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?”
