Please let them in when they arrive, and right now, show Mr. Freeman the security system.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Stone.”
“And not a word to Arrington about this.”
“No, sir, Mr. Stone.”
Manolo and Mike went into the house together.
Stone and Dino sat down and had a nightcap.
“Mike is arranging security for Arrington,” Stone said.
“Great. What about security for you?”
“Me?”
“You’re the guy who’s running the show that’s trying to foil Prince’s takeover of Centurion.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Stone said.
“I think we should start carrying,” Dino said.
“I think you’re right,” Stone replied.
Stone was dressing the following morning when his cell buzzed.
“Hello?”
“Stone, it’s Carolyn Blaine. It’s important that I see you as soon as possible.”
“Can’t we talk over the phone?”
“No, I don’t trust the phone.”
“All right, come here for breakfast; you know the way.”
“I’ll be there in half an hour,” she said, then hung up.
Stone was the first up. Dino was apparently still asleep, and Arrington was not an early riser. He buzzed Manolo. “Manolo, I’ll be having a guest for breakfast, a Ms. Blaine. She should be here in around half an hour.”
“Yes, Mr. Stone. The security people arrived around one a.m. and are doing their work.”
“Tell the one in the house not to be standing at Mrs. Calder’s door when she wakes up. He must be discreet until I’ve told her about the security.”
“Yes, Mr. Stone.”
“We’ll have some of your eggs Benedict for breakfast, this time with smoked salmon instead of ham.”
“Yes, Mr. Stone.”
His cell buzzed again. “Hello?”
“It’s Eggers.”
“Good day, Bill.”
“We faxed the sales documents for Mr. Long’s Centurion stock to Harvey Stein a couple of hours ago.”
“That’s good news. How about Baird’s documents?”
“Faxed to you; also, the corporate documents and sales agreement for Arrington’s airplane. Also, instructions to Chase to allow us to transfer funds from her account on her behalf. Make sure she signs where indicated. As soon as you fax that back to Chase, we can wire the funds for exercising the options on her adjoining property.”
“Certainly. You know, Bill, it’s great to have the firm behind me like this. I could never have gotten it all done on my own.”
“You need the firm now, because you have the clients to support.”
“Of course.”
“And the extension of Arrington’s line of credit has been granted for two hundred million.”
“Again, thanks.” Stone said goodbye, then hung up.
Stone ran his belt through the loops, then stopped. He took his travel gun, a Colt Government. 380, from his case and put it on his belt, then slipped into a linen jacket to cover it.
His cell buzzed again. “Hello?”
“Stone, it’s Harvey Stein.”
“How is Jim?”
“He was in a coma when I got there-result of loss of blood, and he hasn’t come to since the surgery.”
“Prognosis?”
“No better than a fifty-fifty chance of recovery. If he crashes now, we’ll have to start thinking about unplugging him. I’m his medical surrogate and his executor, so it will be up to me to decide if and when.”
“I don’t envy you that, Harvey.”
“I don’t envy me that, either. I’ll call when there’s news.” He hung up.
Carolyn made it in twenty minutes, and Manolo showed her out to the pool, where he had set the table.
“You look flustered,” Stone said. “Breakfast will be here shortly; would you like a mimosa?”
“No, thank you, just some orange juice.”
Stone poured them each a glass from the pitcher on the table. “Now,” he said, “what’s up?”
“First of all, Terry Prince found out yesterday that you had been to see James Long in jail, and that he had agreed to sell you his stock.”
“Oh? How did he know about that?”
“Terry is very plugged into the LAPD, and he has taken an interest in Long, since he learned he’s a stockholder. His lawyer talked to Long’s law firm yesterday.”
“I see.”
She fidgeted for a moment. “There’s more,” she said. “Someone knifed Long during the dinner hour last night.”
Stone decided to play dumb. “Is he all right?”
“He had surgery last night at Cedars-Sinai; I haven’t heard the result yet.”
“Why are you telling me all this, Carolyn?”
“You once said to me that if I needed legal advice to come to you.”
“That’s right, I did, but you don’t appear to have done anything wrong-not from what you’ve told me, anyway.”
“It’s not that,” she said. “Yesterday, quite by accident, I picked up the wrong phone line and heard Terry order Long’s murder.”
“Did he say that: ‘Murder James Long’?”
“Not exactly.”
“What did he say, exactly?”
“He said something like, ‘It needs to be done tonight; tomorrow could be too late.’ ”
“He could have been talking about getting a haircut. What made you think he was ordering a murder?”
“Terry called me and told me to bring in the file on a project we’re working on. I was with him for a good four hours before we finished. Shortly before I left, he got a phone call, and I answered. It was a man named Carter, whom I knew from other calls; he works at Parker Center. Terry took the call, and I pretended to go through the file while he talked. He said, ‘Is it done?’ Then he said, ‘Did Long have an opportunity to sign any papers today?’ I think the answer to the first question was an explanation of what had happened to Long, and the answer to the second question was no. He hung up, and I asked if everything was all right. He said he wasn’t sure; a friend was having surgery at Cedars, and he wouldn’t know anything until morning.
“I had some dinner with a friend, and when I got home I heard on the news that James Long had been stabbed at the jail and taken to Cedars-Sinai. It was easy to put two and two together.”
“And,” Stone said, “since you put two and two together only after the fact, you had no reason to call the police yesterday.”
“That’s right, and I’m not sure that what I could testify to is enough to get Terry tried and convicted.”
“I think you’re right about that,” Stone said.
Manolo brought breakfast, and they began to eat.
“Tell me, Carolyn,” Stone said, “do you have any idea what happened to Terry’s driver, Alexei?”
“Only what I read in the papers,” she said. “Terry brought up the subject, but he seemed to be as mystified as I. The man hadn’t come to work the day before, and when I called his apartment there was no reply. No reply to his cell phone, either.”
“What about Jennifer Harris? Any ideas about her death?”
“Who?”
