Shoot Him If He Runs (Stone Barrington 14)

“Thomas, to the best of your knowledge, did Harold Pitts sail for Ft. Lauderdale yesterday?”

“Yes, he did. I was down at the marina, and I cast off his lines myself.”

“Yeah, we saw him sail out of English Harbour and turn to the east. Is there anywhere along the eastern shore where he could have anchored? Another marina or a cove?”

“No, it’s all cliffs on that end of the island, and there’s heavy surf from the trade winds, so he couldn’t anchor there, either. What’s going on, Stone?”

“Have you heard about duBois and the prime minister?”

“Yes, there was just a report that Sutherland was DOA at the Markstown hospital.”

“DuBois, too?”

“Yes. That pretty much cuts off the heads of the government and the police force. There’s going to be chaos, and I think you should expect to be questioned again.”

“Our airplane is due at noon, and they’ve been instructed to declare an emergency, if necessary, to get permission to land. Do you think we’ll be able to get out of here?”

“I’ll drive you to the airport and do what I can to help.”

“Thanks, Thomas.”

“Why are you asking about Harold Pitts?”

“Because we think he may be Teddy Fay.”

Thomas was silent for a moment. “Well, it wasn’t Harold who shot duBois and Sutherland. He’d be a hundred miles north by now.”

“Could you do me a favor and call every marina and anchorage and see if his boat is still on the island?”

“Well, there’s no way to call anchorages, but there are only a couple of decent ones; I’ll have somebody drive to them and check, and I’ll call the marinas, then get back to you.”

“Thanks, Thomas.” Stone hung up. “Did you get that?”

“Only your end.”

“Thomas cast off Harold’s lines himself and saw him leave the harbor. He’s checking to see if he could have anchored somewhere else on the island.”

“Let’s go up to Irene’s and see if he’s there.”

“Wait a minute; don’t go off the deep end. Let’s wait to hear from Thomas. Anyway, we aren’t armed, and we don’t want to go after Teddy naked.”

Dino was standing in the door. “You want a gun?” he said.

“You have a gun?” Stone asked.

“I’m a police officer; I’m armed at all times.”

“Good thing we didn’t have to explain that to St. Marks customs.”

“I don’t mind explaining to customs,” Dino said. He went away and came back with a small 9 mm semiautomatic and a spare magazine. “Here you go,” he said, handing it to Holly. “I’d rather you didn’t shoot anybody with it, unless you really have to; it’s registered to the NYPD.”

“You don’t have any instructions to shoot anybody,” Stone said to Holly.

“I want it for defense,” she replied. “We could need it, as you pointed out.”

“We? What’s this we stuff?”

“Aren’t you going with me?”