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 amp; 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.”