ght he'd lost the light
and current set him over, but I was closer. Not close enough to see
anything but the light, you understand. But I saw it blink out, and I
looked down at the binnacle and held the same compass heading until it
came on again, and it was in a different place.

"If you'd said that at the hearing this morning, Tom Tyler might have
been free right now," Cap'n Mike accused.

Captain Killian's back stiffened. "I don't know what you're thinking,
Mike, but if it weren't for Tom, I wouldn't be here."

"We'd like to hear about that," Cap'n Mike said.

"May as well tell you. Soon as I saw what happened to the _Sea Belle_,
I hurried to find Tom. While I was looking for him, I ran into Brad
Marbek and I asked him about the light. I knew he'd been right behind
Tom. Brad acted mighty queer, and when I did see Tom, he got all
excited. He begged me to leave town, for my own sake and his. I told
him he'd have a hard time without my testimony and Brad's, and he
broke down and told me Brad was mixed up in some kind of deal with
them Kelsos, and he said he wasn't worried about himself, but about
Celia--that's his wife--and their little girl. He said he didn't dare
try and clear himself, though he knew right well what had happened."

Captain Killian shrugged. "What could I do? Stay and put Celia and
their little girl in danger? Not likely I'd do that! And I couldn't
pretend not to know anything because I'd already talked to Brad."

The four nodded their understanding.

"So I packed up and got out. First I told Chick what to say, and told
him to tell folks I'd been to the trawler next morning so they
wouldn't connect my going with Tom's wreck."

"Was just the shifting of the light all you saw?" Rick asked.

"That's all. I will say that I knew the second light was the real one.
I hadn't known the first one wasn't real, but when Smugglers' Light
came on I could see there was a difference. I'd figured the light was
sort of dull because of ground haze. There was some, you know."

"There's our evidence," Scotty said.

"Yep." Cap'n Mike leaned back in the seat. "Only trouble is, we can't
use it without getting both Jim and Tom's family in danger. So I guess
we're back where we started."

"But we can prove to the police the light was changed," Jerry began.
"If Captain Killian tells his story ..." He stopped. "No good. Because
we have no proof the Kelsos were mixed up in it, and they'd still be
able to carry out th