“I know that,” Stone agreed. “Nevertheless, she went out jogging yesterday at this time, and she hasn’t been seen since. A search of the whole island is under way, but she hasn’t been found yet.”
“What’s the name of the island again?”
“Islesboro; it’s in Penobscot Bay.”
“Hang on a minute.” Ham left the phone, and Stone could hear him talking to a woman, probably Ginny, his girlfriend. “Stone, I’ve got an atlas here. I see Penobscot Bay.”
“It’s a long, narrow island off Camden.”
“Got it. Does it have an airport?”
“Yes.”
“Here’s Ginny, tell her about it.”
Ginny picked up an extension. “Hello, Stone?”
“Yes, Ginny. Nice to hear your voice.”
“Tell me about the airport.”
“It’s a paved strip, twenty-four hundred feet long; the runways are one and one niner. The identifier is five seven bravo, and the unicorn frequency is 122.9.”
Ham spoke up. “We’re on our way, Stone. We’ll call you from our fuel stop and give you an ETA. Can you meet us?”
“Wait a minute, Ham,” Stone said. “The strip is unlighted, and there’s no way you can get here before dark in… what are you flying?”
“A Bonanza B-36TC,” Ginny replied. “We just bought it.”
“It’s a good twelve hundred nautical miles, so you’re at least six or seven hours away; even with a tailwind by the time you’re airborne it will be mid-afternoon.”
“We’re coming,” Ham said.
“I want you to come, Ham, but please, at least spend the night at your fuel stop. There are trees at the southern end of the runway and a house at the other end. It’s a short strip, and you do not want to land there at night.”
“He’s right, Ham,” Ginny said. “We’ll take off this afternoon, spend the night along the way and take off again early tomorrow morning. We’ll be there around mid-morning.”
“All right,” Ham said, resignedly.
“Call me when you take off tomorrow morning, give me your ETA and I’ll meet you at the strip.”
“Okay,” Ginny said. She gave him her cell phone number. “Call us if there’s any news. I’ll get the message at the fuel stop.”
“All right,” Stone said, “and I’ll have a bed for you here.”
Ham spoke up again. “Stone, where’s Daisy?”
“Holly left her in a kennel in New York.”
“Goodbye,” Ham said, and hung up.
Stone hung up. Now he was going to have a distraught father on his hands, not that Ham was the sort to show his distress.
The phone rang. “Hello?”
“Stone, it’s Lance. I’m sorry to take so long to get back to you, but I’ve had something of an emergency here. I tried to call Holly on her cell phone, but I was sent straight to voice mail. What’s happened?”
Stone told him, as briefly as possible.
“What’s being done?”
“The state cops have organized a search party, and they’re walking every inch of land and searching every house on the island.”
“Good. I may be able to help with that.”
“I think they’ve got it covered, Lance.”
“I have other ways of covering it. I can’t get there before tomorrow morning, though. Will you meet me at the airport?”
“Of course. What time?”
“Let’s aim for eleven o’clock. I’ll call you if there’s any change in my ETA.”
“Lance, a favor. Will you bring Dino with you?”
“Of course.”
“And bring sidearms.”
“Of course. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“One other thing: Bring Daisy.”
“She’s not with Holly?”
“No, she’s in a kennel. I don’t know which one.”
“I’ll find her. See you tomorrow.”
Stone hung up feeling a little better. Help was on the way.
Chapter 44
STONE STOOD AT THE Islesboro airstrip and scanned the skies. Seth Hotchkiss stood beside him.
“There,” Seth said, pointing.
Stone followed Seth’s finger to a black dot low in the sky. “You have an eagle eye, Seth.”
“So did my daddy. Runs in the family. Which lot is in this airplane?” Seth had brought his pickup truck to help.
Stone squinted. “This is the Bonanza, I think. Holly’s father, Ham, and his girlfriend, Ginny, who’s the pilot, will be in that. I’d like you to take them back to the house and get them settled in a guest room, while I wait for the other bunch. I’ll put Lance and Dino in the guest house.”
“Ayup,” Seth replied.
The Bonanza was straight in for runway one now, and he saw the landing gear come down and heard Ginny reducing power. She cleared the trees and dropped the airplane on the numbers, braking hard. Stone stood on the tarmac, his hands raised, to show her where to park.
Ham was out of the airplane immediately, even though Ginny had to let the engine idle for five minutes to allow the turbocharger to cool before shutting down.
“How are you, Ham?” Stone asked, shaking his hand.
“Not good. Any news?”
Stone shook his head. “Let’s hope no news is good news. Shall we get your gear into the truck?”
The two men opened the rear doors and transferred Ham’s and Ginny’s luggage to the pickup, then Ginny shut down the engine, stepped out onto the wing and locked the door behind her. She jumped down and gave Stone the keys.
“I’m going to send you back to the house with Seth Hotchkiss, here,” Stone said, introducing them. “I have to wait for Lance Cabot and Dino Bacchetti; they’ll be here any minute. Seth and his wife, Mabel, will get you settled. We should be there in time for lunch. I’ve asked the state policeman in charge, Sergeant Young, to come over early in the afternoon.”
Ham nodded and ushered Ginny into the pickup. They had been gone perhaps ten minutes when Stone heard, before he saw, another airplane. Five minutes later a Pilatus PC12, a big, Swiss, single-engine turboprop, had taxied to parking and cut its engine. Daisy was the first out, running to Stone and making a fuss over him. Lance and Dino followed, while the pilot put their luggage into the station wagon. Stone got it started and headed for the house.
“Any developments?” Lance asked.
“None at all. Dead silence. At least nobody has found a body, as in the other cases.”
Dino spoke up. “I don’t see how anybody could take Holly.”
“It’s not that hard,” Lance said. “Even a well-trained, aware person can be lulled into thinking he’s safe long enough to be captured or killed.”
