“Maddy, he probably killed Ron Mifflin”—so Adam thought the same as me—“and I highly doubt he’d ever alert the authorities to anything that could potentially lead them to discover as much. Stowe wants to remain a shadow. He’s not exactly an upstanding citizen. In fact, I’m sure Stowe Hannigan has far more skeletons in his closet than I do.”
“You’re probably right,” I agreed, downing the rest of my scotch. “Still, I wish he didn’t live right next door.”
“You may not have to worry much longer, I think he’s moving out,” Adam said, taking my glass—since it was empty—and setting it on the table. “I saw him loading boxes in his car when I got here.”
Of course Stowe would be leaving Harbour Falls. His work here was done—Ron was dead.
“Come on,” Adam said, rising and offering me his hand. “Enough talk. Let’s go to bed.”
Later that night while Adam slept, I tossed and turned, unable to rest. I didn’t want to wake Adam so I got out of bed and slipped on a robe. Maybe I could at least get some writing done. I padded across the hall to the turret room and sat down at the desk.
But I didn’t even bother turning on the light. Instead, I sat and peered out at my neighbor’s house. There were boxes on the porch—just a few—so it seemed Stowe was indeed in the process of moving out. It couldn’t be soon enough, as far as I was concerned. I was worried for Adam even though he’d said not to be.
Stowe was obviously a hit man of some sort, an assassin. I felt sure—especially with Adam thinking the same thing—that Stowe had killed Ron Mifflin, his target.
I realized now that what Stowe had said about not being the bad guy had been a reference to the Ron situation. And in that he’d been truthful. Stowe had not turned out to be the bad guy, not at all. Ron had been the bad guy, and Stowe had ended up saving my life, as well as Helena’s.
But I also couldn’t ignore the fact that Stowe had saved us in order to get to Ron. He didn’t save us because he cared or anything. Ron Mifflin was just a situation Stowe had to take care of.
I just prayed Adam never became a situation Stowe had to take care of, too.
Epilogue
The next day Adam ran down to the office to pick up some files so he could work from home while I wrote. I was at my desk, finishing up some edits. Of course, keeping an eye on Stowe Hannigan’s house was distracting me from getting done. The boxes were gone from the porch, so I assumed Stowe would be taking off soon. Thank goodness. Having him live right next door while Adam worked to destroy the organization he worked for was just a little too close to home.
It appeared Stowe was out at the moment. I’d not seen him all morning and his car wasn’t in the driveway.
Suddenly I had a brainstorm.
This would be a great time to take a little stroll over there and maybe peek in the windows to see if Stowe really was all packed up. Maybe he’d already moved, slipped out into the night, like the slippery character he was. Maybe I’d find the house empty. That would be one less thing to worry about.
I saved the file I was working on and went downstairs. I tugged on a pair of boots, zipped them up, and grabbed a jacket. Three minutes later I was standing on Stowe’s porch, staring through his dining room window.
Hmm…not gone yet…there was way too much in the room.
From the look of things, Stowe apparently didn’t use the dining room for dining. It looked more like a makeshift office of some sort. And it was packed with lots of home office-type stuff.
The heavy oak table was covered in files, so much so the wood wasn’t even visible. There was a desktop computer set up at the far end of the table. Boxes were scattered on the floor, some of the same ones I’d seen on the porch. I recognized the black marker printed on the sides, labeling them as kitchen, bedroom, etc.
Why would Stowe move the boxes back inside? The weather was dry. Had he changed his mind about moving? It seemed prudent to find out.
I needed a better view though, and the blinds were only partially open. I couldn’t see what was in the boxes. Still, what I could see made me determine that it almost looked as if Stowe had been unpacking the boxes. Uh-oh…maybe he wasn’t leaving, after all.
If I could just get in there to see…
I walked over to the front door and knocked, just to be sure Stowe was definitely out. As expected, there was no answer. I glanced around and saw no neighbors. Adam probably wouldn’t be back for at least another half an hour. I tried the doorknob. Locked. Dammit.
I couldn’t let that stop me.
I ran back over to the house. I didn’t use bobby pins, but I had a feeling Mrs. Heider did. So I raced up to the bathroom and dug around in the drawers. Sure enough, I found a bunch of bobby pins in the back. Perfect!
Two minutes later I was back on Stowe’s porch, prying open one of the hairpins and slipping it into the keyhole in the doorknob. Okay, I’d seen this on TV, but damn, it was harder than it looked. But I was nothing if not persistent, and after a few tries, I sprung the lock. Yes! I may have done a little victory dance, but then I looked around to make sure I was still all alone. I was, so I stepped into Stowe’s home.
Shit, what was I doing? Breaking and entering an assassin’s house… Adam was going to kick my ass. Best he not find out, I thought. I hurried into the
