"And how long was this before he collapsed?"

"Maybe ahalf hour, maybe a little longer."

"He seemed fine then?"

"Yeah, he seemed like the regular Terror, you know? Nobody could've guessed what was going to happen."

"By now you men had been on the boat for four straight days, right?"

"That's right. Pretty close quarters because the party got the stateroom. Me and Terry bunked it in the forward cabin."

"During that time did you see Terry take his meds every day? You know, all the pills he had to take."

Lockridge nodded emphatically.

"Oh, yeah, he was popping his pills right and left. Every morning and every night. We'd been out on a lot of charters together. It was his ritual-he set his watch by it: He never missed. And he didn't on this trip either."

I made a few more notes just to keep silent so that Lockridge might keep talking. But he didn't.

"Did he say anything'about them tasting different, or him feeling different after taking them?"

"Is that what this is about? You people are trying to say Terry took the wrong pills and then not have to pay the insurance? If I had known that, I would've never agreed to talk to you."

He started to get up from his bench. I reached over and gripped his arm.

"Sit down, Buddy. That's not what this is about. I don't work for the insurance company."

He dropped heavily back onto the bench and looked at his arm where I had gripped it.

"Then what is it about?"

"You already know what it's about. I'm just making sure Terry's death was what it was supposed to be."

"Supposed to be?"

I realized that I had used an unfortunate choice of words.

"What I'm trying to say is that I want to make sure he didn't have any help." Lockridge studied me for a long moment and slowly nodded.

"You mean like the pills were tainted or messed with?"