“How did you remember that?”
Dino tapped his temple. “I do The New York Times crossword every day. Calisthenics for the brain.”
“Funny, it doesn’t seem to have muscled up.”
“I remembered the name, didn’t I? While your brain has apparently turned to mush. Why were you thinking about the bank robbery?”
“Not the robbery so much, the woman.”
“Ah, now we’re getting to the nub of things. I’ll bite. What woman?”
“She’s the chief of police down there, name of Holly Barker. She was supposed to marry Oxenhandler that very day. I met her at the police station.”
“You went to the police station?”
“I was a witness, and I didn’t have a shirt.”
“You’re losing me here.”
“I took off my shirt and held it to Oxenhandler’s chest wound, not that it did much good. He died shortly after reaching the hospital.”
“So you were bare-chested in Orchid Beach, and you met this girl?”
“Woman. We’re not supposed to call them girls, remember?”
“Whatever.”
“A cop loaned me a shirt. Holly arrived and took over the case. I remember how cool she was under the circumstances.”
“Pretty bad circumstances.”
“Yeah. After I came home I called her with some information, and we had a couple of phone conversations after that.”
“So why are you thinking about this . . . person?”
“She’s in town. In fact, she’s at my house right—Jesus, I forgot to call Joan.” Stone dialed his office number and got his secretary on the phone. “There are a couple of women coming to the house—one is named Holly Barker; I don’t know the other one. Will you put them in whichever of the guest rooms they want, and give them a key?”
“You’re doing two at a time now, Stone?” Joan Robertson asked.
“I should be so lucky. Just get them settled. I’ll explain later.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” She hung up.
“What’s she doing up here?” Dino asked.
“She didn’t say. She called from a taxi on the way in from the airport.”
“Nice of you to offer her a bed,” Dino said slyly.
“Oh, shut up.”
“Did you offer the two of them your bed?”
&
nbsp; “I offered them a guest room; that’s it.”
“So far. Well, I guess it’s how you keep your weight down, isn’t it?”