Mary began distributing plates, and Seth, her husband, brought in a large serving dish, set it on a trivet at the center of the table, and removed the lid. Stone was handed each plate and, in turn, filled them with roast pork and apples and sent them around the table.

“Bon appétit,” he said, raising his replenished glass. They responded, then dug in.

After dinner and an hour of drinking port and eating Stilton before the fireplace, Rawls excused himself. “Pardon me for leaving a little early, but I forgot to set out the trash.”

He drove back to his house, using his iPhone to work his way through the security system, then he walked down to the dock. Tied up on the opposite side of his own dinghy was the one the failed assassins had left at the neighboring dock. Inside it lay two lumps in separate canvas bags, each properly weighted.

Rawls brought his dinghy alongside and took the other in tow. Some distance out on Penobscot Bay, he checked the depth sounder, found himself in nearly a hundred feet of water. He rolled each bag overboard and waited for it to sink, then he put a few holes in the other dinghy and watched it go under.

Satisfied with his evening’s work, he returned to his dock, secured his boat, and walked to the house. He checked all his security checkpoints, then let himself in. Shortly, he searched his satellite directory for programs he had recorded, then settled in to watch a new season’s debut of Succession.

Who were these people? he wondered of the cast. He wouldn’t have any of them in his house!

Chapter 51

Stone received a call from Ed first thing the next morning.

“I thought you’d like to know, everything went as planned,” Ed said.

“Glad to hear it.”

Ed then filled Stone in on the details.

After breakfast, Stone and Dino took the Hinckley picnic boat out into the bay for a little fishing, though neither of them was a fisherman and both despised fish, except steaming on a plate.

Dino took a small device from his jacket pocket and fished for bugs of the electric kind on the boat, finding none. “I take it our friend operated successfully last night,” he said.

“Twice,” Stone replied.

“Is two all the opposition?”

“Let’s hope so. I feel a little safer already, don’t you?”

“If you say so,” Dino replied. “You know, being a sworn police officer and all, I feel an odd satisfaction for the way this was handled. I’ve always had a suspect or two now and then that I wanted to just pop in the head and put them out with the trash. Didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Stone said. “I always felt something between satisfaction and guilt when it was that way. It helps a lot that someone else is doing the dirty work.”

“I think Ed enjoys the work,” Dino said.

“It would be tough to train all your life for something, then have your skills wane over the years. This way, he gets to stay sharp.”

“Do you think he has anything like a conscience?”

“I think,” Stone said, “that his conscience gets at him when he sees someone he knows to be a bad, even evil, guy, walking around loose. That seems wrong to him, and he has a cure for it, called marksmanship.”

“As long as he doesn’t employ the cure in my jurisdiction,” Dino said.

“You didn’t seem offended when someone we know assisted an even more evil person into that awful cemetery in Queens.”

“True. Have you had enough of non-fishing, yet?”

“Just about. I’d enjoy the boat ride more if it were a sunny day.”

“Oh, that’s right, you promised me some of those.”

“I did, and you’ll get them.”

“I see Viv helped you into bed with Carly.”

“She did?”

“Who do you think suggested to Carly to go outside and check on you? I hope you appreciate the effort.”

“I do. I had just about put the idea out of my mind, until Carly brought it up.”

“Bringing things up doesn’t seem to be a problem for her.”

“Definitely not. She sees things differently than most. It’s the way she’s wired. For instance, I know she really enjoyed watching Billy take out Alexei Gromyko.”

“I hope getting laid was fun for her, too.”

“I’ve been assured it was.”

Chapter 52

Ed Rawls unloaded his groceries from his boat and carted them to the house. Once everything had been put away, he checked the fridge, and it seemed like he had more beef than he could eat in a week. He was about to call Stone and invite his crew to dinner when he stepped out onto the back porch to put away the cart and got a whiff of something on the breeze. Tobacco smoke.

Ed went back into the house and called Stone.

“Hey, Ed. How’s it going?”

“I’ve got a surfeit of porterhouse in the fridge. How about you folks come down here this evening and help me reduce my stock?”

“Count us in,” Stone replied. “Anything going on down there?”

“Funny you should mention that. I just got a whiff of cigarette smoke on the breeze.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yeah, you’d better be carrying this evening. You bring the handguns, and I’ll supply the long guns.”

“Sounds good. What time?”

“Get here at six and watch the night fall.”

“You’re on.”