"I can call the guy who runs the airport," Thomas said. "Thanks."

Thomas used the phone and came back. "Nobody coming in today or tonight," he said.

"What would happen if an airplane landed without prior permission?"

"Big fine, for sure, and they might even confiscate the airplane if they got mad enough, but no airplane from the islands would try that.

All the charter services know the score. What's up, anyway?"

"The skipper of the big motor yacht that came in this afternoon says he's meeting a charter client who's flying in today."

"Well, that's going to come as a big surprise to the folks out at the airport."

"Yeah," Stone said. "See you later." He walked back down to the marina and boarded Expansive. "Hello, below," he called out.

"Stone, is that you?" Allison's voice called back. "Sure is." He started down the companionway.

"I'm not feeling very well," she called out. "Would you mind coming back later this evening?"

Stone stopped halfway down the steps.

"Stone?"

"I have to talk to you right now," he said and started down again.

"Please don't!" she cried, but he was already in the saloon. There were half a dozen packed duffels piled near the steps, and Allison had a safe open behind the navigation station. "Dammit," she said, "are you deaf?"

"What time are you planning to leave?" he asked. "I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, closing the safe and putting some papers into her late husband's briefcase.

"What time?" he asked again.

She began going through the drawers next to the chart table, apparently looking for something.

Stone walked into the aft cabin and looked around. He opened a closet door and found only a few things hanging there, along with a lot of empty hangers. He walked back into the saloon. "What time are you leaving?" he asked a third time.

She looked at him for a long time without expression. "Sometime after midnight," she said finally.

CHAPTER.

$9.

tone sat down on the sofa opposite the chart table. "You can't do it,"

he said. "You know the penalty if you're caught running. You'll be judged guilty without even the formality of a trial, and they'll hang you." "They're going to hang me anyway," she said. "Not if I have anything to say about it." "Stone," she said. "Can't you see the way this is headed? They've stacked the deck against me in every possible way. The jury will probably be stacked against me, too. Sutherland wants my hide on his wall, and he's going to get his way." "Allison, listen to me. We've got a shot at an acquittal, really we have." "And if I'm not acquitted?" "Then we turn on the pressure on the prime minister. Sutherland has already heard from both Connecticut senators and God knows who else. If they try to hang an American citizen under these circumstances, the world will fall on them. The pressure on the prime minister will be unbearable; he'll have to cave in."

"These people can do whatever the hell they want," she said. "They're in this insular little world of theirs, and nobody has ever cared about what went on here."

"Until now. Do you know that you're already very nearly world famous?

Every television station on the planet has run a story about you. On American television you're right up there with Princess Di for air time."

"I'm the flavor of the week, that's all," she sighed. "And probably half the people who heard about it think I'm guilty. Anyway, there would only be forty-eight hours between a conviction and an execution.

That's not enough time to build outrage and get some sort of intervention. Don't you think I've thought about this? I've hardly thought of anything else."

"But if you run and are caught, you'll appear guilty and you'll lose all that support. People will say, "Well, she killed her husband and she got what she deserved." Is that what you want?"

"I'm not going to get caught. That boat over there is the fastest thing afloat between here and Miami. We'll be in international waters fifteen minutes after we leave the harbor. They don't have anything that can stop us."

"Sutherland will go after you and extradite you." "I can fight that in the American courts."

"And by the time the lawyers are finished with you, all the money will be gone. All of it, Allison, the house,

yacht, and the twelve million in insurance money have gone right down the legal drain. Then, even if win, you can never travel abroad. The minute you in another country, Sutherland can start extradi-proceedings all over again. You'd be hounded for rest of your life."

l: ;11 "I'm hounded now; what,s the difference? At least I have a life. They won't catch me, Stone; they'll have to find me first."

"So you're going to change your identity and hide out somewhere, give up who you are and worry every day about being caught. You don't want to live as a fugitive, Allison, believe me."

This seemed to have an effect. Tears welled up in her eyes, and when she reached for a tissue her hands

"It's better than dying on this godforsaken "she managed to say.

"They'll think I helped you," Stone said. "I'm an officer of the court, you know; I'm obliged to prevent you from committing another crime, and to attempt to :i.. escape is a crime."

"You'll talk your way out of it, Stone. After all, you didn't suspect anything until now."

"They won't know that. They'll know that I had a drink in the bar with the captain of that yacht and that we talked for quite a while, and that I went down and took a tour of the yacht."

"Come with me, then; we'll both get out of here." Stone shook his head. "I'm not going to become a party to a crime for you or anybody else, and I'm certainly not going to become a fugitive." He stood up.

"Where are you going?" she asked, alarmed.

"I'm going to get as far away from you as I possibly can, although, in the circumstances, that's not very far."

"You're going to turn me in, aren't you?" she asked.

"Of course not; I'm not going to be the instrument of your death. I'm trying to save your life." He turned to leave.

She stood up and grabbed him, turned him to her, and put her arms around his waist. "Don't go," she said. "Stay here with me; I'm so frightened."

Stone disentangled himself from her arms. "I'm leaving right now. We won't be seeing each other again, Allison." He turned and started up the companionway before she could speak again.

He was furious. The stupid girl was jeopardizing them both, herself most of all, and there was not a damn thing he could do about it. At the top of the steps he looked toward the Shipwright's Arms and saw three policemen striding across the lawn toward the marina. "Oh, shit!" he moaned, and ran back down the steps.

"What is it?" Allison asked.

Stone looked around the cabin for some place to hide her luggage.

They'd look in the after cabin. "Quick, fix us a drink; the cops are coming." He opened the door to the engine room and started tossing duffels down the steps.