“If they suggest it, I’ll tell them no,” Stone said. “That won’t surprise them. If we feel they need more convincing, then we’ll suggest a polygraph.”
“How good are those things?”
“Pretty good, if the operator is experienced and neutral.”
“I think I could pass it,” Evan said. “Suggest it, if you feel it’s in my interests.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Stone said.
Rocco Corelli came to a reception room to get them, then put 21 2
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them in an interrogation room—just a table and four chairs. Another man joined them, and Corelli introduced him as John Myers.
“Are you a DEA agent, Mr. Myers?” Stone asked him as they settled at the table.
“I’m an assistant U.S. attorney,” Myers replied. Stone nodded as if that didn’t bother him.
“Mr. Barrington,” Corelli said, “first I have a few questions for you for the record, given your presence on Mr. Keating’s boat.”
“That’s fine with me,” Stone said.
“Are you acquainted with a New York City police detective named Dino Bacchetti?”
“Yes, he was my partner when I was with the NYPD.”
“Please explain the presence of the two of you in Key West.”
“A law firm with which I am affiliated in New York was asked to send someone to Key West to find Evan Keating, in connection with a family business matter, and I was asked to go. Lieutenant Bacchetti came along as a sort of vacation.”
“And how did you come to be aboard Mr. Keating’s boat on the day in question?”
“I received a phone call from Chuck Chandler, a local tennis pro, who was the previous owner of the boat. He said that while cruising on his new boat, he saw Mr. Keating’s boat anchored near Fort Jefferson. He didn’t see anyone aboard, and he didn’t fi nd anyone ashore, and he was curious as to why the boat seemed abandoned.
“There had been a previous attempt on Mr. Keating’s life by a person or persons unknown, and I became concerned for his safety. Lieutenant Tommy Sculley of the Key West PD came with Dino and me in a seaplane, which landed near the boat. Tommy and I swam to Mr. Keating’s boat, broke into it and searched it, fearing that he and his girlfriend might be aboard, injured or dead. We also broke into the stern locker of the boat and found what appeared to be a large quantity of drugs.
“At that moment, a Coast Guard cutter arrived and the captain 213
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joined us aboard. We had a conversation, then we left the boat in the charge of the Coast Guard, and they impounded it.”
“Did you call Mr. Keating immediately?”
“No, there was no cell phone service that far out. I called him after we returned to Key West.”
“Thank you, Mr. Barrington,” Corelli said. “Mr. Keating, how did your boat come to be anchored and abandoned at Fort Jefferson?”
“My girlfriend, Gigi Jones, and I cruised out to the fort, where we snorkeled and went ashore to see the fort. We had dinner aboard and spent the night. The following morning I called my grandfather, Eli Keating, in Connecticut, and he told me that my father, Warren Keating, had been found shot to death a short time before.”
“Mr. Keating, Mr. Barrington has just told us that there was no cell phone reception at Fort Jefferson. How did you call him?”
“I have a satellite telephone, which works very well at Fort Jefferson.”
“I see. What did you do upon hearing the news of your father’s death?”
“I called a seaplane service at Key West airport. They came and fetched us and flew us to Miami, where we got a commercial fl ight to New York, then rented a car for the drive to Connecticut.”