Dark Harbor (8 page)

“That’s very generous of her,” Dino said. This was Eduardo’s move, of course, not Mary Ann’s, but it lifted a load from his mind.

“Further, five million dollars of her funds go to you, as a complete and total settlement. I know you do not want any part of the apartment or any other wealth deriving from me.”

“Thank you for understanding that, Eduardo,” Dino said. “And I don’t want her money.”

“Five million of it is your money, Dino,” Eduardo said, “and it was placed in your checking account this morning.”

Dino put down his fork and stared at Eduardo.

“I can hear the gears turning in your mind, Dino,” the old man said. “You are trying to figure out how this money is ill-gotten gains, but I assure you none of it is. It is a reasonable and proper settlement of your divorce; it will stand up to any possible scrutiny by the department, the district attorney or the state and federal tax authorities, and I will not tolerate its return.”

Dino had never heard Eduardo use the words “I will not tolerate,” and they stopped him in his tracks. “I am uncomfortable with this,” he said, when he had found his voice.

“I know, but you will grow more comfortable with it as your life grows more comfortable, particularly when you are as old as I. You can now purchase a home of your own, where Benito can visit you regularly and have his own room. If you wish to invest the rest, I will be pleased to recommend someone who I can guarantee will not steal from you or charge unreasonable fees.”

Dino stared at his father-in-law again.

Eduardo held up a hand. “Please,” he said. “I ask this of you as a favor. Make an old man happy.”

Dino sighed. “All right. And thank you, Eduardo.”

Eduardo snapped his fingers and a man with a briefcase whom Dino had not noticed approached, appeared at his elbow. He opened the case and produced a sheaf of papers. “This,” Eduardo said, accepting them, “will be the settlement agreement between you and Anna Maria. It includes the financial settlement I have just outlined and a guarantee of joint custody. You will have Benito two weekends each month, two days each week and six weeks each summer, all to be mutually agreed on by you and Anna Maria. Anna Maria’s signature is already affixed and notarized. If you should ever feel that Anna Maria is not living up to the agreement’s provisions, you need not go to a lawyer or judge, simply telephone me. Please read it.”

Dino took a pen from his pocket and signed both copies of the document without reading it. The man in the suit notarized both, handed one to Dino and put the other into his briefcase, then disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

The two men finished their lunch at their leisure and spoke of whatever came into their minds. It was the only time in the years Dino had known Eduardo that he had ever felt comfortable in his presence.

Chapter 14

STONE SPENT THE NEXT DAY working on his cousin’s estate, distributing funds to those named in the will, paying the bills that had come in and dealing with the life insurance company on the two policies that Dick had taken out.

Around noon, the doorbell rang, and two packages were delivered. One bore the return address of the funeral directors who had handled the cremation and obviously contained the family’s ashes; the other was from Sergeant Young. Stone opened that package.

Inside were a pair of khaki trousers and a plastic bag containing a number of items. A letter from the sergeant said that these were Dick’s clothes and the contents of his pockets, and that Dick’s pistol and silencer were being retained as evidence, pending resolution of his case.

Stone examined the trousers. They were ordinary, from L.L. Bean, and a belt was among the effects. He went through the other effects and found a steel Rolex Submariner wristwatch and bracelet, a wallet, ninety-four dollars in cash held by a money clip, a clump of keys on a ring, a handkerchief, a pocket comb, a silver Mont Blanc pen, a mint Chapstick and a pocket-sized packet of Kleenex.

Stone’s first interest lay in the fact that Dick’s clothes did not include shoes, shirt or underwear, just the trousers. He imagined Dick being wakened by a noise, slipping on the trousers and coming downstairs, where his killer greeted him with his own gun. He could not think of any other reason why his cousin would be wandering around the house in the middle of the night wearing only trousers. It was still cool at night, and the furnace in the house was programmed not to come on after midnight.

The wallet was small, since Dick had carried his cash in a money clip. He emptied it of its contents, one compartment at a time, and replaced the items in the same order after he had inspected them. There were a Maine driver’s license, American Express and Visa cards, a bank ATM card on Dick’s Camden bank, a membership card from a London club, a pilot’s license for single-engine land and multi-engine land with instrument ratings for both and a third-class FAA medical certificate with the date of Dick’s last examination, two days before his death, from a doctor in Camden. Stone had not known that Dick was a pilot. The wallet also contained business cards, identifying Dick as the agricultural attache at London’s American embassy, obviously a cover job. The last item was a Maine license to carry concealed firearms.

Stone returned the items to their bag and put them in a cupboard in the study, then he looked up Caleb Stone’s number in the local phone book and called him. Caleb answered.

“It’s Stone,” he said.

“Hi.”

“I’ve received the ashes from the funeral directors, and you said you wanted to scatter them in the harbor.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“The three were intermingled, according to Dick’s instructions. Would you like me to bring them over?”

“I’ll pick them up,” Caleb said. “Is now a good time?”

“Yes, come ahead.” The two men hung up.

Five minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Stone ushered Caleb inside and handed him the box.

“I haven’t opened them,” he said. “I don’t know what sort of container they’re in.”

“I don’t suppose it matters,” Caleb said, tucking the box under his arm.

Stone struggled for something else to say. “I saw your boys over at the yacht club yesterday,” he said finally. “They’re the image of you at that age.”

“Yes, they are,” Caleb said. “I’m very proud of them. They’re doing well at Yale, and they’re the stars of the wrestling team, as I was.”

Stone nodded.

Caleb looked uncomfortable. “Would you mind if we borrowed the picnic boat to scatter the ashes? All we’ve got is a Boston Whaler, and it doesn’t seem appropriate to the occasion.”

“Please do,” Stone replied. “I suppose the keys are in it, since the yard delivered it yesterday.”

“Thank you,” Caleb said. “I’ll have the boys bring it back when we’re done.” He stood still for another moment, then said, “Well, I suppose I'd better go. Thank you for taking care of the funeral directors. Will you send me a bill?”

The estate paid for it,“ Stone said. ”I’ve already sent them a check. I’ve dealt with the insurance company, and you should have a check from them within a week.“

“Thank you for that, too,” Caleb said and headed for the door.

Stone walked him to the door, shook his hand and closed it after him. Stone had still not become accustomed to Caleb’s newfound civility and quiet nature.

The phone rang, and Stone answered it in the study, at Dick’s desk.

“It’s Dino.”

“How are you? How did the meeting with Mary Ann and the lawyers go?”

“Lousy, but the one with Eduardo went better.”

“Why with Eduardo?”

“It was at his invitation.” Dino told him what had happened.

“That’s very good news, Dino.”

“Yeah, now I’m not stuck with just a salary and a pension.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I’m going to buy an apartment and invest the rest with a guy Eduardo recommended. So I’ll be out of your house as soon as I can find the right place.”

“Take your time.”

“How’s it going up there?”

“It’s all very pleasant. I played golf yesterday with an old cohort of Dick’s and had lunch at the yacht club, but I have no leads on the murders.”

“Am I going to have to come up there and solve this for you?”

“Any help would be appreciated.”

“I’m going to be tied up here for a few days, then maybe I’ll do that.”

“You’d be welcome. How’s Elaine?”

“As ever. What did you expect?”

“As ever.”

“I gotta run; I’ve got an appointment with a real estate agent.”

“Take care.” Stone hung up. It was past his lunchtime, and he went into the kitchen and found Mabel fixing him a shrimp salad.

“Oh,” she said, “I thought of something. About that night.”

“What did you think of?” Stone asked.

“It was the vacuum cleaner.”

“What about the vacuum cleaner?”

“It was in Mr. Dick’s study, over by the door to the terrace.”

“Where would it ordinarily be?” he asked.

She pointed to a door across the kitchen. “In there, in the broom closet.”

“Do you think Dick used it?”

She shook her head. “Mr. Dick never lifted a finger to clean anything; I don’t think he would know how to operate a vacuum cleaner.”

“Did you mention this to the police?”

“Yes, and they put some powder on the handle, but they didn’t seem to find any fingerprints. When they were through with it, I cleaned the powder off and put it back in the broom closet.” She set his plate on the kitchen table.

Stone sat down to eat. So whoever had killed Dick and his family had vacuumed as he left the house through the terrace door. Very neat fellow. Vary smart, too. “Mabel, have you changed the bag in the vacuum since that night?”

“There was no bag in it,” she said. “I put a new one in.”

Very smart fellow, indeed, Stone thought.

Chapter 15

THE NEXT DAY STONE was sitting at Dick’s desk, trying to clean up the last details of the estate before sending a check to the foundation, when the phone rang. His hand was on the receiver before he realized that none of the buttons was lit and that the sound of the phone was very muffled. He put his ear to the door of Dick’s secret office, and the bell became louder.

Stone got out his keys, opened the door and picked up the phone. “Yes?” he said.

There was a silence on the other end, then a man’s voice: “Stone?”

“Yes, speaking.”

“This is warning,” the man said. His voice was heavily accented.

“Yes?”

“Kirov.”

“What?”

“You understand me?”

“I understood Kirov.”

“Then you know.”

“Know what?”

The man was silent for another long moment. “Is Stone?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then you know.” He hung up.

Then it dawned on Stone that the man had thought he was talking to Dick. “I’m a little slow on the uptake,” he said aloud, then hung up the phone. He locked up the office, went back to the desk and called Lance’s cell phone.

“Yes?”

“It’s Stone.”

“Hello”

“Dick just got a call in his other office.”

“You mean the phone rang?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Until I answered it.”

“You answered Dick’s hotline?”

“Is that what it is?”

“Yes, did you answer it?”

“Yes.” Stone told him about the conversation, such as it was.

“He said Kirov?”

“Yes.”

“Like the ballet company in St. Petersburg?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure he said Kirov?”

“Positive. And he had a heavy accent, maybe Russian, maybe Eastern European.”

“Kirov is a code word,” Lance said.

“You think?”

“It means that something has happened.”

“What?”

“Or that something is going to happen.”

“What has happened or is going to happen?”

“I don’t know; I’ll have to do some checking with London.”

“Okay. If something is going to happen, I’d like to know about it.”

“I’ll call you back.”

“Okay.”

“Wait a minute.”

“I’m still here.”

“Call me when you get back Dick’s personal effects, the things that the police took from his body.”

“They arrived yesterday.”

“There should be a small coinlike object, larger than a penny, smaller than a nickel.”

“There were no coins, just ninety-four dollars in a money clip.”

“Look through them again. I’ll hold.”

Stone put the phone down, went to the cupboard, retrieved the bag and shook the contents out on the desk.

“No coins,” he said.

“Tell me what’s there.”

“Small wallet, ninety-four dollars, money clip, handkerchief, comb, Chapstick, keys, Kleenex.”

“It’s got to be there. Take a minute and go through everything again, especially the wallet.”

Stone removed everything from the wallet and inspected it carefully. Nothing. He went through the money. Nothing. Nothing anywhere. He sneezed.

“Bless you,” he heard Lance say.

“Just a minute.” He picked up the Kleenex pack, got one out and blew his nose. “Hang on,” he said. He took all the Kleenex out of the pack, and left inside the plastic was a small disc. “Got it,” he said. “It was in the pack of Kleenex.”

“Okay, are you in the little office?”

“No.”

“Get in there, and take the disc with you.”

Stone unlocked the door and went inside again, taking the phone with him. “Okay, I’m in.”

“Look at the bottom of the computer; there’s a little panel.”

Stone looked at the black computer tower. “Yes, I see it.”

“Push on the panel.”

Stone did so, and out slid a little tray that had an indentation the size of the disc. “Okay, do I put the disc in the tray?”

“Yes, smooth side down.”

There were four little bumps on one side, so Stone put the disk, bumps up, Into the tray and closed it. “Done.”

“Now turn on the computer and the monitor. There’s a button at the top of the tower, next to the floppy-disk drive, and another on the monitor.”

Stone turned them both on. “Booting up.”

“Wait a minute, and you’ll get a prompt at the top of the screen.”