IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT, when they were sound asleep, Stone was wakened by a noise. He couldn’t figure out what he’d heard, then it came again: a chime. Then he noticed that his iPhone was lit up and the word “Safe” was flashing on the screen.

Stone picked up the phone, went to the Lutron app, and hit the switch for “all on.” Lights in every room came on. He opened his bedside drawer and took out his little custom .45, racked the slide, put the safety on, and got out of bed.

He found his slippers and padded out of the bedroom into the bigger rooms and down the hall where the safe was in a closet. One of the double doors was open. He looked inside and found the safe intact, then he began a search of the house, ending up back at the safe closet. He used his code to open the safe and found the strong case where he’d left it, undisturbed. He closed the safe and then, as he was closing the closet doors, he felt a cool breeze on his cheek.

He followed it back to its source: a circle had been cut out of a windowpane, and that window was now unlocked. He looked through the hole and saw the circle of glass lying on the ground near the bottom of the window. Then he checked the alarm system on his iPhone and found he had forgotten to turn it on.

He went back to the bedroom and found Holly sitting up in bed, wide-eyed. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“You distracted me last night and I forgot to set the alarm system. Somebody got in and had a go at the safe, but he didn’t get anywhere because the safe alarm went off and I went to check on it. I found a windowpane cut out and the window unlocked. I’ll replace the pane in the morning.”

“And you’re blaming me for this?”

“Certainly—you distracted me.” He got into bed. “Would you like to distract me again?”

“Is the alarm system set now?”

“It is.”

“So we can expect not to be interrupted?”

“We can.”

She shucked off her nightgown. “Then what are you waiting for?”

Stone did not wait.

—

SOMETIME AFTER DAWN the doorbell rang, and Stone picked up the phone to answer it. Who the hell would be calling at six AM? “Hello, who’s there?”

“It’s Maria,” she said. “My key doesn’t work.”

Stone got up, let her in, and gave her a new key. “I’m sorry about that, Maria, all the locks were rekeyed yesterday.” He gave her the new alarm code. “Now you’re all set.” He went back to bed, then, at the stroke of seven, Maria came in with breakfast and left them to it.

They were on coffee when Holly said, “What do you think is in the strong case?”