“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.”
“
“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 running another check on Harold; he wants to know when we’ve heard whether the boat is still here.”
The phone rang, and Stone picked it up. “Hello?”
“It’s Thomas. Harold’s boat is
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
“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 planned, doesn’t it?”
“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 cannot allow Teddy to be caught. We can’t even allow his body to be found.”
