“I got a fax from her.”

“I’m sorry about that, Stone; she was a great girl.”

“Still is, no doubt; just not mine.”

“Let’s have dinner later this week.”

“Sure; I’ll call you.”

“Good night, then.”

“Good night, Bill. Thanks for all your help.” He hung up, thinking he had never been so tired. His body cried out for sleep; Allison’s will would have to wait until tomorrow. He didn’t think he could make it back to his own yacht, so he went into the after cabin, shucked off his clothes, and collapsed into the bed. Not until then did he allow himself to weep. He wept for Allison and for himself.

Chapter
62

Stone dreamed that he and Allison were making love. Then, just as he was about to come, she vanished, and the bed was empty. He stirred and turned over, kicking off the covers. Cool fingers brushed the damp hair from his forehead. He opened his eyes.

“You were dreaming,” Allison said.

Stone blinked rapidly. “I still am.” He closed his eyes and tried to recapture the dream.

“Stone,” she said, quietly but insistently.

Stone jerked as if he had received an electric shock. “Whaaat!” he yelled, sitting up and pushing away from her. He seemed to go from deep sleep to maximum adrenaline in a fraction of a second. His heart hammered against his rib cage, and he made himself look at her. She seemed perfectly normal.

“It’s all right, Stone,” she said. “Really it is. You’re awake; I’m here; I’m alive.”

Stone took a deep breath and tried to stop shaking. A moment ago, he had been making love to this woman, and now he was frightened and confused. “Tell me,” he said, then took another deep breath.

“I’m sorry to have put you through this,” Allison said, “but it had to be done this way. I didn’t know for sure myself when they marched me into the courtyard and I saw the gallows. I thought it hadn’t worked, that I was done for.”

“That what hadn’t worked?” Stone panted.

“Leslie’s plan.”

“What plan?”

“He insisted that I shouldn’t tell you; he wanted absolute secrecy.”

Stone was recovering from his shock now. “Allison, what the hell are you talking about?”

“We bribed the prime minister.”

“You what?”

“Leslie didn’t think you would let him do it; that’s why we didn’t tell you.”

“Well, if he had suggested that, I suppose I would have been against it. I would have thought it very risky.”

“He told me what we had to do that day out at his cottage, when he sent you for the milk.”

“The milk he didn’t need,” Stone said, half to himself.

“Yes, that milk. While you were gone, Leslie told me what he had in mind.”

“And what did he have in mind?”