Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

questioned again.”
    â€œOur airplane is due at noon, and they’ve been instructed to declare an emergency, if necessary, to get permission to land. Do you think we’ll be able to get out of here?”
    â€œI’ll drive you to the airport and do what I can to help.”
    â€œThanks, Thomas.”
    â€œWhy are you asking about Harold Pitts?”
    â€œBecause we think he may be Teddy Fay.”
    Thomas was silent for a moment. “Well, it wasn’t Harold who shot duBois and Sutherland. He’d be a hundred miles north by now.”
    â€œCould you do me a favor and call every marina and anchorage and see if his boat is still on the island?”
    â€œWell, there’s no way to call anchorages, but there are only a couple of decent ones; I’ll have somebody drive to them and check, and I’ll call the marinas, then get back to you.”
    â€œThanks, Thomas.” Stone hung up. “Did you get that?”
    â€œOnly your end.”
    â€œThomas 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.”
    â€œLet’s go up to Irene’s and see if he’s there.”
    â€œWait 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.
    â€œYou have a gun?” Stone asked.
    â€œI’m a police officer; I’m armed at all times.”
    â€œGood thing we didn’t have to explain that to St. Marks customs.”
    â€œI 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.”
    â€œYou don’t have any instructions to shoot anybody,” Stone said to Holly.
    â€œI want it for defense,” she replied. “We could need it, as you pointed out.”
    â€œ We ? What’s this we stuff?”
    â€œAren’t you going with me?”
    â€œWhere?”
    â€œUp to Irene’s?”
    â€œBefore I answer that, I want to know your plan,” Stone said.
    â€œWell, I’m just going to go up there and confront Irene.”
    â€œAnd she’s going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, Teddy’s in the bedroom closet’?”
    â€œWell…”
    â€œIn the unlikely event that he’s there, she’s going to protect him.”
    â€œI guess so.”
    â€œI think you’d better call Lance again.”
    â€œYou’re right,” Holly said, grabbing the satphone. She went outside and called Lance’s office.
    â€œYes?”
    â€œLance, 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.”
    â€œAnd he checked out just fine,” Lance said.
    â€œAlso, 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.”
    â€œWhen will you know?”
    â€œSoon.”
    â€œCall 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?”
    â€œIt’s Thomas. Harold’s boat is not on the island. Not anywhere.”
    Stone turned to Holly. “Thomas says the boat is not anywhere on St. Marks.”
    â€œWell, 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.”
    â€œI don’t think I’d do that, Stone.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œBecause 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 will talk to him. If you’re there, they’ll figure you’re in cahoots with him.”
    â€œGood point. I’ll explain it to