Double Jeopardy

41

Billy Hotchkiss sat at his desk with the newspapers stacked up beside him and read his way through the day. Billy was the captain of his ship, as well as of his soul, and he was highly experienced at manipulating the controls from his desk. He only had to rise rarely. Today was one of those occasions.

Just before lunch he watched as the Stone twins, Eben and Enos, entered his shop and, with a nod of greeting to him, began to browse. Billy knew the twins enjoyed being thieves, so he always kept a careful eye on them and, as soon as they left, added whatever they had taken to their account. This time, to his surprise, they spoke to him.

“Good morning, Billy,” one of them said, he wasn’t sure which.

“Good morning,” he replied, giving them his full attention.

“We need something in the way of electronics,” the other twin said. “But we’re not sure what it’s called.”

“Well,” Billy said, “I’ve got cell phones and game boxes and like that. What do you want it to do?”

“We want it to transmit a signal to a receiver,” the other said.

“You mean, like a two-way radio?”

“Yes, like that, except we don’t need to speak, just transmit.”

“Transmit what?” Billy asked, intrigued now.

“A signal.”

“Yeah, sure, but what signal? You’d need a frequency.”

“Right, exactly.”

“What frequency do you want to transmit on?”

“We’re not sure, so we’d like to transmit on a range of frequencies.”

“Well, a marine VHF radio transmits on twelve or thirteen frequencies. Would one of those do?”

“It might. We’ve got one on our boat we could experiment with, I guess.”

“Take a look at your receiver,” Billy suggested. “It should have a frequency stamped on it.”

“Not this one, I’m afraid.”

“Okay, here’s what you do. You get online and look at what’s available in two-way radios. An aviation VHS would have a lot more frequencies on it than a marine radio. If you can’t find exactly what you want, look for a customer service phone number, call them and ask for advice.”

“That’s a good suggestion, Billy,” they said, simultaneously.

“Also,” one of them said, “we need a box — make it two boxes — of Snickers bars. You’re almost out.”

“Let me check the storeroom.” He did so and returned with two boxes of the candy bars. “Charge them to your account?” he asked.

“Yes, please.”

He handed them the candy in a shopping bag, they left. Billy marked down both the Snickers and the alkaline batteries they had stolen. Then he called Stone Barrington.

“Yes?”

“Stone, it’s Billy. Got a minute?”

“Sure, Billy.”

“I just had the Stone twins in here, and they had an odd request.” He related the substance of their conversation and the advice he had given them. “That make any sense to you?”

“Billy, let me make a call, and I’ll get back to you.”

“Oh, one other thing: they bought two boxes of Snickers candy bars.”

That stopped Stone in his tracks. “That’s ominous,” he said.

“I remember when their daddy bought them by the box.”

“So do I,” Stone said. “Do you know if anybody on the island is missing? Women, I mean.”

“No.”

They both hung up.

Stone called Ed Rawls.

“I had your two girlfriends down here,” Rawls said. “They’re hilarious.”

“What did they want?”

“They told me if you asked me that to tell you to go fuck yourself.”

“I’ll consider myself told,” Stone said. “Now, here’s a problem for you.” He told Ed about his conversation with Billy. “Any idea what they’re up to?”

“Yeah, I do,” Rawls said. “They’re trying to get ahold of a radio that will communicate with the detonator on the bomb I left at their house, and I hope to God they don’t find one. Or, if they do, that they try it out while holding the explosives to their ear.”

Stone laughed. “What are their chances of coming up with the right frequency?”

“Poor or none. I built that radio, and I didn’t use a frequency that comes on a commercial radio. I hope they keep experimenting with it, though.”

“Me, too.”

“Their best bet would be to get on the Internet and find a unit that will broadcast on a broadband of frequencies, one at a time. It would be like trying to break into a safe with an electronic lock by firing hundreds of frequencies at it, until one works.”

“Gotcha. Why don’t you just build another one and explode it for them?”

“Because I can’t remember the frequency,” Rawls admitted. “Call it an extended senior moment.”

“Work on it,” Stone said.

“By the way, I like the plan your girls came up with. I’m happy to participate.”

“Participate in what?”

“Nice try, pal, but you ain’t getting nothing out of me.”

“Just tell me this: Are the girls going to get themselves killed while carrying out their plan?”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Ed said.

“Are you going to have something to say about it?”

“You bet your sweet ass, I am,” Ed said, then hung up.

Stone called him back.

“Now, what?”

“I didn’t tell you about the Snickers bars.”

“You’re right. Why would you?”

“The twins bought two boxes of Snickers from Billy a few minutes ago.”

“I’m sorry, I’m drawing a blank on this one,” Ed said. “Why should anybody care if they’ve got a sweet tooth?”

“Remember when a certain lady of our acquaintance was kidnapped and held by their father?”

“Yes, I do.”

“All she was fed while he had her was Snickers bars.”

“Jesus Christ, is anybody missing?”

“Billy says no, and he usually knows what he’s talking about.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Ed said.

“I’ll keep you posted.”

They both hung up.