Dark Harbor (Stone Barrington 12)

“Again, you have a point,” Stone said.

Holly turned to Lance. “You know, we have an ex-Boston cop, Bob O’Neal, in our group. Why don’t I ask him to use his contacts at the Boston PD to reinvestigate the brother’s alibi? Maybe Caleb is smarter than we’re giving him credit for.”

“Good idea,” Stone said.

“All right,” Lance said, “but tell Bob not to make a career of it.”

“Are you going back up to Maine, Stone?” Holly asked.

“Not until I get more to go on,” Stone replied. “I’ve got to make a living, after all.”

“If you go back, maybe Lance will give me some time to go with you. I’d really like to get my teeth into this one.”

“Maybe,” Lance said. “You want to use vacation time?”

“Remember, the Agency has a stake in this.”

“Oh, all right. Get your desk cleared."

“I’m happy to have all the help I can get,” Stone said, thinking he’d be happy to have Holly up there, in any case.

Chapter 32

STONE WAS AWAKENED by the telephone too early. He glanced at the bedside clock: 6:30 a.m. He picked up the phone. “Hello?” he croaked.

“It’s Ed Rawls.”

“And good morning to you, Ed.”

“Did I wake you?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry. You better get back up here, Stone.”

“What’s going on?”

“All hell has broken loose, that’s what.”

Stone pressed the button that raised the head of his bed and rearranged himself. “What do you mean?”

“The people on the island, both locals and summer folks, are up in arms. They had a meeting at the yacht club yesterday.”

“And what happened at the meeting?”

“Mostly they just aired their complaints.”

“About what?”

“Lack of police protection, mostly. They’ve sent the state police a request to have officers stationed on the island round the clock until this situation is resolved.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“What’s not a good idea is they’re arming themselves. Sergeant Young told me they’ve had something like a couple of dozen applications for carry licenses, the most ever in one day from one town, and this is a village. Several carloads of people went over to Ellsworth yesterday afternoon.”

“Is there something ominous about Ellsworth?”

“No, it’s just that the only gun shop in this part of the state is in Ellsworth, a place called Phil’s. There are more guns than people in Maine, but for some reason, not very many gun shops.”