have pubic hairs, if indeed you do, in this age of the Brazilian. I don’t understand why a woman would endure that kind of pain just so her boyfriend won’t get hairs in his teeth.”
Kelli laughed.
“But I digress,” Wheaton said. “If Cecchini petit-fils heard you mention Eduardo Bianchi, and if he knows what you do for a living, then Mr. Bianchi or someone who feels beholden to him knows, too.”
“I just asked him if he knew who somebody was named Eduardo Bianchi. He immediately moved away from me at the bar, and he left as soon as he finished his drink.”
“Could he have asked the bartender about you?”
“I didn’t see them have any conversation.”
“Good. If I were you, from this moment on, I would not let Mr. Bianchi’s name pass my lips, nor would I utter the mayor’s name in conjunction with his.”
“Well, there goes my item,” Kelli said sadly.
“If you were contemplating something along the lines of ‘The mayor wedded Stone Barrington to the widow of Vance Calder at the home of Eduardo Bianchi,’ then certainly your item is gone-or you are. Take your pick.”
Kelli nodded. “I get it.”
“Now, it would not be off-limits for you to connect the studly Mr. Barrington to the Calder widow and her fortune if, indeed, you can substantiate that such nuptials actually took place. Page Six thrives on that sort of thing.” Wheaton picked up her phone and leafed through a fat Rolodex. “Go to the powder room, take your time, then come back.”
Kelli set down her coffee cup and left Wheaton’s office. She visited the ladies’, did her business, touched up her makeup, then returned. Wheaton was just hanging up.
“Good timing,” she said, pointing at the visitors’ chair. “I just spoke to an old friend of mine, Rick Barron. Does that name mean anything to you?”
Kelli shook her head.
“Of course not; you are hardly contemporaries. Rick was, for many decades, a macher at Centurion. He put Vance Calder under contract when he was nineteen, at the suggestion of his wife, Glenna Gleason.” She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
Kelli shook her head again.
“Major singer and movie star from the late thirties up to the sixties. They’ve been married for at least sixty years. So, here’s the dope. Vance Calder was visiting New York around fifteen years ago when he met a young woman named Arrington Carter.”
“Then Arrington is the “A” in Christine A. Carter.”
“Correct. Arrington had been seriously seeing Stone Barrington for a while, living with him for much of the time, but when she did the profile on Vance, he swept her off her feet, took her back to L.A., and married her. Almost exactly nine months later, she produced a son, Peter. They lived happily ever after, until someone deposited a bullet in Vance’s carcass.
“When that happened, she was a suspect, being the spouse, and she apparently called on Stone B. For help. He went out there and helped straighten out things for her. Again, last year, when the corporate raider made a run on Centurion, she called on Stone, and he was very helpful. About that time she fired her attorney and hired Stone to represent her in all things, among them, dealing with her very large interest in Centurion by serving on its board. Bringing her in as a client probably resulted in Stone’s being made a partner at Woodman amp; Weld. Rick knows Stone and was not terribly surprised to hear that he and Arrington have married. By the way, Arrington has lived for a number of years in the environs of Charlottesville, Virginia, where she is currently building a house.”
“And you got all that from one phone call?”
“You can do that, if you call the right person,” Wheaton said, stroking her Rolodex like a puppy.
“Tell me, Prunie, did your contact address the issue of the father of the nine-month baby?”
Wheaton’s eyebrows went up. And she smiled broadly, revealing perfect dental implants. “No, my dear,” she said, “but I think you have a future in the gossip business.”
29
W hen Stone arrived at his desk Joan handed him a slip of paper. “Mike Freeman would like you to have lunch with him and a friend at the Four Seasons, at one o’clock,” she said.
Stone looked at the paper. “Who’s his friend?”
“He didn’t say, even when I asked him, but there’s nothing else on your calendar, so I accepted for you.”
“All right,” Stone said.
“Also, Herbie Fisher’s divorce petition has been granted.”
She handed him a document. “Here’s his copy of the decree.”
“That was unusually fast,” Stone said.
“My information is that a lot of petitions have been withdrawn, pending the new no-fault law coming into effect.”
“Get Herbie for me, please.”
A moment later the phone buzzed, and Stone picked up. “Good morning, Herbie.”
“Good morning, Stone. You got me on the way out to class.”
“I won’t keep you. Your divorce petition has been granted; you’re a free man again.”
“That’s great news, Stone.”
“Try and hang on to your freedom for a while, will you?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Bye.” Herbie hung up.
Stone shook his head. He fully expected to hear soon from Herbie that he had found The One.
Stone walked up the stairs at the Four Seasons and immediately spotted Mike Freeman at his regular table in the Grill, along with another man. As he approached the table, Stone saw a thickly built gentleman in a good suit with short, salt-and-pepper hair, whom he did not recognize.
Mike stood when he saw Stone coming and offered his hand. “Stone, I’d like you to meet Hank Hightower. Hank, this is Stone Barrington.”
Stone shook the man’s hand and sat down.
“Drink?”
“I’ll stick with San Pellegrino,” Stone said.
Mike ordered the water for them all, and menus arrived. He waited until lunch was on the way before continuing. “Stone, Hank is CEO of Steele Security, the insurance company.”
“Ah, of course,” Stone said.
“Steele, as you probably know, is a broad-based insurance company, offering just about every sort of coverage.”
“Yes, I’ve seen the ads,” Stone said. “You’re an old-line company, aren’t you, Hank?”
“Since 1850,” Hightower replied.
Mike continued. “Hank and I have worked out a way for Steele to offer its best customers additional coverage from Strategic Services: personal security, various travel coverages, et cetera. For instance, many of Steele’s clients when traveling domestically or abroad take along expensive items, like jewelry.”
“Yes,” Hightower said, “and these days, with all the terrorism in the world, many of our customers are feeling a bit nervous about the personal safety of themselves and their families-kidnapping, robbery, that sort of thing.”
“I can understand that,” Stone said.
“We’re going to need a legal framework to cover our collaboration,” Mike said, “and we’d like your firm to draw that up.”
“We’d be very happy to do so,” Stone replied. “Hank, can you supply me with an outline of your collaboration, the specific services involved, and your various responsibilities to each other?”
