She opened the first carton. “Winston Churchill, history of the Second World War.” She began handing him the books, two at a time, and he put them on a shelf.

“Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”

They repeated the process and continued until he had a well-organized library of more than five hundred volumes in the bookcases, with plenty of room left for new books.

Laurence surveyed their work and mopped his brow. “I think we deserve a drink.”

“Just as soon as we break down all these cardboard boxes and put them out for the trash collector.”

—

THEY SAT ON the deck facing the Jemez Mountains and let the late-afternoon breeze wash over them. Then Chris came out.

“I’m pretty much finished with the indoor fixtures,” he said, “and they’re up and running. Would you like me to set up your iPhones to run the system?”

“Sure, Chris. Would you like a drink?”

“A beer would be nice,” he said, accepting Laurence’s phone and starting to work. Theresa brought him a cold beer, and he set up her phone and showed her how to run the system. One of the cameras captured them on the deck and the setting sun.

“Wow!” Theresa said. “We’re on live TV.”

“Zoom in,” Chris said.

“Wow again!”

“My guys have done the trenching and laid cable for the outdoor fixtures,” he said. “All we’ll have to do is connect them and set them up. We’ll be on our way to Palm Beach by mid-afternoon.”

“How do the plane connections work for that flight?”

“No problem there. We have a Citation that will take us there, nonstop, with a decent tailwind. Equipment has already been shipped there, and we’ll be at work the following morning.”

“My turn to say wow,” Laurence said. “That’s very good service.”

“That’s what you get from Strategic Services,” Chris said. “Oh, and Viv Bacchetti sends her regards. She’s our boss.”

“Please give Viv our best,” Laurence said.

Chis polished off his beer and said good night, leaving them to the sunset.

“Nice guy,” Theresa said.

“Everybody Stone Barrington has introduced me to has been a nice guy,” Laurence said, “starting with you.”

“I talked to my boss today and made my resignation official. I’ll use up my accrued vacation time, then I’m off their books. He was sweet enough to let me keep my employee discount.”

“Do they have a ready replacement for you?”

“I recommended Butch. He needs a couple more weeks of training, but I think he’ll be good at it.”

“Good for him.”

“I also rented Butch my apartment, with an option to buy it eventually. He’ll box up my things and send them to the Fairleigh.”

Laurence grinned and squeezed her hand. “A step in the right direction. By the way, the Eagles have invited us to dinner tomorrow evening, and I accepted.”