Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

the porch rail and peering through a window. “Nobody there.”
    â€œGive me the flashlight and wait here,” Stone said. “Lance told me where the key is.” He walked back up the driveway to the mailbox, looked underneath and extracted the key, leaving the tape in place, then walked back to the house. He opened the door and stepped inside, followed closely by Holly. The burglar alarm began to beep, once a second.
    â€œOh, shit,” Holly said. “I hope that thing doesn’t call the police.”
    Stone tapped in the code, and it stopped beeping.
    â€œHow did you know how to do that?” she asked.
    â€œLance gave me the code; we have to reset it when we leave.”
    â€œBill!” Holly called out. They walked from room to room, as she continued to call his name. The bed in the master bedroom was undisturbed. They walked into the kitchen. “I smell food,” Holly said. She opened the oven door. “Pot roast, I think, and there are string beans and potatoes on the stove. Everything has been turned off, though.”
    Stone placed his hand on the stove. “Cold,” he said. “They’ve been gone awhile, and I can’t see that anything has been disturbed.”
    â€œThey planned to come back,” Holly said. “Otherwise, Mrs. Pepper would have put the food in the fridge.”
    â€œNothing seems to have been disturbed,” Stone said. Suddenly, he had a thought. He leaned close to Holly’s ear. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered. He grabbed her hand and towed her out of the house, then went back, set the alarm and returned the key to its home under the mailbox. He backed the car out of the driveway, avoiding using the brakes, then headed back toward the inn.
    â€œTurn on the lights,” she said. “You’ll kill us.”
    â€œNot yet. Use your flashlight.”
    â€œWhy did you want to leave the house all of a sudden?”
    â€œWhat if Pepper’s house is bugged, too?”
    â€œOh, I didn’t think of that.”
    Stone looked into the rearview mirror. “Turn off the flashlight,” he said. “There’s a police car coming up the road from the direction of Markstown.”
    Holly switched off the light. “We didn’t set off the alarm,” she said, “so the house must be bugged. Are the cops after us?”
    Stone checked the mirror again. “They’re turning into Pepper’s driveway.” He switched on the headlights and floored the engine. “We’re getting out of here.”
    Ten minutes later they were back at the inn. They parked in front of the cottage and went inside. He held a finger to his lips as he entered. Dino and Genevieve were watching TV. “Anybody like a drink?” Stone asked, as if he had been there all along.
    â€œSure, I’ll have a Scotch,” Dino said.
    â€œMe too,” echoed Genevieve.
    â€œI’ll have one of your bourbons,” Holly said. She went into the bedroom and came back with the satphone, then took her drink and went out back.

    Y es?” Lance said. He didn’t sound sleepy.
    â€œIt’s Holly.”
    â€œWhat have you learned?”
    â€œThe house is empty, lights on, dinner had been cooking on the stove, but the stove had been turned off. We think the house may have been bugged, because as soon as we left, we saw a police car coming from Markstown with its flashers on, and it turned into Pepper’s driveway. We had our lights off, so they didn’t spot us.”
    â€œAnything amiss in the house? Had it been searched?”
    â€œNot that we could see. Mrs. Pepper keeps a neat house, and if it was searched, it was done by experts.”
    Lance was quiet for a moment. “All right, there’s nothing more you can do tonight; get some sleep.”
    â€œLance, if the place is bugged and that’s why the police came, then the police must have them.”
    â€œAnd that would mean Colonel Croft,” Lance said. “Not a pretty situation.”
    â€œWhat are you going to do?”
    â€œThere’s not much I can do tonight. I have to contrive some plausible story so that I can get the embassy on it.”
    â€œHow about Bill’s sister asked me to look in on him, and when I did, I found what I found. I could call the embassy and talk to the duty officer.”
    â€œYou do that, and I’ll call our man in the embassy, too. Tell the duty