Dead in the Water (31 page)

"Great!" Kramer replied.

"Hilary, I know it's late, but this piece isn't going to do Allison any good if it runs the day after tomorrow. Is there any way you can get it into tomorrow's edition?"

"I may have to break some legs, but I'll get it done." "Thanks; I have to go now."

Thomas was waiting at the door. "How is she?"

"Much better; she's eating, anyway, Can you run me to the marina, then let me borrow your car to get back here?"

"Of course; let's go."

As they pulled up at the marina, Stone saw the fast motor yacht that Allison had previously chartered pulling into a berth.

"What's that doing back?" Thomas asked.

"It's been in Guadeloupe waiting for a call from Allison to pick her up. Would you tell them that Mrs. Chapman has been delayed and to stick around until tomorrow? I hope she'll be here to go aboard."

"Sure." Thomas handed over his car keys, then walked off toward the big motor yacht.

Stone went aboard Expansive and ran down below. In a moment he had the satellite phone up and running and a call in to Bill Eggers's home.

"Hello?"

"Thank God you're there," Stone said. "Stone! What's up? How did the trial go?" "She was convicted." "What?"

"I'm not kidding, Bill, and we've got less than twenty-four hours to save her life. Here's what I want you to do."

"I've got a pencil; shoot."

"Starliwith the State Department: call the duty officer and ask him to alert the Caribbean desk that an innocent American citizen is about to be hanged in St. Marks. Demand that they call the secretary of state and have him bring to bear every ounce of influence he can muster. No, wait--first call the chairman of the Senate

Relations Committee--it's Jesse Helms, God us--and get him to call the secretary of state. Call Dodd and Lieberman of Connecticut and get onto him as well. Hell, tell them to call the presi "You think they'll do that?" "They might; we have to try. Call both Phil and Max Weld and See if you can get them to make some calls. Then call your PR people and tell them to start calling reporters at home and the wire services, We need an all-out mobilization between now and tOmorrow morning. Everything should be directed to minister of St. Marks; it's all in his hands now. :"Telllh. e PR people to call travel editors, too; we've got to let them know that hanging Allison will kill their tourist, business. Jim Forrester is calling a couple of them." "Who?" "Forrester is down here doing a piece for The New Yorker, but he's done a lot of travel writing." "Okay. Anything else?" "Anything you can think of, Bill. I'm absolutely desperate, and we don't have a minute to waste. I want the prime minister to wake up tomorrow morning to the sound of his phone ringing; I want his fax machine flooded with indignant letters; I want to scare the living shit out of him." "I'm on it." Eggers hung ulthe phone. Stone switched off the satellite phone and started getting Allison's things together. It was nearly midnight when Stone drove up to the jail door and found it locked. He rang' the bell for three minutes before a sleepy, barefoot cop opened the door. "What do you want, mister?" he demanded.

"My name is Barrington; I'm Mrs. Manning's lawyer. I want to see her."

"You can't do that, man; we're shut down for the night. Anyway, she's asleep; you don't want to wake her up, do you?"

Stone shoved the duffel through the door. "Will you see that she gets these things, then?"

"Okay, I'll do that first thing in the morning."

"Thank you, and will you tell her I was here? Tell her not to worry; everything is going to be all right."

The man looked surprised. "You want me to tell her that? Everything ain't going to be all right, you know"

"Just tell her what I said, please."

"Okay, okay. Good night now." He closed the door and shot the bolt.

Stone got back into Thomas's car and drove back to the marina, worded; exhausted, and barely able to keep his eyes open.

CHAPTER

tone got five fitful hours of sleep aboard Expansive, then threw himself into a cold shower so that he would be fully alert, He made some coffee, ate a muffin, and started making lists of things to do. At 7:00. A.M. he called Bill Eggers.

"4

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Okay, here's a rundown. I couldn't get to Senator Helms, but I did get to one of his staff; I told him the prime minister was a suspected communist."

"Good going."

"Woodman and Weld were also going to call him. I talked to the duty officer at the State Department and he put me through to the head of the Caribbean desk at home. He promised to try to get permission to send a cable in the secretary of state's name. I'll call him back after nine to see how he did. Oh, Woodman called the president last night; he was unavailable, but he did get

the White House chief of staff on the line, which is almost as good. He had seen the 60 Minutes report and promised to get some sort of protest out first thing this morning." "That's wonderful, Bill. Anything else?" "The PR people have been on it all night; they'll report to me at the office at nine. I'm afraid we're going to miss a lot of morning editions, but they think we'll make some of them." "Hilary Kramer promised me she'd get us in the Times this morning." "Hang on," Eggers said, I'll see." He was gone for a moment, then returned. "She made the front page, lower right-hand corner, continued inside. It's good stuff, Stone, and she quoted you about every American sending a wire." "Thank God we made that one." "I'm sure we'II be all over the morning television shows, too; you want to be interviewed over the phone?" "I'm going to be too busy; you do it." "If they'll talk to me." "Tell them you're Allison's attorney, too." "Okay. I'd better get on that right now; they're already on the air." He hung up. Stone switched on the television and, over the satellite dish, got the Today show. An hour later he heard Katie Couric interviewing Eggers and Eggers reading out the prime minister's fax number. "Yes!" Stone screamed, He got into some clothes, jumped into Thomas's car, and headed for Government House. The jail door was open this time, and after search

him, they let him into Allison's cell. He held her close a moment, then looked at her. She seemed surpris-' normal. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm nervous as a cat," she said, "but I got some last night, amazingly enough."

"I was here late last night, but they wouldn't let me

"I got the things this morning," she said. "Thank you so much."

From the window over the heavy wooden door outside the cell came a loud noise--a creaking of hinges, a slap of wood against wood, and another sound that made chills run up Stone's spine. What's that?" Allison asked.

"Who knows? I want to tell you what's being done at home," He sat down on the bunk with her and filled her in on what had happened overnight. "That thing on the Today show is going to have haft the country up in arms," he said. "And rightly so. By this time the St. Marks government-has got to be up to its ass in faxes."

"Good morning," a voice said from the corridor. The door was unlocked, and Leslie Hewitt walked in with a basket. "I brought you some fresh croissants and a thermos of coffee," he said.

"Oh, thank you, Leslie," Allison replied, kissing him on the cheek. She poured herself some coffee and sipped it.

"Have you heard anything t all?" Stone asked him. "Not exactly. I called the prime minister's residence this morning and spoke to his secretary. He sounded rather odd; I gather the prime minister has been receiving a lot of telegrams, faxes, and phone calls. He's locked himself in his study with my appeal. I hope we'll hear something this morning." "Good, good." They sat with Allison until a guard came and made them leave. "You can come back at four this afternoon," he said. "Allison, is there anything I can send you?" Stone asked. "I'm all right, I think. There are some books available here; I'll try and read." "We'll be back at four," Leslie said. "I hope we'll have some news by then. I'll call here if I hear anything before that time." Allison kissed and hugged them both, then they left the cell. Outside the jail, Stone brought Hewitt up to date on what he had done, then asked, "Do you have any idea what's going to happen?" "I hope all these calls and faxes will have an effect," Hewitt said. "I don't think the prime minister has ever experienced anything quite like this." "Is he the sort of man who responds to pressure?" Hewitt shrugged. "It's hard to say. He's always been a stubborn fellow, ever since he was a little boy. I just hope he doesn't dig in his heels." "If we went to the residence, do you think he would see us?" Hewitt shook his head. "No, that would be unheard of; we'd be damaging our own case. Do you want to come back to my place and wait?" "I'd better go back to the marina and handle any calls that come in. Leslie, they've built a scaffold

3?$

the inner courtyard, and they've been testing it, I

"I know; I heard them." "Have you ever been through anything like this with a client?" "Once." "What happened?" "They hanged him." "Oh." "Let's meet back here at four o'clock, and if we haven't heard anything we can wait with Allison. We can't give up until..." "Right," Stone said. "I'll meet you here at four." "-Back at the marina, Stone called Eggers again. "Anything to report?" " qe got on the Today show." "I saw it. You did good." "I hope we stirred up something. Oh, somebody finally got to Helms; he promised to call the secretary of state." Has the president had anything to say?" "Not publicly, but Woodman got a call back from the chief of staff's secretary, saying that they were putting together a cable." "Great!" "How's the woman holding up?" "Like a champ. I'd be a gibbering idiot in her place." "So would I." "I think we're going to pull this off, Bill; I don't see how the prime minister can stand in the wind that's blowing now."

"I think you're right, Stone."

"I'll call you again later. Oh, let me give you the satellite phone number; you can dial it just like a regular phone." He dictated the number, then hung up.

Half an hour later, the calls started coming in--the wire services, reporters who recorded interviews, and, amazingly, the president's secretary, who wanted a report. She told him that a cable had already been sent by the secretary of state. He thanked her profusely.

He had some lunch at the Shipwright's Arms and took some more phone calls. Then everything went quiet. No phone calls, no press. Just a quiet afternoon with Thomas.

"How often does somebody get executed here, Thomas?:' Stone asked.

"We get one every two or three years, I guess. Then they knock the scaffold apart and put it together again when another one comes up."

"I know; I heard them working on it this morning. I don't think Allison realized what the noise was; I hope she doesn't, anywaY."

"You ever lose a client like this?" Thomas asked. "Not yet."

"I hope you don't lose this one."

"Me, too."

CHAPTER

' tfour o'clock Stone met Leslie Hewitt at the jail door. "What have you heard?" he asked the barrister. "Is there any word at all?"

"Nothing,".. Hewitt said, shaking his head. "The prime rmmster s secretary won t even talk to me now. A policeman answers the phone and says that everyone is too busy to talk."

"Well, at least we've made them busy."

"I had hoped to get some sort of hint from the secretary, at the very least, but there's only silence. He didn't return my phone call."

"You look more worried than I've seen you, Leslie," Stone said.

"I confess, I am worded. I really expected some sort of word by now. We have only until sundown."

"What time is sundown?"

"Seven fifty-nine; I checked. And they always do these things on the minute." "I've never been through anything like this," Stone said. "Neither has Allison," Hewitt replied. They went into the jail and found Hilary Kramer and Jim

Forrester waiting at the desk, both looking tense. "Have you heard anything from the prime minister?" Hilary asked Hewitt. "Not yet," he replied. "But I expect to soon." "Are you going to see Allison now?" "Yes," Stone replied. "Will you come out and let us know how she's doing? And ask her if she'll see me." "Maybe a bit later. You, too, Jim?" Forrester shook his head. "No, I don't want to see her." He turned to Kramer. "I guess I'm not much of a reporter." Stone and Hewitt were searched, then were walked down the corridor of cells. Stone looked at the stout door at the end, with the small window a good fifteen feet above it. At least the sounds from the inner courtyard had stopped; thank God for that. Allison was sitting on her bunk, her hair pinhed up, wearing a denim prison shift that exposed her neck. Stone kissed her on the cheek. "How are you?" "They took away my things," she said. "Even my underwear." She seemed very calm. "You'll get them back later," Hewitt said. "Don't worry." "Haven't you heard anything from the prime minister?" she asked. He shook his head. "Sometimes it's like this," he said, glancing guiltily at Stone. "We might not hear anything until the last minute." They all sat down--Hewitt in the single chair and Stone and Allison on the. bunk. She held up a copy of David Copperfield. "The most exciting thing they had to offer," she said. "It's good, though. I haven't read it since the eighth grade; I'd forgotten how good it is." "I've had many calls from the press," Stone said. "The prime minister's office is under a lot of pressure." Allison nodded, but said nothing. Nobody said anything. They sat quietly, each with his own thoughts, for more than an hour. A jailer appeared at the cell door. "Can I get anything for. anybody he asked. "I'd like some water," Allison said. "I'm sorry; You won't be able to eat or drink from now on. I thought you might like some magazines." "No, thank you," Allison said, and the man left. "Why won't they let me eat or drink?" she asked. "I don't know Hewitt said, before Stone could speak. "They have their silly rules, I suppose." Another long period of silence ensued, until Stone began to attempt small talk. "What are you going to do when you get home?" he asked Allison. "Get the estate wound up, I suppose. I don't really have any plans beyond that. I find it difficult to think about the future right now." ' "The fast motor yacht came back and is waiting for you at the marina." "Good. I certainly don't want to waste any time here when this is over."