Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 12

it. Folks start arriving tomorrow, and they’ll have seen about it in the Boston papers, so there’ll be a lot of curiosity.”
    â€œWell, let’s not starve them for information, but don’t give anybody the impression that I think Caleb is in any way responsible. He and his family hadn’t even arrived on the island at the time, so let’s not hang it around his neck.” Then they got up and went back into the house.
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    THAT NIGHT, after dinner, the group enjoyed coffee and brandy before a crackling fire in the living room.
    â€œLance,” Stone said, “there’s a possibility we haven’t talked about.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    â€œCould these murders have been work related? Dick’s work, I mean.”
    â€œDon’t worry, I’ve thought a lot about it. I’ve reviewed the threats Dick received in London over the years. There were more of them than you might think, but most from nuts or the ineffectual. Generally speaking, terrorist groups don’t tell you they’re going to kill you; they just kill you. Anyway, there was nothing in the file less than a year old. The other thing is that it just doesn’t happen that foreigners murder Agency personnel in the U.S. I can’t think of a single case when that’s happened. Add to that fact that Dick and his family were in, if not an inaccessible place, then one very difficult to access without being noticed.”
    Dino spoke up. “We haven’t talked about the possibility of someone arriving in a small boat to do the job. A team, or even an individual, could have pulled a rubber dinghy out of the water less than thirty yards from this house.”
    â€œI grant you that,” Lance said. “A commando-style raid, in the middle of the night, would have been the way to do it, if you wanted to do it, but nobody’s claimed responsibility, and these groups usually do. Nobody at the Agency has been able to detect the slightest sign that a group had or was about to conduct an operation of this sort. I’ve checked the weather that night, and there was thick fog all night and into the morning, and believe me, the fog gets really thick up here.
    â€œFrankly, in my own mind, I’ve ruled out the possibility of an incursion from outside, and my report will so state. I’m more inclined to think that somebody local had it in for Dick.”
    â€œSeth tells me that Dick and his family were very popular locally,” Stone said.
    â€œAnd Caleb is accounted for,” Dino said. “We’re getting nowhere fast.”
    â€œWell,” Holly said, “I’m going to turn in, I think.” She got up. “Good night all.” She headed for the stairs.
    After a few more minutes of chat, the others headed for their rooms, too.
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    STONE WAS PLEASED to find Holly in his bed, and when he slid in beside her, even more pleased to find her naked. He snuggled up to her back and nestled between her cheeks. Holly reached back with her hands and fondled him, bringing him erect. “I thought you’d never come upstairs,” she said, guiding him into her. She rolled over on her stomach, pulling him with her, and they kept that position until they had both come. Finally, she turned over, slung a wet leg over his and snuggled into his shoulder.
    Stone reflected that it was nice to have her sleeping beside him. He didn’t fall asleep for a long time, though, because he was running every possible permutation of the events in the house through his head and getting nowhere. He resolved to get to the bottom of Dick’s and his family’s death. It was the last thing he could do for them.

7
    A T BREAKFAST the following morning Stone asked Mabel if he should make a ferry reservation for his trip to Belfast.
    â€œWell,” Mabel said, “you won’t need a reservation going over to the mainland, and you won’t get one coming back. Too many folks are arriving today for the summer, and the ferry’s been booked up for weeks.”
    â€œIs there an airport in Belfast?” Stone asked.
    â€œYup. Bigger than ours, too.”
    â€œOkay, I’ll fly,” he said.
    â€œI’ll come with you,” Dino chipped in. “I don’t have anything else to do.”
    Lance spoke up. “Now that I’ve got Dick’s computer up and running, I’m going to check out some things. Holly, I’d like you here with me