Wilmington, NC 10 - Much Ado About Murder

death and Simon’s fall as a homicide? I caught a glimpse of Nick up on the side porch and averted my head. I couldn’t bear another confrontation with him. “And the gas company truck is there too.”
    “They’ll be gone soon. Then we can get to work on the restoration.” Jon is an optimist. “Meanwhile, it’s a beautiful morning and we are going to enjoy every minute of it.”
    I smiled to myself. I am one lucky woman. And I know it.
    At the bottom of Nun Street, we entered River Walk, the boardwalk that runs along the Cape Fear River. We strolled past the Pilot House Restaurant, then Elijah’s, till the boardwalk sloped upward. After passing the Wilmington Tea Room, and LeCatalan , we stopped at the next building. Jon took me into the gift shop of Wilmington Water Tours.
    “We have reservations, Mary,” he told Mary DeLollo who was selling tickets. “I called earlier this morning.”
    “Hey Jon. Hey Ashley.” Mary knew us, of course. We downtowners all know each other.
    We boarded the catamaran named “The Wilmington.”
    Captain Doug Springer and his wife “Admiral” Diane Upton greeted us with hugs of welcome. Most of the passengers were already on board. We were happy to see Erin Cunnane and her mother Chris whom we know from previous cruises. The Cunnanes are regulars.
    Garland offered us a beverage and we asked for water.
    Captain Doug got behind the wheel, tooted the horn loudly, and we were on our way.
    We pulled away from the dock and sailed smoothly up the Cape Fear. “What a beautiful day. You have the best ideas.” I moved closer to Jon on the bench.
    “Stress is stress, whether it’s good stress, like the kids and restoring our new house. Or bad stress, like the gas leak and Simon’s fall from the porch. You know, the yellow tape might be up because of the gas leak, not because the police are considering this a homicide.”
    So he had read my mind. Again.
    “Let’s stop in on our way back.”
    “Sure. They can’t keep us out forever. After all, it’s our house.” And perhaps Nick will be gone by then, I thought.
    “Now, let’s simply escape to Eagles Island,” Jon said.
    Captain Doug directed our attention to the Battleship North Carolina. The World War II battleship was saved from scrapping by the citizens of North Carolina and arrived at its current berth at Eagles’ Island in 1962. A century earlier, the six mile island had been a rice plantation owned by Dr. Richard Eagles. Those were the days of slavery and I shudder to think of the plight of those poor unfortunate souls. Daddy always said that slavery was a great evil. Anyone with a conscience would agree.
    “The Cape Fear River was first explored by William Hilton, Jr. in 1662,” Captain Doug told us over the sound system.
    “And there’s his ancestral home,” I joked to Jon, pointing to the large Hilton Hotel on the downtown side of the river.
    Captain Doug continued, “The Cape Fear is a blackwater river, clear and black with swamps along the banks. Now we’re crossing under the Isabelle Stellings Holmes Bridge. The main river flows northwest to the locks at Fayetteville. But it also forks to the right to the Northeast branch and the Brunswick River.”
    “The weather is perfect,” Jon said. His eyes smiled into mine. “Beautiful day. Beautiful wife.”
    I grinned at him. “I’ll reward you for that later.”
    “I’m counting on it.”
    The weather was perfect. Sunny. Low humidity. Temperatures in the high seventies. No place has skies prettier than right here at home. Clear, true Carolina blue with banks of puffy white clouds that seemed not to be moving. I was reminded of “all the clouds are holding still” from Brigadoon.
    “The turtles are back,” Captain Doug was telling us. “And the bottle nose dolphins. Eagles Island is in conservation. The ospreys have left for their annual migration to Central America but you’ll see a few blue herons. There’s one!” and he pointed.
    Jon’s attention was fixed on a far off tall bare tree. He lifted the field glasses that dangled from his neck and aimed them at the tree. “A bald eagle,” he shouted excitedly. And everyone on the ship looked where he pointed.
    Captain Doug is an active member of the Cape Fear River Watch which continuously measures and monitors the quality of the water. “You’ve probably heard of the river wood that is being found under the river. It’s heart pine and they’re rescuing it, drying it out, and using it to