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The shot missed

Bell feinted with his wounded right hand, punched Clay with another powerful left It staggered Clay, and he reeled backwards to the e

dge of the stern

“Give it up,” said Bell “It’s over”

Clay looked at him incredulously “It’s never over”

He flew at Bell, cocking his left hand in a powerful fist He tried to raise the right Bell had wounded and could not An angry light filled his alared at his arm as if it were a traitor

“I’ you in,” said Bell “We’ll recommend mercy if you reveal who paid for this Who’s the boss?”

“It’s never over,” Henry Clay repeated He swung his good arm Bell took the punch, rolled with it, and counterpunched, rocking Clay back on his heels

“You can’t fight me with one arm Give it up”

“It’s never over,” Clay said again But even as he spoke, he turned away

Bell suddenly realized that Clay was so desperate to escape that he would risk certain death by trying to dive into the narrow strait of water between the White Lady’s stern and her churning wheel Without Henry Clay, he had no case against thehim, no way to discover the identity of the true murderer, the real provocateur

Bell lunged for him, and as fast as Henry Clay was, Isaac Bell was faster He seized Clay’shi detective was the fighter betrayed by a wound The bullet that had disarth Thuers feathered apart Clay tore loose and dived into the seething water

Isaac Bell watched the wheel wash spewed by the slashing paddle blades But Henry Clay’s body never broke the surface of that endless rolling wave behind the boat

50

I wish I’d been there to watch hiht that man every trick I knew It never occurred to me until it was too late that I created a monster” He shook his head, rubbed his red whiskers, and looked probingly at Isaac Bell “It makes a man wonder, will he create another?”