“DuBois said you were being charged with Croft’s murder, and I was being charged as an accessory.”
“That’s nonsense; he was just bluffing, and you called him on it. I have to tell you, though, I’m not sure what duBois would have done to you once he got some help.”
“Funny,” Holly said, “I didn’t think about that; I just wanted to humiliate him.”
“Holly, it is not a good policy, when arrested in a foreign country, to humiliate your interrogator. That can lead to electroshock therapy, broken bones and a ruptured spleen. Didn’t they mention that to you during your CIA training?”
“No, we didn’t get that far; my training was interrupted by my sudden transfer to New York.”
“Oh.”
“They did say that I would have to return to complete the course, but I think Lance intervened.”
“I think it’s going to be nice to have Lance for a rabbi, now that he has the top operations job. Do you think he’ll bring you to Langley or keep you in the field?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” she replied, “but I think that my future might be somehow connected to our success or failure in nailing Teddy Fay while we’re here.”
“What, exactly, do you mean by ‘nailing’?”
“Sorry, that should read, ‘finding.’ I still don’t know what happens after that.”
“Bill Pepper thinks that either you or he is going to be asked to kill him. Are you ready for that?”
“I certainly am not ready for that; I am not an assassin.”
“Well, we’d better start looking for him.”
“I’d like to shower and change before we do that,” Holly said. “That jail made me feel dirty.”
They went into the cottage and found Dino and Genevieve watching Tiger Woods play golf on TV.
“Hey, you’re alive!” Dino said, embracing them both.
“Thanks for calling in the cavalry,” Stone replied. “They arrived in the nick of time.” He told Dino about what Holly had done to duBois.
“Woman,” Dino said, “you are lucky to be alive.”
“No,” Holly said, “duBois is lucky to be alive. Excuse me, I’m going to shower and change.”
“Me too,” Stone said.
“Oh,” Dino said, holding out the photos of Pemberton, Weatherby and Robertson, “you dropped these.”
Sir Winston Sutherland seated himself in duBois’s chair in Colonel Croft’s large office. The photos on the wall were still those of Croft with various dignitaries; nothing of his replacement’s had been added. He looked up at Colonel duBois, who stood uncomfortably before the desk. “You blithering idiot,” he said.
“Prime Minister…”
“You knew who those people were; Colonel Croft investigated them days ago, and he even sent an agent to Ms. Heller’s flying school to verify her identity.”
“Prime Minister…”
“So while you were wasting time throwing your newly found weight around, Croft’s murderer is still out there, if he hasn’t already left the island.”
“Prime Minister…”
“And on top of that you somehow managed to allow a woman who was handcuffed to free herself and handcuff you!”
“Prime Minister…”