Shadows of the Stone Benders (The Anlon Cully Chronicles Book 1)

by K Patrick Donoghue

  Anlon saw the expectant expression burgeoning on Pebbles’ face and searched his mind. What was she hinting at, he wondered? He ran through their conversation last night and realized he overlooked the handkerchief and the ring.

  “Yeah, I guess we should let Jennifer know about Pacal’s handkerchief and the ring, but can’t we do that later today?”

  “Oh, that? Sure, we can tell her about those whenever you want but I’m thinking about something else. I can’t believe you aren’t more anxious about it!” Pebbles answered, gazing at Anlon’s eyes to judge whether his pupils were enlarged. “Maybe you do have a concussion. How’s your shoulder feel, by the way?”

  Anlon rubbed his shoulder and replied, “It’s a little sore, but much better than last night. I took some more of the pain reliever this morning so it shouldn’t bother me today. And my head’s fine Pebbles. What are you driving at anyway? You look like you’re waiting for a light to go on in my head.”

  Pebbles tapped her index finger on her lips while studying Anlon’s confused face. It really surprised her that he’d forgotten all about the Port Stone.

  “Maybe it was the kissing!” she exclaimed with a siren’s wink. “It probably muddled your brain AC. I have that effect on guys you know.”

  Anlon chuckled in response, “Quit teasing Pebbles...and I believe it!”

  He was glad this morning wasn’t more awkward after their spontaneous make-out session last night. Yes, their mutual attraction was now out in the open but it didn’t feel like their relationship had morphed into something dramatically different overnight. It was just pointed in a bit different direction now.

  “Your kissing was, without question, intoxicating, but quit toying with me young lady and come out with it!”

  “Mmmm…intoxicating. I like your choice of words. And you know what it does to me when you call me young lady,” Pebbles whispered as she leaned seductively over the table, the locks of her bob swaying like a hypnotist’s watch.

  Strike that, he thought, our relationship definitely is now heading in a much different direction!

  Suddenly she laughed aloud, sensing the discomfort she caused Anlon with her sexy banter. “Okay, I’ll stop. Sorry to make you uncomfortable Doc. We never went over to the barn last night to get the Port Stone! Personally, I want to use it, like right now, but I know we have other things to do today. Don’t you think we should find it and at least put it in Devlin’s safe?”

  Anlon smacked his forehead and said, “I can’t believe I forgot that!”

  Maybe I do have a concussion after all, he thought, unwilling to entertain the notion that Pebbles’ kissing had scrambled his mind.

  “The other stuff can wait. Let’s head out now and deal with that first!”

  Ruefully, Pebbles cast a last forlorn look at the lonely uneaten doughnut still staring up at her from the plate and followed Anlon to the cash register and then out the diner door.

  When they arrived back at the house, Anlon dashed inside to retrieve the slip of paper on which Dobson wrote the alarm codes. Scurrying back outside to where Pebbles stood in the driveway, he race-walked to the barn door.

  Pebbles, dressed today in black Capri pants, white button-down shirt, and the same red flats she wore the previous day, sauntered behind Anlon at a leisurely pace, breathing in the fresh country air scented with honeysuckle. It was her first chance to survey the breadth of Devlin’s property in full sunlight and she savored the mix of classic New England architecture amid the bucolic rolling terrain.

  “Come on slow poke,” Anlon encouraged after unlocking the front door and punching in the security code. “We’ve got lots to do today.”

  When they entered, Anlon was bowled over by the appearance of the spacious office. It looked more like a modern university laboratory to him than what he imagined when Dobson said Devlin had refurbished the barn.

  Directly ahead, at the far end of the first level, there were three partitioned nooks that looked like mini-offices. Anlon guessed they were meant for Devlin, Dobson and Pacal.

  To the right of the nooks was a long wall of professional-grade cabinets for storing small artifacts and documents, and a set of tall storage racks holding larger relics. To the left of the nooks ran a wall-length kitchen counter with cabinets above and below, two separately placed sinks and a small under-counter refrigerator. On the counter was an assortment of measuring scales, microscopes, cameras and other devices purportedly used to examine relics and documents.

  In the center of the room were three sturdy rectangular tables with tall, retractable lamps clamped to an edge of each. Attached to the ceiling above each table were special, high-power illuminating light fixtures. The tables were clean and devoid of any items. In fact, the whole space was pristine, with the notable exception of each man’s individual office nook where varying degrees of clutter was evident.

  Near the front entrance where Anlon and Pebbles stood, there was a floating staircase leading to an open air loft above. The entire space was bright and airy due to the combination of light-colored woods, white painted walls and plenty of ambient light from the half dozen windows throughout the barn.

  “So, if you were holding a priceless piece of ancient history, where would you keep it stored in here?” Anlon hopefully queried Pebbles.

  “Beats me Doc. You’re the scientist here. We’re looking for a stone that looks like a hockey puck or tuna can, right? Why don’t you start with the cabinets and I’ll start with the racks.” Pebbles suggested.

  Anlon agreed, and they initiated their respective searches. Pebbles mentioned immediately that all the shelves and trays on the racks were labeled with codes. Anlon noted the cabinets were labeled in a similar fashion.

  After opening the first cabinet, he called to Pebbles, “Hey, I know it goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. There are likely rare pieces and papers in here, so handle everything with care. Oh, and please make sure you put back everything where you found it so we don’t mess with their filing system.”

  Pebbles strolled across the room to stand before him, arms crossed and foot tapping.

  “Hello!?” she sarcastically intoned. “Law degree here, plenty of experience researching in law libraries. Bartender here, plenty of experience arranging bottle racks.”

  “Hey, I said I know it goes without saying!” he cowered playfully.

  Sticking her tongue out, she returned to the racks. Ah, Anlon observed, the tongue stud is back today along with her wrist bangles. He shuddered to think what a hybrid Pebbles/Eleanor might accomplish!

  An hour of searching yielded no Port Stone or anything remotely close to the description Pacal gave. They sat down on the loft stairs and Pebbles said, “Well, that sucks. I thought this was going to be easy. I’m thinking we should look in their desks and on their computers. If they’ve coded everything, there’s got to be some kind of registry or index that points to where the stone should be.”

  “Good idea. Let’s hope they identified it as ‘Port Stone’ in the index,” Anlon prayed.

  As they approached the desk nooks, Anlon stopped in his tracks. He said, “Pebbles, is it me or are two of the computers missing?”

  Looking among the alcoves, Pebbles noted that the only desk with a laptop visible was the one on the far right. All three alcoves had oversized monitors standing on the desk surfaces along with wireless keyboards and mice, but two desks were without laptops.

  “Hmmm, that’s odd. Maybe Devlin kept his in the house? Maybe Pacal or Matthew took theirs home with them at night? Lots of people do,” she mused.

  “Let’s figure out whose laptops are missing,” Anlon suggested.

  It didn’t take but a minute to sort out which alcove belonged to each man. The one in the center was Devlin’s as confirmed by pieces of mail on the desktop and assorted pictures adorning the walls of his alcove. The one on the right was Dobson’s, given a similar array of letters and photos. This meant the sparse, unadorned workspace to the left was Pacal’s.<
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  “Well, that’s that,” Pebbles said. “I guess Devlin kept his in the house. Did you see it in the study?”

  “No, but honestly I didn’t look for one,” Anlon replied, anxiously gazing at his watch. “But we’ve been here for over an hour and the day’s getting away. At least Dobson’s is still here.”

  “Hey, what about up top?” Pebbles voiced, pointing at the loft, “I’ll go check it out.”

  Anlon sat down at Devlin’s desk idly shuffling through the documents on it.

  “Uh oh!” Pebbles cried from above. “Better come up Anlon, looks like someone broke in.”

  Anlon sat motionless for a moment before heading for the stairs, sarcastically shouting back, “Peachy. Well, so much for a productive day!”

  When Anlon arrived up top, Pebbles was motioning to glass on the floor beneath the window and the raised lower pane. Shaking his head in disbelief, Anlon said, “I’ll call Jennifer.”

  While they waited for the police to arrive, Pebbles did a quick survey of the loft. There was a twin bed to the right of the window with a small reading table and lamp. On the other side was a medium-sized sofa and a floor lamp. Lifting the sofa cushion revealed it to be a sleeper sofa. She guessed that when Pacal or Matthew or both worked late, they sometimes slept in the barn office.

  Anlon slumped down on the sofa and Pebbles joined him. He remarked, “You know Jennifer’s going to give us the what-for when she gets here for touching everything.”

  Pebbles commiserated, “Yeah, I bet she will. But how were we to know the place had been broken into?”

  “She’ll still squawk at us,” Anlon murmured as he closed his eyes to think.

  The Port Stone is gone, he thought, before spitting out, “Damn, I should have looked for it last night.”

  Pebbles reassuringly commented, “It might still be here, we don’t know yet. And you can’t be sure the break-in happened last night.”

  Anlon perked up at that thought. Pebbles was right. No one had been in the office since Friday night, according to what Pacal told Jennifer last night. That meant the break-in could have occurred any one of the last four days.

  But in his heart Anlon was sure the Port Stone was gone, and equally sure the two laptops were stolen. Though he considered it strange that Dobson’s was left undisturbed. Maybe Pebbles was right, maybe Devlin’s was inside the house and Pacal kept his at home too. He thought of his own prior work habits and acknowledged he had always brought his work laptop home in case he had a late night inspiration. And on this trip, Anlon realized, he’d brought his own home laptop to Stockbridge even though he hadn’t yet removed it from his travel backpack.

  That gave Anlon an idea to at least make some progress today. He drew out his cell phone and dialed Mr. Grant. When connected he said, “Mr. Grant, I’ve run into a bit of snag and I don’t think I’ll make it out to your office today to get another copy of the will. Any chance you can scan it and email it to me?”

  XI

  ASSESSING DAMAGES

  “How bad is the situation?” read the text from Quechua212.

  A burly, hooded AucuChan1 sat in a white panel truck by the roadside and typed in his reply. “Very bad. Didn’t find the map. Didn’t find any Stones or sculptures. Did swipe DW’s laptop.”

  In fact, AucuChan1 had already managed to by-pass Devlin’s password screen and scan many emails and documents. There were hundreds left to check but thus far no map or mention of one. He added another text, “Just drove by DW’s house. Cops all over. Break-in discovered.”

  The burly man winced when Quechua212 asked, “What about MD and PF computers?”

  AucuChan1 explained in his reply that Pacal’s laptop was absent and that he had no choice but to leave Dobson’s behind. Quechua212 scolded him. AucuChan1 pushed back with the reasons he left the laptop. Quechua212 was unmoved. “HUGE mistake!!! You better hope they don’t search that computer! You can’t keep messing up like this!”

  The burly man stewed. He didn’t like being called out, especially by the already arrogant Quechua212. He half considered keeping the map if he did find it but then thought better of it. Quechua212 had a long reach and a deadly touch.

  “Only other place to hide everything is in the house,” messaged Quechua212.

  “Yep. That’s a problem. AC NOT staying there alone now. Last night a PYT stayed there too. With 2 people & alarm & break-in, tough now to sneak in undetected,” answered AucuChan1.

  As the stout man pulled a cigarette pack from his jacket pocket, he further thought, even if I get in the house without getting caught, it’s a big house to search and Devlin has a safe in the house.

  A long pause ensued on their two phone screens, text app cursors blinking as they pondered next steps. AucuChan1 lit a cigarette and waited for instructions. After a couple minutes of quiet, he typed, “IMO, we should lay low for a bit. When things cool off, I can try the house.”

  Quechua212’s answer followed., “Agreed. We have no choice if we want to do this quietly. Really wish you hadn’t left MD’s laptop…”

  “What’s done is done,” responded the other, smoke swirling in wisps as he dangled the lit butt out the truck window.

  “Not sure I like that answer.”

  AucuChan1 changed course, “Forgot to mention, PF was at the house last night. He showed AC how the Sound Stone works. It was damn impressive. He lifted the PYT atop DW’s SUV above the house and put it down as nicely as you please.”

  “You’re depressing me.”

  Dragging deeply on the cigarette filter, the burly man typed, “PF also rolled AC across the lawn with it. Looked like AC got hurt. They were angry with PF. Shouted at him pretty good.”

  “Hmmm…maybe you should concentrate on PF for now. You said his laptop wasn’t in the barn? He might have copy of the map. Also keep looking on DW laptop for map and while at it search for the security system codes for the house and barn,” suggested Quechua212.

  “It’s an idea,” the burly man typed as he flicked the spent butt onto the roadway, “but cops will make them change codes now.”

  Jennifer stood by the broken window and stated, “Yep, that’s not an accidently broken window. You can see where the glass was punched out on the top pane in order to unlock the latch and slide up the bottom pane. Must have been a very strong person to swing out like that from the roof.”

  “How do you know he came in from the roof?” Anlon asked.

  “There’s a gravel bed directly under the window. I checked it out when I walked around the building. It’s undisturbed, so he didn’t use a ladder. I also don’t see how he could have carried a ladder through the woods from the road. It’s more logical that he climbed on the low roof by the woods and made his way to the back of the barn,” replied Jennifer.

  “We’ve scoured the tree line behind the stone wall,” she continued, “and the ground is heavily trampled. It looks like the thief has been casing the house for some time.”

  Pebbles looked out the barn window at the trees and said, “That’s creepy. Can you tell how long ago the break-in happened, Jennifer?”

  “You mean from the trampled underbrush? Good question Pebbles. Yes, some of the damage is very fresh, so I would say it happened overnight. You guys didn’t hear anything?”

  “Afraid not,” Anlon answered, “speaking for myself, that is. My room is on the front side of the house so it would have been hard to hear.”

  Pebbles chimed in, “I didn’t hear anything either and the room I slept in is right over the garage, closer to the barn.”

  Separate bedrooms, Jennifer noted. Hmmm…maybe they are just close friends. Shunting aside that piece of irrelevant information, she said, “Well, it’s possible it occurred on an earlier night. If the thief didn’t find what he searched for he might have come back again looking for another opportunity to get in. But I noticed there are only a few bugs flying around in here and the bedcover isn’t damp. If the window’s been open like that for a few days, I would expect more
bugs and traces of the morning dew on the furniture.”

  “I see. Yes, those signs do point at last night,” Anlon nodded, impressed again by Jennifer’s observational skills. Not just a good memory, he thought, she’s got a keen eye as well.

  “I know it’s probably a stupid question given what you told me on the phone, but do you know for certain if anything is missing?” Jennifer inquired.

  “No, sadly not. Devlin and Pacal’s laptops are not on their desks and we didn’t find the Port Stone that Pacal mentioned last night. If you remember, he said it was in the barn,” Anlon answered.

  “Yes, I remember. Too bad none of us thought to look last night. I know I was so freaked out from the Sound Stone demonstrations that I forgot completely about it,” Jennifer confided.

  Anlon shot a wink at Pebbles and teased, “Guess I’m not the only one who was distracted last night!”

  “Ha ha,” a blushing Pebbles responded.

  Jennifer was curious about the inside joke, especially when Pebbles’ face flushed red, but returned to the main topic of conversation, “Before I walked back to the barn to see you guys, I spoke with the officers searching the house. Unfortunately, they haven’t found any laptops besides yours and Pebbles’. I think it’s reasonable to assume Devlin’s laptop was taken by the thief.”

  “What about the Port Stone?” Pebbles interjected.

  “That I don’t know. It’s possible, maybe even probable, but my gut tells me it wasn’t in the barn to begin with,” said Jennifer.

  “Pacal?” Pebbles asked, nodding in understanding.

  Jennifer nodded in return. She was really starting to like Pebbles. She didn’t miss much and their brains worked at similar speeds. Having pried a little into Pebbles’ background, she wasn’t surprised.

  Pebbles, aka Eleanor McCarver, graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University’s Law School, a top 15 law program. Prior to that, she graduated Cum Laude from George Washington University with a bachelor’s in political science. While at GW, she also played volleyball for the university’s women’s team for two years and crewed for another. Her police record was whistle clean, but Jennifer did discover “Eleanor” had been briefly detained and charged in conjunction with a serious scandal not long after she graduated from law school. Jennifer wondered how much Anlon knew about Pebbles. lf he was aware of the controversy surrounding her, he seemed to not care. Pretty understanding, Jennifer thought, for a guy who developed a distaste for the limelight.