“Spend the money,” Stone said. “At least I can see if there’s a familiar name on the list.”
“What day did the guy call?”
“Thursday and Friday. I suppose the guest list for either day would do. See if you can get the home addresses of the guests, too.”
“I’m on it,” Bob said.
“Call me on my cell phone when you get something.”
“Will do.” Bob hung up.
Juanito appeared with an envelope. “A fax for you, Mr. Barrington,” he said.
“Thank you, Juanito,” Stone said, accepting the envelope. He opened it to find the fully executed agreement with the insurance company.
“And you have a telephone call,” Juanito said, handing him a cordless phone.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Barrington?”
“Yes?”
“This is Dan Griggs, from the Palm Beach Police Department.”
“How are you, Chief?”
“Okay, I guess. I ran a check on this Paul Manning fellow. He’s dead. He was hanged for murder on a Caribbean island called St. Marks a few years ago.”
“I’m sorry, Chief. I should have given you a heads up on that.”
“You knew he was dead?” The chief sounded annoyed.
“He’s not dead. St. Marks is a small, independent nation with a strange justice system and a greedy prime minister. He was bought out.”
“Bought out of a hanging?”
“For half a million dollars.”
“I never heard of anything like that,” Griggs said.
“There are some places where it happens.”
“So you think we might have a murderer loose around here?”
“It’s possible. I still don’t have any concrete evidence of that, but if I come across any, I’ll let you know.”
“How many people did he kill?”
“Three.”
“Well, I think I’d like to see him in my jail.”
“I’m afraid there’s nothing to arrest him for, yet,” Stone said.
“Three murders isn’t enough? Isn’t there any evidence against him?”
“It happened in another country, and my guess is the evidence no longer exists. According to the record, he was tried, convicted and executed, so, in a legal sense, he’s not only prote