STONE WAS AWAKENED by the telephone too early. He glanced at the bedside clock: 6:30 A.M. He picked up the phone. “Hello?” he croaked.
“It’s Ed Rawls.”
“And good morning to you, Ed.”
“Did I wake you?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry. You better get back up here, Stone.”
“What’s going on?”
“All hell has broken loose, that’s what.”
Stone pressed the button that raised the head of his bed and rearranged himself. “What do you mean?”
“The people on the island, both locals and summer folks, are up in arms. They had a meeting at the yacht club yesterday.”
“And what happened at the meeting?”
“Mostly they just aired their complaints.”
“About what?”
“Lack of police protection, mostly. They’ve sent the state police a request to have officers stationed on the island round the clock until this situation is resolved.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“What’s not a good idea is they’re arming themselves. Sergeant Young told me they’ve had something like a couple of dozen applications for carry licenses, the most ever in one day from one town, and this is a village. Several carloads of people went over to Ellsworth yesterday afternoon.”
“Is there something ominous about Ellsworth?”
“No, it’s just that the only gun shop in this part of the state is in Ellsworth, a place called Phil’s. There are more guns than people in Maine, but for some reason, not very many gun shops.”
“I’m trying to find this alarming, Ed. Are you afraid they’re going to start shooting each other?”
“Something like that. Everybody’s really on edge. They were all shocked by the killings of Dick and his family and Don, but Janey’s murder has really got them spooked. A bunch of people have just packed up and left.”
“I can understand that, Ed, but why does that make it important for me to get back up there right away?”
Rawls cleared his throat. “Well, your name came up at the meeting.”
“In what regard?”
“Somebody, I forget who, asked a question that implied that you might have had something to do with Dick’s murder, since you inherited his house. The guy was shouted down, but the thing is, the idea is in the air now.”
“Oh, swell. Did somebody mention that I was in New York at the time of the murders and that I didn’t even know about Dick’s murder until the day after?”
“I said you weren’t on the island that night, but that just started a discussion about how anybody could get onto the island in a boat. I think you need to be seen up here dealing with this. There’s another meeting at five o’clock this afternoon, and I think you ought to be here for it.”
Stone clicked on the TV and went to the Weather Channel just in time to see the national radar displayed. “All right. I’ll be there,” he said. “But I don’t know what I can do to placate them at this point.”
“Just being there will let them know that you’re not afraid to show your face. That’ll mean something.”
“All right, Ed. I’ll see you this afternoon.” Stone hung up and called Holly.
“Hello?” She didn’t sound sleepy.
“Good morning. It’s Stone.”
“Good morning.”
“I just got a call from Ed Rawls. He thinks I’d better get back up there today, before the merry villagers torch my house and slay my cattle.”
“What?”
Stone explained as best he could what he didn’t understand himself. “Can you be ready to go at, say, one o’clock?”
“I’m sure I can. I’ll talk to Lance.”
“Pick you up at one?”
“I’ll come to your house.”
“Okay, bye.” Stone hung up and called Dino.
“I’ve got to go back to Maine this afternoon.” He explained the situation. “You want to go?”
“Can’t do it; a couple of big cases landed on my desk while I was gone, and I have to deal with them. Maybe later.”
“Go back to sleep.” Stone hung up and struggled out of bed.
THE MIRAGE TOUCHED down on the Islesboro airfield at 3:30 that afternoon, and he was surprised to find not a single airplane parked on the ramp. When he had departed the day before, there had been at least half a dozen there.
Seth Hotchkiss met them in the station wagon. “Glad you’re back,” he said, and that was all he said.
The drive through Dark Harbor was a little spooky; no cars were on the street or parked in front of the shop. He and Holly parked, went inside and found Jimmy Hotchkiss at his desk in the back office. He was wearing a gun on his belt.
“Hi, Jimmy,” Stone said.
“Hello, Stone. I thought you’d left the island.”
“I just flew Dino down to the city and brought back another friend.” He introduced Holly.
Jimmy stood up and shook her hand. “I’m glad you’re back, Stone,” he said. “You know about the meeting this afternoon?”
“Yes. Ed Rawls called me.”
“I think you should be there.”
“I will be. Where is everybody? The village is deserted, and there are no airplanes at the airport.”
“A lot of folks ended their summer yesterday,” Jimmy said. “We’ve got a couple of state cops due in this afternoon. I found them a rental, so they’re going to stay on the island for the rest of the summer. They’ll be at the meeting.”
“See you there,” Stone said, and left.
SETH PUT STONE’S BAGS in the master bedroom and Holly’s in Esme’s room; Stone didn’t correct him. The phone rang.
Stone picked it up. “Hello?”
“It’s Lance. Put Holly on an extension.”
Stone paged Holly, and she picked up. “Okay, we’re both here.”
“I finally got an answer from Langley about the inquiry Don Brown made right before his death.”
“And?”
“He wanted to know if Caleb Stone’s twin sons, Eben and Enos, had criminal records.”
“Did he say why he wanted to know?”
“No. He just asked that they be checked. He stayed on the phone while they ran the search.”
“What did they come up with?”
“Zip. They checked in both Boston and in New Haven, since the twins are at Yale. They’re clean. Even the campus police didn’t have a bad word to say about them. They’re apparently upright lads.”
“One more dead end, then?”
“Looks that way.”
“Thanks, Lance.”
“Have you heard anything else since you got back?”
“A bunch of people have packed up and left for the summer; a bunch of others have bought guns.”
“Swell.”
“There’s a town meeting at five o’clock, and the state cops are supposed to be there. Maybe they’ll have something new.”
“Good luck,” Lance said, then hung up.