“First I was an army MP, then I retired from that and became chief of police of a small town in Florida, Orchid Beach.”
“How long have you been on the island?”
“Arrived yesterday, with Stone,” she said. “My second visit with him, though the last one was only a couple of days.”
“How long you staying?”
“I don’t know, really. Until Stone kicks me out, I guess.”
“What do you do now, Ms. Barker?”
“Oh, I live the soft life.”
“I see you keep in shape.”
“Sporadically.”
“Well, enjoy your run, but please keep to the roads. We don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with here, so be careful.”
“I will, Sergeant.”
“Is Stone at home now?”
“Yep. Doing the crossword.”
“I’ll drop in on him.”
Holly said goodbye and continued her run.
STONE ANSWERED THE door to find Sergeant Young there. “Come on in, Sergeant,” he said.
“Thank you. I just met your lady friend, Ms. Barker, on the road.”
“Yes, she’s staying here. You want some coffee?”
“No thanks. Already had some this morning.”
Stone led him into the study. “I’m glad you dropped by; I want to show you something.” He went to the cabinet that once concealed the safe and opened it.
“What happened here?” Young asked.
“We came home last night to find that somebody had been in the house and ripped out the safe that was here.”
“What was in the safe?”
“Nothing particularly valuable: papers and such. And Esme Stone’s diary.”
Young looked at him sharply. “That’s the second diary to go missing,” he said. “Janey Harris’s was taken, too.”
“I don’t know if that’s what our visitor was looking for,” Stone said. “I can’t imagine how he’d know the diary was in the safe.”
“Who knew where it was?”
“Only three other people: Holly Barker, another woman of my acquaintance who was visiting, and her young son. The boy found the diary in an upstairs bedroom that Esme used for a study, and he was copying her handwriting, which was quite beautiful.”
“Did you read any of the diary?”
“No. I felt I would have been intruding.”