Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 Summer’s End

  Chapter 2 Back to School

  Chapter 3 Political Science 101

  Chapter 4 What have we Here?

  Chapter 5 Analysis of a Crime

  Chapter 6 Breaking News

  Chapter 7 Crazy Bikers

  Chapter 8 Undercover Reporting

  Chapter 9 Repossession

  Chapter 10 Settling In

  Chapter 11 Nice Car

  Chapter 12 Flight of the Phoenix

  Chapter 13 Making a Case

  Chapter 14 Ski Break

  Chapter 15 Closing the Case

  Chapter 16 Case Closed?

  Chapter 17 Got a Nail?

  Chapter 18 Wrap Up

  Delphi Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 Robert D. Blanton

  Cover by Momir Borocki

  [email protected]

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2020.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  Summer’s End

  “We have to stop meeting like this,” Matthew said to Emily when she came out of her session with their therapist, Dr. Sharma.

  “Oh, so your mother decided to punish you by making you go to some more sessions too,” Emily said. Matthew and Emily had wound up involved in two major terrorist incidents in the last eight months. First the incident at the La Jolla Playhouse and then the incident at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In both, they had been instrumental in defeating the terrorist. Of course, nobody really knew how instrumental because that would require revealing Matthew’s secret. Emily was the only person who knew about his secret since he’d been forced to reveal it to her so they could rescue her baby sister from kidnappers. They’d become close friends, a good thing since Emily could out him to the CIA who would lock him into a room and use him like a weapon

  “Yes, but she says it’s because I might be traumatized again.”

  “Well good luck. I’ll see you next Thursday for our end-of-summer party.”

  “Party, I thought it was a wake.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Hey, Brea, how was Italy?” Matthew asked as Brea met him at the door to her family’s home.

  “It was great. We had a good time with Nanno and Nanna. We even got to help harvest some grapes,” Brea said.

  “Yeah, like you did much harvesting,” Jason said. “She spent more time with her tennis coach than she did with the rest of us put together.”

  “I have to be ready for the open,” Brianna said. Brianna was entered in the Junior US Open, and her parents had tickets for the main US Open events. The two events were coordinated at the same venue during the same two weeks.

  “When do you leave?” Matthew asked.

  “In three days.”

  “Wow. That doesn’t leave much time for us to hang out,” Matthew said.

  “We’ll catch up when I get back,” Brianna said. “Jason, get Matt a Seven-Up while I finish getting ready.”

  “Yes, Mistress,” Jason joked.

  “Where’s Alex?”

  “We’ll pick her up on the way,” Jason said.

  Jason’s phone buzzed. “Just a minute,” Jason said as he handed Matthew the Seven-Up. “Hi, Alex.”

  Mrs. Winthrop laughed. “You might as well sit down; you’ll be waiting for a while.”

  “Oh, hi, Cara. I guess things are hectic with you just getting back from Italy and having to get ready to go to the Open so soon.”

  “They are.”

  “I was thinking of coming out for one weekend. Do you think I should come for the first or the second?”

  “Matt, do you really want to come?”

  “Sure, I should be there to support Brea.”

  “She’s going to be thinking tennis 24/7. She won’t be a very good hostess.”

  “She doesn’t have to be. I’d just be there to root for her.”

  “But she would think she needed to be. She’s not that good at multi-tasking and she’ll be trying to keep up on her school work. Things are going to be crazy.”

  “I could help her with her school stuff.”

  “Oh, dear boy, you don’t want to go there. We’ve hired a tutor for her and they’re already working together. She has assignments from her teachers so she can spread the work out. But she’s going to be frustrated about having to spend time on it and I’m sure she’ll be taking it out on the tutor.”

  “Oh,” Matthew said. He was a bit confused. “Are you saying I shouldn’t come out?”

  “Yes. Don’t take it the wrong way. But she’s terrible before a big tournament. You haven’t seen that side of her because the club tournaments don’t worry her. This one will, so your relationship will survive much better if you keep a long-distance phone call between the two of you until it’s over.”

  Later that day, Matthew talked it over with Emily. She was unequivocal about Matthew not going. “You’ll just start fighting with Brea, so it’s better to say here and root for her on TV.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Matt, drinks are in the cooler, we’ll fire up the barbeque in a few hours,” Emily said, greeting Matthew at the end-of-summer party.

  “Where’s Brea?”

  “Cara will be dropping her off right after her tennis lesson.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “We’ve got a Hobie Cat and two wave runners for fun. Jason is supposed to bring a volleyball set.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He called and said he’d be late. Some kind of drama with Alex,” Emily said, giving Matthew a wink which suggested that he should check it out.

  Matthew walked down to the beach where the others had pitched their umbrellas and laid out the beach chairs he’d brought. Then he planted his umbrella in the sand, staking his claim to the spot.

  Matthew took the opportunity to open his portal and check in on Alex and Jason. He focused on Jason and his portal opened in the living room of the Morrisons’ house. Jason was sitting in a chair playing on his phone. Matthew focused on Alex, and his portal opened in the den where Alex’s father, Sir William, maintained a home office.

  “I don’t want to live in Moscow!” Alex moaned.

  “We understand,” Sir William said, “but we can’t just leave you here.”

  “Why not? I’m seventeen!”

  “That’s just seventeen, not eighteen, and certainly not twenty-one. You cannot just live on your own,” Mrs. Morrison said.

  “Why can’t you stay here with me?”

  “Because it’s an important diplomatic posting. I have to be there to help manage the events,” Mrs. Morrison said.

  “Maybe I can stay with Emily.”

  “We can talk to the Stevensons about that, but this is so sudden, it’s not fair to spring something like this on them.”

  “Why do you have to take the job?”

  “Because I’ve been asked by the Prime Minister,” Sir William said. “It’s a significant opportunity for me and more important, it’s what Britain needs.”

  “But why you?”

  “Because Sir Toby has been diagnosed with cancer and has to return to Britain for treatment. He and I have discussed his plans extensively, so I’m the logical choice to replace him.”

  “It’s not fair!”

  “Life is not fair. Now, why don’t you go to your party with Jason
? We can discuss options tomorrow when we’ve all had a chance to digest this,” Mrs. Morrison said.

  Alex folded her arms and pouted.

  “Go, you can’t leave Jason hanging in the living room forever.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “What’s up?” Emily asked.

  “Oh, I didn’t notice you walk up,” Matthew said.

  “I suspected you wouldn’t, you had that spacey look on your face, so I assume you were checking on Alex.”

  “Yes, her father is getting posted to Russia.”

  “Wow, that’s sudden.”

  “Apparently he’s to replace someone named Sir Toby who was diagnosed with cancer.”

  “And Alex doesn’t want to go,” Emily said.

  “Of course not. This is her senior year. It’s a big shock.”

  “Why doesn’t her mother stay with her?”

  “Something about diplomatic posting means her mom needs to be there.”

  “Oh, a diplomatic posting. I wonder what it is?”

  “Didn’t hear.”

  “Well look it up. You said he’s to replace Sir Toby, whoever that is.”

  Matthew used his portal to access his computer at home and did a google search on ‘Sir Toby, Russia, British Diplomat.’

  “It says here that he is the minister of trade,” Matthew said. “Isn’t that the position they give their spies?”

  “I don’t know. But we do know that her dad has been involved with MI6, so it would make sense.”

  “I’m surprised that Alex doesn’t want to go. She has an affinity for spying,” Matthew said, harkening back to when Alex decided she was going to help track down terrorists and was spying on Sayid.

  “It takes too much time and it interferes with her sleep and partying.”

  “Not the way James Bond does it.”

  Emily giggled at that, “Well, Alex figured out that was a fantasy pretty fast.”

  “I should warn you that Alex suggested she stay with you.”

  “Oh, that might work. Except for the fact that I’m in trouble about that New York thing, Mom would agree for sure.”

  “She really can’t still be holding that against you,” Matthew said.

  “She’s not happy that I was less than truthful. And unfortunately, she’s right, I hate lying to her.”

  “I know, but I think telling her we were going to a party to see if we could help stop a terrorist assassination plot wouldn’t have gone over too well.”

  Emily slugged Matthew on the shoulder. “No, it wouldn’t have.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Hey, Jason, Alex,” Matthew greeted the pair as they made their way down the beach to join everyone else.

  “Sorry we’re late. I walked into the middle of a family meeting,” Jason said.

  “Is everything okay?” Emily asked, walking up and giving Alex a hug.

  “Sort of. Daddy’s getting posted to Russia, we just found out this morning.”

  “When?” Emily asked.

  “Right away,” Alex said. “Bloody awful timing.”

  “What about you and your mom?”

  “Mummy has to go with him, they’re trying to figure out what to do with me.”

  “Maybe you can stay with me,” Emily said.

  “Really?”

  “If you want, I can ask my parents. We have the room,” Emily said.

  “That’d be brilliant, Em.”

  “I’ll ask them tonight. Now let’s have fun.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Matthew and Emily grabbed the two wave runners, figuring they’d get some time in before the competition for time on them got too heavy. The waves coming into the beach were pretty mild, which was probably good since heavy waves would make riding the wave runners at high speeds dangerous, but it did make it hard to get some air under them when they jumped the waves.

  Emily waved Matthew over. “Hey, Matt, can’t you give us a ramp or something so we can do a jump?”

  “And you don’t think Jen or Jeffrey will notice?”

  “Not if you do it right.”

  Matthew sighed at Emily, but he quickly thought of a way to use his portal. “Okay, I’ll try it. If it works, I’ll explain it to you.”

  “Sounds good. Now, do it.”

  Matthew found a spot where the slope of the beach below the ocean was about right. He opened his portal, placing one end against that spot and the other he floated in front of his wave runner. It kept pace with him, staying the same distance from his body. When he approached a good-looking wave, he locked his end right in front of the wave. He had it expanded so that it was taller than the wave by about a foot. When he hit the wave, the wave runner rode up the wave then onto his portal, giving it an extra foot of ramp.

  “Wow! That was great. Now, how do I do it?”

  “Just start jumping waves, I’ll yell when I’m going to give you a boost.”

  Emily and Matthew were able to play on the wave runners for thirty minutes before Alex and Jason shouted them down and made them give the runners up. The two ran up the beach laughing as the other two took the wave runners out.

  Emily was trying to talk Matthew into going out on the Hobie Cat when Brianna’s mother dropped her off.

  “Hey, Brea. About time you showed up!” Jennifer yelled. She was the only one who could get away with scolding Brianna.

  Brianna ran up to her friends. She was wearing a beach cover-up over her bikini and had already kicked off her sandals. “I told you I’d be late. Now, hand me a drink and I won’t kick sand in your face!” Brianna laughed as she scooped some sand with her toes and flipped it toward Jennifer. “Where’s Jeffrey?”

  “Over there trying to get Jason and Alex to give up the wave runners. Do you want to go out with us?”

  Brianna looked out at the wave runners as Jason made his jump a wave. “I don’t think so. I’m just going to relax and get some sun.”

  Matthew handed Brianna a Coke; he’d opened it for her in deference to her fingernails. Jennifer mouthed a thank you to him. “We’re here to mark the passage of summer and our return to school next week. What about you?”

  “Hey, I have to start school next week too, with a tutor, which is going to be worse.”

  “Oh, I’m sure that someone you’re paying to teach you is going to be just as hard as Mrs. Carter,” Raquel, one of Brianna’s friends from PCA teased.

  “Oh, you’ve got Mrs. Carter again?” Jennifer asked with a mean grin.

  “Yes, you cannot avoid her, she teaches all the literature classes,” Brianna moaned. “I have to read The Glass Menagerie while I’m in New York.”

  “Oh, you’ll love that play. It’s nice and complicated. Lots of fancy words,” Emily teased.

  “Brea, Emily wants to go out on the Hobie Cat, do you want to come?” Matthew asked.

  “Sorry, I think I’ll just stay here and get some sun.”

  “That’s because her highness is afraid to get injured,” Jason said as he and Alex joined the group. “Jen, Jeffery’s holding the wave runner for you.”

  Brianna stuck her tongue out at her brother, then turned back to Matthew. “Go ahead, I’ll be fine.”

  Matthew and Emily went out on the Hobie Cat, reprising some of the tricks they’d done when they were in Hawaii in the spring. Then Matthew had figured out that he could use his portal like a spinnaker, but without the restriction of having to be going downwind. Since the portal would transfer the force on one surface to the other, Matthew could up open one end up very large and orient it with the wind, then he could pace the other end on the mast of the Hobie Cat oriented toward the direction of travel and voilà, you had a supercharged Hobie Cat. Of course, he had to make sure nobody was paying too much attention or they would start asking uncomfortable questions.

  They managed a couple of rides, blowing by some other sailboats like they were standing still, but since those people didn’t know them, Emily figured it was safe.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Matthew made a
point to be at the Winthrops so he could ride with Brianna to the airport.

  “You’re certainly a brave young man,” Mr. Winthrop said as he answered the door. “You know Brea is a bear at this time of the morning.” It was five a.m., as the Winthrops had to leave early to reach New York at a reasonable hour.

  “She won’t be too bad. She’s been getting up at 4:00 every morning to get adjusted to the time zone.”

  “That just means she’ll only be as grouchy as she is at 7:00, which is pretty bad.”

  Matthew just laughed as he followed Mr. Winthrop into the house. “Where’s Jason?”

  Mr. Winthrop snorted. “He’s in the back seat of the Mercedes, sleeping. He went out there right after we got him up.”

  “Hi, Matt,” Mrs. Winthrop called out as she came up the stairs. “Would you mind helping Carl with our bags? Brea is in the shower.”

  “On it,” Matthew said as he grabbed one of the bags by the door.

  When they had finished loading the bags, Mrs. Winthrop served them coffee while they waited for Brea. Matthew looked at his watch. “It’s a good thing you’re taking a charter.” The Winthrops had chartered the Stevensons’ jet for the trip to New York.

  “We know better,” Mrs. Winthrop said. “She should be here in another minute.”

  “Where’s Hanna?”

  “She stayed at the Stevenson’s last night. They said their goodbyes then.”

  “That was probably smart.”

  “Hi, Matt,” Brianna yawned as she crawled up the stairs.

  “Hi, Sleepyhead.”

  “Let’s load up,” Mr. Winthrop said.

  Brianna got in the car and slid next to Jason and Matthew got in beside her. As soon as they were buckled in, Brianna leaned on Matthew’s shoulder and went back to sleep.

  When they got to Palomar Airport, Matthew punched Jason awake and they helped unload the luggage while Mrs. Winthrop got Brianna out of the Mercedes. She led her over to Matthew so they could say goodbye. A sleepy kiss and a ‘wish you luck’ was all that passed between the two before Brianna stumbled up the ramp to the plane, sleepwalking to a seat where she could go back to sleep.

  “Sorry, Matt, but you know how she is,” Mrs. Winthrop said, giving Matt a kiss on the cheek.

  “It’s okay. Remind her I said good luck.”