21

Everybody was dressing for dinner, and Stone was ready first. “I’m going to go up to the inn and see what Thomas knows about this Robertson character; I’ll meet you in the bar.”

“Okay,” Holly said, switching on her blow dryer.

Stone slipped into a linen jacket and walked up to the inn. Thomas was behind the bar, in conversation with a customer, a black man in a black suit. A very nice suit, Stone thought, but an odd choice for the tropics.

Thomas waved him over. “Stone, I’d like you to meet one of our more prominent citizens,” he said. “This is Colonel Croft, of our home office. Colonel, this is an old customer, Mr. Stone Barrington, from New York.”

The colonel swiveled on his stool and smiled a broad smile with many teeth. “How do you do, Mr. Barrington?” he said.

He was wearing gold-rimmed dark glasses with reflective lenses, so Stone could not see his eyes, which he found a little disconcerting. “How do you do, Colonel? I didn’t know St. Marks had an army.”

“It’s a police title,” the colonel explained. “Since joining the Home Office I’m no longer a policeman, exactly, but the rank seems to have stuck. Everyone calls me Colonel.”

“I’m a retired policeman myself, like Thomas,” Stone said.

“You look awfully young to be retired,” the colonel replied.

“Medical reasons,” Stone said. “I took a bullet in the knee after fourteen years on the NYPD.”

“And what was your assignment on the force?” the colonel asked.

“I was a detective, mostly investigating homicides.”

The colonel smiled again. “Well, Mr. Barrington, you would have been unable to earn a living in St. Marks; we have so little violent crime and hardly any homicides.”

“You are to be congratulated,” Stone said. “It takes good police work to keep crime at such low levels.”

“We do our best for a small country. I understand you now practice law; in fact, I’ve heard that you have actually practiced in St. Marks, on a previous visit.”

So the colonel knew who he was; Stone was hardly surprised. “I had that honor,” he said, “but quite by happenstance. Your distinguished prime minister bested me handily in court.” Stone thought it best to spread the flattery on thick.

“Yes, your client was hanged, I believe.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“I was chief of police in Markstown at that time,” the colonel said, “so I was not involved in the investigation, but, of course, everyone knew of the incident.”

“Yes, I believe the trial gained some notoriety in the United States as well.” Couldn’t hurt to remind him that treating Americans badly engendered bad publicity. “I hope your tourist trade was not affected.”

“On the contrary,” the colonel said, “the notoriety seemed to give us a shot in the arm, as it were, and our tourist trade has grown steadily since then, benefitting many St. Marksians, as Thomas can readily testify.”

“I can,” Thomas said. “My home island has been very good to me.”

“I hear rumors of a big expansion in tourism to come,” Stone said, “with the arrival of casinos.”

The colonel abruptly stopped smiling. “Oh? And where did you hear that?” he asked, and he seemed genuinely interested in an answer.

“Oh, just gossip on the beach. That couple who went home yesterday said something about it.” The colonel was silent, and Stone felt that his eyes might be boring into him from behind the reflective glasses. “I forget their names.”

“It is best not to repeat gossip, Mr. Barrington,” the colonel said, and it didn’t sound like a suggestion.

“Quite right,” Stone said. “May I buy you a drink, Colonel?”

The colonel looked at his watch. “I’m afraid I have an engagement,” he said. “Perhaps another time.” He stood up.

“I hope so,” Stone said.

“Will you be remaining in St. Marks for very long, Mr. Barrington?”

“Only until the weekend,” Stone said. “So much work waiting back in New York.”

“What a pity,” the colonel replied. “It would have been interesting to get to know you better.”

“Perhaps on some future visit,” Stone said. He offered his hand; the colonel shook it, then departed. When he had gone, Thomas sighed. “Stone, you want to be very careful of what you say to that gentleman.”

“Oh? Did I say something wrong?”

“That business about the casinos is very closely held information.”

“The colonel did give the impression that I wasn’t supposed to know about it.”

“You recovered well, but still…Where on earth did you hear that? Not from me, certainly.”

“Just between you and me, it came up at dinner at Irene Foster’s house.”

“Ah.”

Stone shrugged. As he recalled, it had been Harry Pitts who knew about it, but he didn’t say so. “I visited Leslie Hewitt this afternoon, and I heard about Colonel Croft from him. I was surprised you hadn’t mentioned such an important figure.”

“It was my hope that you could visit St. Marks and depart without encountering the colonel,” Thomas said. “But now that you have, you should avoid further contact with him, if at all possible.”

“I think I would enjoy avoiding further contact with him,” Stone said. “He gives me the creeps.”

“He is the second most powerful man on the island, and he seems to derive a certain pleasure from making miserable the lives of people he dislikes. And it doesn’t take much to incur his dislike.”

“You seem to get on well with him.”

“I have made a point of it,” Thomas said. “I have to make a living here, and that might be impossible if the colonel didn’t wish it to be so.”

“Thomas, we talked this morning about the means of escaping this island. I hope you have a way out, should it become necessary.”

“You needn’t concern yourself about me, Stone,” Thomas replied. “I have always been a survivor and, even though I am enjoying my success, I know very well that my position here could become untenable if I make the wrong move.”

Stone nodded. “If I can ever be of help, I hope you’ll call on me.”

“Thank you; I hope that won’t be necessary.”

“By the way, speaking of escape routes, I visited Don Wells at the airport this afternoon, and he told me of a new arrival on the island, one Robertson, who has an airplane in one of Don’s hangars. Do you know him?”

“He has been in for dinner.” Thomas looked at Stone. “Are you thinking he might be your man?”

“It’s a possibility; do you have an opinion?”

Thomas shrugged. “I’ve seen the man only once; he spoke with a very good British accent.”

Holly, Dino and Genevieve arrived in the bar, and Stone let the matter drop.

22

They ordered drinks and sipped them while Thomas tended to other guests. “Who was the man in the black suit?” Holly asked.

“That was the fabled Colonel Croft,” Stone said, “and I’m glad you didn’t get to meet him.”

“Why?”

“A very creepy person, and by all accounts, very dangerous. He also has a bit of an accent that I can’t place. He doesn’t sound like the other islanders.”

“So he’s the one who’s bugging our cottage?”

“I think we can assume that. I’m afraid I sort of put my foot in it with him.”

“How so?”

“We were talking about the tourist trade here, and I told him I’d heard that it would be expanded by the arrival of casinos. He didn’t like hearing me say that.”

“Why not? It seems innocuous enough.”

“According to Thomas, it’s a closely guarded secret,” Stone said.

“But Harry Pitts told us about it at Irene’s; if it’s so secret, how does he know about it?”

“It struck me that Harry was extremely well informed about just about everything to do with St. Marks-especially for someone who’s only been here for a few days.”

“Irene must have brought him up to date,” Dino suggested.

“Perhaps,” Stone said, “but from here on in, don’t mention the casino business to anybody. I don’t want to raise any more red flags with the colonel. And Holly, when you talk to Lance tomorrow ask him to find out what he can about the gentleman.”