'Things will work out as long as Green doesn't get suspicious.'
'How can I prevent that?'
'Stay out of his way and don't nose around. Stick close to Greighton's kid, too. Keep her happy, and you'll re-main useful to him. Green's still courting Greighton. He won't want to rock the boat.'
'It all sounds so ... so cowardly,' said Rick.
'Green's as good as caught the moment we get up-when. Be smart, and let Sam's people take care of him. You don't need to stick your neck out.'
'Is that all?' asked Rick.
'Now you know everything,' said Joe. 'I wish you didn't. The less you knew, the safer you were. Don't do anything to tip off Green.'
'I'll be careful.'
Joe watched his words sink in.
THE CHIRPING OF BIRDS HERALDED THE ONSET OF CON'S
favorite time of the day. She awoke to savor the landscape beyond the colonnade as it slowly came awake. The early-morning air was heavy with the smell of the sea and mag-nolias. It bathed her in fragrance as she lay on her bed, watching the soft blue light of dawn gradually brighten. Soon, pterosaurs added their less melodic cries to those of the birds. Before long, the first rays of the rising sun would strike the treetops.
Con enjoyed the calmness of morning. None of the on-coming day's irritants or problems need yet be faced. Daddy and Sara did not provoke her. The mysterious Peter Green remained forgotten. Rick's unsettling revelations were ig-nored. Con shut them all away while she recaptured the feel-ing of innocent delight she had experienced the first morning on the island.
Rick spoiled it by quietly emerging from the trees. He stopped outside her room, and whispered, 'Con.' Con closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.
'Con, are you awake?' whispered Rick more loudly.
Con remained still and waited for him to leave. Instead, she heard him enter the room. His hand softly shook her foot. 'Con.'
'What do you want?' she said, not bothering to hide her annoyance. She opened her eyes to see that Rick had re- treated a few steps.
'Con, would you do me a favor?'
'Did you have to come here to ask? Couldn't it have waited?'
'Sorry,' said Rick. 'I had to ask before the others got up.' Con caught an anxious tone in Rick's voice. His face, also, had a disquietingly worried look to it. 'What's going on?' she asked.
'I can't talk now. Just say you want to stay on the island today. Tell James you'd like me to take you fishing. Will you do that?'
'Why?'
Rick looked around nervously. 'Please. I'll explain later.'
'All right,' said Con, somewhat grudgingly.
'Thanks,' whispered Rick as he began a quick retreat from the room. Con remained in her bed. The dawn proceeded, but it no longer seemed tranquil. RICK WAS GLAD he had used an indirect return route to the staff compound when he encountered James making coffee. 'You're up early,' said James.
'I wanted to see the sunrise,' said Rick.
'Thought you'd take a fancy to this place,' replied James. 'It reminds me of my boyhood. God, I loved dawn on the Serengeti.'
'No seashore there,' said Rick.
