Dark Harbor (Stone Barrington 12)

“Potshot?”

“No, not Potshot, Hotshot. With an H for hotel.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so?”

“Could you ask the dockmaster about Hotshot, please?”

“Hang on. Charlie, now he wants a boat named Hotshot. You got one of them?”

Charlie picked up his clipboard and ran a finger down to the Hs. “Yep, I’ve got just one Hotshot: dock three, berth fourteen.”

“Sergeant?”

“Yes?”

“He’s got a Hotshot all right: dock three, berth fourteen.”

“Great! Could you go down there and have a look at it?”

“Sure.”

“Wait a minute. I’ve got a better idea.”

“What’s that?”

“Let me speak to the dockmaster, please.”

Jake handed his phone to Charlie.

“Charlie here.”

“Charlie, this is Sergeant Young of the Maine State Police.” He explained his problem and described the twins. “Rather than have a uniformed officer go down to the boat, could you or one of your people go to the boat and tell them there’s a phone call for either Eben Stone or Enos Stone in your office?”

“But there isn’t a phone call.”

“I just want to know if they’re on the boat. If they’re not, ask if they’re in the village or on the island somewhere.”

“And if they are on the boat?”

“Ask for a cell phone number and tell them you’ll refer the call.”

“What call?”

“The imaginary call. If they want to know why the caller never called them, you don’t know. All you did was give him the message.”

“Okay. I can do that in a few minutes.”

Young gave him the cell phone number. “Can I speak to the lieutenant again?”

“This is Jake.”

“Lieutenant, thanks so much for your help.”

“What help?”

Chapter 51

JAKE POTTER POURED himself a cup of the dockmaster’s coffee and gazed out the window at the yachts in their slips. This state cop, Young, from Maine had something real good going, he reflected. Multiple murders, serial killer, mucho publicity in the Boston papers and TV. Jake didn’t like state cops; they always wanted to come in and take over a local investigation. They’d had a real good murder on Nantucket the previous summer, and the Massachusetts state cops were all over it like flies before Jake and his colleagues had really had a chance to break it.