Rick thought it over. The logical deduction was that Tom Tyler had somehow gotten suspicious of the Kelsos and what they were doing at Creek House and had gone spying. Kelso had found out Tyler had spied on him and had warned him, although Rick couldn't imagine what club he had held over Tyler's head. Tyler had ignored the warning and somehow Kelso had contrived to wreck the trawler. But how?
"Was the regular crew aboard the Sea Belle?" he asked.
"Yes. Just the regulars. All good men who've sailed with Tom Tyler for more'n ten years."
"You said Mrs. Tyler was afraid, too," Scotty remembered.
Cap'n Mike shrugged. "Probably Tom talked the whole thing over with her."
There had been an air of tension at the wreck last night, Rick thought. Maybe other fishermen were in it, too. He put the question to Cap'n Mike.
"I don't think so," the old man said. "The whole town knows something's up. They know Tom Tyler doesn't wince at shadows. If he's afraid, and they know he is, he's got reasons. That makes 'em all uneasy. But there is one gang that I'm sure is mixed up in this, and that's the bunch on the Albatross. She's a fishing craft just like Tom's, only her skipper isn't much like Tom. Name's Brad Marbek."
Rick stretched his legs. "Why do you think he and his crew are mixed up in it?"
"Eel fishing is a good business for them as wants information," Cap'n Mike said.
Rick hid a smile. The old seaman was bursting with curiosity about the Creek House and its new inhabitants. He had a picture of him sitting patiently at the mouth of Salt Creek, ostensibly fishing but actually watching to see what he could find out.