AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Funny, something occurred to me about him, too, though he was neither an old nor dear friend, nor a classmate.”
“You first,” Lance said.
“Russians,” Stone said. “Killing Collins sounds like something they would do, and pretty much the way they would do it.”
“Funny you should mention that,” Lance said. “The same thing occurred to me.”
“Why are we singing the same song so early in the day?” Stone asked.
“Because we often think alike. Haven’t you noticed that?”
What Stone had noticed was that if he had a good idea, Lance would adopt it as his own. “Not really,” he said.
“Did your dinner with the widow produce anything new?”
“Only that she met him shortly after he had completed his training at the Farm, and that his first assignment was at the UN. It was the mention of the UN that made me think of the Russians.”
“A logical leap,” Lance said, “if you thought of the off-campus Russians instead of the officials.”
“I did, but what would the Russians be doing in Maine?”
“Looking for Collins or, more likely, looking for you.”
“That had not occurred to me, and it’s an awful thought.”
“They have long memories,” Lance said. “I don’t suppose their presence could have anything to do with your houseguest at the time?”
“That was, as you know, a top secret event.”
“Except maybe over drinks at the Tarratine Yacht Club.”
“Certainly the summer people would gossip, if they caught wind of her presence.”
“Could Holly have been spotted on a boat with you, perhaps?”
“She always wore her hood up with sunglasses and no makeup, so probably not.”
“Let’s put that into the hopper and let it age for a bit. Let’s not forget the Russians, though. I’ll see what connections I can turn up.”
Vanessa returned from the bathroom.
“You do that,” Stone said, then hung up.
12
After breakfast andthe bathroom, Vanessa’s thoughts lightly turned to more sex. Stone did what he could.
“Tell me,” he said as they lay on their backs, taking deep breaths. “Did John Collins ever speak of Russians, with regard to his work at the UN?”
“Sort of, but mostly he seemed not to want to talk about anything to do with Russians. He had an aversion to them.”
“Did he say why?”
“He once said that if the Russians knew he was CIA, they might want to harm him.”
“Did he say why they would want to do that?”
“He said they hated everything to do with the CIA, especially the people who worked for them.”
