Double Jeopardy

44

As bedtime was approaching, there was a ring of the front doorbell. Stone checked the peephole. Ed Rawls stood there, a rifle slung over his shoulder and Sally at his side. Stone let them in.

“Sorry to drop by so late,” Ed said. “But something’s afoot with the twins.”

Stone hustled them into the house and gave them each a drink. “What’s up?”

“The twins. We drove into the village to get some ice cream, and when we left, their boat was tied up at their dock.”

“Is that somehow sinister?” Stone asked. “Am I missing something?”

“What we’re missing is the twins. When we got back to our place I saw their boat headed out and turning south toward the point.”

“What’s to the south that should make us wary here?”

“Well, if they go around the point, then head north, what’s in their path is the cove right out there — and more to the point, your boat and your house.”

“I’m sorry, Ed, I was a little slow on the uptake.”

“That’s all right. It occurred to me that, if they’re headed here, we might have an opportunity to catch them trespassing. And if we do, we’ve got a legal right to take a shot or two at them. I brought my nightscope,” he said, patting the rifle.

Dino stepped up. “I’d like some of that,” he said.

Stone got the men rifles from Dick Stone’s weapons trove and they pocketed loaded magazines. “Why don’t we wait for them on my boat,” Stone said.

“Will it stop a bullet?”

“Hinckley says their hulls are bulletproof. There’s Kevlar in them.”

“Their boat’s a Hinckley, too,” Ed said. “The new one with three outboards. I expect their hull is made of the same materials.”

“Are we living in a Hinckley commercial?” Dino asked. “Or can we go shoot at these people? Just for the fun of it, of course. No harm intended.”

“Save it for the state police, Dino,” Ed said. They moved down to Stone’s dock.

“How do you want to do this, Ed?”

“Well, if I had my druthers, I’d set up a cross fire, but only one position is available to us: your boat.”

“We should have surprise on our side,” Stone said.

“Always a good idea,” Ed replied.

They climbed aboard and made preparations.

“I’d like them to take the first shot,” Stone said. “I prefer provocation to straight-up assassination.”

“Tell you what,” Ed said. “When they get close, you stand up, wave your arms, and call them dirty names.”

“That’s provocation,” Dino said.

“Not if you’re not shooting at them, it ain’t. Listen, I got no problem at all taking the first shot, and if I do I’m planning to hit something, like somebody’s head.”

“Ed,” Stone said, “I think we’ve got to get a positive ID on them before we start shooting people in the head. I’d hate to find out later that we murdered a couple of fishermen, returning home late.”

“Picky, picky, picky,” Rawls said. “All right, both of you know these boys on sight, do you not?”

“We do,” Stone said.

“Then I’m going to rely on you to identify them. I won’t fire until the two of you agree it’s the Stone twins. Will that do it for you?”

“I think I can defend that position in court,” Stone said.

“What court?” Ed asked. “Nobody’s going to be alive to testify against us.”

“We’ve still got to convince Sergeant Tom Young that we were in the right.”

“All right,” Ed said. “What’s our story? It’s better we’re agreed on that instead of making it up later, in separate rooms with separate cops.”

“You came over to the house and reported the twins leaving their dock and turning south. We speculated on their destination, and all three of us voted for right here. Okay so far?”

“That works for me,” Dino said.

“We thought they might be coming to shoot up my house and my guests, so we hunkered down here to ascertain their intentions — before doing any shooting.”

“Now comes the good part, I hope,” Ed said.

“They approached my dock and, using my night binoculars... Hang on.” He rummaged around in the cockpit before coming up with them. “In good working order. And using these, I was able to identify the two people aboard as Eben and Enos Stone — though I wasn’t sure which was which. I handed Dino the glasses.” He did so. “And Dino confirmed my judgment.”

“Have they killed us yet?” Dino asked. “They’ve certainly had the time.”

“Then they began firing. We ducked, in the hope they would stop, but they didn’t, so we returned fire. That is, you returned fire, Ed. You’re the one with the nightscope.”

“Good by me. Now shut up and listen.”

They listened and heard engine noises in the distance.

“Running fast,” Ed said.

“Too fast for in the dark,” Dino agreed.

As if they had taken Dino’s advice, the power out there was reduced, and they came into the harbor more slowly.

“You just let me know when you’ve got a positive ID,” Ed said. “I’ll take it from there.”

Everybody rammed in magazines and worked their slides.

“I hope they didn’t hear that,” Ed said. “That was not an inviting sound.”

“Good,” Stone said. “We had hoped it would warn them off, but it didn’t work.”

The engines were reduced to idle and a dim form appeared at the outer edges of their vision.

“Hold your fire,” Stone said. “I see a hull.”

“We all see a hull,” Dino replied. “But is it the right one? Does the boat have a name painted on the hull?”

“Yes,” Ed said.

“What’s the name?”

“I’m trying to remember.”

Stone trained his night glasses on the hull. “Could it be Argo?”

“Yes! That’s the name,” Ed responded. “Is that a positive ID?”

“Yes, but only of the boat,” Stone said. “I can see a figure at the helm, slightly lit by the instrument panel lights. There’s another figure standing in the cockpit, at the stern.”

“They’re less than a hundred yards out now,” Ed said. “I can see the two guys through my scope.”

“Can you identify either one?” Stone asked. “I figure we only have to ID one, since they’re identical.”

“Good point,” Ed said, “but not yet.”

“The one not driving just stood on something and is leaning on the cabin. Oh, shit.”

“‘Oh, shit’ what?” Dino asked.

“Oh, shit, they’ve got a nightscope, too. I just saw the green flash.”

Then the shooting started.