Fifteen minutes later they were under way. They passed the yacht club, which seemed mostly deserted.
“Where is everybody?” Dino asked.
“A lot of people have left the island,” Stone said, “and Sergeant Young says a lot of those still here are staying home until this thing is resolved.” Stone was staying close to shore, looking intently at the water.
“You looking for rocks?” Dino asked.
“No,” Stone replied.
“Oh.”
Stone continued to watch the water as they made their way toward the southern tip of the island. He hoped to God he didn’t find what he was looking for. He zipped up his jacket against the breeze.
“Besides that, what should we be looking for?” Dino asked.
“Look for places ashore where she might be hidden,” Stone replied.
“She could be hidden in any house on the island,” Dino said.
“Most of the houses are occupied by families who are spending the summer here. Look for other outbuildings—barns, sheds, that sort of thing. If we find something that looks promising, we can always get Young and his people to go search it.”
Dino looked intently toward the shore. “We’re grasping at straws,” he said.
“I know,” Stone replied. “But I don’t know what else to do.”
Chapter 48
STONE AND DINO ARRIVED back at the dock, tired and cold, a little after seven o’clock. They put out bumpers and made the picnic boat fast, then went into the house. Everybody was sitting around looking disconsolate.
Lance got up and went into the little office, silently waving Stone to follow him.
“What’s up?” Stone asked.
“I’ve heard from our ex-Boston cop,” he said. “He found nothing new in Caleb Stone’s background, but something cropped up on his two sons, Eben and Enos. You remember, they had a sealed juvenile record.”
“Yes. Was he able to crack it?”
“He was. The twins were arrested when they were thirteen for torturing and killing small animals, neighborhood pets.”
“That’s a marker for later criminal behavior,” Stone said.
“Yes, but there hasn’t been any further criminal behavior. The boys got a year’s probation, the family moved to another neighborhood and it was over.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. You asked me to check with the Yale campus police and the New Haven force.”
“Right. Anything turn up?”
“Same as before with the Yale cops: They’ve had no problems with the twins. Neither has New Haven.”
“But?”
“But, you were on the money about something else: There are four unsolved cases of kidnapping, rape and murder of women in New Haven over the past two years, none of them students. Three were townies, girls who hung out in local bars, and one was a young housewife.”
“Is there anything to connect them to the twins?”
“No, there’s nothing to connect them to anybody, so calling the twins suspects is a real stretch. You can’t accuse them of four murders because they harmed some animals when they were kids.”