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was able to build this house, while Caleb had to be content with propping up the old family place. Funny, I would have stayed on there out of loyalty, but Caleb fired me a week after his parents died in that car crash. Dick hired me the same day, and I’ve been very happy ever since.”
    â€œCaleb inherited the house?”
    â€œThey both did, but Dick signed his half over to Caleb, said to me he didn’t want any part of it; the place was filled with unhappy memories for him.”
    â€œWhy did he stay on the island?”
    â€œOh, he loved the island, he just didn’t love the old house. I think he took some pleasure in sticking Caleb with it.”
    â€œHave you ever heard Caleb express any animosity toward Dick?”
    â€œCaleb’s whole attitude toward most everybody is animosity, I guess. He was nice to those folks he had to get along with, which were most of the summer people. After all, he wanted the yacht club and the golf club, so he was nice to the members. The year-rounders hated him pretty good; he had trouble keeping help and all that. When he wanted a new roof, he had to go to somebody on the mainland, which cost him more money. He puts away the booze pretty good, and so does his wife.”
    â€œHow did the locals feel about Dick and his family?”
    â€œOh, Dick was a sweetheart, and everybody knew it. Barbara and Esme, too. If Mabel and I weren’t doing this job, folks would be lined up to get it.”
    â€œI expect there’s a pretty good grapevine on the island among the locals?”
    â€œThere is.”
    â€œI’d like to know what you hear on it.”
    â€œFolks are real interested in you, Stone.”
    â€œWell, I don’t have any secrets, so feel free to talk. In particular, you might let it be known that I’m not very happy with the murder-suicide theory held by your state trooper.”
    â€œMe, neither,” Seth said, “and nobody who knew Dick is going to put much stock in it. Folks start arriving tomorrow, and they’ll have seen about it in the Boston papers, so there’ll be a lot of curiosity.”
    â€œWell, let’s not starve them for information, but don’t give anybody the impression that I think Caleb is in any way responsible. He and his family hadn’t even arrived on the island at the time, so let’s not hang it around his neck.” Then they got up and went back into the house.
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    THAT NIGHT, after dinner, the group enjoyed coffee and brandy before a crackling fire in the living room.
    â€œLance,” Stone said, “there’s a possibility we haven’t talked about.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    â€œCould these murders have been work related? Dick’s work, I mean.”
    â€œDon’t worry, I’ve thought a lot about it. I’ve reviewed the threats Dick received in London over the years. There were more of them than you might think, but most from nuts or the ineffectual. Generally speaking, terrorist groups don’t tell you they’re going to kill you; they just kill you. Anyway, there was nothing in the file less than a year old. The other thing is that it just doesn’t happen that foreigners murder Agency personnel in the U.S. I can’t think of a single case when that’s happened. Add to that fact that Dick and his family were in, if not an inaccessible place, then one very difficult to access without being noticed.”
    Dino spoke up. “We haven’t talked about the possibility of someone arriving in a small boat to do the job. A team, or even an individual, could have pulled a rubber dinghy out of the water less than thirty yards from this house.”
    â€œI grant you that,” Lance said. “A commando-style raid, in the middle of the night, would have been the way to do it, if you wanted to do it, but nobody’s claimed responsibility, and these groups usually do. Nobody at the Agency has been able to detect