Dead In The Water

CHAPTER 23

Stone was having lunch alone at the Shipwright's Arms when Thomas called him to the phone. "It's Bob Cantor," he said, moving the receiver down to the end of the bar, away from where Hilary Kramer was sitting.

"Hello, Bob," Stone said into the instrument. "You back from the Canaries?"

"I'm home again," Cantor replied, "and a little worse for the wear. The jet lag will kill you."

"I sympathize. You got something new from the Canaries?"

"Nothing at all. I have got something new from here, though."

"Shoot."

"You remember I told you I checked out Paul Manning's credit record?"

"I do, and he had a pretty good one, as I recall paid everything on time."

"That's right, but I had that infomation only from a phone call from a friend at my bank. Now I have the printed report, and it shows a lot more."

"Like what?"

"Seems Mr.Manning was living right on the edge. He was pulling in a magnificent income, of course, probably something between a million and two million a year, and closer to two. But he was spending one hell of a lot of money, too."

"That's very interesting," Stone said.

"It gets more interesting. The credit report shows that he was pretty maxed out on all his credit cards and that he was borrowing heavily to make it from paycheck to paycheck."

"Writers don't get paychecks, do they? They get royalty checks."

"Okay, okay, he got paid in widely separated lumps, but they were big lumps. My point is, his credit record shows that he was borrowing heavily from three banks, usually a hundred thousand bucks at a time, then repaying it when his royalty or advance check came."

"Was he keeping up?"

"Just barely. I, ah, did a little unauthorized snooping last night."

"What do you mean?"

"I drove up to Greenwich, got into his house, and had a look through his financial records, which his secretary had neatly filed away."

"Bob, you should check with me before you do things like that."

"If I had checked with you, you wouldn't have let me do it."

"You're right about that. So what did you find out?"

"When he got a check he would pay off the three banks, and there would be only a few thousand left, not enough to get him to the next publisher's payment. Right before he set off on the transatlantic voyage, he two checks at once from two contracts, and that squared him for a while. But he borrowed while he was away, and now the banks are lined up, waiting for the will to be probated."

"Well, I guess that's going to cut into Allison's insurance money."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Cantor came back. "Manning had twelve million bucks in life insurance."

"Twelve million bucks? Nobody has that much insurance."

"You'd be surprised how many people do. He was paying something like fifteen thousand bucks a month in premiums, which is one of the reasons, along with his lifestyle, that he was having to go to the banks to get by. And get this, he also had mortgage life insurance to cover both the house and the boat loans. When Allison pays all the outstanding bills, she's going to have at least eleven million bucks in cash, tax free, plus the house, the boat, the cars-everything-free and clear. Her biggest expense is going to be property taxes, and she won't have those long, because she's already put the Greenwich property on the market. I told you I have a buddy up there in the property business."

"Have you seen the New York Times piece on Allison's plight down here?"

"Yep, and you can be sure that the insurance company has seen it, too."

"That means they won't pay unless she's acquitted."

"Wrong; they've already paid. They'd have to sue her to get it back, and they'll have a very hard time doing that."

"Why?"

"Because she's already transferred nearly the whole amount to an account in the Cayman Islands. I found the receipt for the wire transfer."

"Holy shit!" Stone breathed. "Either Allison has some very sharp advice from her lawyer and accountant, or I've underestimated her by a long shot. I've never even seen her so much as make a phone call from down here."

"Well, somebody is, shall we say, acting in her best interests."

"Somebody sure is, and it isn't me."

"Bottom line is, Mrs.Manning's husband could not have kicked off at a better time for her. If Manning had lived and had continued to live as he did, I reckon he wouldn't have been able to afford the life insurance premiums much longer."

"How long had he had the insurance?"

"A little over two years, and if the company had known he was going to sail, two-handed, across the Atlantic twice, he never would have gotten it. Insurance companies frown on that sort of sporting activity."

"I guess not. This information certainly puts a whole new complexion on things, doesn't it?"

"I would say so. I mean, if you were still a cop, you'd now suspect Allison Manning of helping her husband overboard, wouldn't you?"

"That's one theory."

"The other theory which suggests itself has to do with the very special dinghy Paul Manning had air freighted to him in Las Palmas."

"Right. I got the brochure on the Parker Sportster today. It sails."

"Could it have sailed Manning back to the Canaries from where Allison says they were when he died?"

"Yes, but it wouldn't have had to; Manning could have left the yacht as soon as they were out of sight of land."

"Aha!"

"Except for one thing."

"What's that?"

"The Parker Sportster is still on the yacht."

"Could he have had another dinghy?"

"He did have, but it wasn't sail able and anyway, that one is still on the yacht, too."

"So it looks as though Manning, when he left the yacht, was either dead or swimming."

"Looks that way."

"Could he have swum back?"

"I think we can discount that possibility; he might have been spotted near shore in the daytime and there are sharks out there; I don't think he would have tried it at night."

"Another boat might have spotted him sailing a dingy, too."

"Not if he sailed at night. That's what I would have done in his shoes, but of course, the point is moot, because the dinghy is still on the yacht."

"Well, pal, good luck with sorting this one out."

"I don't have to sort it out, thank God. All I have to do is think about getting Allison Manning acquitted. I'm not the cops."

"Good point. I'll call you if I find out anything new."

"Thanks, Bob. Take care." He hung up.

"I'm not the cops," Stone repeated to himself. "I'm her lawyer, and if she's guilty, She won't be the first guilty client I've represented." Still, he wanted her to be innocent.