Read Online Heaven Is High by Kate Wilhelm - Free Book Online

summary she had made of Binnie’s notes. “Her originals are there if you want to see them.” She pointed to a folder with the roll of film on it.
    The third piracy attack was it, she knew, as she read through it, then put it aside to look over the fourth account. In one instance, the pirates had been caught and imprisoned. In two cases they were not apprehended, and in the one she had set aside, they had been killed in a gun battle in Jamaica. That one was dated May of 1961.
    Bailey helped himself to more coffee and pushed her summary aside. He shook his head at the folder with the full accounts. “I get the picture,” he said morosely as he pocketed the roll of film.
    â€œI need the sister,” Barbara said. “I think she married the American in 1960 or 1961. I need a name for her and a way to locate her. They could have come to the States, been divorced by now, or are living happily on an estate in Belize. Can do?”
    â€œAnd she could be dead,” he said. “I don’t know. Not in a day or two. Those newspapers could be helpful maybe, if they haven’t gone belly-up. Or a Belize newspaper might be, but I’m not going to Belize to start running down a news story from twenty-two years ago that might not even be in the paper.”
    â€œWhy would an American have been in Belize that long ago?” Barbara said. “Government work? State Department minion? Probably not a tourist, not if he hung around long enough to get married to a local girl. A trade agreement? Buying mahogany? Sugar? Chicle? Chicle, for chewing gum,” she said when he raised his eyebrows questioningly. “Belize exports it. Get help if you need it. Lawrence somebody, married in 1960 or ’61, most likely to Anaia Santos, whose daddy owns Santos Shipping. There’s a record somewhere.”
    â€œYou left out drugs,” Bailey said. “And the name he used might be an alias. Maybe a CIA spook without a name to call his own.”
    â€œI know,” she admitted. “A Peace Corps guy, exchange student, instructor. Probably a lot of others we don’t have a clue about. God, I know that. Fishing for a particular minnow in the ocean, but give it a try. Do you know people who would be good for this kind of research? I’m thinking of the time element,” she added. “There isn’t any to spare.”
    â€œFrom the looks of it, there isn’t any, period. Yeah, I can round up some people and sic them on it. It’s going to cost a lot.” Then, pouring himself more coffee, he said, “I ran a credit check on Owens. You know, just part of the drill. He made about four and a half million playing football, and he spent a lot of it on houses and cars for his mother and sister. Other things. But he kept a lot. Like you said, he’s good for it. He paid cash for his own car, the house, gutting and remodeling it to be a restaurant, and everything in it. No real debts, just current expenses. He probably still has a bundle left over.”
    â€œHe was saving to buy a restaurant,” Barbara said. “Okay. Anything else?”
    â€œJust a thought,” Bailey said, his gloom not at all diminished. “The government already knows how much he’s got, and to them it might look like he held out enough so he could make a run for it without leaving a paper trail.”
    â€œAnd Nicholson already wants to know where he is,” Barbara muttered.
    Bailey shrugged, got to his feet, and slouched to the door, where he saluted and said, “I’ll get those pictures to you later today.”
    *   *   *
    Barbara waited until eleven o’clock to call Herman Krugman at Columbia. She got as far as his teaching assistant. “Ms. Holloway, I’m sorry, but Dr. Krugman is out all this week. You know, spring break. But he left two names for me to give you if you still want them.”
    Better than nothing, she thought. “I’d