As the heart-breaking music wafted through the theatre leaving the audience spellbound, in the pilot house, Simon, the "Melody's" cub steerman, reached a fateful decision. He gave orders to the engine room to clap on the steam. He was going to take the riverboat through the crossing, and prove once and for all what kind of pilot he was to Captain Cole and anyone else who doubted him.

   Simon felt the vibrations through the floor board as the "Melody" steamed ahead at a fast and even clip. He kept her in the middle of the jagged channel, and skillfully navigated her around snags and other floating debris. Despite the clear weather, the moon and stars cast heavy shadows on the water, and Simon's eyes began to play tricks on him.

   It was a difficult crossing, especially with no lights to guide him, and Simon didn't have this particular strip of river committed to memory. For a moment, he entertained the idea of letting go of the wheel and stopping the engines, but his pride wouldn't let him do so.

   Instead, he continued to plow through as he held his breath, and the sweat dripped down his forehead. He was nearly through the crossing and about to celebrate his expert piloting, when the "Melody" suddenly collided with something large and hard beneath the river's surface. It was a submerged reef, the kind which Captain Cole had the gift for sniffing out. However, no such talent resided in the nose of this young cub. The impact caused the riverboat to lurch forward violently. The scape-pipes emitted a choking cough, and the engines ground to a halt. The two tall chimneys toppled to the deck, and the wheels began to grind, causing large chunks of wood from her skeleton to be pulverized into mush.

   The screech of the "Melody" was deafening to Simon's ears as the sounds of her agonizing death raged all around him. In panic, Simon released the wheel and ran from the pilot house.

   Down in the amphitheatre, the large piano vaulted across the stage and pinned Alena and the pianist, Neil Cass, to the wall. Four men rushed to move it, and the surgeon who dined with her at the captain's table gasped, as he looked upon the mutilated corpse of the pianist and the ravaged body of Alena Dupree. Alena's spine was crushed, and blood ran from the corners of her mouth. She tried to stand, but couldn't. With mounting fear, she realized her legs were paralyzed.

   Her husband, Charles, was immediately at her side, holding her hand while everything else around them was thrown into chaos. Water was filling the room quickly, as the passengers and crew tried frantically to escape through the front doors, but found them locked. They tried to look for another way out, found none, and threw themselves upon the locked door, screaming for help. Their muffled pleas wouldn't be answered.

   Alena feverishly searched the room and cried again and again, "Where are you?"

   Charles squeezed her hand tightly, reassuring her that he was there for her, but this did nothing to relieve her anguish. He wasn't the man she was looking for.

   Alena was growing weaker, her eyes glazing over, and the last words that escaped her lips were barely above a whisper. "You promised me." Tears streamed down her cheeks as the vitality drained out of her body, and her eyes closed in weary defeat. All the passion, beauty, and fire that burned so brilliantly within Alena was now extinguished.

   As her soul left her body, Alena didn't realize she was dead. She was confused, had no idea that souls do live on after the body dies, and desperately tried to find her way home.

Chapter 29

   In Captain Daniel Cole's stateroom, Devlin lay dead on the floor in a pool of blood and water. Beside him, propped up against the wall, was Daniel; his eyes were closed, and the water was rising quickly up his body. In his hand was a gun, and fastened around his neck, peeking out from underneath his uniform, was Alena's emerald necklace.

   The loud ticking of his grandfather's watch, which sat upon a high shelf, kept up a steady rhythm throughout, until it too was squelched, and the ticking stopped.

   The Mississippi was now the watery grave for nearly all of the passengers and crew of the "Melody," except for two. At a great cost to Robert Hammond, the "Melody" would be raised, and those two passengers who'd survived, would later become witnesses at an inquest which would hold Captain Daniel Cole responsible for the sinking of the "Melody." He was found guilty for the deaths of the passengers and crew whom he locked in the amphitheatre, and also found guilty of the individual murder of his brother-in-law Devlin Southerland, found shot in his stateroom with the murder weapon still gripped in his hand. Though he wasn't alive to serve out his punishment, Daniel's name would live on in infamy.

   In the local watering holes that rivermen frequented, they spoke of the notorious deeds of Captain Cole, cursing his name and the life he led. The golden reputation which Daniel had spent a lifetime achieving was tarnished by the evil deeds of which he was accused. All who once respected and loved him, including his sister, Jackie, and Robert Hammond, spent the remainder of their lives blotting out his existence.