and Stone got into the front seat with Seth while the other three crowded into the rear seat.
“We’re booked into the Dark Harbor Inn,” Stone said.
“Nah, I told your secretary to forget about that. They don’t open until next week. You’ll be staying at Dick’s house. There’s plenty of room. We’ll put two of you in the guest house and two in the main house. You’ve never seen the place, have you?”
“No, I stayed in the old family place.”
“That barn,” Seth said. “I’m glad I don’t have nothing to do with it no more. It was a chore, just keeping it standing. Caleb’s got three men doing what I used to do over there. Dick brought over me and my wife, Mabel-she’s new since you were here-when he built his house, and we live in a nice apartment over the garage. We’re comfortable there, but I don’t know what’ll happen to us now.”
“Rest easy about that, Seth,” Stone said. “You’ll be kept on as always. Dick provided for that.”
“How do you know about that?” Seth asked.
“I’m Dick’s executor, and I’ll see that his wishes are carried out. He left me the use of the place for my lifetime and that of my heirs.”
Seth nodded. “You married? You got any heirs?”
“Not married, but I’ve got one heir, a boy. I hope you’ll get to meet him.”
“We can still give a boy a good summer up here,” Seth said.
They were quiet for a while. “Do you know what happened, Seth?” Stone asked finally.
“I know what I saw, and I don’t put the same light on it that the sheriff does,” Seth replied. “I’ll tell you about it after we get everybody settled.”
They drove through downtown Dark Harbor, which consisted of a few scattered houses and one business, a general store/real estate office/newsstand/ice cream parlor. It was astonishingly the same as it had been twenty years before.
They continued on past the Dark Harbor Inn, took a right and shortly drove through the gates of Dick Stone’s house.
Chapter 4
THE HOUSE WAS a perfect shingled New England dwelling with two front facades-one facing the front gate, the other facing the little harbor-with a garage wing big enough for four cars and a staff apartment and a guest house to one side of the main house.
Seth drove over to the guest house and unloaded Lance’s and Dino’s luggage. “We’ll put the fellers here,” he said, “and the lady over in the main house. That okay?”
Holly nodded. “Fine with me, Seth.” She glanced at Stone, who pretended not to notice.
Seth showed Lance and Dino to neat little rooms, divided by a sitting room with a TV and a fireplace. “Mabel will have some lunch for you in half an hour,” he said.
They got back into the wagon and drove the few yards to the main house. Seth carried the luggage upstairs and put Stone in what was, obviously, the master and Holly into an adjoining room, which seemed meant for guests. “Lunch is in half an hour in the kitchen,” Seth said. “I’ll leave you to get settled.”
“I’ll come down with you, Seth,” Stone said.
“You want to see where it happened?” Seth asked.
“Didn’t it happen in the master bedroom?”
Seth shook his head and beckoned. He led Stone down the hall to a large, pretty bedroom, full of stuffed animals and the detritus of childhood and the teen years. Everything was very neat. “For some reason, Barbara was in bed with Esme. They were both sleeping on their right sides, with their backs to the door. Somebody put two bullets in each of ”em’s head. It was like they never woke up, never moved.“ He turned and led the way downstairs. They walked through a large living room with broad views of the harbor and into a smaller study.
Seth walked over to the desk. “Dick was sitting here, and he had this tiny, little gun in his left hand, and it had what looked like a silencer on it, like you see on TV. There was a hole in his left temple, and it was all black around it. The bullet went all the way through and ended up here.” He tapped a hole in the leather desktop. “There was a lot of blood and brains.”
“Who found them?”
“Mabel did, when she came down to fix breakfast. It was about six-thirty in the morning. She screamed real loud, and I was down quick.”
“Did either of you touch anything?”
“No,
“Why is there no crime-scene tape around the house, and why was Mabel allowed to clean up?”
“The trooper told us we could do that after they took the bodies away,” Seth said. “By the way, he’s coming over, getting the two o’clock ferry, so he’ll be here by two-thirty.”
“Did they take any photographs?”
“I’m not sure, but I did.” Seth reached into a pocket and handed Stone a small electronic camera. “It was Dick’s, just a point-and-shoot thing, then you put the pictures in the computer. I didn’t know how to do that.”
Stone put the camera into his pocket. “I’m sorry you and Mabel had to see that,” he said.
“So’m I,” Seth replied.
“Seth, Dick left you and Mabel some money, half a million dollars, and he left another half a million in a trust for your kids’ education. How old are they now?”
“They’re eighteen and nineteen; boy’s younger. They’re at Bowdoin, freshman and sophomore. Dick had been paying for their college. I’m relieved to hear that’s going to keep on.”
“That will continue, and they can go to graduate school, if they want to. When the older one is twenty-five, what’s left in the trust will be divided between them.”
“Nice little nest egg for them, then.” Seth began to cry.
Stone patted him on the back, but didn’t say anything.
“Lunch in half an hour, in the kitchen,” Seth said. He handed Stone a bunch of keys. “These were Dick’s.” Then he hurried out of the room.
Stone walked around the study, looked at the view of the harbor, looked at the book titles. A remarkable number of them were in his own library. There were silver-framed photographs of Barbara and Esme on his desk. He suddenly felt closer to Dick, remembered his good cheer, his sense of humor, his innate kindness.
“Who are you?” a voice said.
Stone turned to find Caleb Stone standing behind him. He had put on some weight but was still recognizably the twenty-year-old Stone had known, with the same broken nose. “Hello, Caleb. I’m Stone Barrington.”
Caleb stood stock-still for a moment and looked him up and down, then, remembering some vestige of manners, walked over and offered his hand. “Hello, Stone,” he said. “What the hell are you doing here?” The question was made up of equal parts of amazement and hostility.
“I’m here at Dick’s invitation.”
“You mean, he invited you up here to stay?”
“Yes, he did. Along with some friends.”
“You mean there are other people in the house?”
“Three, here and in the guest house.”
“Christ, we planned to move in here tomorrow.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to change your plans.”
Caleb ignored this statement. “The boys are home from school to help, and their mother is packing right now.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” Stone said.
“Now, you listen to me. I want you and your friends to get out of this house, and I want you on the next ferry.”
Stone walked over to the sofa and chairs by the window. “Caleb, come and sit down for a minute; I need to tell
