Orchid Blues (Holly Barker 2)

"You bet. Why don't you come over here, and I'll fix you something."

"I'd like that."

"Whenever you like."

"Great. I'll call you when I get some idea."

"See you."

She hung up, and immediately, the phone rang. She sighed and picked it up; the day had begun. "Hello?"

"Holly, it's Stone Barrington."

"Good morning."

"I got hold of my old partner last night, and he called his friend upstate. What he found out was that the robbery was never solved, and they really only ever had one lead."

"What was the lead?"

"A teller at the bank, a woman, was the only employee who'd been there for less than two years; she'd been there three months."

"And they couldn't get anything out of her?"

"A couple of weeks after the robbery, she vanished, along with a bunch of other people, apparently."

"What do you mean, 'vanished'?"

"She was a member of some religious sect in the Hudson River Valley, twenty-five or thirty people. They simply pulled up stakes and left the state. Apparently, they had spent the weeks before disposing of their property and even their vehicles. A lot of people thought they'd committed mass suicide, and they may very well have, because every effort to track them down failed."

"Very strange."

"Very strange indeed."

"The guy on the New York State Police is doing a follow-up with the FBI office in New York, and he'll get back to me when he knows more."

"Thanks, Stone, I really appreciate this."

"Glad to help. You doing okay?"

"I'm managing."

"Let me know if you'd like to see my new airplane; I'm taking delivery today."

"Okay, I will."

"You can reach me at the Disney hotel in Vero, or on my cell phone; the number's on my card."

"Let me see how things go."

"Take care."

"Bye."

When Holly and Daisy got to the office, the atmosphere had returned to something more normal, since the witnesses had all been interviewed and sent home. She went into Hurd's office. "What's happening?"

"We've got the employee records, and we're going through them now."

"I want to know about the more recent employees." She told him about her conversation with Stone.