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  Jon felt embarrassed. “The Lockerbie disaster.”

  Judge Winchester tried to come to the rescue. “Did you live in Scotland at the time?”

  “In Aberdeen. We all felt terrible. It was ghastly.” Jon sipped his coffee.

  The Judge decided it was time to break things up a bit.

  “I’m afraid I must excuse myself. I have to do some homework on one of my cases for tomorrow. I’ll see you before you go, Jon.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “How about a walk?” Josie felt the need to get out of the house.

  The rather stuffy night was cooled by a light breeze as they walked down a road leading to a marina about half a mile away. Street lights provided enough illumination for the few people out for a stroll. Jon and Josie went over the accident yet again. It had been caused by a burst front tire. Josie still had a slight swelling on her face, but the cut above the hairline was fortunately invisible. Otherwise, she seemed none the worse. By the time they were almost at the marina, they were both feeling relaxed, and wanted to know all about each other.

  “Where do your parents live? Are they still in Scotland?” Josie was wondering whether to ask. Jon had said his real home was in the Caribbean with his aunt and uncle, so his mother and father must be divorced or something. She sensed he was waiting for an opportunity to mention them.

  “They died in a car accident a year ago,” he said. “I’m an only child, and Meg Calluna is my father’s sister. She and Peter are my godparents and sort of adopted me. They’ve always been close family, despite the distance from the UK.”

  Josie spoke softly, almost in a whisper. “Sorry I brought it up. I—”

  “It’s okay. I was going to tell you anyway.”

  This seemed to stop the conversation in its tracks, and without realizing it they held hands. A few minutes later they reached the marina with its bright lights and expensive boats moving gently at their moorings. Jon turned to Josie, and it dawned on him once again how beautiful she was.

  “Maybe we could have dinner sometime?”

  Josie put her cool arms around Jon’s neck and looked straight into his eyes. “I’d really like that, though I’m not sure this should be happening.”

  “I’m not either. But what the hell?” And he took her face in his hands and kissed her.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Thursday, August 9, St. Barbe’s

  It hadn’t been the best of days for Jon. Josie was still in Boston, while here he was, a couple of thousand miles away, on the last leg of his journey to St. Barbe’s. In fact, this was the first time they had been apart since the dinner at her home a couple of weeks earlier. Their original plan had been to visit Leeward together while the Judge was on his annual vacation in London, but Jon elected to arrive a day or two ahead of Josie to prepare the way for her arrival. He hadn’t even mentioned her to Peter and Meg, let alone the fact that she was black, and he was worried about their reaction.

  The plane was on its final approach to St. Barbe’s, which was the termination of its westward flight from Antigua and St. Kitts. The door to the flight deck had been clipped open, and Jon was able to watch the pilot and copilot prepare for landing. As the aircraft began to descend slowly toward Green Peak at the eastern extremity of the island, he could see white surf lashing the ancient volcanic stack known as Booby Rock and ringing Old Sam’s Rocks nearer the coast. After passing over the sugar refinery, the plane banked sharply then dropped onto the runway, bouncing once or twice in the ground turbulence of the northeast trade winds. Leeward Islands Air Transport, or LIAT, was punctual as usual. Even so, Jon was relieved to be at the end of a journey that had taken until mid-afternoon.

  Bobbie pushed her way through the crowd in the small baggage room, and was swept off her feet by her cousin.

  “Hey, Peach. Let me look at you.” Jon was the only one allowed to call Bobbie by that name.

  “I’ve got a puppy. He’s called Tonto and he nearly got eaten by a monster. Actually, I almost did too.”

  “Come on! You’ve got to be kidding.”

  While he was waiting for his bags, Jon heard the whole story and wondered what the adults thought. Could some unknown animal have descended from the rain forest to scavenge and encountered Bobbie in the night? But he told himself this was just fanciful imagination.

  They went out to the car park to find Peter sitting in the estate pickup. As they exited the airport and drove westwards on the north coast road, Witch’s Peak lay about four miles away to their left. At 3,010 feet, it was the highest mountain on the island, the dense green mantle of trees that covered its summit being obscured by rain clouds. The capital city of Jamestown was a few minutes’ drive behind them.

  Soon they passed the almost invisible entrance to an old dirt road known as The Track. Six miles in length, it traversed the island’s center, leading to the reservoir and the southern coast road. At last they turned into the mile-long driveway to the Leeward Estate Hotel. The journey had taken almost an hour.

  Josie was uppermost in Jon’s mind as the family gathered on the kitchen patio for afternoon tea, but he decided not to broach the subject of her visit until later. In any case, no one could forget Bobbie’s adventure.

  Tea over, Jon went straight to the place where it had started. He pushed his way through the bushes behind the wrought iron light, and searched the ground beneath the sea grape trees for signs of something-or-other, he didn’t know what, but the bare earth was too dry to take any impressions. It never occurred to him to check the trees themselves, but a lizard ran up one of the trunks directing his attention to a point almost level with his eyes. That’s where the scratches were. There were four distinct scores an inch or so apart. They were several inches long, and the set was matched by another to the right at more or less the same height. Whatever had made them was big, much bigger than any of the cats or dogs on the island. Or were they man-made? Perhaps some kids had been playing with a rake and marked the tree in one of their games. Yet that didn’t seem plausible.

  Jon decided to take a few photographs before mentioning his discovery. On the way back to the hotel, a stop at Rodney’s tool shed confirmed that the rake was far too big; the spacing of its tines was too wide. He came to the conclusion that the scratches supported Bobbie’s story. She wasn’t an overly imaginative child or afraid of the dark, otherwise she wouldn’t have been out at night in the first place. Jon had no reason to doubt her.

  Meanwhile, there was the question of Josie’s visit. He was missing her terribly, even after so short a time, and he was anxious for her to meet his family. Not only that, Judge Winchester was due back in Boston from his vacation in under three weeks, and she would have to be there to meet him.

  It was dusk before he got a chance to talk to Meg and Peter. They usually had a drink together in the comparative privacy of the kitchen patio, then ate in the restaurant at the same time as the guests. Tonight was no exception, so he collected a rum punch from the bar and joined them. He made up his mind to wade right in without delay.

  “Hi! Can I join you? I wanted to ask a favor.”

  Meg picked up a homemade cheese stick, examined it, tasted it, then turned to Jon.

  “These are good. Cook found a recipe yesterday and this is her first attempt. I’m sorry, Jon, what’s the favor?”

  “Well, I met this girl a week or two ago, and I wondered . . . do you think she could come down for a visit? I know you’ll like her.” Jon found himself unable to stop, but he couldn’t get to the point. “She crashed her car right in front of me on the highway when I was driving back from that meeting I told you about. She could have been killed, but she had her seat belt on, and just got a bump on the head. That sort of set things going, and I met her father, who’s a Judge in Boston. He’s going to England, so Josie’s free for a while.”

  Peter raised a hand. “Hold on! Not so fast! Of course she can come!”

  “Good Lord,” said Meg. “What a dramatic way to meet someone. You never menti
oned it when you phoned last week.”

  “We hadn’t really started going out.” That wasn’t strictly true. Never mind, the crucial moment had arrived. “Just so you won’t be surprised when you meet her, she’s black.”

  Jon expected silence, of the difficult kind, like when you’re supposed to hear pins drop. As it was, the pause was almost undetectable. Peter raised a glass of Fine’s Export Beer.

  “Jolly good. Here’s to you both.”

  Meg joined in the toast, but she just smiled.

  “As a matter of fact, there’s a mixed couple staying here at the moment,” Peter continued.

  “They’re combining business with a holiday,” added Meg. “Thinking about buying shares in one of the hotels, they said.”

  Jon relaxed considerably. He told Peter and Meg more about the Winchesters. “Josie’s mother died in the Lockerbie plane crash. A terrorist bomb was planted in a PanAm 747 if you remember. It was on its way from London to New York and was flying over Scotland.”

  “I don’t think anyone will forget,” said Meg. “How terrible for them.”

  Later that evening, Jon got through to Josie to make sure she had reserved a seat for Sunday on the same flight he had taken. This would work out well, as Judge Winchester was leaving for London the night before.

  “I’ll meet your flight in Antigua. It’s less than an hour from St. Barbe’s, and we need some time on our own.”

  “Why? Is there a problem with your aunt and uncle?”

  “Nothing like that. I have a feeling you’ll be so much in demand for the rest of the day that I won’t get a minute alone with you. Anyway, we’ll be together that much sooner.”

  “I must hurry and finish packing. I’ve already phoned the neighbors about keeping an eye on the house, but I’d better slip over in person. The maid says she’ll sleep in when she can, but the place will be empty some of the time.”

  “Don’t forget to bring that sexy swimsuit I gave you.”

  “Love you!” said Josie cheerfully, and hung up.

  Jon went in search of his aunt to make accommodation arrangements, and felt a lot better even though they would have to sleep in separate rooms. Jon’s room was in a private wing reserved for the family, but Josie’s would be in the hotel area. Restless and excited, he couldn’t get to sleep and ended up listening to his walkman into the wee small hours.

  Saturday, August 11, Tom’s Mountain, St. Barbe’s

  Earlier that day, not long before dark, a troop of vervet monkeys was feeding quietly on the ground in a small clearing near the summit of Tom’s Mountain. The trees cast long shadows in the late afternoon sun, and there was no wind. Suddenly the monkeys froze. The sounds of their scrabbling among the dead leaves came to an abrupt halt. Then without warning, they scattered and shot up into the branches, screeching and screaming in terror. There was no human within miles, and their cries went unheeded. One of the monkeys, an old male, was slower than the rest . . .

  Sunday, August 12, Antigua, Leeward Islands

  Jon Moresby watched the Eastern Airlines jet touch down at Antigua International Airport. It was a clear, sunny day with a few puffy white clouds decorating the sky. A cooling sea breeze freshened the afternoon air comfortably as Josie stepped onto the tarmac. Jon noticed that she had changed her hair; it was straight, shoulder-length, and framed her smiling face as she spotted him in the transit area.

  Jon held her tight. She wore a hint of what was definitely a very provocative perfume.

  “I wish we could stay here for a couple of nights,” he said. “God knows when I’ll get you into bed.”

  Jon took Josie’s hand and led her to the bar for a long cool drink while they awaited the connecting flight.

  On arrival in St. Barbe’s, Josie had to clear customs as well as immigration, and while she was having her baggage inspected, Jon called Leeward.

  “We’re on time,” he said to Meg, who answered the phone. “See you in an hour.”

  “Don’t be surprised at the traffic. There were some strange happenings during the day.”

  Jon frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Something was seen on The Track last night. I’ll tell you all about it when you get here.”

  “Okay. We’d better get going. The sky’s pretty threatening and I think we’re in for some rain. It’s a long walk to the car.”

  “Drive carefully.”

  “Don’t worry.” Jon hung up.

  The traffic along the northern coast road was a bit heavier than usual, but mostly in the opposite direction toward Jamestown. By the time they reached the junction with The Track it was raining hard, but there were no signs of anything out of the ordinary. A few flashes of lightning lit up the sky as they turned into the driveway at Leeward half an hour later. They left the car close to the front door of the hotel and ran through the downpour into the entrance hall. Jon’s plan was to take Josie straight to her room so she could have a break before meeting the family, but this was not to be. As soon as they got inside the hall, Josie saw a pretty little girl with blonde pigtails come out of a doorway opposite. She smiled brightly and ran over.

  Josie put her hand baggage on the floor. “You must be Bobbie.”

  “And you’re Josie.” There was a brilliant flash of lightning, and the thunder rattled the windows. “Tonto hates thunderstorms. He’s hiding under my bed. Do you know someone saw a ghost on Witch’s Peak last night?”

  “Wow,” said Josie. “Sounds just the right place to find one.”

  “Honest, it’s true.” Bobbie grabbed her by the hand. “I’ll introduce you to my parents,” she continued in a formal voice. “You can ask them.”

  Jon smiled. “Okay, Peach, lead the way.”

  The hotel boasted a fair-sized swimming pool on the south side of the building. It had a bar with its roof extending well beyond the outside tables so that customers wouldn’t be splashed by heavy rain. The late afternoon was unusually hot and humid, so Peter and Meg were having tea there instead of indoors.

  Bobbie dragged Josie straight to their table. “This is Josie,” she announced before Jon could speak. “She’s even prettier than Jon said, isn’t she?”

  Meg got up and held out her hand. “We do our best to teach her manners, but it doesn’t always sink in.”

  “How about some tea, or perhaps something a bit stronger?” Peter shook hands as well.

  “I’d love some cold fruit juice, please. Flying always dries me out.”

  “Same for me,” said Jon.

  “I’ll get them.” Bobbie turned to her mother. “Can I have an ice cream?”

  “I guess so, but only a small one.” Meg turned to Josie. “I’m sorry you have to sleep in the hotel part of the house, but the rooms are really quite comfortable. We’ve organized one that looks out over Leeward Bay, which is at the western end of the island. In clear weather you can see Saba sticking up from the sea; it’s an extinct volcano and looks very picturesque.”

  Bobbie brought the drinks and went back to the bar for her ice cream cone.

  “It sounds wonderful.” Josie took a long draught of her cold juice. “I’m sure the room will be just great. My Dad’s gone to London for three weeks. He asked me to thank you for having me, as he worries when I’m alone in the house. Boston isn’t exactly a safe city, you know. He’s at a big shindig for vintage car buffs, and after that they have some sort of road race. He goes most summers.”

  “Ah . . . the London to Brighton Vintage Car Rally,” commented Peter, a touch of nostalgia in his voice. “I used to live about halfway along the route when I was a kid. It’s hard to believe that some of the same cars still take part and look just as shiny and well groomed as ever.”

  All this time, Jon had been trying not to notice his godparents’ reactions to Josie, but without success. Both were predictable. Meg was almost imperceptibly distant, a little formal. Peter was totally relaxed and friendly.

  The thunder and lightning got worse.

  “I’m going
to comfort Tonto.” Bobbie stuffed the last piece of ice cream cone into her mouth.

  “The poor little mutt must be scared silly,” said Peter. “He’d better sleep indoors again tonight.”

  Bobbie’s departure led to a discussion about the strange events of the last two days.

  “There’s something I haven’t mentioned.” Jon was almost apologetic. “Bobbie always seemed to be around when I thought of it. On the day I got here, I had a look at the sea grape tree behind the seat where the animal scared her. There are some scratches in the bark, two sets of four, higher than my shoulder. At first, I wondered if some kids had been playing with a rake, but the spacings are all wrong. We can look at the scratches tomorrow in daylight, that’s assuming we can get Bobbie out of the way.” He turned to Peter who was just draining his teacup. “What about the maze? Did anyone look for signs of anything the next day?”

  “Rodney did. He found nothing. But if an animal made those scratches it must have been enormous, like a leopard or a lion. There’s nothing that size here.” He turned to Josie. “We don’t have a zoo or anything resembling one. The importation of wild animals isn’t allowed.”

  Josie finished her drink.

  “You haven’t told us what was seen in the rain forest,” she said.

  “A police constable by the name of Legrand saw something, but he’s not sure what it was,” replied Peter. “Seems he caught a glimpse of it in his headlights while patrolling The Track. The press came up with several descriptions, all dressed up for the public as you might expect. But reading between the lines, it probably looked like a large bear.”

  Josie leaned forward. “So your theory is that Bobbie’s monster and Legrand’s bear are one and the same thing.”

  “Looks like it,” said Peter. “The point is, what now? Do we report the scratches to the police? Or what?”

  “I’m not sure,” answered Meg. “The police aren’t exactly the finest, especially since a lot of them were replaced after the election. The new people are even more hopeless than the old. Let’s sleep on it.” She turned to Josie. “Jon will show you to your room, then we’ll all meet back here for cocktails in a couple of hours. Is that all right?”