He selected that item and watched as the list disappeared, and the very annoying little circle appeared, spinning. While it spun he reasoned that the bomb would likely not be on a timer, since no one knew what time he would go to bed; more likely, it would be detonated by a cell phone carried by the man who had planted it there.

The circle stopped spinning, and a message appeared:

A dead zone for cellular devices has been created. It will render useless devices within approximately a fifty-foot, obstacle-free radius. Press the Resume button to discontinue and restore cellular service.

Stone looked down the hall at his bedroom door; that was an obstacle. He ran for it.

—

Roger pressed the Send button and waited, watching the house.

—

Stone flung open the door and stopped. Nothing was happening. He went to his dressing room and came back with a large furled umbrella, then lay down next to the bed, turned on his flashlight, and reached out with the handle of the umbrella. After a few attempts, he had pulled the two volumes close enough to reach, and he dragged them from under the bed.

—

Roger was wondering why nothing had happened, when he heard the sounds of a police car approaching. He vaulted over the wall, dropping the cell phone but continuing to run toward the van. He was in the front seat when a police car and a large van turned into the driveway of Windward Hall. When they had passed, he started his van, turned onto the road, and drove back toward Beaulieu. Then he stopped. Why had the bomb not detonated? He made a U-turn, drove back into his sheltered parking spot, and got out. He would have to find the cell phone he had dropped.

—

Stone knelt beside the two beautifully bound volumes, then looked hard for any protrusion, even a thread, showing. Nothing there. He lifted the cover of the top volume and found only handsome end papers; then he began, a few pages at a time, looking through the book. A third of the way through, he found himself looking at an inch-deep compartment that had been cut through the pages. Inside it were a block of something that looked like modeling clay and a flip-phone, the display of which was lighted.

Why, he asked himself, had the phone not rung? His dead zone must be effective, but apparently, if he had taken a second or two longer to activate it, the worst might have happened.

There was a detonator plugged into the explosive matter, and he removed that; then he unplugged the cell phone from its connection to the detonator. Stone was no expert on bombs, but he reckoned he had rendered this one harmless. Then he remembered the second volume.

—

Outside, Roger had found the cell phone. He had a second, backup number to call, and he punched in the number, which he had memorized.

—