“Oh, he may play up the fact that you didn’t know them intimately. I can’t think what else he might ask you. He may not cross-examine at all.”

“Good. The sooner I’m off the stand, the better.”

Stone stood up. “Don’t worry about it, you’ll do fine. I’ve got to go over Allison’s testimony with her.”

“See you later, then.”

Stone walked down to the marina, greeted the two policemen on guard, and boarded Expansive.

“That you, Stone?” Allison called from the aft cabin.

“It’s me.”

She came into the saloon, wearing her usual tight shorts and shirt tied under her breasts.

She couldn’t be a murderer, he thought; she just couldn’t be.

“Are we going over my testimony?”

“Ready when you are.”

“Would you like a beer?”

“Sure, why not.”

She went to the fridge and got them both a cold bottle of Heineken.

Stone remembered that he had a fax in his pocket. He pulled it out, opened the envelope, and unfolded the sheet of paper. He thought it was odd that Thomas had put the fax in an envelope; he had never done that before. He read the letter.

“Stone,” Allison said, concern in her voice, “what’s wrong? You look awful.”

He felt more numb than awful. He handed her the fax.

Chapter
44

Stone took the fax from Allison and read it again, slowly this time, letting the words sink in, trying to make some sense of it. He might have seen this coming, he thought, but he hadn’t; it was a bigger surprise than he was ready for.

Palm Springs

Dear Stone,

I didn’t want to write this letter. When I saw what was happening, I wanted to sit down with you and tell you, face to face. Circumstances prevented that, of course, and I’m sorry. This letter will have to do.

Vance and I were married yesterday in Needles, Arizona. We flew there in Vance’s airplane, just the two of us, and a justice of the peace performed a simple ceremony, with his wife and daughter as witnesses. Then we flew here, to Palm Springs, where Vance has a house. We’ll spend our honeymoon here, and we hope the press won’t discover us.

I can’t explain to you how this happened, but it did. I had always liked Vance, and during the time we spent together working on the New Yorker profile, I fell in love with him.