Shoot Him If He Runs (Stone Barrington 14)

“It’s Kate Lee, Lance.”

“Good morning, Director.”

“Lance, the president wants to announce his candidacy for reelection, probably in the next day or two; he’s meeting with his campaign people now. Where are we on the St. Marks operation?”

“I anticipate a resolution within hours,” Lance said.

“Can you promise me that?”

“No, Director, because I’m not on St. Marks, doing it myself. But I believe that before the day is out, I can give you a conclusive answer.”

“All right. I’ll expect to hear from you later in the day.”

“Something else, Director: Hugh English’s secretary told me yesterday that an item had appeared on the Drudge Report website saying that Hugh had resigned because he has Alzheimer’s disease.”

“I’ve heard about it, and I’m shocked.”

Lance thought he detected an ironic overtone to that statement. “I’ve told Carolyn that she can give a quote to Drudge, attributed to an inside source, but not named, that the information is false.”

“Good. If I’m asked about it, I’ll issue a strong denial.”

“Thank you, Director. I’ll call you later today.”

“I’ll sit by the phone, Lance. Good-bye.” She hung up.

Lance leaned back in his chair and began doing deep breathing exercises to calm himself.

Stone and Holly got into Thomas’s car.

“Thomas,” Stone said, “can you drive us straight to the airport when we’re done with this errand? I’ve told Dino to take the rental car and our luggage.”

“Of course,” Thomas said. “Please tell me what you hope to accomplish by this trip up Black Mountain.”

“That remains to be seen,” Holly said.

“I think it’s time the two of you and I had a frank discussion,” Thomas said.

“Go ahead,” Stone said.

“Of course, I’ll deny that this conversation ever took place, and I expect you will, too.”

“All right.”

“I’ve known for some time that Harold Pitts is Teddy Fay.”

Stone’s mouth fell open. “Why on earth didn’t you tell us?”

“Because Teddy had work to do, work that I and some others on the island thought necessary to preserve this little countr

y as something other than the dictatorship of Winston Sutherland.”

“You mean you had Teddy kill Sir Winston?”

“No; he did that entirely on his own hook. Let me explain.”

“Please do.”

“Teddy came here first as Pemberton, an Englishman, some months ago. He and I met in the restaurant, and we talked a lot. Gradually, as I got to know him better, the talk turned to local politics. I told him that the island was being strangled by corruption at the top, that Winston was squeezing practically every business on the island for money, using Croft and duBois for muscle, then shipping it into an offshore account. Pemberton, as I knew him, was intensely interested in this. He intimated that he was motivated, and had the skills, to remove Croft and duBois from the picture. The words were never spoken directly; these were highly nuanced conversations.”