by Stuart Woods
“Whatever happened to Barbara?” Stone asked.
Eagle and Susannah exchanged a meaningful glance. “Well,” he said, “she made another attempt on my life last year, and it nearly worked. I was hospitalized for a spell.”
“Do you know where she is now ?”
“Yes, I do; she’s in San Francisco, remarried, and a hot number on the social circuit there.”
“But shouldn’t she be in prison? Wasn’t she convicted of something?”
“She got off on a charge of trying to kill me in L.A., but she was wanted in Mexico for attempted murder, and I and a couple of P.I.s tricked her into crossing the border and got her arrested there. She was doing time in a Mexican prison when she escaped and made her way back to this country. You won’t believe what happened next.”
“Try me.”
“Her most recent husband, a very rich man, died in a car crash on a freeway north of Palo Alto, and he left a will limiting her to a monthly stipend and the use of an apartment in San Francisco. Some lawyer heard something in a country club locker room to the effect that her husband’s attorney had forged the part of the will cutting her out, and he managed to get it overturned, so she inherited everything, more than a billion dollars. She used some of her money to buy herself a pardon in Mexico, and now she’s as free as a bird.”
“I don’t believe it!” Stone said.
“I said you wouldn’t.”
“And there’s nothing you can do about the attempt on your life?”
“The only witness against her, the contract hit man she hired, was murdered—we think she did that, too.” Eagle looked at Susannah again. “I was so angry I flew to San Francisco to deal with her myself, but at the last minute, Susannah talked me out of it.”
“He just needed time to cool off,” Susannah said.
“If not for Susannah, I would probably be in prison myself by now,” Eagle said.
“You’re no good to me in prison,” Susannah said.
“That was her argument, and I couldn’t contest it.”
“You’re a wise woman, Susannah,” Stone said.
“I know,” she replied.
They went in to dinner.
Later, as they were waiting for the valets to bring around Stone’s car, Stone said, “Ed, I’m going to see what else, if anything, I can find out about Carolyn Blaine, or whoever she is.”
“I’d like it if you’d keep in touch about that,” Eagle replied. “She has a lot to answer for, and my client is out a lot of money.”
“I don’t want to blow her out of the water just yet, as she’s being very useful to me in dealing with Terry Prince.”
“I understand,” Eagle said. “Something else: she may be responsible for the murder of my client’s wife.”
Stone’s eyebrows went up. “A murderer, too?”
“My client was initially charged, but evidence was found that the last person his wife was in bed with was a woman, not a man. Your Ms. Blaine may be a lesbian, or at least bisexual.”
“Maybe that explains why I’m not attracted to her,” Stone said. “God knows, she’s beautiful.”
“Well, Stone,” Eagle said, “it’s nice to know there’s a woman somewhere you’re not attracted to.”
“It’s a first,” Dino said.
Stone’s car came, he and Eagle shook hands, and he and Dino drove home.
42
The following day, Saturday, Stone and Dino, with nothing else to do, drove out to Malibu for lunch. They found a nice little Italian restaurant in the shopping area and shared a bottle of wine.
After lunch they left the restaurant and began to wander among the neat rows of boutiques.
“Sighting at four o’clock,” Dino said.
Stone swiveled to four o’clock and his eyes came to rest upon Carolyn Blaine, window-shopping about thirty yards away. It was the first time he had seen her casually dressed, in shorts and a Polo shirt. He was about to approach her when another very attractive older woman got there first, and after a brief greeting they embraced in a way that got Stone’s attention.
“That,” Dino said, “was done the way it’s usually done with a man.”
“I noticed that, too,” Stone said.
The two women began walking among the shops, their hands occasionally touching in an affectionate way. At one moment, the older woman’s hand came in firm contact with Carolyn’s ass and remained there for a long moment, finishing with a squeeze.
“The plot thickens,” Dino said.
Hanging well back, the two continued to follow the women until they came to a parked Rolls-Royce, its engine idling. A driver in a suit leapt out and opened the rear door for them. Then, apparently having been instructed to go away, he did so.
Stone grabbed a tiny table at a little open-air bar and ordered them a beer. “This is very interesting,” he said.
Dino took his notebook from his pocket and wrote something down.
“You’re going to run the plate, aren’t you?” Stone asked.
“You bet your ass.”
“I wish I’d thought of that.”
“Have you noticed that the car moves a little now and then?” Dino asked.
“Yes, I noticed that. And the windows are too darkened to see through.”
“It must take quite a lot of action to get a Rolls to move around.”
Stone laughed. “Go ahead, run the plate.”
Dino called his office in New York, and in a minute or so he handed Stone his notebook with a name and address.
Stone looked at it. “Means nothing to me,” he said.
“San Francisco,” Dino said.
“I don’t know anybody in San Francisco,” Stone said. “Do you?”
“Nah, not a soul.”
They nursed their beers for a few more minutes, then suddenly the rear door of the Rolls opened and Carolyn got out, adjusting her clothing and hair. She called to the driver, who was standing nearby, and he went back to the car, got in, and drove away. Carolyn resumed wandering among the shops.
“I’ll be back in a minute or two,” Stone said. He got up and walked to where she was gazing into a shop window. “Good afternoon,” he said.
She turned, looking surprised. “Oh, hello, Stone. What brings you out here?”
“Lunch and some down time,” he replied.
“All ready for the stockholders’ meeting Tuesday morning?”
“I don’t really have any preparations to make,” Stone said. “I’ve just been enjoying my time in L.A.”
“What have you been doing?”
“Lying around, mostly. Had dinner last night with some friends from Santa Fe who are in town.” He caught just a tiny flicker of concern in her face. “Nice town, Santa Fe. Have you spent any time there?”
“Once, half a dozen years ago; a weekend with somebody I shouldn’t have gone there with.”
Stone laughed. “Yes, we’ve all had weekends like that, haven’t we?”
“Have you talked to Mrs. Calder about the offer on the Bel-Air property?”
“No, I haven’t received a revised offer that meets her requirements,” he said.
“Is this still about Centurion?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we’ll have that out of the way on Tuesday, one way or another.”
“One way or another,” Stone said. “If the Bel-Air deal should go through, would you be involved?”
“I would head up the project for Terry,” she said. “I think it would be a lot of fun, designing and building a new, top-of-the-line hotel.”
“I expect it would,” Stone said. “It would be a disappointment for you, wouldn’t it, if Terry got his hands onto the Centurion property.”
“Not necessarily,” she said. “Terry can be very persuasive.”
“I’m afraid his charms are lost on me,” Stone said. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve left Dino over there somewhere with a beer.”
“See you Tuesday,” she said.
Stone
went back to the bar and sat down. “Something’s wrong,” he said.
“What do you mean, wrong?”
“She’s been nervous as a cat the last couple of times I’ve talked with her, and she constantly talked about how wired Terry Prince was, but now, suddenly, she’s perfectly calm, and apparently looking forward to the Centurion stockholders’ meeting on Tuesday.”
“Maybe,” Dino said, “having sex in the backseat of a Rolls-Royce has a calming effect.”
Stone sat, sipping his tepid beer, trying to think of something to do.
43
When Stone and Dino got back to the house there was an envelope on the poolside table addressed to Stone and marked, “By Messenger.” The return address was Terry Prince’s office.
Stone sat down and opened it. “Looks like a new offer on the Bel-Air property,” he said.
“The guy doesn’t give up easily, does he?”
A slip of paper fell from the envelope, and Stone picked it up. “And a check for twenty-five million dollars, too!” Stone scanned the agreement. “The last offer was from Prince’s company,” he said. “This one’s from him personally, and the twenty-five-million-dollar deposit is nonrefundable. The check is drawn on his personal account.”
“What does that mean?” Dino asked.
“I suppose it means that he wants to do the project without investors. At least, at the beginning. That’s not how deals of this size are done; there’s always a corporation, even if it’s wholly owned.”
“Are you sure this guy is entirely sane?” Dino asked.
Stone shook his head. “No, I’m not entirely sure he’s entirely sane. I think maybe he’s just trying to impress Arrington.” Stone picked up the phone and called Virginia.
“Hello?”
“Hi there, it’s Stone.”
“Funny, I was about to call you.”
“Then you first.”
“I think I’ll come out there for the Centurion shareholders’ meeting on Tuesday.”
“That would be great, but you don’t have to; I already have your proxy.”
“I think I might enjoy voting my shares personally,” she said.
“I think you just want to fly somewhere in your new airplane.”
She giggled. “Well, there is that. Okay, your turn.”
“We got a new offer from Prince today,” he said. “It’s the same amount, but it’s from Prince personally, not from his company, and there was included a check for twenty-five million dollars as a nonrefundable deposit. You have until five p.m. on Tuesday to accept.”
“I’ve never seen a check for twenty-five million dollars,” she said.
“Neither had I, until today.”
“Well, don’t lose it,” she said.
“When will you be out here?”
“How about dinner tomorrow night, you and Dino?”
“I think I can talk Dino into that; you’re on. Call me from the plane and give me an ETA, and I’ll meet you at the airport.”
“How sweet of you; I’ll do that. See you then.”
“Bye.” Stone hung up.
“What do you think you can talk me into?” Dino asked.
“Dinner tomorrow night with Arrington.”
“You talked me into it.”
“She’s coming for the stockholders’ meeting; wants to vote her own shares.”
“Okay by me.”
“Me, too,” Stone said.
“Stone, why don’t you marry the girl?”
“We talked about it a while back, in Dark Harbor; decided it wouldn’t work.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to live in Virginia, and she doesn’t want to live in New York.”
“Oh. Somehow I could see you living the life of a Virginia gentleman, riding to the hounds and all that.”
“I haven’t been on a horse since I was twelve, at summer camp,” Stone said, “and if I started a hunt on horseback, the horse would very likely finish without me.”
“How about being a gentleman farmer?”
“Not the slightest interest,” Stone said. “Isn’t that what grocery stores are for?”
“When was the last time you were in a grocery store?” Dino asked.
“I don’t remember. Joan and my housekeeper Helene do all the shopping.”
“Have you heard from Joan?”
“We’ve talked most days.”
“Is she happy about your partnership?”
“Yes, since she found out she doesn’t have to work in the Seagram Building. She likes it at my house.”
“How is the partnership going to change your life?”
Stone sighed. “I don’t know, really. I suppose I’ll have to attend more meetings, but I’m going to keep life as much like it is now as I can.”
“Everything changes.”
“Not everything; you’re still a lieutenant, when you could be a captain, or maybe even chief of detectives.”
“I don’t want that to change,” Dino said. “I’ve got it really good as it is; I pretty much work for myself, don’t have to take daily orders from anybody else. The commissioner likes me, the chief likes me, and the chief of detectives likes me. If I let them promote me, I’d be somebody’s rival, and the politics would start.”
“You’re right; you’ve got a sweet deal, and it would be a shame to screw that up.”
“You want to know what I’m doing right this minute?” Dino asked.
“You’re sitting on your ass,” Stone said.
“No, I’m liaising with my counterparts at the LAPD, comparing procedures and programs.”
“You could have fooled me,” Stone said.
“Didn’t you wonder what all that stuff with Rivera was about?”
“I thought you were just keeping your hand in.”
“Well, that, too.”
Stone’s cell rang. “Hello?”
“Stone, it’s Mike Freeman.”
“How are you, Mike?”
“Very well thanks.”
“Thank you again for doing the airplane and hangar deals for Arrington. She’s very appreciative.”
“You’re both very welcome,” Mike said. “I enjoyed doing it.”
“What’s happening in New York?”
“It’s weirdly quiet,” Mike said. “Things are just rolling along; the company seems to be taking care of itself. None of our security clients has been shot or had his car blown up.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Stone said. He told him about the exploding Mercedes.
“Well, shit,” Mike said. “I should have kept some people at the house. I thought that, after Arrington left, there wouldn’t be any further problems.”
“So did I,” Stone said.
“I’ll have people there in an hour.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Stone said. “Dino and I can handle it.”
“You didn’t handle it too well the last time, did you? And anyway, you’re our corporate counsel and a member of our board, and you have to be protected.”
“If you insist.”
“I do insist! I’m glad I called to see how things were, since things are so terrible in L.A. I’m going to come out there and personally see that you don’t die before Tuesday.”
“You’re just bored and looking for an excuse to get out of New York.”
“You could be right,” Mike said, “between now and Tuesday, we’re all going to watch your ass. I’ll be there tomorrow. Dinner?”
“You can join Arrington, Dino, and me.”
“I’ve got an airplane to catch,” Mike said, then hung up.
44
Stone managed to sleep late on Sunday morning. He had eggs Benedict in bed and read both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. It was nearly noon when the bedside phone rang.
“Stone? It’s Rick Barron.”
“Good morning, Rick. How is everything?”
“I’m not sure,” Rick replied.
“What’s making you unsure?�
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“Something’s wrong with Jim Long.”
“Rick, he’s suffered a knife wound and lost a kidney; of course something’s wrong with him.”
“No, I mean about his shares in Centurion.”
“Rick, you can rest easy about those shares; they’re bought and paid for, and I have the stock certificate.”
“Yes, I know that, but I just had a call from the attorney for Jennifer Harris’s estate, and he told me he’s had an offer for her shares.”
“So Prince is still trying to get them.”
“No, the offer is not from Prince; he wouldn’t tell me who it was, but he did tell me it was for four thousand dollars a share.”
“Four thousand!”
“That’s what he said. He’s waiting for an answer from her trustees, and he wanted to give us a chance to match the offer.”
“Then that means that Prince is going to show up on Tuesday and make that offer to all the stockholders.”
“Stone, I told you, the offer isn’t from Prince.”
“Who else could it be?”
“I don’t have the slightest idea, and I’m very worried about it.”
“It doesn’t matter, Rick; we have enough shares on our side to get along without Jennifer Harris’s.”
“There’s something else, Stone.”
Stone felt a trickle of apprehension run down his bowels. “What else, Rick.”
“The attorney intimated that Jim Long’s shares might be in play as well.”
“That’s not possible, and Long knows it,” Stone said. “At least, his attorney, Harvey Stein, does.”
“I hope you’re right, but I just have the feeling that everything is about to go wrong.”
“Then there’s the shareholder who promised to vote with us.”
“Yes, you wouldn’t tell me his name. Maybe you’d better call him and have a chat.”
“I can’t; it’s Sunday, and I don’t have his home number.”
“Is his office number at Centurion?”
“Well, yes.”
“Then I probably have his home number in my book.”
“But if I ask you for that, I’d be violating his confidence, and I can’t call him and ask him for his permission.”