Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 12

rang, and Stone went to answer it. Ed Rawls stood on the doorstep.
    â€œCome on in, Ed.”
    â€œThanks. Anything new?”
    â€œI’m not sure. We’ve just learned that Caleb Stone’s twin sons have gone to some lengths to make the police believe that they’re in Nantucket, but we’ve learned that they’re not.”
    â€œWe haven’t learned that yet, Stone,” Lance pointed out. “All we know is that the Nantucket cop looking for them hasn’t seen them yet.”
    â€œAnd,” Dino pointed out, “we’ve got these thermal scans that show four people sleeping in Caleb’s house last night.”
    â€œSo, what if they are here?” Rawls asked. “Have you got anything to connect them to any of the murders?”
    â€œNot really,” Stone said, “but I find it very suspicious that they seem to be trying to create a false alibi.”
    â€œI see your point,” Rawls said.
    â€œSergeant Young has just gone over to Caleb’s house to see if they’re there,” Stone said. “I’ll be interested to hear what he finds out.”
    Â 
    SERGEANT TOM YOUNG pulled up to the Stone house, a rambling shingled house sagging with age in places. He walked up onto the front porch and rang the bell.
    After a long wait the door opened. “Yes?”
    â€œMr. Caleb Stone?”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œI’m Sergeant Young of the Maine State Police. We spoke on the phone yesterday. I’d like to speak to your sons, Eben and Enos, please.”
    â€œI gave you their cell phone number yesterday, Sergeant,” Caleb replied. “It hasn’t changed.”
    â€œYes sir, and I spoke to one of them, but I haven’t been able to confirm their whereabouts.”
    â€œWell, I’m sorry about that, Sergeant, but I don’t see how I can help you. The boys are not here.”
    â€œSir, we have information that four people slept in your house last night. I assume that two of them were your wife and yourself. Who were the other two?”
    â€œWe, ah, had houseguests. They left this morning.”
    â€œDid they take the ferry?”
    â€œNo, they came and left by boat; they’re cruising the coast and just stopped in for the night.”
    â€œMay I ask their names?”
    â€œBill and Julie Robertson.”
    â€œAnd the name of their boat?”
    â€œI don’t really know the boat’s name,” Caleb replied. “It’s a sailing boat, pretty good size, but I don’t know its name.”
    â€œHow can I contact the Robertsons?”
    â€œWhy do you want to contact them?”
    â€œI need to verify their presence here last night.”
    â€œWell, I suppose you’ll have to wait until they return to Boston in the fall. They’re cruising all summer.”
    â€œMr. Stone, would you mind if I had a look around your house?”
    â€œWhat for?”
    â€œI’d like to see for myself if your sons are here.”
    â€œAll right. Go ahead,” Caleb said, standing aside and holding the door open.
    Sergeant Young stepped inside the house, and he heard the door close firmly behind him.

53
    S TONE FINISHED HIS LUNCH and pushed back from the table.
    â€œI’m going to look for Sergeant Young,” he said.
    â€œTake it easy, Stone,” Lance said. “He’s only been gone for an hour, and we know where he went. Relax and have some dessert.”
    Stone tried to relax. “Ginny, how are you coming with Esme’s diary?”
    â€œSlowly,” she replied. “I can go faster, if you don’t care if I destroy it.”
    â€œPlease do it as you see fit, Ginny.”
    â€œIt’s just that it’s all these thin sheets, and they’ve been mashed together by water and the pressure of the cover. If I use the heat from the hair dryer too much, they dry too fast and crumble.”
    Lance spoke up. “Ginny, if it’s too difficult, I can send it back to Langley and let the experts have a go at it.”
    â€œWe don’t have time for that,” Stone said.
    â€œYou mean Holly doesn’t have time for that,” Ham said. It was the first time he had spoken during lunch.
    â€œI can do it, Lance,” Ginny said, “but it has to be done slowly, and I don’t think your people at Langley could do it any faster. I know it would be nice to do this in a lab, to better preserve the diary as evidence, but we have a