Double Jeopardy (Stone Barrington #57)(8)

“There’s another reason why nobody would testify, even if they had certain knowledge of the events.”

“Which is?”

“I don’t know if you remember, but a gossip rag got ahold of the murder-scene photographs, and they were, shall we say, graphic.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Well, everybody else on this island does. And nobody wants to end up posing for pictures like that.”

Stone sighed. “Well, I guess I can’t argue with them.”

“No, you can’t. And you ought to give some thought to what’s going to happen when the Stone boys learn who bought their family house out from under them.”

“I’ve taken precautions. The buyer is a Delaware corporation, and they can’t penetrate that.”

“Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to tell them, when they get around to asking. And they will.”

“Good idea, Billy.”

“I expect you know that I keep a forty-five automatic stashed under my cash register.”

“Everybody knows that, Billy.”

“Well, I’ve added a sawed-off shotgun to my little armory, and I don’t care who knows it.”

“I’ll be sure and mention that to the twins, when they come to see me.”

“Just you remember that those boys are wicked clever, with the emphasis on ‘wicked.’ And you might not see them coming.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“My story is that the buyers are a family from down south, and they don’t know anybody here. The only person I’ve talked to about the house is a lawyer from Savannah, and he doesn’t know who they are either, just that they like their privacy.”

“That sounds good to me.”

“Are you coming up here to close the sale, Stone?”

“No, Ed Rawls will stand in for me. He can sign everything, then I’ll release the funds.”

“Good, I hope it works. Is that all, Stone?”

“That’s all, Billy.”

Billy hung up.

Stone checked off the boxes in his brain. He was all out of options.





8

Stone was at his desk on Friday morning when Joan came in.

“I’ve got both Billy Hotchkiss and Ed Rawls on line one,” she said.

Stone punched the speaker button. “Good morning, gentlemen.”

“Good morning, yourself,” Billy said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rawls grumbled.

“Everything okay?”

“That’s why we called,” Billy said. “Ed has signed and initialed everything. Now all we need is money, and the Stone property is yours.”

“Joan?” He knew she’d still be on the line.

“I await your instructions,” she replied.

“Send the rest of the money now.”

“The bank is standing by. Hold for a moment.” She got off the line, and another lit up on Stone’s desk phone. “What else is going on up there?”

“The hearing has started in Belfast,” Rawls said. “You want to watch?”

“How would I do that?”

“Well, I don’t know, but I believe Joan can figure it out. It’s streaming, live.”

Stone barely knew what that meant. “When we’re done with the money, tell her about it, will you?”

“Sure. And don’t worry about their seeing you. It’s a one-way thing.”

Joan came back on the line. “The funds are winging their way. I figure they’re within sight of Penobscot Bay right now.”

“My banker will call when they are perched on his windowsill,” Billy said.

“Joan,” Stone said. “Ed is going to give you some info about streaming. Will you see if you can get it done?”

“Sure. I’ll call him on his cell.” She clicked off.

Stone heard another phone ringing at the other end, then another.

“Okay,” Billy said. “We have received the funds. You’re the proud owner of a large, white elephant.”

“Thanks so much,” Stone said. “I’ll hang up now and place myself in the hands of Ed and Joan. Thanks for your help, Billy.”

“Thanks for the sale, Stone.”

“Oh, something else: Is there someone on the island who decorates houses nicely, or do I have to go to Camden?”

“There is an excellent interior designer in residence here,” Billy said. “Her name is Tracey Hotchkiss. Would you like her number?”

“Any relation?”

“She has the good fortune to be married to me,” Billy replied.

“Well, tell her she has an assignment.”

“You want to talk to her about style?”

“Have her go over to my house. Seth will let her in. That should give her an idea. Tell her she can spend half a million dollars. And I want everything: furniture, pictures, sheets, towels, rugs, kitchen stuff, the works. Tell her I want it to look like someone has always lived there.”

“Tracey can do that.”

“Have her call me if she needs any more information, or if she runs out of budget. I gotta run.” He hung up.

The computer on Stone’s desk popped on with some information about streaming. After a moment, Joan came back into the room, elbowed Stone out of the way, and took over his keyboard. She tapped a few keys, then a few more, then an image popped onto the screen. Stone found himself looking at a large room with a group of people sitting around a conference table. The view was from high up in a corner of the room. Someone was operating the camera, because the picture zoomed slowly out, until nearly the whole space was on camera. The image was sharp and clear.