"How long did it take you to lose the weight?"

"I started dieting the minute we left the States," Manning said.

"Losing weight has never been easy for me, but I had some time; I lost a pound or two a week. By the time we got to Las Palmas, I was as slim as I am now."

"Careful you don't gain it back, Paul; somebody might recognize you."

"Not where I'm going." "And where would that be?" "You figure it out."

"It's going to be tough without the money, isn't it?"

"Damn Allison!" Manning said suddenly, and with some venom.

"Wasn't the money in the Cayman Islands account?

have access to it?"

"The money was moved to a different account the before Allison's trial."

"I thought it might have been." "I'd like to get my hands on her."

"I'll bet you would, but it's going to be a little difficult, isn't it?"

"She's not dead, is she?"

"Suppose she's not? I doubt if you could find her.

all, you must have given her lessons in how to a real U.S. passport, how to establish new identities, and all that. All the research you did for your books, and for y'ur own use."

"All that insurance money--tax free--the money from the sale of the house and the cars; it's all gone," Manning said bitterly.

"And even if you could find it, you've no way to get at it, have you?"

"Sir Leslie Hewett showed me the will he drew for her, leaving everything to the Girl Scouts of America!"

Stone burst out laughing. "Paul, you've made my day, you really have."

"And she gave the goddamned boat to you," Manning said through clenched teeth.

"That's right, pal, but your heart will be warmed to know that Libby's mother got four hundred thousand of the proceeds."

"Shit!"

"So you killed Libby for nothing, didn't you?" "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Paul; you had the skills to screw up that

SUARr WOODS

airplane engine. You'd flown with Chester; you knew he never did a run up that he'd never notice his fuel problem until he was already in the air. You killed Chester,

too, and that other poor woman who was aboard." "You can't prove that," Manning said.

"You know, right up until the moment that plane crashed, this was all just a lark, a bit of insurance fraud. But when that plane went down, you became something else entirely. You became a murderer--not just three times, but four. You stood there in that jail in St. Marks and let Allison walk out to the gallows. I'll bet she thought until she was standing over that trap door with the rope around her neck that you would step forward and save her. You could have at any time; all you had to do was to, tell Sir Winston that you were Paul Manning. He couldn't prosecute her for a murder that hadn't taken place. But you didn't do that, did you? You thought all that money was safe in the Caymans account, and it would all be yours. But Allison outsmarted you."

"I can't figure out why she did it," Manning said, looking dejected.

"Because she knew you. At first she thought you'd save her, but finally she knew you'd never turn yourself in, even to save her. If you had turned yourself in, you'd have had all that money to buy your way out of the business in St. Marks, but you decided to go for broke, to keep it all for yourself, and now you're just that--broke."

"I want the money you got for my boat," Manning said. "And I want all of it."

Stone laughed aloud. "I took the boat as payment of my fee; it was all legal and aboveboard. Why should I give it to you?"

"Because I'll kill you if you don't," Manning said

"You're not going to kill anybody, Manning." Stone stood up, drew back his hand, and brought the back of it across Manning's face, spilling him out of the lawn chair. "That's for Allison, you miserable son of a bitch. You cooked up the scam, and she went all the way with you, then you let her hang." Stone looked up and saw a car stop in his driveway.

Dino Bacchetti got out. "Hi, Dino," he said. "Stone, how you doing?"

"Just great. I want you to meet the late Paul Manning."

"How you doing, Paul?" Dino said, grinning broadly.

"Just great," Manning said, wiping away some blood from the side of his mouth.

"Dino and I used to be partners," Stone said. "He's still a cop; he runs the detective squad at the Nineteenth Precinct." .

"What is this?" Manning said, alarmed.

"Dino's going to put you in jail," Stone said.

"I haven't committed any crime in the United States," Manning said.

"It's like this, Paul," Dino said. "I'm arresting you for the homicide of your wife, your ex-wife, the pilot, and the other passenger on that airplane you sabotaged."

"I didn't murder my wife or anybody else," Manning said, "and nobody can prove that I did. Anyway, I don't believe she's dead."

"Well, there are a lot of fine legal points in this case," Dino said.

"I mean, in addition to the four homicides,

there's the 'insurance fraud. It all gets very complicated, doesn't it?"

Manning smiled, showing blood on his teeth. "Yes, it does. In fact, I expect to be a free man again before the day is over. I've already retained a lawyer, and you'll never be able to hold me."

"I know this is going to come as a big disappointment, Paul," Dino said, "especially since you worked so hard to figure it all out, but I've got some really bad news for you."

"What do you mean?" Manning asked.