Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 12

in.”
    Ham nodded, seeming to take some comfort in that idea.
    They were on coffee when Lance looked at his watch. “Excuse me, I want to see if I’ve had anything from Langley yet.” He got up and left the table.
    Seth came in from outdoors. “Stone, can you come down to the dock for a minute? There’s something I want to show you.”
    â€œWe’re expecting Sergeant Young shortly, Seth. Can it wait?”
    â€œI don’t think so,” Seth said.
    Stone got up and followed, and everybody else followed Stone. Seth led them down to the dock where Dick’s yacht and the Hinckley picnic boat were docked.
    â€œThis is what caught my attention,” Seth said, pointing at a corner of the picnic boat’s stern. “Did you do that by any chance?”
    The corner was damaged, as if it had been hit from above by something heavy.
    â€œNo, I didn’t,” Stone said. “This boat was pristine the last time I was aboard.”
    â€œI didn’t think so,” Seth said. He produced a bucket with a Plexiglas bottom. “Come over here and take a look.” He put the bottom of the bucket in the water astern of the boat and held it while Stone looked into it. The six-foot-deep water, which was clear but dark, became even clearer. A cubical object about eighteen inches on each side came dimly into view, half sunk into the muddy bottom.
    â€œIt’s got to be the safe,” Stone said.
    â€œWhat safe?” Dino asked.
    â€œDick’s safe from the study. Somebody got into the house and sawed it out of where it was bolted to a shelf in a cupboard.”
    Seth said, “I reckon the feller muscled it down here to the dock to load it on a boat, and he slipped up and dropped it, hitting the boat’s transom. The safe went into the water, and nobody could get it out of there alone without some equipment.”
    â€œSeth,” Stone said, “is there a wet suit among Dick’s stuff?”
    â€œYes, in the garage,” Seth said, “but it’s Dick’s size, and he was smaller than you or me.”
    â€œWould it fit Dino?”
    â€œHey, wait a minute,” Dino said.
    â€œI reckon it would,” Seth replied.
    â€œWill you take Dino inside and get him into the wet suit? Hit him over the head, if you have to. Then find some rope and a shovel.”
    Â 
    DINO STOOD ON THE dock wearing the wet suit, a mask and a snorkel. “Now what?” he asked.
    â€œIt’s going to be just like that time you told me about in the Bahamas,” Stone said. “Remember how much you enjoyed the snorkeling?”
    â€œThis is Maine, not the Bahamas,” Dino said. “That water is fucking cold.”
    â€œThat’s why you’re wearing the wet suit,” Stone said. “See? We’ve thought of your every need.”
    â€œBut…”
    Stone pushed him into the water.
    Dino sputtered to the surface. “You’re going to pay for that, goddammit!”
    â€œNow, here’s what you do,” Stone said, handing him a shovel and a length of rope.

45
    S TONE LET THE water drain off the safe, then dried it carefully, before he and Seth carried it into the house.
    â€œWhat do you think it weighs?” Stone asked Seth.
    â€œFifty, sixty pounds,” Seth replied.
    â€œCould one man handle it?”
    â€œYou want to try?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œI reckon a pretty strong fella could handle it. ’Course, he might drop it trying to get it into a boat.”
    They got the safe into the study, laid some newspapers on the desk and rested the steel box on top of it, lying on its back. Lance was working away at the computer in Dick’s office.
    â€œThe dial is gone,” Stone said.
    Lance spoke up. “That means they tried to open it, failed, then sawed it out of the cabinet.”
    Stone peered at the safe closely. He could see the bolt that locked it through the crack between the door and the jamb. “I don’t have a clue how to handle this,” he said.
    â€œSend Dino back in the water to look for the dial,” Lance said. “It’ll simplify things.”
    Dino was out on the deck, half out of the wet suit. Stone went out and broke the news to him.
    â€œYour turn,” Dino said.
    â€œPut it back on, Dino; you’re the only one the suit fits.”
    Dino sighed and began struggling back into the wet suit. “What am I looking for