he would enjoy that; he’s up for reelection too, you know.”
“Thank God for that.”
“I know you don’t like to talk about this, Kate, but suppose Lance’s people find Teddy and capture him? What then?”
“We could build a special prison for him at Guantanamo Bay.”
“He’d break out of it inside a week. What instructions have you given Lance in the matter?”
“I’ve given him no instructions whatever.”
“And is he going to interpret the lack of instructions as a license to do whatever he feels like doing?”
“I haven’t told him to do that, either.”
“You’re hoping Lance will just make it go away.”
“I’m hoping all sorts of things: I’m hoping Teddy is in a block of ice in Antarctica; I’m hoping he was eaten by a shark the last time he went swimming; I’m hoping he’ll put a bullet in his brain, then fall into an active volcano.”
“Yes, Teddy is an inconvenient person.”
“I’m also hoping he wishes to remain dormant, because if he took it into his head to start killing people again…Well, I don’t know how we would handle that.”
“Perhaps leaving him alone wherever he is is the best move.”
“We’ll have that option, if Lance’s people find him on St. Marks. We could just keep him under surveillance and hope for the best.”
“I like that option best,” Will said, “except the surveillance part; he’d twig immediately.”
“You never give me official orders when we’re drinking.”
“Just think of it as a firm suggestion.”
“I think that, tomorrow morning, when we’re both entirely sober, you might give me a written finding to that effect that I can log and store in my safe at Langley.”
“But then I would be on record as saying that a murderer, having been found, should remain free. God knows,” Will said, “I would hate to see him tried. I think I’d rather invade Iran or Korea.”
“Remember, we don’t have an extradition treaty with St. Marks, yet.”
“State has been working on that since their new prime minister took over.”
“Do you think you could possibly slow them down?”
“I think it would be impossible to slow them down, since they’re already going as slowly as possible, with no help from me.”
“If Teddy is in St. Marks, and we sign an extradition treaty, he could bolt for other, less arresting climes.”
“And then we’d have to start all over again?”
“Exactly.”
“It’s the perfect conundrum, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
15
Thomas arranged for Stone to rent a car for the remainder of their stay, and early in the evening they drove up Black Mountain for dinner at Irene Foster’s.
“Funny,” Holly said as they climbed the steep road, “I didn’t notice before but there are underground power lines running alongside the road, and a pipeline, too. See the markers?” She pointed them out.
“Odd for a small island to go to the expense of putting power and water underground in what seems to be a fairly sparsely populated area.”
“The houses may be sparse, but they’re expensive,” Holly said. “The rich usually are willing to pay for preferential treatment.”
Irene’s gate was open, but after they drove through, it closed behind them. An SUV and a smaller car with a rental sticker were parked in the paved parking area, and as they got out of their car, Harry Pitts appeared on the front porch to greet them.
“I see you found the place,” Harry said.
“It was easy,” Stone replied. “There’s only one mountaintop in St. Marks.”
“You have a point,” Harry said. “Come on in, and let me get you a drink.” He led them into a fairly large, comfortably furnished living room and waved them to seats. “Irene’s busy in the kitchen; she’ll be out in a little while. Are you still drinking those vodka gimlets? I made some.”
“You betcha,” Holly said. “It’s easy to sell this crowd gimlets.”
Harry produced martini glasses and a frosty Absolut bottle, the liquid inside tinged with green, and poured for everyone. “Cheers,” Harry said, raising his glass.
“Wait for me,” Irene said from the kitchen door. She entered the room looking cool and well pressed, not like someone who had been cooking all afternoon.
The men stood and greeted her, and Harry handed her a gimlet. “I’m afraid I had one too many of these last night,” she said, “but this time I didn’t get a head start.” Everyone sat down.
“This is a marvelous place,” Holly said. “How’d you find it?”
“The usual way, through an agent. Actually, Thomas Hardy was a big help. He knew that Sir Winston Sutherland had bought up here and that he was bringing in electricity and water. The place had been on the market for a long time for lack of utilities. There’s a large cistern under the house, and water was collected from the roof, and although the house had been wired in hope of power, it didn’t happen until the PM made it happen. Before there were just a small generator and a lot of oil lamps.”
“So, you got in ahead of the rise in property values that must have come with the utilities?”
“Thanks to Thomas, yes. I got the place for half what it would bring now.”
“Where is Sir Winston’s place?”
“Just down the hill a couple of hundred yards, after what used to be the guesthouse for this one. I couldn’t afford the guesthouse when I bought, and an expat English couple bought it, but they seem to be rarely here. I’ve never met them.”
“I’ve noticed,” Stone said, “that since the last time I was here the island has taken on an air of prosperity. Has St. Marks attracted some new manufacturing or something?”
“Or something,” Harry said. “It’s called offshore Internet gambling.”
“How does that work?” Genevieve asked.
“A business establishes what amounts to a casino, except it’s entirely virtual. Anyone with an Internet connection, anywhere in the world, can play, and winnings or losses are credited or debited to a credit card. There are half a dozen establishments here, and they are hugely profitable. Each of them employs a lot of people, many of them islanders. The managers and computer people are almost entirely from abroad-the States, Europe and Asia- and those people are buying property and building houses. Irene got in under the wire, but it’s getting harder and harder to hire construction people. I tell you, if I lived here I’d start a construction company.”
“Is there any sort of regulation for the industry?” Dino asked.
“Not really. The United States is trying to ban Internet gambling, but not very successfully. When they started pressing the credit card companies not to process charges from offshore casinos, the casinos just offered their own credit cards, through offshore banks. A gambler can go online, fill out an application and get a credit line in less than two minutes. The card is mailed to him within a week, and he can use it anywhere, like any other credit card.
“The U.S. has arrested a couple of casino operators when they passed through American airports, but as long as they don’t enter the States, they’re safe. The U.S. and St. Marks have no extradition treaty, and negotiations have been bogged down for years.”
“Is there any local regulation in St. Marks?” Dino asked.
“A government department has been set up to regulate the casinos, but rumor has it, the only enforced regulation is to pay Sir Winston Sutherland for the privilege of operating.”
“Sir Winston seems to have a finger in every pie,” Stone said.
