“I haven’t told him to do that, either.”
“You’re hoping Lance will just make it go away.”
“I’m hoping all sorts of things: I’m hoping Teddy is in a block of ice in Antarctica; I’m hoping he was eaten by a shark the last time he went swimming; I’m hoping he’ll put a bullet in his brain, then fall into an active volcano.”
“Yes, Teddy is an inconvenient person.”
“I’m also hoping he wishes to remain dormant, because if he took it into his head to start killing people again…Well, I don’t know how we would handle that.”
“Perhaps leaving him alone wherever he is is the best move.”
“We’ll have that option, if Lance’s people find him on St. Marks. We could just keep him under surveillance and hope for the best.”
“I like that option best,” Will said, “except the surveillance part; he’d twig immediately.”
“You never give me official orders when we’re drinking.”
“Just think of it as a firm suggestion.”
“I think that, tomorrow morning, when we’re both entirely sober, you might give me a written finding to that effect that I can log and store in my safe at Langley.”
“But then I would be on record as saying that a murderer, having been found, should remain free. God knows,” Will said, “I would hate to see him tried. I think I’d rather invade Iran or Korea.”
“Remember, we don’t have an extradition treaty with St. Marks, yet.”
“State has been working on that since their new prime minister took over.”
“Do you think you could possibly slow them down?”
“I think it would be impossible to slow them down, since they’re already going as slowly as possible, with no help from me.”
“If Teddy is in St. Marks, and we sign an extradition treaty, he could bolt for other, less arresting climes.”
“And then we’d have to start all over again?”
“Exactly.”
“It’s the perfect conundrum, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
15
Thomas arranged for Stone to rent a car for the remainder of their stay, and early in the evening they drove up Black Mountain for dinner at Irene Foster’s.
“Funny,” Holly said as they climbed the steep road, “I didn’t notice before but there are underground power lines running alongside the road, and a pipeline, too. See the markers?” She pointed them out.
“Odd for a small island to go to the expense of putting power and water underground in what seems to be a fairly sparsely populated area.”
“The houses may be sparse, but they’re expensive,” Holly said. “The rich usually are willing to pay for preferential treatment.”
Irene’s gate was open, but after they drove through, it closed behind them. An SUV and a smaller car with a rental sticker were parked in the paved parking area, and as they got out of their car, Harry Pitts appeared on the front porch to greet them.
“I see you found the place,” Harry said.
“It was easy,” Stone replied. “There’s only one mountaintop in St. Marks.”
“You have a point,” Harry said. “Come on in, and let me get you a drink.” He led them into a fairly large, comfortably furnished living room and waved them to seats. “Irene’s busy in the kitchen; she’ll be out in a little while. Are you still drinking those vodka gimlets? I made some.”