Cold Paradise

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Dino asked.

“Yes. If Barnacle was in jail in Chicago five years ago, he couldn’t be Paul Ma

“Right.”

They drove the rest of the way to the Shames house in silence.

35

One by one, Thad Shames’s guests straggled on deck for breakfast on the afterdeck at midmorning. Stone thought everybody looked tired, maybe a little shell-shocked. Not much was said, and he didn’t feel ready to tell Thad and Liz what little he knew about Bartlett’s background. He would wait for more information.

Stone was finishing his coffee when Juanito arrived with a fax of a dozen or so pages. Stone flipped through them, with Dino looking over his shoulder, occasionally pointing out something.

“What is that?” Thad finally asked.

“It’s a copy of the criminal record of Paul Bartlett, aka Douglas Barnacle, William Wilfred, Edgar Chase and Terence Keane.”

“He was all those people?” Liz asked.

“Those and maybe more. I’ll summarize for you: He was born Robert Trent Smith, in Providence, Rhode Island, where he attended the public schools and the Rhode Island School of Design, which, incidentally, is very highly thought of. He was kicked out of school a month before graduation for ru

“Then he’s not Paul Ma

“No. Five years ago, Paul Ma

“That’s right.”

“And Bartlett was in jail at the time.”

“So Bartlett was just a waste of your time?” Callie asked.

“Not entirely,” Stone said. “At least you and I managed to get him caught for murdering his wife.”

Dino spoke up. “And I managed to save the State of Mi

“I don’t want you to feel you’ve wasted my time, Stone,” Thad said. “You were perfectly right to follow that lead, and I’m glad that it came to some good.”

“But now we’re right back where we started,” Stone said. “Liz, let’s talk about this sighting of Paul Ma

“All right,” she said.

“Tell me exactly the circumstances under which you saw him.”

“I was in a shop on Main Street, pointing to something in the window for the saleslady to get for me, and I saw him outside the window.”

“Did you see his face?”

“Not entirely, just partly. I caught a glimpse of his nose, which was straight, and that threw me off for a moment. Then, as he was walking away, he did this thing with his shoulders that he used to do.” She demonstrated with a sort of shrug. “As if his jacket weren’t resting comfortably on his shoulders.”

“I remember his doing that in St. Marks,” Stone said. “What else?”

“That was it. I waited until he had gone on down the street, then I got into my car, made a U-turn and got out of there. You’re looking at me as though it were my imagination.”

“No, no,” Stone said. “I believe you. I just wanted the details.”

“And,” Thad said, “there is the matter of the vandalizing of Liz’s house.”

“Of course,” Stone said. “I know the threat is real, and I think Paul Ma

“So,” Thad said, “where do we go from here?”

“I’ll have to give that some thought,” Stone said. “I’d feel better if we had some bit of information that would give us a basis for a search.”

“What sort of information?” Thad asked.

“Well, for instance, a man made several phone calls to my office and wouldn’t give his name, making my secretary suspicious. Caller ID told us the calls came from a Manhattan hotel.” He pointed to the stack of computer paper that rested on a deck chair nearby. “A friend of mine managed to print out the guest list, and Liz and I went through it carefully. I was hoping a name might ring some sort of bell. One name seemed plausible, but it didn’t work out, and neither of us saw another familiar name on the list.”

“I did,” Callie said.

“You did what?” Stone asked.

“I saw a familiar name on the list.” She got up, went to the stack of paper, riffled through it and ripped off a page. “Here,” she said, handing it to Stone.

Stone looked at the sheet. “Frederick James? Does that mean anything to you, Liz?”

Liz shook her head. “No.”

“It should mean something to you, Stone, and you, too, Dino,” Callie said.

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Dino said.

Callie picked up the novel Dino had been reading and tossed it to him.

“Tumult, by Frederick James,” Dino read aloud.

“I’d forgotten the name,” Stone said.

“And he’s a novelist, like Paul,” Liz said.

“Why didn’t you mention this before, Callie?”

She shrugged. “I meant to, but somebody changed the subject, and I forgot about it until you mentioned the hotel guest list just now.”

Stone looked at the sheet. “His home address is on Gin Lane, in Easthampton. That’s interesting.” Stone took the book from Dino and turned it over, opened the back cover. “No photograph. All the dust jacket says is, 'Frederick James travels widely around the world, never staying in one place for long. This is his first novel.'”

“Usually there’s some sort of biography,” Thad said. “Who published it?”

Stone looked at the book jacket. “Hot Lead Press. Linotype machines used to use hot lead to set type. Never heard of this outfit.”

“Liz,” Dino asked, “have you read this book?”

“No.”

“Read it, or at least some of it. See if you think Paul Ma

Stone handed her the book.

“All right,” she said. “God knows I’ve read all of Paul’s earlier novels; I ought to know his work.”

“Well,” Stone said, “now we’ve got some information-James’s home address and his publisher’s name. We couldn’t ask for a better start. Dino, while Liz reads the book, let’s you and I make some phone calls.”

They went into the saloon, where there were two extensions. Stone was about to pick up a phone, but Dino stopped him.

“Listen, want to make a little bet?”

“About what?”

“I’ll bet you a hundred bucks that after Liz reads the novel she won’t be sure of whether Ma

“I’m not sure I’d take that bet,” Stone said. “She’s been equivocal every time she was in a position to nail something down. I mean, you’d have thought she could tell us right away that Bartlett wasn’t Ma

“Yeah, I would have thought that,” Dino agreed. “Of course, there could be a really strong resemblance. I mean, you knew Ma

“You knew him, too, and you were no help at all, until shooting was required.”

“You saying I’m trigger happy?”

“Dino, as far as I’m concerned, you can shoot anybody anytime you feel like it, because usually, when you shoot somebody, he’s trying to shoot me.”

“I’m glad you noticed.”

“So, you suspect Liz of something?”

Dino shrugged. “Not yet. I’d just like to have a straight answer from her now and then.”

“So would I,” Stone said, half to himself.