“The Stone boys, Eben and Enos.”
“And?”
“They were squeaky clean, both in Boston and New Haven, where they’re in college. The boys got an especially good report from the Yale campus police. So it’s a dead end.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Rawls said, “but how come Don ran the check on them? He must have had a reason.”
“I suppose he did,” Stone said, “but there’s no way to know what it was.” He looked at Rawls closely. “Ed, you seem depressed.”
“I’m not depressed,” Rawls said. “I’m angry, angry at what was done to these murdered people, all of whom were friends of mine. If I met the man who did this face to face, I’m not sure I could account for my actions.”
“I understand your feelings,” Stone said, “but what Sergeant Young had to say about firearms was important. If you take a shot at someone the consequences could be worse for you than for your victim. I’ve seen this happen before: Some citizen fires a weapon at a supposed criminal, kills or wounds him, then he has to deal with criminal charges, followed by a lawsuit. Believe me, it’s not a position you’d want to put yourself in.”
“I hear you,” Rawls said. “See you later.” He turned and walked back toward the yacht club parking lot.
Stone hoped to God Rawls had truly heard him.
Chapter 34
STONE TOOK HOLLY TO the Dark Harbor Inn that night for dinner. He wanted to wipe away all the tension surrounding the murders on the island, if only for the evening.
“So, how is the new job working out?” he asked.
She took a sip of her wine. “Without getting too specific, very well.”
“Do you like working with Lance?”
“I do. He can be autocratic at times, but that’s to be expected, given the position he’s in.”
“Which is?”
“Let’s just say that he has a lot of responsibility. But most of the time, he’s open to the ideas of others, and he’s inclined to delegate responsibility among those he trusts, and that seems to include me. I’m lucky, in that being pretty new on this job, I’m getting a lot more responsibility than I would if I had come out of training and started work at Langley.”
“From what I hear Lance is held in high regard at the Agency, and that should rub off on you.”
“That would be nice.”
They ate silently for a moment, then Holly spoke up again. “Arrington was up here for a visit, wasn’t she?”
“Well, yes.”
“Not a very long one, though. What happened?'
“She was upset about the murders: Janey Harris’s body was found while she was here.”
“Is that all?”
“Well, she and I pretty much agreed that there’s no permanent relationship in store for us.”
Holly smiled. “That’s awfully nice to hear. I’d hate to think that I’m up here only as an investigator.”
“Don’t worry, you’re not.” He poured her some more wine.
“I got a little worried when you let Seth put our luggage in different rooms.”
“I was just catering to Seth’s sensibilities; I didn’t want to shock him.”
“Can Seth hear what goes on in the house?”
“No, his place is well out of earshot.”
“That’s good,” Holly said. “I wouldn’t want him to hear your pitiful cries tonight.”
Stone laughed. “If it makes you feel any better, Seth and his wife are on the mainland tonight. They went to dinner at her sister’s house in Rockland, and the last ferry is at seven p.m., so they’re staying the night. We can lock down the house and not worry about being disturbed.”
“The best of all possible worlds,” Holly said.
THEY WERE DRIVING HOME when Stone’s cell phone vibrated. “Hello?”
“It’s Ed Rawls.”
“What’s up, Ed?”
“I thought you ought to know that Janey’s mother just told me her daughter’s diary disappeared.”
“When?”
“She can’t be sure, but since her death. She saw her in her room writing in it the afternoon before the evening she disappeared.”
“Could she have had it in a pocket or purse?”
“I asked about that: It was big, about eight by ten, so probably not. Her mother thinks someone came into the house, searched her room and stole it.”
“So whatever Janey might have told Don Brown might have been in her diary?”
“Right. Do you know if Esme had a diary?”
“As a matter of fact, I do and I’ve got it in a safe place.”
“Have you read it?”
“No, but in light of the theft of Janey’s diary I’m going to read it tonight.”
“Let me know if there’s anything relevant in it, will you?”
“I’ll call you in the morning.” Stone hung up.
“What’s happened?” Holly asked.
“Janey Harris’s diary has disappeared, but I’ve got Esme’s at home in the safe.”
“And Rawls thinks there was something in the diary that might have led to her murder?”
THEY WERE HOME in ten minutes. Stone unlocked the door and stepped into the entrance hall, ready to tap the alarm code into the keypad there. He stopped. “Didn’t I set the security system before we left?”
“Yes, I saw you put in the code.”
Stone looked at the small screen on the keypad. “Well, it’s not armed now.”
“Who could have disarmed it?”
“Only Seth and his wife would have the code, and they left before we did.”
“Could you have entered the code incorrectly?”
“Possibly. Maybe I got a digit wrong.”
“Or maybe not,” Holly said. She reached into her purse and came out with a Walther PPKS.
Stone unholstered the little.45 on his belt. “Let’s have a look around,” he said quietly. “We’ll go together, room by room, starting upstairs.”
The two crept up the stairs, listening. They did a standard police search, entering each room, checking each closet, any place that could hide a man. Stone paid particular attention to Esme’s room and the little bedroom across the hall that she had used as a study. This was where Peter had found her diary. There was no sign that anything had been disturbed.
They went back downstairs and searched the kitchen and dining room and the garage, then went into the study.
“Uh, oh,” Stone said.
“What?”
Stone nodded toward the back door. The vacuum cleaner sat just inside the door to the terrace. He went over and opened the canister. “Bag’s gone,” he said.
“Just like before.”
“Exactly like before.”
“But nothing seems disturbed.”
“Let’s look more closely,” Stone said. They worked the whole room, looking for some small sign that someone had been there.
“As far as I can tell,” Holly said, “everything is exactly as it was before.”
