She stopped and treaded water. “Do you think they think I’m making a break for it?” she asked.

“I think they’re too astonished to think,” Stone replied, laughing.

They swam out into the harbor, the moon sparkling on their wake, then back to the yacht, climbing aboard again. Then they went back to bed and started over.

Chapter
49

The drive to Government House, with Thomas at the wheel, was silent. Stone sat in the front, reading the opening statement he had written, merely for something to occupy his mind. Leslie Hewitt would probably ignore it anyway. He glanced occasionally at Allison, who sat in the backseat, gazing absently out at the St. Marks landscape, seemingly calm and self-possessed. Her hair was pulled back tightly into a bun, at Stone’s request, and she wore a mostly blue, floral-printed silk dress. She looked about twenty-one, Stone thought.

They arrived in the official parking lot nearly simultaneously with Sir Leslie Hewitt’s ancient Morris Minor station wagon. Everyone got out and shook hands, smiling, attempting good spirits. With Hewitt in the lead they entered the building through the police door and climbed the stairs to the second floor, passing through a short corridor to the door used by guards, lawyers, and defendants. To one side was a small robing room, and Stone and Hewitt donned their robes and wigs. Once again, Stone felt foolish.

They entered the courtroom. Stone had forgotten that Allison would have to stand in the dock, several feet behind the defense table; he would not be able to confer with her when court was in session. He felt very much out of his element. In New York he would have been at home in any courtroom and in at least partial control. Here he felt like an intruder, and he worked hard at not letting Allison know it.

Spectators were filing into the gallery, which was raised in tiers like a college lecture room or, more aptly, London’s Old Bailey. The room was not paneled, simply painted, and the paint had begun to fade and peel. Stone saw Frank Stendahl, the insurance salesman, enter and take a front-row seat not far from the dock.

At the front of the room, elevated above the defense and prosecution tables, was the bench; to the judge’s right was the witness box, and beyond that, the jury would sit. Stone and Sir Leslie sat down at the defense table. A moment later Sir Winston Sutherland swept into the courtroom, his robes flowing, followed by his assistant.

“Leslie,” Stone asked, “did you have an opportunity to study the opening and closing statements I wrote?”

“I read them,” Hewitt replied.

“There were a number of very important points, particularly in the opening statement, that I thought should be included in your opening.”

“I’m aware of that, Stone,” Hewitt said, arranging his robe. “Please don’t concern yourself with my opening.