Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

noise than usual.
    They sat down and Stone poured the drinks. “Okay,” he said, “who?”
    â€œThe way I see it,” Holly said, “we’ve got two choices: Sir Winston’s cops or Teddy Fay.”
    â€œAny particular thoughts on which?” Stone asked.
    She thought for a minute. “Nope, but Lance is going to just love this.”

17
    S tone walked up to the inn and found Thomas Hardy in his office, working at his computer. He looked up.
    â€œStone,” he said, sounding pleased, “come in and sit down. Would you like some coffee?”
    â€œThank you, yes, Thomas.”
    Thomas spoke briefly into the phone, and a moment later, a waiter appeared with a coffeepot and a plate of cookies.
    â€œHow is your visit going?” Thomas asked as he poured their coffee.
    â€œVery well, thanks,” Stone said, stirring in a sweetener and sipping. “Until last night.”
    Thomas’s eyebrows went up. “Something wrong?”
    â€œWe had dinner at Irene Foster’s house last night, and when we returned to the cottage we found that it had been ransacked—neatly, but nevertheless, ransacked.”
    â€œI’m very sorry,” Thomas said, looking concerned. “Was anything missing?”
    â€œNothing, but some things had been left behind.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œAll three phone extensions had been bugged.”
    â€œ Bugged ?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œI’ve never heard of such a thing happening in St. Marks. You’re sure about this?”
    â€œGo down to the cottage, unscrew the mouthpiece on any phone, and you’ll see the device.”
    â€œBut who would do such a thing?”
    â€œI was hoping you might have a suggestion.”
    â€œSurely you don’t think that I…”
    â€œNo, of course not, Thomas; I apologize if I gave that impression. Our best guesses are Teddy Fay or Sir Winston Sutherland.”
    â€œWell, I don’t know about Mr. Fay, but certainly Sir Winston would do such a thing, if he thought it in his interest.”
    â€œBut what could he possibly hope to learn by bugging our quarters?”
    Thomas shrugged. “Perhaps you could better tell me. Is there something about your visit to St. Marks that you haven’t told me?”
    Stone shook his head. “No, there isn’t; I’ve told you everything.”
    â€œLet’s start with Teddy Fay, then. Is there some reason, assuming he’s on the island, that he would bug the premises?”
    â€œI suppose he might want to learn if our presence here has anything to do with looking for him.”
    â€œYou say the choices of culprit are Fay and Sir Winston; has it occurred to you that they might be combining their efforts?”
    â€œCombining? How?”
    â€œWell, if I were a fugitive living on the island, I might look for some sort of official protection. Mightn’t you do the same, if you were Fay?”
    â€œBut what would be in it for Sir Winston to hide a fugitive from the United States?”
    â€œMoney, of course; does Fay have money?”
    â€œWe believe so, but we don’t know how much. Anyway, that sort of bribe would be very small compared to the money I understand he’s getting from the offshore gambling interests.”
    Thomas smiled. “It is not my experience of Sir Winston that any sum of money would be too small to escape his attention. But he might have other reasons to assist Mr. Fay; Sir Winston has a supple mind, and it is always attuned to whatever person or information might be useful to him.”
    â€œI cannot imagine what use Teddy Fay’s presence in his country would be to Sir Winston.”
    â€œPerhaps Sir Winston has a more active imagination than you.”
    Stone laughed. “I’ll grant you that. I suppose that could apply to why he might want to listen in on our conversations. Let me ask your advice: should we leave the bugs in place or remove them?”
    â€œIf you are guarded in your conversations, perhaps it might be better to leave them in place. If you remove them, it might excite his further curiosity into why you are here—and that would go for both Sir Winston and Teddy Fay.”
    â€œThat’s good advice,” Stone said. “By the way, last night the conversation at Irene Foster’s house was mostly of Sir Winston’s rapidly growing wealth. Anything to that?”
    â€œAh, there are many