Dark Harbor (Stone Barrington 12)

“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.”