“I’m happy to have all the help I can get,” Stone said, thinking he’d be happy to have Holly up there, in any case.

32

STONE WAS AWAKENED by the telephone too early. He glanced at the bedside clock: 6:30 A.M. He picked up the phone. “Hello?” he croaked.

“It’s Ed Rawls.”

“And good morning to you, Ed.”

“Did I wake you?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry. You better get back up here, Stone.”

“What’s going on?”

“All hell has broken loose, that’s what.”

Stone pressed the button that raised the head of his bed and rearranged himself. “What do you mean?”

“The people on the island, both locals and summer folks, are up in arms. They had a meeting at the yacht club yesterday.”

“And what happened at the meeting?”

“Mostly they just aired their complaints.”

“About what?”

“Lack of police protection, mostly. They’ve sent the state police a request to have officers stationed on the island round the clock until this situation is resolved.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“What’s not a good idea is they’re arming themselves. Sergeant Young told me they’ve had something like a couple of dozen applications for carry licenses, the most ever in one day from one town, and this is a village. Several carloads of people went over to Ellsworth yesterday afternoon.”

“Is there something ominous about Ellsworth?”

“No, it’s just that the only gun shop in this part of the state is in Ellsworth, a place called Phil’s. There are more guns than people in Maine, but for some reason, not very many gun shops.”

“I’m trying to find this alarming, Ed. Are you afraid they’re going to start shooting each other?”

“Something like that. Everybody’s really on edge. They were all shocked by the killings of Dick and his family and Don, but Janey’s murder has really got them spooked. A bunch of people have just packed up and left.”

“I can understand that, Ed, but why does that make it important for me to get back up there right away?”

Rawls cleared his throat. “Well, your name came up at the meeting.”

“In what regard?”

“Somebody, I forget who, asked a question that implied that you might have had something to do with Dick’s murder, since you inherited his house. The guy was shouted down, but the thing is, the idea is in the air now.”

“Oh, swell. Did somebody mention that I was in New York at the time of the murders and that I didn’t even know about Dick’s murder until the day after?”

“I said you weren’t on the island that night, but that just started a discussion about how anybody could get onto the island in a boat. I think you need to be seen up here dealing with this. There’s another meeting at five o’clock this afternoon, and I think you ought to be here for it.”