Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

rumors that he’s pulling in over a hundred million dollars a year for himself, and he’s established an offshore banking system much like that of the Cayman Islands. He owns his own bank, and his friends own all the others.”
    â€œSo he’s St. Marks’s Papa Doc, then?” Dino asked.
    â€œSir Winston is, practically speaking, almost as much a dictator as Papa Doc Duvalier was in Haiti, but he’s smarter and more benign; he spreads the wealth around. The per capita income on the island is said to have doubled within the past few years, and it’s expected to double again. Of course, it was pretty low to begin with, but now there are businesses like car dealerships where there were none before. A few years ago, if you wanted a car, you had to go to a dealer in St. Martin or Guadeloupe or Antigua. Now you can buy a Toyota or a Volkswagen off the lot, and there are rumors that Mercedes and BMW dealerships are on the way.”
    â€œI can guess who’s going to own those,” Stone said.
    â€œSir Winston and his friends, of course,” Irene replied.
    â€œSo who’s getting hurt?” Holly said.
    â€œThe suckers,” Harry replied, “the losers at gambling. The casinos have a slightly lower profit margin than the Las Vegas establishments, so they’re attractive to gamblers, but they still lose, just like in Vegas. The casinos operate without infrastructure—they don’t have to invest in building hotels or producing entertainment. There are rumors that those things are in the offing, though, and that will goose tourist income enormously.”
    A uniformed black woman came into the living room. “Dinner is served, Miss Foster,” she said.
    Irene rose, led them into the dining room and seated them at a beautifully arranged table, while Harry poured a French wine.
    Stone nodded toward the view from the dining room window. “I can see a couple of roofs,” he said.
    â€œThe big one is Sir Winston’s,” Irene replied. “The two smaller ones are the former guesthouse, now owned by the Weatherbys, and another small house, owned by the Pembertons; I haven’t met them, either.”

16
    I t was nearly midnight when they left Irene’s house, after a good dinner and a lot of talk.
    â€œThat must be the driveway to the old guesthouse,” Holly said, as their headlights flashed over a gate. “And then the Pembertons, and this one coming up must be Sir Winston’s place. I wonder why there’s no guard.”
    â€œLook,” Stone said, pointing, “there’s a guard shack up the driveway, about thirty yards after the gate.”
    â€œSo the big man is not unprotected.”
    â€œI guess not. This jungle is so thick, there could be a company of infantry hidden in there.”
    â€œSt. Marks doesn’t have an army,” Genevieve said. “I read it on the Internet. The island has a police force, but that’s all.”
    â€œWell, it’s not a banana republic, is it?” Dino said. “And I haven’t heard anything about a drug problem. If anything, Sir Winston must be guarding against that, if his police are shooting drug smugglers on the beach.”
    â€œIf he allowed the drug lords in,” Stone said, “they’d own him in no time, or they’d kill him and install somebody more cooperative.”
    â€œI’m beginning to think this guy is very smart,” Dino said. “How’d you manage to beat him in court?”
    â€œBeat him? My client was hanged, or at least, I thought she was. I didn’t beat him. She paid a million-dollar bribe to the old prime minister, without my knowledge, and was allowed to leave the country.”
    â€œI wonder how the old prime minister met his demise,” Holly said.
    â€œMaybe he didn’t,” Dino said. “Maybe he’s rotting in prison.”
    â€œI’ve got to sit down with Thomas and talk with him about this,” Stone said. “There doesn’t seem to be anything he doesn’t know about what’s going on here, and he’s a member of the local parliament, so he must be knowledgeable about the politics.”
    â€œAnd he’s doing very well out of it, too,” Holly pointed out.
    â€œSpeaking of doing well,” Stone said, “how did we do at dinner tonight? What did we learn?”
    â€œA lot about the island,” Holly said, “but not much about