“You can try. Goodbye for now, Stone.”

As he hung up he heard another car pull into the driveway, and he switched off the lamp. Shortly, the front door opened and he heard voices. He had a gun in a box on a bookshelf, disguised as leather-bound volumes. He quickly retrieved the pistol and stood behind the door again.

32

THE FRONT DOOR WAS UNLOCKED and opened, and Ed heard two, maybe three voices.

“It’s really a lovely house,” a woman said. “Big rooms for the period and lots of storage space.” This, he figured, was the real estate agent.

The other two were a man and a woman, and their voices carried into the living room. Lights were switched on.

“How many square feet?” the man asked.

“About forty-five hundred in the main house. Then there’s a fifteen-hundred-foot building with a two-car garage and guest or staff quarters, furnished. The property is available furnished throughout, since the owner was a divorcée with no children. The kitchen is this way.”

Ed stood and listened to fragments of their conversation, then they came back and stood in the study doorway. The agent flipped on the overhead light. “Lots of bookcases, as you can see, and lots of books, too.”

“Do the books come with the house?” the woman asked.

“They do, but if you don’t want them I’m sure a local library would be glad to have them.”

“Would you give us a minute to talk?” the man asked.

“Of course. I’ll start turning off lights.” The agent walked away.

“This is a dead end,” the man said. “Except for cleaning, the place hasn’t been touched since Rawls’s ex died.”

“I expect you’re right,” the woman replied, “but we need to write a report, anyway.”

“I’ll bet the Agency pulled this place apart after the woman died,” the man said.

“If they did, they did a nice job of putting it back together.”

“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Ma’am?” he called out. “We’re ready to leave now.”

The agent returned. “Do you have any interest?”

“It’s very nice,” the woman said, “but we’ll need to talk about it. What are you asking, again?”

“Two million, furnished. My instructions are that it’s a firm price.”

“That may be too steep for us,” the man said. Then the last light was turned off and the door locked. A minute later, the car drove away.

Rawls sat back in his chair, gave them five minutes, and switched his lamp back on. He checked his watch: nine-thirty; pretty late for a viewing. He went back to the kitchen and heated himself a can of soup.

—

STONE, HOLLY, and the Bacchettis were having dinner at Patroon. “So,” Stone said, “what did you and Whit Saltonstall have to talk about at lunch?”

“This and that,” Dino said.