“Perfectly serious. What’s more, there’s no lengthy appeals process available; the only appeal is to the prime minister, and he apparently acts on appeals very quickly.”

“How quickly are we talking about?”

“The appeal must be lodged within twenty-four hours after the trial ends, and he normally acts on it within twenty-four hours after that.”

“Let’s look at the worst case,” she said. “I’m tried on Monday—how long is that likely to last?”

“The way things are done here, no more than a day, possibly two.”

“Then if I’m convicted on Monday, the appeal has to be filed on Tuesday, and the prime minister would either grant or deny it on Wednesday. If he denies it, then I would be…How do they do it?”

“Hanging.”

“I could be hanged…when?”

“The day after the prime minister acts.”

She swallowed hard. “So by a week from Thursday I could be dead?”

“Worst case.”

She put her elbows on the table and her face in her hands. “What can we do?”

“Put on the best defense we can, in the circumstances. I had wanted to bring in a top barrister from London, but the judge has precluded that by making Leslie Hewitt the counsel and me his assistant.”

“Isn’t there anything else we can do?”

“There are two ways we can go: I’ve already said that we have to put on the best defense that we can, and I’ve got somebody in New York working on that now. He’s leaving for the Canaries right away to see what he can find to help us there. Did you make any friends while you were there? Someone who might testify as to your relationship with Paul?”

“No, not really; we pretty much stayed to ourselves. What’s the other thing we can do.”

“Well, we know that Sir Winston somehow finds it politically desirable to try you on this charge; what we might be able to do is make it politically undesirable for him to convict you, or, if he should, to make it desirable for the prime minister to uphold your appeal.”

“How do we do that?”

“By letting the press know about your predicament.”

“On this island? What press?”

“Not here; in New York, in London; wherever people read newspapers or watch TV.”

“You want me to become famous?”

“Yes.”

She shook her head. “I just don’t see how that’s going to help.”

Stone spread a hand as though he were tracking a headline. “BEAUTIFUL BLOND AMERICAN GIRL LOSES HUSBAND AT SEA! CONNIVING POLITICIAN CHARGES HER WITH MURDER IN BACK-WATER ISLAND NATION!!! It’s called marshaling public opinion; it might bring pressure to bear.”

“How do we accomplish this?”

“I’ll call New York and get a public relations firm involved. Can you afford that?”

“How much?”