The rest of it I held until after Sawyer left. When Hawk and I were alone, I set the jar holding Jerome’s fingers on the desk. Then with some ceremony I spread Mitzy Gardner’s note in front of my boss. He glanced at it, then up to meet my eyes. There wasn’t a quiver of muscle, not a tinge of color change in the parchment face.
“Well.” It was his business voice. “I’m waiting for your report.”
I began with the little things. The stewardess; I was sure Jerome had her murdered, but we’d have to check it out. The jail Fleming had to fix up. The dungeons he planned to turn into laboratories for the university. Then I gave Hawk the rundown on Noah with a straight face, chronologically.
“He had two hours’ warning,” I said to Hawk. “Plenty of time to show how aloof he was from fear and to put on a one-hour performance. What bothers me is how the rest of the island got caught so they didn’t get their ships and planes out of danger.
“Could I use your phone?”
He gave permission. I called the weather bureau and got through to a friend there, identified myself and said, “Jim, what time of day did you get the alert on last week’s hurricane?”
There was some swearing. “Damn it, Nick, too bloody late to do any good. The satellite didn’t pick it up until it was over Grand La Clare lashing its tail. By the time we got a warning out, it was half over. I never knew anything to come up that fast. Even Noah didn’t call us.”
Something cold started working up my spine. “Do you know about Noah?”
“He’s our spotter there. N.O.A.H., his call letters. He’s good. Usually picks weather out of the air as fast as we do. Why? You sound funny.”
“Uh-uh. Thanks.”
I hung up. Hawk hung up the extension.
Hawk sounded hollow. “If he’d reported in, a lot of damage could have been prevented. A lot of lives saved.”
“And an island lost to ‘big brother’.”
I went out of the office softly, closed the door softly. The weather satellite takes constant pictures on one huge hunk of ocean at a time. It didn’t see that freak storm until it walloped ashore.
I fit a cigarette and tried to kiss the whole thing off. Threw the cigarette away. The hell with it.