Dead in the Water, a sailing yacht murder mystery for 6

Twenty years ago to the day, the Libeccio was racing the Cap Cup, the night race around the tip of Corsica. That night, at 3:55 am according to the logbook, in a squall, Théo Valli, 26, went overboard. They turned back, searched, called it in. His body was found three days later. The crew never sailed together again.

Tonight, Armand Pellegrin, a shipping owner from Bastia and the owner of the Libeccio, has brought the old crew back on board, along with Kris, his doctor, and Darcy Valli, who lost big brother Théo at sixteen. Around 9 pm, the storm hit: lightning fried the electronics. At 11:45 pm, the engine flooded. At 11:50, Armand reached the coast guard before the radio died: a tugboat will come out from Bastia at dawn. At midnight, in the saloon, he posted the watch schedule, one person at the helm, one hour each, and warned: “I’m bleeding the fuel filters around two. If I’m down in the bilge, nobody comes down.” Then, looking at Darcy: “In Bastia, I’ll tell everything.” Loïs shot back: “If you don’t, I will. Tonight.”

At 5:40 am, Darcy, at the helm, saw the lights of the tugboat and went below to wake Armand. His cabin was empty. At the foot of the companionway, the bilge hatch was shut, light leaking out from under it. Armand was down there, dead. The tugboat will be alongside at 6:30. Before then, you need to know who on board killed Armand Pellegrin.