They ordered drinks and got a menu. Stone was facing the restaurant’s entrance, and he looked up to see Captain Warkowski, from Sing Sing, enter the room, in company with a middle-aged woman. Warkowski saw him and nodded; Stone nodded back. The couple were taken to a booth in the back room.

“Somebody you know?” Carolyn asked.

“Not very well; I met him in passing, once.”

“A local?”

“No, he’s from New York State, I think; that’s where I met him, anyway.”

“We saw the story, in the Times about the bombing of Sarah’s opening—a terrible business,” Carolyn said. “Is she all right?”

“Yes, she is.”

“When can we expect to see her here?”

“Sarah’s gone back to England; she’s planning to live there.”

“Oh, I’m sorry; somehow I thought you would be sharing the cottage.”

“That was the plan, but the incident at the gallery changed her mind, I think.”

“Well, we’ll have to have a few single women to dinner,” Carolyn said. “There aren’t many around, but there are a couple of very nice divorcées.”

“Oh, don’t bother,” Stone said.

“No, we’d like to have you to dinner; we entertain a lot. Leave it to me.”

They ordered dinner, and a procession of arriving diners stopped by their table. The Klemms introduced Stone to a dozen people in a matter of minutes, giving a running account of who they were. Most of them were New Yorkers, up for the weekend, like Stone.

“Do you know anyone at all up here?” Carolyn asked.

“Just some people from California who have a house in Roxbury.”

“That would be the Calders.”

“Why, yes; how did you know?”

“I sold Vance the house about four years ago. Of course, he’s pulled it apart and put it back together since then. He’s a charming man, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is.”

“How do you know them?”

“A mutual friend introduced me to them a couple of years ago at a dinner party. Then I saw something of them in LA last year and got to know Vance a little better.”

“Oh, I haven’t met Mrs. Calder yet; her name is Arrington, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

Dinner was served, and they began to eat.

“I hear she’s lovely; she was a writer before they married, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, she wrote for several magazines.”

“And I read in the paper that they have a new baby.”

“Right, again. You don’t miss much, Carolyn.”

David spoke up. “You might say that Carolyn is the unofficial historian of Litchfield County.”

“You’re going to love Vance’s house,” Carolyn said.” It’s really something.”