“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.”
“What is he offering?”
“It’s a she, and she’s offering twenty-five hundred dollars a share.”
“Yeah, I heard about Terry Prince’s takeover attempt of the studio. I’ll bet he’d give me more than twenty-five hundred.”
“Twenty-five hundred is his current offer, and I have some reason to believe that the deal is not going to work out for him, and if that happens, then his current offer disappears, so your shares might be worth quite a lot less.”
“Yeah, so you say.”
“It’s up to you, Mr. Long: you can accept my client’s offer or stick with Prince and take a chance of losing a lot of money on your shares. It’s up to you.”
Long fidgeted in his seat. “Oh, hell, all right; I’d rather be on Rick Barron’s side in all this, anyway.”
“Rick has asked me to give you his regards and to thank you for selling to us. This way, you’ll still have a studio to go back to when you get out of here. If Prince got his hands on the property, it would have made it impossible for Centurion to continue as they have.”
“All right, how do we go about this?”
“Where are your share certificates?”
“In my office safe at Centurion.”
“Does your attorney have the combination?”
“I’ll give it to him when I see him; he’s coming tomorrow.”
“I’ll see that he gets the sales documents to sign, so he can bring them with him. He asked me to tell you to call him as soon as you can.”
“I’ll try to call him this afternoon, if I can get to the phone. There’s always a line.”
“I’ll have the documents faxed to him from New York first thing tomorrow morning. They’re already closed for the day.”
“I’m sure that will be fine. When will I get the money?”
“As soon as Harvey sends me the signed documents, I’ll have it wired to your bank account. We might be able to manage it tomorrow, certainly the day after.”
“Good.” Long stood up and rapped on the door. The guard came in and cuffed him. “Nice to meet you,” Long said.
“I hope you get your writ,” Stone said.
Dino was waiting on the front steps when Stone emerged from the building. “How’d it go?”
“Long has agreed to sell us his shares. With the five thousand from the other guy, Baird, we should have a majority ownership in a day or two.”
“I’ve got some news, too: Alexei what’s-his-name, Prince’s driver, has turned up dead. Somebody dumped his body at the La Brea Tar Pits, where they found all those prehistoric bones of animals that went down to the water for a drink, got stuck in the tar, and sank. Luckily, they found Alexei’s body before it could sink. Want to take a guess on cause of death?”
“Tell me.”
“Ice pick to the back of the neck, like Jennifer Harris.”
“I guess it would be easy to make that happen if you’re being driven by Alexei, sitting behind him.”
“Prince has an alibi, of course.”
“Of course. Man, I’ll be glad when this business is over,” Stone said. “And I hope it’s over before somebody else gets ice-picked.”
“You can hope,” Dino said.
Arrington was at the Calder house when they got back, and she was very excited about her airplane.
“It’s beautiful, Stone, just exactly what I wanted. It’s already got a crew and everything, and they’re willing to move east.”
“Sounds perfect,” Stone said. “Mike is working on getting you an early closing, and a tax attorney at Woodman amp; Weld is setting up the corporate structure.”
“Corporate structure?”
“Jet airplanes are usually owned by corporations, for liability and tax purposes. You’ll own the corporation. And I have other news.”
“Good news, I hope?”
“It looks like Rick has found us the shares we need to gain control of Centurion. They should be transferred in the next day or two.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. I hope Mr. Prince doesn’t hear about it before we get it done. I’m not sure how much more of his personal charm I can stand.”
“We’ll have a lot of paperwork for you to sign tomorrow, on the Centurion thing, Champion Farms, the Bel-Air property options, and the airplane. You should be able to fly out of here in your new airplane in a couple of days, with any luck at all.”
“I’m anxious to get back and go to work with the architect on the new house,” Arrington said.
“You’ll be back by the weekend,” Stone said, “unless there’s a snag.” Please, he thought, no snags.
24
Stone went back to the Calder house and called Rick Barron.
“How did it go?” Rick asked.
“Very well; Long has agreed to sell to us. Woodman amp; Weld will produce the sale documents and fax them to his attorney tomorrow. We’ll wire the funds, and we’ll be done.”
“That’s great news, Stone,” Rick said.
“Rick, we’ve discussed this before, but what instructions have you left for your estate’s disposal of your shares?”
“They’ll go to our grandchildren.”
“Do your grandkids want to be in the movie business?”
“One is a doctor, the other an architect,” Rick said, “but Centurion will produce a nice income for them.”
“Do you think they might just as well have cash?”
“They might,” Rick admitted. “Are you and Arrington offering to buy my shares?”
“I haven’t discussed it with her, but if you would consider selling her your shares, I’ll bring it up.”
“I would consider that,” Rick said. “It’s likely that some of the shares would have to be sold, anyway, to pay estate taxes.”
“I’ll speak to her about it,” Stone said, “and get back to you.” The two men said goodbye and hung up.
Stone went looking for Arrington in the main house. She wasn’t in the living room or the study, so he knocked on her bedroom door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Stone.”
“Come in.”
Stone walked into the large room and found Arrington sitting at her dressing table, fiddling with her makeup, and dressed in only a bath towel. “Would you like me to come back?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “You’ve seen me naked often enough.”
“And enjoyed the experience,” Stone replied, standing behind her and rubbing her shoulders.
She looked at him in the mirror, then dropped the towel, exposing her lovely breasts. “Would you like to enjoy it again?”
Stone’s reaction was immediate, and Arrington knew it. She moved her head back until it came in contact with his crotch.
“I think that’s an affirmative answer,” she said.
“You may be sure of that.” He reached down and fondled her nipples.
“You know what that does to me,” she said.
“I do, and it seems to be working.”
She spun around on her stool, unzipped his fly, and took him into her mouth.
Stone gave a little gasp. “I believe that’s a bed over there,” he said.
She stopped what she was doing, took his hand, and led him to the bed. “Get out of those clothes,” she said.
But Stone was way ahead of her. They fell onto the bed, and she resumed her earlier activity.
“Wait,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “I don’t want to finish too soon.”
“I don’t want that either,” she said, pulling him on top of her and helping him inside her. “It’s been too long,” she breathed as she began to move under him.
“You’re right,” he replied.
She came in less than a minute. “Again,” she said. “This time with you.”