L.A. Dead

by Stuart Woods

"Lou Regenstein, please; this is Stone Barrington."

  "May I ask what this is about?"

  "He'll know." Stone had met Regenstein the year before, when he was in Los Angeles on another matter involving Vance and Arrington.

  A moment later, Regenstein was on the line. "Stone, I'm so glad to hear from you; you've heard what's happened, I'm sure."

  "That's why I'm here; I got in last evening."

  "I've been going nuts; the police won't tell me where Arrington is, and the coroner won't release Vance's body to a funeral home without her permission."

  "Arrington is in a hospital; I'm going to see her at noon today."

  "Is she all right? Was she hurt in the shooting?"

  "She's fine, from all accounts. I'll be talking to her doctor, too."

  "What can I do to help?"

  "Lou, who is the best criminal lawyer in L.A.?"

  "Marc Blumberg, hands down; does Arrington need him?"

  "Yes, if only to contain the situation."

  "He's a personal friend of mine; I'll call him right now. Where can he see Arrington?"

  "I want to see her before she talks to another lawyer," Stone said. "Tell Blumberg to expect a call from me at some point, and to deny that he's representing Arrington, if the press should call in the meantime."

  "All right." Regenstein gave him Blumberg's number. "Remember, Stone, Centurion is at Arrington's disposal-anything she needs; you, too. Look, I've had an idea: You're going to need some place to get things done while you're here. I'll make Vance's bungalow available to you for as long as you need it."

  "Thank you, Lou; it would be good to have some office facilities."

  "You remember Vance's secretary, Betty Southard?"

  Indeed he did; Stone and Betty had spent considerable time together during his last visit to town, much of it in bed. "Of course."

  "She's there, holding down the fort; I'll let her know you're coming, and I'll leave a pass for you at the main gate."

  "Thank you, Lou, I'll be in touch later." Stone hung up and called his own office, in New York.

  "Stone Barrington's office," Joan Robertson said.

  "Hi, it's Stone."

  "Oh, Stone, I'm so glad you called. Have you heard about Vance Calder?"

  "Yes, I'm in L.A. now, at the Bel-Air Hotel."

  "What's going on?"

  "I haven't had time to find out, but I want you to go into our computer boilerplate, print out some documents and fax them to me soonest."

  "What do you want?"

  Stone dictated a list of the documents, then hung up. Breakfast arrived and he turned on the TV news while he ate. The local channels were going nuts; the biggest star in Hollywood had been murdered, and they couldn't find out anything. They were treading water as fast as they could, recycling what litde information they had. They couldn't find Arrington, the police wouldn't issue anything but the most basic statement, Centurion had no comment, except to express deep loss and regret, and no friend of either Vance's or Arrington's would talk to the press, even off the record, not that any of them knew anything. That was good, he thought.

  The phone rang. "Hello?"

  "Mr. Barrington?"

  "Yes."

  "This is Hillary Carter, Arrington's mother."

  "How are you, Mrs. Carter?"

  "Terrible, of course, but I'm glad you're here. Arrington badly needs someone to take charge of things."

  "Have you seen her?"

  "Only for a few minutes, yesterday, and she was semiconscious. She was asking for you, though."

  "I'm seeing her at noon today."

  "Oh, good. The doctor doesn't want her to see Peter, yet; I don't know why."

  "I'll see if I can find out."

  "I'm at Vance's house, now, and the situation here is nearly out of hand. I've had to call the police to keep people from climbing over the fence."

  "I'll see if I can arrange some private security."

  "That would be a very good idea, I think."

  "Is Peter all right?"

  "Yes, but he wants his mother and father, and I'm having to stall him. What I'd like to do is to get him out of this zoo and take him home to Virginia with me. Arrington is quite happy for him to come with me."

  "That might be a good idea. Can I call you after I've seen Arrington?"

  "Yes, please; I'll give you Vance's most secret number. The press hasn't learned about it, yet."

  Stone wrote down the number.

  "I'm so sorry we've never met face to face," Mrs. Carter said. "Arrington has always spoken so well of you."

  "Mrs. Carter, do you have any objection to my taking over all of Arrington's legal decisions and contacts with… everyone outside the family?"

  "I'd be very grateful if you would, but of course, I'd like to be consulted about any medical treatment beyond what she's getting now."

  "Of course. I'll talk to you later today." He said good-bye and hung up. There was a knock on the door, and an envelope was slid under it. Stone checked the contents and found the documents Joan had faxed to him.

  He telephoned Lou Regenstein.

  "Yes, Stone?"

  "I've just spoken with Arrington's mother, who is at Vance's house with her grandson. She says the press there is out of hand, and she's had to call the police. Can you arrange for some private security to take over that?"

  "Of course; how many men do you want?"

  "She says they're coming over the fence, and my recollection is that they've got a large piece of property there."

  "Something like eight acres," Regenstein said.

  "I should think half a dozen men inside the fence, two in the house and a car patroling the perimeter of the place, twenty-four hours a day, for the time being."

  "Consider it done; anything else?"

  "Mrs. Carter wants to take Peter back to Virginia with her. Do you think you could arrange transportation?"

  "The Centurion jet is at her disposal," Regenstein said. "I'll have a crew standing by in an hour."

  "I shouldn't think she'd need it until later today. Is it at Burbank?"

  "Yes, but the press would know that. I'll have it moved to Santa Monica and hangared at the Supermarine terminal, until she's ready to leave."

  "Thank you, Lou. I'll call you later."

  There was nothing else to do, Stone reflected. Dino would be in the air, now, on his way back to New York. He checked his notebook, dialed the palazzo number in Venice and asked for Eduardo.

  "Stone?"

  "Yes, Eduardo?"

  "This is Carmen Bellini. Eduardo and Dolce are on their way back to New York. I'm spending a couple of more days here to rest, at his suggestion. Are you in Los Angeles?"

  "Yes." Stone told him most of what he knew so far. "If Eduardo contacts you before I reach him, please pass on that information."

  "Certainly. Is there anything I can do for you?"

  "Pray for Arrington," Stone said.

  He hung up, and it suddenly occured to him that, since he had left Venice, he had not thought of Dolce once.

  Chapter 8

  Stone collected his rental car, a Mercedes E430, and drove to the Judson Clinic, arriving at noon. The place was housed in what had been a residence, a very large one, on a quiet Beverly Hills street, set well back from the road. The reception desk was in the marble foyer, and Stone asked for Dr. Judson.

  A moment later, a man appeared on the upstairs landing, waving him up. Stone climbed the floating staircase and was greeted by a distinguished-looking man in his sixties, wearing a well-cut suit. Stone thought he would make an impressive witness, if it came to that.

  "Mr. Barrington? I'm Jim Judson."

  "Please call me Stone."

  "Thanks. Come into my office, and let's talk for a moment, before we see Arrington."

  Stone followed him into a large, sunny office and took a seat on a sofa, while Judson sat across from him in a comfortable chair.

  "I want to tell you what I know, thus far, so that you'll be pr
epared when you see Arrington," he said.

  "Please do."

  "Arrington was brought here by an ambulance on Saturday evening, at the request of her personal physician, Dr. Lansing Drake, a well-known Beverly Hills doctor. She was alternately hysterical, disoriented, and lethargic. Dr. Drake explained briefly what had occurred at her residence, and he and I agreed that she should be sedated. I injected her with twenty milligrams of Valium, and she slept peacefully through the night.

  "When she awoke on Sunday morning she seemed quite calm and normal, and she immediately asked that you be contacted. She said that you were on an island in the Caribbean called St. Mark's, and that she was supposed to meet you there. My staff made repeated attempts to contact you there, without success. I reassured her that we would find you, and she seemed to accept that. She slept much of the morning, had a good lunch. When she questioned why she was here I said that she had collapsed at home, and that I thought it a good idea for her to remain here for observation for a day or two. She accepted that.

  "Late in the afternoon, her mother arrived, having flown in from Virginia. I was in the room when they met, and it became immediately apparent that Arrington was very disoriented. She seemed not to understand that she was married to Vance Calder, saying that she was supposed to interview him, but that she had changed her mind and had decided to meet you in St. Mark's instead. When her mother mentioned Peter, her son, she became disturbed again, but after a few moments seemed to understand that she had a son and that Calder was the father. Her mother, quite wisely, turned the conversation to trivial things, and after a few minutes she left. Arrington immediately went to sleep again."

  "And what do you make of all this?" Stone asked.

  "It seems clear that Arrington is undergoing periods of anterograde amnesia, brought on by the shock of her husband's murder. Anterograde amnesia is a condition during which the great mass of old memories, prior to a certain point, remain intact, while the subject does not have access to more recent memories, or those memories are intermittent or scrambled-this, as opposed to retrograde amnesia, during which the subject may lose memory of all prior events, even her identity."

  "Forgive me, Jim, are you a psychologist?"

  "A psychiatrist. This is, primarily, a psychiactric clinic, although we do some work with patients who have substance abuse problems."

  "Is Arrington likely to recover all her memory?"

  "Yes, if the basis for her amnesia is emotional, not physical, and that seems the case. Her mother had spoken with her on the previous Sunday and said that at that time she seemed perfectly normal. If she should show signs of not recovering her memory, then I think a brain scan would be in order, to rule out a physical basis for her problem."

  "Does she know that Vance is dead?"

  "That's hard to say; I haven't asked her that, direcdy, and when the police came here, I refused to allow her to be questioned."

  "You did the right thing," Stone said.

  "Arrington seems to have an idea that something may be wrong, but she tends to divert the conversation if it heads in a direction she doesn't want it to go. She may very well be, unconsciously, protecting herself emotionally from a situation which she is not yet ready to confront."

  "I see. Perhaps it's time to explain to her what has happened?"

  "Perhaps it is. She'll have to be told sooner or later, and since she seems to have an emotional attachment to you, it might be best that she hear it from you."

  "All right. Jim, I should tell you that, for the moment, I am acting as Arrington's attorney, as well as her friend, and that, given the circumstances, you may be asked questions by the police. Should that occur, I advise you to rest on doctor-patient confidentiality and decline to answer. At a later date, with Arrington's concurrence, I may ask you to give a statement to the police or the district attorney."

  "I understand completely."

  "Shall we go and see Arrington, then?"

  "Please follow me." Judson led the way from his office, down a hallway to the last door on the right-hand side. He knocked softly.

  "Come in," a woman's voice replied.

  Judson opened the door. "Arrington, I've brought someone to see you," he said. He stepped aside and ushered Stone into the room.

  The room appeared much like a guest room in a sumptuous home, except for the elevated hospital bed. On the far side of the room, a cabinet had, apparently, once held a television set, which had been removed. Sunlight streamed through the windows, which were open above a garden at the rear of the house. Arrington sat up in bed and held out her arms. "Stone!" she cried.

  Stone went to her and took her in his arms, kissing her on the cheek. To his surprise, she turned his head and gave him a wet kiss on the mouth. Stone glanced at the doctor, who evinced surprise.

  "How are you feeling?" he asked.

  "Much better. For a while, all I was doing was sleeping. What took you so long to get here?"

  "I had to come a great distance," he replied. "Do you feel well enough to talk for a while?"

  "Yes, I do; I feel very well, actually. I'm not quite sure why Dr. Jud-son is keeping me here."

  "Your mother came to see you yesterday, remember?"

  "Of course. We had a very nice visit. I'm sorry to have alarmed her; it was a long way for her to come, to find me perfectly well."

  "She wanted to be sure Peter was all right without you."

  Arrington's face clouded slightly. "Yes, she told me. I'm a little confused about that."

  "How so?"

  "Well, apparently-this is very embarrassing-I had forgotten that I'm his mother."

  "That's all right," the doctor interjected. "Don't worry about that."

  "Did you remember who Peter's father is?"

  "Yes, after I was prompted, I'm ashamed to say. Stone, I'm so sorry; I wanted a chance to explain to you about Vance and me. I wrote to you in St. Mark's, but I suppose you must have already left there by the time the letter arrived. Can I explain?"

  "Yes, go ahead," Stone said, sitting on the side of the bed.

  She took his hand in both of hers. "Stone, I think I knew that you were going to ask me to marry you when I arrived in St. Mark's. Am I right, or am I being presumptuous?"

  "You're right; I was going to ask you. I had a ring, even."

  "I think I felt… a little panic about that, as if I weren't really ready to be your wife. I think that may be why I missed the first flight. The snowstorm was something of a relief, I'm afraid."

  "You were a free woman," Stone said. "You didn't have to marry me."

  "Then Vance arrived in town, and although we'd known each other before, something was different this time."

  Stone recalled that Arrington had been with Vance, at a dinner party, when they had first been introduced.

  "We spent all our time together, working on the interview, which turned into a very long conversation about everything in the world, and before I knew it, we were in love. I can't explain it; it just happened."

  "It's like that, sometimes," Stone said.

  "Do you hate me for it?"

  "I could never hate you."

  "Oh, I'm so relieved," she said, squeezing his hand. "I don't think I could be happy without you in my life-as a friend, I mean." She blushed a little.

  "I feel the same way," Stone said. "And it's because I'm your friend that I have to tell you some things, now." Stone took a deep breath, looked directly into her large eyes, and told her.

  Chapter 9

  Arrington stared at Stone as he spoke, her eyes wide and unblinking. Gradually, tears rimmed her eyes, then spilled down her cheeks. She seemed unable to speak.

  Stone stopped talking for a moment. "Do you remember any of this?" he asked.

  She shook her head, spilling more tears.

  "What's the last thing you remember before Saturday?" Dr. Judson asked.

  She closed her eyes tightly. "Someone cutting the grass," she said.

  "And what day was that?"

/>   "I'm not sure. I had a brief conversation with… Geraldo, his name is. I asked him not to cut the grass quite so closely. We agreed on two inches; I remember that."

  "Do you remember what plans you and Vance had for Saturday night?" Judson asked.

  She shook her head. "I'd have to look at the book."

  "What book is that?"

  "The book that Vance and I keep our schedules together in. I have my own book, too, for things I don't do with him, and he has his own book that Betty keeps."

  "And who is Betty?"

  "Betty Southard, his personal assistant; she works in his office at the studio."

  "What were you doing immediately before you spoke to Geraldo?" the doctor asked.

  "I was cutting flowers in the garden," she said.

  "And what did you do after you finished cutting the flowers and speaking to Geraldo?"

  Her shoulders sagged. "I don't remember. I suppose I must have gone back into the house, but I can't remember doing it."

  "What jewelry had you planned to wear Saturday night?" Stone asked.

  "Diamonds," she replied. "It was black tie."

  "Who was the host?"

  "What?"

  "The host of the dinner party?"

  "What dinner party?"

  "The one on Saturday night."

  She looked lost. "I don't remember."

  "Did you take your jewelry out of the safe?"

  "I don't know."

  "What is the last thing you remember Vance saying to you?" Judson asked.

  "He said I should wear the diamonds. He was taking his jewelry box out of the safe; I remember that."

  "What else was in the safe?"

  "I remember who was having the dinner party," she said. "It was Lou Regenstein."

  "Did you enjoy the party?" Judson asked.

  "I don't remember the party," she said.

  "Arrington," Stone said, "does Vance own a gun?"

  "I think so," she replied. "At least, he said he did. I've never seen a gun in the house."

  "Do you know how to fire a gun?" Stone asked.

  "My father taught me to fire a rifle, a twenty-two, when I was sixteen."

  "Did he teach you to fire a pistol, too?"

  She shook her head. "I don't think I've ever even held a pistol."