“His views about the subjects of the hearing are well-known, to the extent that, if the board should deny parole, he’ll issue a pardon. If I buck him on this, it’s a certainty that I’ll be passed over for the promotion. That job is all I’ve ever wanted.”

“I do understand,” Stone said. “Do you have any advice on how I should proceed?”

“Yes. First, don’t show up at the hearing. If you decide to do so anyway, don’t ask me for advice on how to proceed. Clear?”

“Clear. Thanks, anyway.”

“You have nothing to thank me for.” Young hung up.

Stone started thinking again, then he made another call.

7

Stone dialed the Dark Harbor Shop, on Islesboro.

“Billy speaking.”

“Billy, it’s Stone.”

“Stone, I got word from Joan your paperwork and funds are en route. We’ll close at ten on Friday morning.”

“That’s fine, Billy, but I called about something else.”

“I was afraid of that.”

“You don’t know what that is.”

“Let me guess: you’ve run out of options on influencing the parole board. But now it has occurred to you that two of the women raped and murdered by the Stone twins were among our summer people. Now you want to involve me in that. Well, I don’t have anything to testify about, so I’m not going to testify about it.”

“I don’t want you to testify, Billy.”

“You don’t?”

“You don’t have any knowledge of those events.”

“Only what I hear, and I hear a lot. What is it you want?”

“Do you believe that the Stone twins raped and murdered those two women?”

“With all my heart and soul, which is to say, none of that would be useful to the board.”

“I understand that. That’s why—”

“Wait a minute, I think I know what’s on your mind.”

“Do you want to tell me, or the other way around?”

“Those two women had husbands and children.”

“Right.”

“You want the husbands to testify that they believe that the twins murdered their wives.”

“Something like that.”

“Let me tell you why they’ll never do that.”

“All right, tell me.”

“The husband of the first victim has remarried, and his kids are too young to remember anything about their mother’s death.”

“You can stop right there,” Stone said. “What about the other husband? Has he remarried?”

“No, but he’s engaged to a woman who is a lot richer than he is, and his kids are old enough to remember their mother and how she died. He’s not going to want to fuck up his life or theirs.”

“Got it,” Stone said.

“There’s another reason why nobody would testify, even if they had certain knowledge of the events.”

“Which is?”

“I don’t know if you remember, but a gossip rag got ahold of the murder-scene photographs, and they were, shall we say, graphic.”