Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

have changed a bit in St. Marks,” Thomas said. “Since Sir Winston Sutherland became prime minister, the police take a greater interest in everyone than they once did.”
    â€œIt can’t be very good for tourism to do that to everybody who arrives.”
    â€œNo, it’s not, but they don’t bother the folks on commercial flights quite as much. They tend to look at every private airplane as a conveyer of drugs, and there is no faster way to get in trouble on this island than to possess illegal drugs.”
    â€œWell, thanks for your help.”
    â€œYou’ll find things quite different at the English Harbour Inn, too. I’m a member of Parliament now, and I’ve prospered since the advent of Sir Winston, mostly because he likes my conch chowder, and, of course, because I pay him well under the table. I was allowed to buy some beachfront property from the government that’s adjacent to my own, and I’ve built a dozen cottages. You’re all in the nicest of them, and you’ll have your own housekeeper and butler.”
    â€œSounds wonderful.”
    â€œI bought the marina, too, and I’ve made improvements. You can even get wireless Internet on your yacht these days. The restaurant has been enlarged, and I got a new chef from England last year. I also started a liquor distribution company, so the wines are better than when you were last here.”
    â€œSounds like the advent of Sir Winston has brought all sorts of improvements.”
    â€œHe hasn’t been all bad,” Thomas said. “I’ve never learned to like the man, but he’s cracked down on crime, the roads have been improved, and the national income from tourism is up and headed higher, I think.”
    â€œWhat’s the downside of Sir Winston?”
    Thomas shrugged. “The payoffs are higher than with the last PM, but then so are the profits, and the police are more…observant of the citizens.” Thomas nodded toward the island’s central mountain in the distance; its top was shrouded in fog. “The old man is wearing his gray hair today,” he said. “Did you ever go to up to the top of Black Mountain?”
    â€œNo, I seemed to spend most of my time in a courtroom last time.”
    â€œAh, yes,” Thomas said, smiling. “I read about the exploits of the lovely Allison and her evil husband in Palm Beach a couple of years ago. They’ve been put away, I believe.”
    â€œThat’s so, and I’m glad to have had a hand in it. I had dinner with the president of the United States last night, and he told me that she requests a pardon every year.”
    Thomas looked amazed. “You had dinner with the president?”
    â€œAlong with about three hundred other people,” Stone said, “but I did get to chat with him for a couple of minutes.”
    â€œYou’re coming up in the world, Stone.”
    â€œNot really; it was my first White House dinner, and I expect it will be my last.”
    Thomas turned through a pair of large stone gateposts with a brass plaque bearing the legend “English Harbour Inn,” and below that another plaque identifying the inn as a Relais de Campagne hotel.
    â€œYou got in the Relais? You’re coming up in the world, too.” The Relais was an international organization of luxury hotels and country inns and restaurants.
    â€œWell, at least I didn’t have to bribe anybody,” Thomas said. “I applied, they showed up and inspected the place, and I got that little plaque for my gate.”
    â€œYou didn’t even have a gate last time I was here.”
    Thomas laughed and turned off the main drive onto a smaller road. A moment later he stopped the car beside a stone cottage with a roof of palm thatch. The sea lapped against a powdery white beach a few yards away. “Here we are,” he said.
    A man wearing a white cotton jacket and a black bow tie materialized next to the car and opened the doors.
    â€œThis is Jacob Marlow, your butler,” Thomas said. He nodded at a plump woman in a white dress, standing in the doorway of the cottage. “And that is Hilda, his wife, who will help take care of you. I’ve booked a table for you in the restaurant at eight; I’ll see you then.” Thomas shook Stone’s hand, got in the car and drove away.
    The cottage consisted of a large, comfortably furnished living room with a well-stocked bar in one corner