“You think h
e might find it attractive?”
“I’m not taking any chances; could be a girl shark.”
Once in his car, Lance dialed Holly’s satphone number again. Still no answer. He switched off the phone and tossed it back into his briefcase. There was going to be nothing for her to report, anyway; he felt it. Carolyn would get her the message about the jet, and he could go over everything with Holly on Monday.
Finally, the shark left the area, headed out to sea, and Stone and Holly made for the beach.
“I’d better go call Lance,” she said, toweling herself off and heading for the cottage.
“Kiss him for me,” Stone said.
Holly went into the cottage, got out her satphone, walked outside and dialed Lance’s satphone number. No message, and no voicemail. She dialed his number at Langley; maybe he was working on a Saturday. She got his voicemail. “Lance, it’s Holly; we’re done here, and we’ve come up dry. No leads, no nothing. Get us out of here, will you?” She hung up, then noticed that the message light on the room phone was blinking. She pressed the message button and waited.
“Ms. Heller and Mr. Barrington,” a woman’s voice said, “this is Carolyn Reese, calling for Lance Cabot. Lance would like you to know that a Hawker jet will pick up your party at the St. Marks airport at noon tomorrow, that’s Sunday noon, and he asks that you let the Peppers know. Good-bye.”
Holly called the Peppers.
“Hello?”
“Bill, it’s, ah, Ginny. We’re out of here at noon tomorrow, in a Hawker; meet us at the airport?”
“Well, that’s a relief. You made any progress on the other thing?”
“None, and I don’t think we’re going to.”
“See you at noon tomorrow, then,” Pepper said, then hung up.
Holly showered and put on some clothes, then went outside. Stone, Dino and Genevieve were lying on the beach a few yards away. “Hey, everybody!” she yelled. “We’re out of here at noon tomorrow, and there’s nothing to do but have a farewell dinner tonight!”
She got a round of applause from the beach. “I guess she spoke to Lance,” Stone said.
53
Thomas greeted them warmly at the bar, produced an ice-cold pitcher of vodka gimlets from his freezer and poured each of them one, then another for himself. He raised his glass. “To a safe trip home,” he said.
They all drank.
“How did you know we were leaving tomorrow?” Holly asked.
“The ban on travel has been lifted; could your departure be far behind it?”
“You’re right,” Holly said.
“I hope you were able to achieve the purpose of your visit.”
“There were two purposes,” Holly said, “and they were mutually exclusive. We achieved one of them.”
“Then your visit doesn’t sound like a failure.”
“No,” Holly said, “it wasn’t. I’m satisfied, and I hope my boss will be.”
“Thomas,” Stone said, “are you aware that there’s a large hammerhead shark stalking your beach?”
“Oh, that’s just Fred; he comes and he goes. He’s never attacked anyone.”
“Maybe he just hasn’t seen anyone tempting enough,” Stone said.