Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 12

shot with their own guns and the vacuum cleaner being left by the door. There’s nothing to connect Janey’s killer with Don’s.”
    â€œSomething else has come up,” Stone said. He told them about the entry into Dick’s house the night before and the theft of the safe. “So another girl’s diary has been stolen, and the vacuum cleaner was left by the door, as when the family was murdered. That’s a connection.”
    â€œBut how did your burglar know the diary was in the safe?” Rawls asked. “For that matter, how did he know that Esme even kept a diary?”
    â€œAs to the diary, I think the killer could have supposed that most or all teenaged girls keep diaries, and he had to find both of them, if they existed, in order to protect himself.”
    â€œBut how did he know it was in the safe?” Harley asked.
    Stone shrugged. “Because he’d looked everywhere else in the house, and the safe was the only place left?”
    â€œMaybe,” Rawls said. “But I think we should concentrate on Caleb for the time being.”
    Holly spoke up. “The state police have verified that Caleb was in Boston when the Stone family was murdered. How do we get around a solid alibi?”
    â€œMaybe it isn’t as solid as they think,” Rawls said.
    â€œThese killings are like a crossword puzzle,” Stone said. “You think you know the answer to both the across clue and the down clue. They both seem solid, but when you write them both down, they don’t match in the middle. When that happens, it means that one of the words is wrong. Maybe both of them.”
    â€œAre you still thinking about Kirov and the Agency connection?” Rawls asked.
    â€œWell, it’s still on the table, though I think it’s not as strong a possibility as it once was. It looked pretty good when it was all we had.”
    â€œLook,” Rawls said, “let’s pull out all the stops with Caleb: Look again at his alibi, check his finances, look at the old will, the works. If he doesn’t pan out, then we can turn our attentions elsewhere.”
    â€œAll right,” Stone said. “You work your end, and I’ll work mine, and Holly can work whichever end appeals to her.”
    â€œOkay,” Rawls said. The Old Farts got up and shuffled out.
    Stone went to the phone and called Caleb Stone.
    â€œGood afternoon, Stone,” Caleb said amiably.
    â€œCaleb, can I buy you lunch at the yacht club tomorrow?”
    â€œSure, but we should be there by twelve o’clock; it gets crowded.”
    â€œFine, twelve o’clock. And Caleb, if you have a copy of Dick’s previous will handy, will you bring it?”
    â€œI don’t have one here, but I’ll call my office and have them FedEx it to me. It should be here by lunchtime.”
    â€œThanks, Caleb. See you at noon tomorrow.”

38
    S TONE ARRIVED AT the yacht club promptly at noon to find Caleb already there. A FedEx envelope was on the table. Caleb shook his hand.
    â€œI’ve already placed an order for two burgers and fries. I hope that’s okay,” Caleb said. “The kids gang up on the kitchen around this time, and we could wait half an hour if we don’t get our order in early.”
    â€œGreat.”
    â€œYou want a beer?”
    â€œSure.” Caleb retrieved two beers from the counter and set them on the table. He tore open the FedEx package and removed a blue-bound document, scanned it quickly and handed it to Stone. “That’s the previous will, which was superceded by the one you gave me.”
    â€œThanks, Caleb.” Stone tucked it into his pocket.
    â€œThe substance of it was that he left all his assets to Barbara and she to him. If she predeceased him, then everything would go to Esme in trust, until she was thirty, with me as the sole trustee. If they died together, say, in a car crash—or as they did die—then everything would come to me.”
    â€œI understand,” Stone said. Their burgers arrived, and they began to eat. “Caleb, I know you’ve already been through this with the state police, but I’d like to go through the timeline with you. Until all this is substantiated, they’ll still consider you a suspect, but I’d like to do what I can to eliminate you as such.”
    â€œI’m a suspect?”
    â€œEverybody on this island is a suspect until eliminated by an alibi,