Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 12

again?”
    â€œThe dial from the front of the safe. It’s got to be…” Stone stopped. “Wait a minute.” He went back into the study and opened the cabinet where the safe had been. He rummaged through some papers on the shelf below, and his hand found something of solid metal. He held up the dial. “Never mind, Dino; I found it.”
    â€œGreat!” Dino yelled from the deck and started getting out of the wet suit again.
    â€œGot it, Lance,” Stone called.
    â€œIn a minute,” Lance replied. He made more key-tapping noises in the little office.
    Dino came into the study in a towel. “I’m going to get a shower,” he said. “Anything else that has to be retrieved from the bottom is gonna be retrieved by somebody else.”
    â€œAll right, all right,” Stone said.
    â€œAnd remember, I have a gun.” Dino went through the kitchen out to the guesthouse, where he and Lance each had a room.
    Lance came out of the little office. “Okay, let me have the dial,” he said.
    Stone handed it to him.
    Lance inspected the safe closely, then fitted the dial back onto the stem protruding from the front of the safe. “Now we find out whether it’s on right, or whether I have to take it off again and rotate it a hundred and eighty degrees. I don’t suppose any of you has a stethoscope on you?”
    They all looked at him blankly.
    â€œThat’s what I thought.” He pressed an ear to the safe and began slowly rotating the dial.
    â€œI didn’t know you were a safecracker, Lance,” Stone said.
    â€œJack of all trades, definitely master of none.”
    â€œHolly opened it, now that I recall.”
    â€œWe attended the same safecracking academy. Now be quiet; I can’t listen to you and the safe at the same time.”
    Stone walked over to an easy chair and took a seat.
    Lance stood up straight, turned the handle on the safe door, opened it and peered inside. “It’s a mess,” he said.
    Stone walked back to the desk and looked inside the safe. The estate papers he had stored in it were a sodden mass. He lifted them out in a big lump and deposited them on the newspaper. Then he reached inside and brought out Esme’s diary. It was heavier than before, being soaking wet. He opened the cover and found the pages stuck together, the ink running.
    â€œHave you got a hair dryer?” Lance asked.
    â€œIn my bathroom upstairs,” Ginny replied.
    â€œGinny,” Lance said, “would you like to help?”
    â€œOf course,” she replied, running over to the desk.
    â€œWill you take the diary upstairs, put it on a table and start drying it?”
    â€œSure.”
    Lance reached into a desk drawer and found a letter opener. “Use this to separate the pages as they dry, but don’t force them.”
    â€œOkay.” Ginny took the diary and went upstairs.
    A bell sounded in Dick’s little office almost simultaneously with the front doorbell.
    Lance disappeared into the office, and Seth went to the front door and came back with Sergeant Young, who looked tired.
    Stone introduced him to Ham; he’d already met everybody else.
    â€œAnything new?” Stone asked.
    â€œI’m afraid not. We’ve pretty much started the search over again, and this time we’re concentrating on the beaches and shoreline.”
    â€œWhy?” Ham asked.
    Sergeant Young looked away.
    Stone spoke up. “Because the bodies of the missing women were all found in the water.”
    Ham nodded.
    Lance came out of the office. “Afternoon, Sergeant,” he said, placing several sheets of acetate on the desk. “I have something that might be of use to you in your search. Do you have a current map of the island?”
    â€œA very good one, showing all the houses,” Young replied. “I’ll get it out of my car.” He was back in a moment and spread the map on the desk. “This is the latest map available that shows all the occupied buildings. You can see, I’ve highlighted the ones already searched in green.”
    â€œI see you’re better than half finished,” Lance said. He picked up a sheet of acetate and laid it next to the map. “This is a thermal image of the island taken from a satellite last night, or rather an image of the north end of the island. In order to get in close, we divided the island in half. This particular image was taken at