Arrington crawled under the covers, snuggled close to Stone and rested her head on his shoulder. “Then let’s never speak of it again,” she said, fondling him.

The phone rang.

“Shit,” Stone said.

“Who could that be at this hour?”

Stone reached over her and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“It’s Ed Rawls. They found Janey.”

“Is she all right?”

“She was floating facedown in Dark Harbor.”

“Oh, God,” Stone breathed.

“She’d been beaten, raped and strangled.”

“Are the state cops on top of this?”

“They’re all over it. They’ve taken the body back to Augusta for autopsy.”

“When did they find her?”

“At sundown. They kept it as quiet as they could until they told the parents and got the body off the island.”

“And you think this is connected to Don?”

“I think Janey knew something about somebody, and she told Don, and that person killed them both. I just can’t see it any other way. I think all this Kirov horseshit is just that, and we ought to forget about it.”

“I’ll let Lance know in the morning.”

“I’m sorry I called you so late.”

“It’s all right. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Stone hung up.

Arrington was staring at him intently. “Who’s dead?”

“A seventeen-year-old girl,” Stone said. “Her name was Janey. She was kidnapped, raped and murdered.”

“Peter and I are flying back to New York tomorrow.” She reached for the phone.

“Don’t bother calling Centurion; I’ll fly you back myself.”

“All right.” She turned her back to him and pulled her knees up into the fetal position.

“I’m sorry about this,” Stone said.

“It’s not your fault, Stone.”

They didn’t speak again until morning.

31

BY MIDMORNING THEY were off the Islesboro landing field and headed southwest. An hour and a half later they touched down at Teterboro, New Jersey, and taxied up to Atlantic Aviation, next to a chartered jet waiting for Arrington and Peter.

“I wish you’d stay longer,” Stone said to Arrington as her luggage was being transferred.

“Peter wants to get back to his pony,” she said, “and I’m redesigning the gardens at the main house, so there’s lots of work for me to do.” She kissed him. “Take care of yourself.”

Stone knelt and gave Peter a hug and watched them board the jet, then walked with Dino through the terminal building to the parking lot, where Joan, his secretary, was waiting with his car. Half an hour later, they were back at Stone’s house.