept deck. This is a cruise line's worst nightmare. They're in the business of selling fantasy, and crime scene tape and evidence kits are not part of the Aloha Princess fantasy package. Can you imagine the panic aboard ship if word leaks out that there could be a killer prowling the decks?"
"But there is a killer prowling the decks!"
Nana tossed a collapsible cup and a package of tissue to the side. "Could be the killer's not interested in knockin' off no one else. Mabe his only target was the professor fella."
Tilly mulled that over. "That's a consideration, Marion. If Professor Smoker's death was a random killing, every guest on board is in danger. But if he was specifically targeted by one of his enemies, as Bailey suggested, then no one else's life is actually in jeopardy."
"Don't seem to me that Bailey's too safe," Nana argued. "What if the killer thinks she got a good lookit 'im? What if