Bel-Air Dead (11 page)

“Haven’t you already?” Stone asked. He looked over her shoulder and spotted an extremely tall man with a beautiful blonde. “Why, there’s my friend Ed Eagle, from Santa Fe,” Stone said. “Come, let’s go meet him.” He took Carolyn’s arm. “Do you know Ed? He’s a famous trial lawyer in these parts.”

“No,” Carolyn replied, “I’ve never been to Santa Fe.” She pulled away. “Will you excuse me? I need to find the ladies’ room; I’ll join you in a few minutes.” She hurried away.

Stone walked over and greeted Ed and Susannah Eagle. “Good to see you, Ed,” Stone said, shaking his hand. “It’s been a long time.”

“Too long, Stone,” Eagle replied. “Have you met Susannah?”

“No,” Stone replied. “That’s how long it’s been. How do you do, Susannah?”

“I’m glad to meet you, Stone; Ed has told me a lot about you.”

“Not too much, I hope,” Stone said.

“Stone,” Eagle said, “who was the blonde you were with until a moment ago? There’s something familiar about her.”

“Her name is Carolyn Blaine,” Stone said. “She’s executive assistant to Terry Prince, but you haven’t met her. She said she’d never been to Santa Fe.”

“Maybe it was out here, then,” Eagle said.

“Oh, Ed,” his wife interjected, “every pretty girl looks familiar to you.”

“She’ll be back in a minute,” Stone said. “She’s just gone to the ladies’. Then we can resolve where you’ve met.”

Stone and the Eagles talked for a few minutes, but Carolyn never returned. He reckoned she’d found someone more interesting to talk to.

21

Stone and the Eagles moved toward the garden restaurant, where a buffet dinner had been set up. He saw Prince and Arrington a few steps ahead of them. Then someone behind him tapped Stone on the shoulder. He turned to find Rick and Glenna Barron. He greeted them warmly.

“Just the man I wanted to see,” Stone said.

“What can I do for you, Stone?”

“I’m wondering what, if anything, you’ve found out about the disposition of Jennifer Harris’s shares in Centurion.”

“I know her attorney, and I spoke to him, so I know that her will leaves the shares to her estate, instead of a particular beneficiary.”

“Does her attorney have the authority to sell them on behalf of the estate?” Stone asked.

“Yes, and I think he would be amenable to the sale, as long as it brought market value. Unfortunately, he knows about the offer from Mr. Prince, so he will want at least what Prince has offered.”

“Are you going to buy them?” Stone asked.

“I’m afraid that’s a bit of a stretch for me, financially,” Rick replied. “I might be able to swing it, but I’d have to sell some other investments, and that would take time we don’t have.”

Stone looked around, then lowered his voice. “I think it might be possible for Arrington to buy them,” he said.

“That would be perfect,” Rick replied. “What with Charlene Joiner’s shares, that would give us a majority.”

“Surely Prince would be bidding for them, too,” Stone said.

“And if he got them, he’d have a majority,” Rick pointed out.

“I think what we have to do,” Stone said, “is canvas all the other share owners and see if we can buy another bloc or two that would give us fifty-one percent.”

“Let me talk to some of them and see if they would rather sell to us than Prince.”

“It would be in their interests, wouldn’t it, to keep the studio operating as it is now?”

“Certainly, for some of them who want to continue to make pictures. I’ll start on that tomorrow morning and get back to you.” Rick looked around. “In fact, I’ve seen a couple of them here tonight; perhaps I’ll get an opportunity to speak to them.”

“Good idea,” Stone said. “Face-to-face might work best.”

They worked their way through the line for dinner, and Stone found a large table. Arrington left Prince and rejoined him.

“What did you think of Mr. Prince?” Stone asked her.

“Oh, he’s charming,” she said. “I knew he would be. I wouldn’t trust him any farther than I could throw him, though.”

“What good instincts you have,” Stone said, laughing. “I was in line with Rick and Glenna Barron, and he’s going to talk with some of the other shareholders about our buying their shares. I think we’ve got a shot at this, starting with those owned by Jennifer Harris’s estate.”

“If you say so,” Arrington said. “As long as I don’t have to sell other securities.”

“Something I think you should do,” Stone said, “is to take up the option on the four acres adjoining your property here. I think that addition would make your acreage much more valuable.”

“Vance got those options just before he died,” Arrington said. “There are two parcels of one point eight and two point two acres, both with very nice houses on them. The owners are elderly and would probably like to move into some sort of assisted facilities. The prices are very good, too, given the appreciation of real estate in this neighborhood. I’d have to pay, let’s see, about eighteen million for the two.”

“When do the options expire?” Stone asked.

“Quite soon, I think; I’m not certain of the date.”

“We’ll get Woodman & Weld on that tomorrow,” Stone said. “We don’t want to miss this opportunity.”

Dino came and sat down at their table. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you earlier,” he said, “but I talked to Sergeant Rivera this afternoon, and he’s going to arrest Prince’s driver tomorrow.”

“What for?” Arrington asked.

“For the murder of Jennifer Harris,” Dino replied.

“We think Prince had her killed to get hold of her shares,” Stone said.

“Prince plays that rough?” Arrington asked.

“We believe so.”

“Should I be worried?”

“No, harming you wouldn’t help him. Your shares would go into the trust for Peter, and I’ll be his trustee. The Woodman & Weld trust department is already working on the documents.”

Arrington took a deep breath and let it out. “That’s a relief,” she said.

“Also, having his driver in jail and maybe talking is going to make Prince more circumspect in his actions,” Stone said. “He won’t be able to pull that again. In fact, if the driver talks, that could solve all our problems. Prince wouldn’t be starting a big new development, if he were looking at a trial and possible conviction.”

“If that happens, can we go to the trial?” Arrington asked.

Stone laughed. “I’ll see if I can get tickets.”

22

Stone and Dino had breakfast with Arrington beside the pool the following morning. Then Mike Freeman collected Arrington and took her off to Burbank Airport to look at the available G-III.

Dino’s phone rang. “Bacchetti,” he said, then listened. “Have you got a line on him? Well, shit. Thanks for calling; keep me posted, if you will.” Dino hung up. “Prince’s driver ran; he’s nowhere to be found.”

“How would he have known he was going to be arrested?” Stone asked.

“Rivera thinks somebody in his office, maybe even his boss, tipped off Prince.”

“I heard you ask if he had a line on the driver.”

“Nothing. He apparently didn’t sleep at his apartment last night, and his car was still there.”

“This gets weirder and weirder,” Stone said.

Stone’s cell phone buzzed. “Hello?”

“Good morning, Stone. It’s Rick Barron.”

“Good morning, Rick.”

“I’ve got some news on the share-buying front.”

“Shoot.”

“One of the share owners, an elderly producer named Walt Baird, is willing to sell to us, because he needs money now and doesn’t want to wait until Prince does his deal. He’ll sell for twenty-five hundred a share. The bad news is, he only owns five thousand shares.”

“That’s a start. Tell him we’ll pay him this week.”

“All right, and there’s better news, too. Baird tells me a producer named Jim Long is willing to sell his shares, because he needs cash for a lawyer; he’s being held in jail without bail in L.A. on an attempted murder charge. He’s a close friend of Ed Eagle’s ex-wife, Barbara, and he’s accused of helping her try to kill Ed. You may recall that he was attacked by a man with a knife outside his home a while back. Long apparently introduced Barbara to the man, who was a dogsbody and sometime pilot for Long.”

“I heard about that,” Stone said.

“Are you willing to go and see Long in jail and talk to him about buying his shares? He’s got fifteen thousand so he could put us over the top. His attorney’s name is Harvey Stein.” Rick gave him the number.

“Sure, I’ll go see him. Arrington is out looking at an airplane at Burbank. When she comes back, I’ll brief her about this.”

“Good. Let me know how it goes with Long, will you? You can tell him I sent you; we had a cordial relationship when he was on the lot.”

“I’ll do that.” Stone hung up. “Can you get me into the L.A. City Jail?” he asked Dino.

“Sure, just throw a brick through a window, and I’ll get Rivera to throw you in there.”

Stone called Harvey Stein’s number and, after working his way past a couple of secretaries, got him on the line.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Barrington?”

“I’m an attorney with Woodman & Weld in New York,” Stone said.

“Yeah, I know the firm; I’ve heard your name, too.”

“I have a client who is interested in buying James Long’s shares in Centurion Studios.”

“Who’s the client?”

“Arrington Calder.”

“Vance Calder’s widow?”

“That’s right.”

“I heard about Terry Prince’s pending deal.”

“Long’s friend Rick Barron asked me to talk to Mr. Long. Rick thinks Long might prefer to sell to us rather than to Prince.”

“As his attorney, I don’t give a shit who he sells to. Either way, I get paid what Long owes me.”

“Will you arrange for me to see him in jail?”

“Sure, I’ll leave your name there. He’s in Metro Jail, at Parker Center.” Stein gave him the address. “Visiting hours today are two to four.”

“Thanks very much.”

“Tell Jim to call me as soon as he can.”

“I’ll do that.” Stone thanked him and hung up. “Long is at Parker Center,” he said to Dino.

“That’s where Rivera works; I’ll go with you and see if he’s found Prince’s driver.”

“Okay.” Stone’s cell buzzed again. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Arrington.”

“Hi, there.”

“I just bought an airplane! Got a great deal, too, Mike says.”

“Well, don’t fly it away; we’ve got some paperwork to take care of first.”

“I’m on the way home; Mike wants to talk to you, though.” She put Freeman on the phone.

“She liked it the minute she saw it,” Mike said. “Great interior; it’s even got a bed—unusual for a G-III.”

“What do I need to get done?”

“You need to get a corporation set up to own the airplane, for liability and tax reasons.”

“I can get that done.”

“I’ll deal with the logbooks, the preflight inspection, and the insurance agent. I’ll send Arrington home in my car, and it can come back for me.”

“Okay, call me when you know when we’ll close.”

“Will do.” Mike hung up.

Stone called Bill Eggers in New York.

“Afternoon, Stone, what’s up?”

“Our client, Arrington, has bought an airplane, a G-III. I need to get the proper corporate setup done right away.”

“We’ve got a tax lawyer here who can do it. He’s going to need some information about the airplane.”

Stone gave him Mike Freeman’s cell number. “Tell him to call Mike; he’s with the broker now. They’ll get him whatever information he needs.”

“Will do. Anything else?”

“Arrington is going to buy some more shares of Centurion, hopefully in the next day or two.”

“Is there enough left of her line of credit?”

“We’ll have to see about that. She also wants to take up the option she has on two pieces of property adjoining her estate in Bel-Air, so you might speak to Chase about extending her line of credit another one hundred million, just in case.”

“Will do. I have some paperwork on the property option; it came to us yesterday, along with her other files from her former attorney. I’ll take care of it.”

“The option expires soon, so time is of the essence.”

“Got it. Bye.” Eggers hung up.

“Okay,” Stone said to Dino. “Let’s have some lunch and then run down to Parker Center and see this guy in jail.”

23

Stone signed in at Metro Jail and sat down to wait to be called. The waiting room was jammed, mostly lawyers and women, many with children. Half an hour later Stone was shown to a lawyers’ meeting room, apparently a courtesy that Harvey Stein had requested.

James Long was shown into the room by a guard and had his handcuffs removed. He was a tall, slender man in his fifties with graying hair and the start of a beard. He was wearing the standard orange jumpsuit. They shook hands.

“Mr. Barrington? Harvey Stein said you were coming to talk to me. I’m glad to see you; it’s good to talk to anybody besides my cellmate.”

“I understand,” Stone replied. “I hope you’re being treated well.”

“Not especially,” Long said. “I’m in here, not because I’ve committed a crime, but because they want me to rat out my friend Barbara Eagle. Funny thing is, I don’t have any knowledge of what they say she did. All I did was meet her in Mexico and fly her to Yuma, where she left us. In the process, she, of course, met my pilot, and it’s that introduction that they’re holding me on as an accessory. Somebody murdered him in his home, so he can’t back me up.”

“I hear Barbara escaped from jail down there,” Stone said.

“I didn’t know that. She called and asked me to meet her in Acapulco, and I did. We spent a couple of days there, then came back to this country. I don’t even know where she went after Yuma. In any case, she’s managed to get herself a pardon in Mexico, so she’s not wanted for anything. The LAPD has gone nuts over this business, and she’s not even in L.A.; she’s in San Francisco.”

“Has your attorney explained all this to the D.A.?”

“Of course he has, but they don’t want to listen to the truth; they just want a witness against Barbara. Harvey is filing for a writ of habeas corpus to get me out.”

“Well, good luck. In the meantime I have some good news. A client of mine is interested in buying your shares in Centurion Studios.”