"A T206 Honus Wagner," I said, without hesitation. "It came out in 1909. Only a few were produced, and of those there are only a handful in really good condition."
"How much is it worth?"
"One of the good ones sold recently on eBay for over a million dollars. The card is so famous that Wayne Gretzky, the hockey player, owned one at one time."
"How would you like to own one?"
"It would be a dream come true."
"Exactly. I'll tell you what. Keep your eyes open. If one of the good ones comes on the market let me know and we may be able to arrange it, together."
"I'm afraid it's a little out of my league." I said, although I noticed that saliva was coming into my mouth.
"You never know until you try. The offer stands. Well, I'm going to have to get back to my guests. What would you two like to do while you're here?"
"Ask you another question," I said. I had just remembered something that had vanished from my mind at the news of Ned's murder. James nodded, so I said, "The other night when we were trying to find Ned, between the time you called the restaurant and the police, you made another phone call, and it sounded like the person you talked to had seen Ned. I was wondering who you talked to."
James looked puzzled. He said, "I didn't make another call. You made a call to the hotel…"
"It was a call you made."
"I don't think so. Although at my age I sometimes forget what I did five minutes ago, let alone three days ago." He jumped up from his chair and said, "You two look hungry. Come on downstairs and try our Friday night buffet. Prepared by one of the best chefs in San Francisco. I think you'll like it."
He led the way to the door and opened it. As he waited for us to precede him through it, he said, "And if you want to do any gambling, Stan will get you some chips."
Chapter 12 THE BET-1
"What's the story you were going to tell me about Stan?" I asked Arrow.
We had taken seats at a small table in the corner of the casino room that wasn't being used for any other purpose at the moment. Our plates were full of food. Arrow's eating aspirations, although more modest than mine, were still significant. I recognized the bluesy voice of Joe Williams above the roar of the crowd, singing to someone and asking that person to teach him tonight.
Between bites, Arrow said, "When I started at Stanford, Stan was one of the boys who was nice to me, and as you can see he's quite handsome, so when I was given two tickets to the San Francisco opera I invited him to go with me. We saw Rigoletto, which we both enjoyed. Afterward, we had Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe. Stan is an interesting guy to be with and I was having fun so I guess somewhere during the course of the conversation I said something that suggested we might have some sort of a future together. At that point he told me he wasn't for me. I misunderstood him at first, thinking that he didn't like me. Then his meaning became clear."
"He's gay."
"Right. Talk about embarrassing incidents."
"He told me he lives here at the house."
"Yes. And I think we know why our friend James prefers male assistants."
"And I know why you made a point of finding out my sexual preference the day we met."
Arrow laughed. "I have to know where I stand. I don't want to be fooled again."
We ate in silence for a bit. Then Arrow said, "What was that about a phone call James was supposed to have made?"
"We were trying to locate Ned. We found out he had never shown up at the restaurant where his meeting was supposed to be. James called somebody, and it sounded, from his end of the conversation, like whomever he was talking to had seen Ned. After he hung up he immediately called the police."
"James said he didn't make such a call."
"Either James is lying or he really does have dementia." But why would he lie? Was he protecting somebody? It wasn't my problem. I wasn't going to get involved in Ned's murder any more than I already was.
Was there anything else we should be doing while we were here? Even if Buchanan was attempting to take over Dionysus, was there a good reason for us to try and prevent it? A takeover would probably be good for the stock, my holdings and Arrow's options. I suspected that if the stock went up enough her options would make her financially independent and it wouldn't matter if Buchanan replaced her with one of his men. There were a lot of ex-Microsoft employees who were millionaires and didn't have to work any more.
But what about my father? Did we owe him any loyalty? He wouldn't suffer financially if he were replaced, but his ego would take a hit.
It wouldn't hurt to gather all the information we could. I had an idea. I leaned over the table toward Arrow, because the noise in the room was reaching a peak, and said, "Do you think you could get any information out of Stan about Buchanan's intentions?"
"I suspect you might be more successful at that than I would," Arrow said, and she winked at me. I must have had an amazed look on my face because she said, "If you can fool your father, maybe you can fool him too. By the way, he can't hold his liquor. He always lost at those Friday night poker games."
I didn't picture myself as queer bait. There had been a few incidents in my life, but nothing…still, there was the time in junior high when my English teacher had taken me up on the catwalks above the stage of the school auditorium, before I knew any better, and asked me to sit on his lap. He had later gotten married.
Arrow had already caught Stan's eye and he came over to our table. Taking my cue, I said, "Are you working or can you sit and talk for a minute?"
"I'm here voluntarily tonight," Stan said, sitting down next to me. "Since I live here it's an easy place to go on Friday nights. But of course, as long as I am here, Jamesy is going to find something for me to do. So maybe I can hide out with you guys for a while."
"It seems to me you're in a very fortunate position," I said. "You're working with one of the best investment minds in the world, watching everything he does, learning how to evaluate opportunities. It sounds like an ideal job." "You don't know the half of it."
"No, but I'd like to. Could we have a drink?"
Stan flagged down one of the waiter-boys and ordered a Bloody Mary. I asked for a beer and Arrow requested a Tequila Sunrise. We made small talk until the drinks came.
I remembered that Stan had been in the control room when James made the mysterious phone call. I said, "I was trying to piece together what happened just before we found out about Ned. Do you remember what phone calls James made?"
He thought for a few seconds and said, "I remember that James asked me what restaurant Ned was supposed to be at. Then he called them, I think. I wasn't really listening so I can't tell you exactly who he called, but at some point he must have called the police."
"He called somebody else just before he called the police."
Stan shook his head. "You'll have to ask James."
I had struck out on that one. What else could I do? Start slowly. I said, half jokingly, "Tell me, Stan. What really goes on here? You've got lots of beautiful people flocking here every night, the cream, it would appear, of San Francisco society, gambling as intently as if their last dollar were riding on it, and yet no money ever changes hands. There's something wrong with this movie."
Stan looked slowly from one of us to the other, and smiled. He said, "Don't you have any fantasies, any dreams, any desires? I know Arrow does; she wants to be a CEO."
Arrow didn't deny it. I looked at her and believed it.
Stan paused while he took a sizeable gulp of his Bloody Mary and crunched on the celery stalk that came with it. Then he said, "What we have here is an adult Disneyland. Your dreams can come true and you don't even have to wish upon a star. All you have to do is get a few blackjacks or land on a double zero or roll three sevens in a row."