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“Yeah, we saw him sail out of English Harbour and turn to the east. Is there anywhere along the eastern shore where he could have anchored? Another marina or a cove?”
“No, it’s all cliffs on that end of the island, and there’s heavy surf from the trade winds, so he couldn’t anchor there, either. What’s going on, Stone?”
“Have you heard about duBois and the prime minister?”
“Yes, there was just a report that Sutherland was DOA at the Markstown hospital.”
“DuBois, too?”
“Yes. That pretty much cuts off the heads of the government and the police force. There’s going to be chaos, and I think you should expect to be questioned again.”
“Our airplane is due at noon, and they’ve been instructed to declare an emergency, if necessary, to get permission to land. Do you think we’ll be able to get out of here?”
“I’ll drive you to the airport and do what I can to help.”
“Thanks, Thomas.”
“Why are you asking about Harold Pitts?”
“Because we think he may be Teddy Fay.”
Thomas was silent for a moment. “Well, it wasn’t Harold who shot duBois and Sutherland. He’d be a hundred miles north by now.”
“Could you do me a favor and call every marina and anchorage and see if his boat is still on the island?”
“Well, there’s no way to call anchorages, but there are only a couple of decent ones; I’ll have somebody drive to them and check, and I’ll call the marinas, then get back to you.”
“Thanks, Thomas.” Stone hung up. “Did you get that?”
“Only your end.”
“Thomas cast off Harold’s lines himself and saw him leave the harbor. He’s checking to see if he could have anchored somewhere else on the island.”
“Let’s go up to Irene’s and see if he’s there.”
“Wait a minute; don’t go off the deep end. Let’s wait to hear from Thomas. Anyway, we aren’t armed, and we don’t want to go after Teddy naked.”
Dino was standing in the door. “You want a gun?” he said.
“You have a gun?” Stone asked.
“I’m a police officer; I’m armed at all times.”
“Good thing we didn’t have to explain that to St. Marks customs.”
“I don’t mind explaining to customs,” Dino said. He went away and came back with a small 9 mm semiautomatic and a spare magazine. “Here you go,” he said, handing it to Holly. “I’d rather you didn’t shoot anybody with it, unless you really have to; it’s registered to the NYPD.”
“You don’t have any instructions to shoot anybody,” Stone said to Holly.
“I want it for defense,” she replied. “We could need it, as you pointed out.”
“We? What’s this we stuff?”
“Aren’t you going with me?”
“Where?”
“Up to Irene’s?”
“Before I answer that, I want to know your plan,” Stone said.
“Well, I’m just going to go up there and confront Irene.”
“And she’s going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, Teddy’s in the bedroom closet’?”
“Well…”
“In the unlikely event that he’s there, she’s going to protect him.”
“I guess so.”
“I think you’d better call Lance again.”
“You’re right,” Holly said, grabbing the satphone. She went outside and called Lance’s office.
“Yes?”
“Lance, among the photographs you e-mailed me is one that looks an awful lot like Harold Pitts, Irene Foster’s friend from Virginia, the one you checked out.”
“And he checked out just fine,” Lance said.
“Also, Pitts left St. Marks yesterday in his sailboat, bound for Ft. Lauderdale. We saw him leave; we’re checking out other marinas and anchorages on the island now, to see if he didn’t really go.”
“When will you know?”
“Soon.”
“Call me the minute you hear. In the meantime, I’m going to run another check on Pitts.” He hung up.
Holly went back inside. “Lance is ru
The phone rang, and Stone picked it up. “Hello?”
“It’s Thomas. Harold’s boat is not on the island. Not anywhere.”
Stone turned to Holly. “Thomas says the boat is not anywhere on St. Marks.”
“Well, I’m going up to Irene’s anyway,” Holly said.
Stone turned back to the phone. “Thanks, Thomas. We’re going to run up to Irene’s and have a word with her.”
“I don’t think I’d do that, Stone.”
“Why not?”
“Because if Harold is the shooter and he’s still there, you don’t want to be anywhere near him when the police come to talk to him, and they will talk to him. If you’re there, they’ll figure you’re in cahoots with him.”
“Good point. I’ll explain it to Holly.”
“Stone, if you’re going up to Irene’s, let me come with you. If the police show up, I can help.”
“Thanks, Thomas, good idea. We’ll see you in five minutes.” Stone hung up and turned to Holly. “Thomas has pointed out that if Harold is Teddy and Teddy is the shooter, we don’t want to be around him when the police arrive. Thomas is going with us; he can help if the police turn up.”
“Okay with me,” Holly said, jamming the 9 mm into her jeans. “Dino, if we don’t come back immediately, will you take our bags to the airport, and we’ll meet you there?”
“Sure,” Dino said.
Teddy had moved everything he needed out of his workshop, and now he turned on a fan he had rigged up that blew dust around the room. His cell phone buzzed on his belt.
“Yes?”
“It’s Thomas. Stone and Holly are determined to go up to Black Mountain, looking for you. I’m coming with them.”
“How much time do I have?”
“Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.”
“Slow them down if you can.”
“I’ll try.”
Teddy hung up and took his things outside.
56
Thomas hung up and called Sir Leslie Hewitt.
“Hello?”
“Leslie, it’s Thomas. Have you heard?
“Yes, it’s all over the TV. I was astonished that he got Winston Sutherland. How did that happen?”
“I haven’t spoken with him about it yet, but my guess is he had the opportunity and took it.”
“Well, that advances things rather more than we had pla
“It certainly does, and I think we’d better get the group together tonight to discuss our options. We can’t make any moves until after Winston’s funeral, but we’d better be talking to a lot of people before they bury him.”
“Do you have any idea where Teddy is now?”
“I just spoke to him; I assume he’s either at Irene’s or in his workshop. Stone Barrington and Holly Barker are going up there now looking for him, and I’m going with them.”
“Will they be armed?”
“I don’t know.”
“Thomas, we can’t let Teddy be caught.”
“I’ll do what I can to get him off the island.”
Leslie paused for a moment. “Thomas, I’m not sure you’re taking my meaning.”
“I’m sorry, Leslie, what am I missing?”
“Certainly, it would be good if Teddy immediately got off the island, but if that seems in any way in doubt, then you can’t allow him to be taken by the police. I don’t know what the ramifications are of having him taken by this CIA woman, but I can’t think that that would be to our benefit, either.”
“For all practical purposes, Teddy is off the island now; his yacht sailed, and I’ve asked the fellow we put aboard to be sure to be seen at the western end of St. Martin, so the police can confirm that Harold left yesterday.”
“I think, in view of Winston’s rather sudden demise, we may have to replan a bit.”
“What do you suggest?”
“First, as I said before, we ca
“His body?”
“Thomas, please focus; if he’s in danger of being caught, you’re going to have to kill him and get the body into the sea.”
Thomas sat quietly for a moment and thought.
“Think of the ramifications of his being caught: they’ll beat everything out of him. If they only have the body, they’ll start to confirm every detail of his identity, and even though he told us he did a masterful job of becoming Harold Pitts, that identity will eventually unravel.”