“Eben Stone was on the line. He says he and his brother are coming up here today to house hunt.”

“‘House hunt’?”

“You sound surprised.”

“I thought they just wanted their old family place back.”

“Apparently they’ve decided they want something bigger.”

“Do you have anything like that on the books?”

“We’ve always got two or three white elephants—you know, lots of rooms, but no insulation, leaky roofs, faulty appliances.”

“Is that what they specified?”

“Not exactly, but it’s all I’ve got this time of year. Season starts this weekend, so everything worth having sold in the spring.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to show ’em houses, pal. It’s what I do.”

“Do you think you can horrify them out of wanting a summer there?”

“I’m going to give it my best shot. I’d sure like it if you were up here to watch my back.”

“Billy, I’ve already sent people up there to do just that. Have you noticed a couple of folks moseying around your shop, not buying anything?”

“Now that you mention it. I’ve got one sitting on the porch, reading the Boston Globe. And another is looking at comic books and drinking our free water.”

“That sounds like them. They’ll be wearing loose-fitting garments to hide their weapons.”

“I hope somebody’s watching Tracey. She’s down at the Stone place with half a dozen people, doing stuff. Hey, there went a truckload of granite paving stones just now.”

“She’s covered. Does the place have a security system?”

“Ah, no.”

“I’ll see to that. Get back to me if there’s trouble, and I want a report on the twins.”

“Okay.”

Stone hung up, called Mike Freeman and asked him to get a security system into the house, pronto.

“The gear is already on a truck, due late this afternoon,” Mike replied.

“You just keep staying ahead of me, Mike. I like that.”

“I figured you’d want the deluxe package—cameras you can check on your iPhone, like that.”

“Sounds good.”

“In fact, if somebody rings the doorbell or comes to the gate, your phone will ring, and you can see who it is and tell ’em to go to hell.”

“There’s another piece of gear I need, Mike—two pieces, in fact.”

“What’s that?”

“I want a couple in late middle age, rich, retired-looking. They will be living there for a while, pretending to be the new owners.”

“What are they retired from?”

“I don’t care. They can make it up as they go along.”

“Let me do some checking. I’m sure I can find a couple who’d enjoy a free summer in Maine. I’ll call you back.” Mike hung up.

Stone called Billy.

“Yeah, Stone?”

“I’m digging up a couple to pretend to be the new owners of the house,” he said.

“That’s good news. Do they exist?”