replied.
“Then just take us to Dark Harbor,” Frank said.
Ernie nodded and put the car in gear, which was an occasion for a grinding noise, then drove away. Ten minutes later he drew to a halt in front of a general store. “Here y’go,” he said. “That’ll be ten dollars.”
“There’s no meter on this thing,” Charlie pointed out.
“That’s okay,” Ernie said, “I know how much the fare is. It’s ten dollars, unless you want to go somewhere else.”
“How much for you to wait while we ask directions?” Frank asked.
“Ten dollars.”
Frank sighed, and he and Charlie got out of the Plymouth and climbed the stairs into the store.
“Hey, they got ice cream,” Charlie said, and ordered a cone. “You want one, too?”
“Strawberry,” Frank said. “Excuse me, miss,” he said to the girl who was scooping the ice cream. “Do you know where we can find a Mr. Stone Barrington?”
The scooper, whose name was Gladys, checked out the two men. They were wearing suits, and worse, hats. They had to be either cops or bill collectors. “Nope,” she said, handing them the two cones. “That’ll be ten dollars.”
Frank paid for the cones. “Do you have a phone book?” he asked.
“Right over there by the phone,” Gladys replied, pointing helpfully.
Frank went over to the phone, licking the cone to keep if from dripping, and flipped through the thin volume with his free hand. “No listing,” he said. “C’mon, Charlie.” They went back to the car and got in. “The girl inside doesn’t know Mr. Stone Barrington,” he said.
“Well,” Ernie replied, “if she don’t know him and I don’t know him, he ain’t worth knowin’.”
Frank looked at Charlie questioningly.
“I’m stumped,” Charlie said.
“Let’s just drive around for a while,” Frank said to Ernie. “Maybe we’ll see him.”
“You know what he looks like?” Ernie asked.
“Yeah.”
“How long you want to drive around?”
“I don’t know, let’s cover the island.”
“The whole island?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s fifty dollars,” Ernie said, “and don’t get that ice cream on my seats, or I’ll have to charge you for cleaning.” He put the car in gear again and gave them a tour of the island, carefully avoiding the Stone house, which was what the locals called the Barrington house. They ended back at the store. “Did you see him?” Ernie asked.
“I didn’t see anybody but a man with a dog,” Frank said.
“Was that him?”
“No.”
“You want to go back to the airport?”
“What’s the alternative?”
“The ferry to Lincolnsville.”
“The airport,” Frank said.
Ernie drove them to the airport. “That’ll be, let’s see, ten dollars for the drive to Dark Harbor, ten dollars for the wait, fifty dollars for the tour, and ten dollars back to the airport. That’s eighty dollars, as I make it. No checks or credit cards.”
“Do you take American dollars?” Frank asked, handing him a hundred.
“Yep, but I don’t got change for this.”
Frank sighed. “Keep it,” he said, and got out of the car, followed by Charlie. They walked back to the airplane.
“Where to?” the pilot asked.
“Back to the airport.”
“Which one?”
“The one we left from.”
“You got it,” the pilot said, then started the engine and taxied onto the runway.
“Will this airplane take off on this little bitty runway?” Charlie asked from the rear seat.
“Let’s find out,” the pilot replied, then shoved the throttle forward.
Stone lay on the bed, with Caroline on top, doing very nice things with her hips, while he moved under her. His cell rang.
“Go ahead and get it,” Caroline said. “I’ll amuse myself.”
Stone grabbed the iPhone from the bedside table. “Hello?”
“You sound a little out of breath,” Dino said. “Am I disturbing you?”
“Nope.”
“Am I disturbing Caroline?”
“Not in the least.”
“I thought you’d like to know that Gino Parisi has put a
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