“The rich are different from you and me,” Stone said. “Well, from me, anyway.”
“I never paid much attention to what I have,” Arrington said, “as long as the check arrived every month, and there was enough to pay for the house and furnishings. That reminds me: the auction of all my furnishings is this weekend, so I hope to be able to fly home tomorrow.”
“I’ll speak to Mike and see that everything is ready for you.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. When I’m in the new house I want you to come and visit. It would be nice if you got to know your son a little, too. I think you’ll like him.”
“I’m sure I will,” Stone replied, though the thought of dealing with a child frightened him. “I hope I’ll know what to say to him.”
“Oh, he’s easy to talk to; easy to listen to as well.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Stone’s phone buzzed, and he answered it.
“Hi, it’s Mike.”
“Just talking about you,” Stone said.
“I hope that’s good. I just wanted you to know that all the paperwork on the airplane will be finalized by the end of business today. The pre-purchase inspection went very well indeed, only a few small things to be corrected. It’s in beautiful shape.”
“Can she fly out tomorrow morning for Virginia?”
“She can indeed. Our New York office has arranged temporary housing for her crew, while they look for something more permanent, and she now has hangar space at Charlottesville Airport.”
“You’ve done a fantastic job for her, Mike. Please send your bill to me in New York, and I’ll see that it’s taken care of.”
“There won’t be a bill; it was mostly a few phone calls.”
“You’ve done a lot more than that,” Stone said. “I owe you.”
“I have to run,” Mike said. “I’ll tell the crew to be ready for a nine a.m. departure tomorrow.”
“Perfect.” Stone hung up and gave Arrington the news.
“Oh, I’m so happy about this,” she said. “I hated borrowing the Centurion jet, and I was appalled at what air charters cost.”
“You’ll be queen of the air,” Stone said. “Start making a list of places you’d like to go.”
“A happy thought.”
Stone’s phone rang again. “Hello?”
“It’s Eggers.”
“Hello, Bill.”
“We’ve received all of Arrington’s documents, properly signed, and dispersed the funds required in each case. She now owns the airplane, the Baird shares, and the property adjacent to hers. The previous owners have ninety days to vacate, as per the original option.”
“Great news; I’ll tell her.”
“I had a call from Terrence Prince earlier today,” Eggers said. “He made noise about big New York projects to come and suggested he might like us to represent him.”
“I’ve just had lunch with him, Bill, and you can forget about that.”
“Oh? I thought it an attractive idea.”
“That’s what he wanted you to think. He was trying to soften me up on the Centurion deal with empty promises. You watch-there won’t be any New York projects.”
“I did tell him that representing him was out, until the Centurion situation is resolved.”
“So did I.”
“What do you think his next move will be?”
Stone paused and looked over at Arrington. “Arrington is taking her new airplane home tomorrow morning.”
“Ah, you’re getting her out of harm’s way, then?”
“Of course.”
“Stone, you might watch your own back, too.”
“Dino’s doing that for me,” Stone said. They hung up.
“Is Bill all right?” Arrington asked.
“Never better,” Stone said. He told her about the substance of the conversation with Eggers.
“All good news.”
“Let’s have a farewell dinner tonight; I’ll take you out.”
“I’d love that,” she said.
30
Stone started to book a table at Spago Beverly Hills, but then thought better of it. He’s already had dinner there once this trip, and with Carolyn Blaine, Prince’s assistant. Instead, he booked a table at Vincenzo, an Italian restaurant he’d heard good things about.
As he pulled out of the Calder driveway, he noticed a car parked up the street-unusual, because people didn’t usually park on the street in Bel-Air; they had plenty of room inside their gates. As he drove away he saw the car move out, too, staying well behind him, headlights off in the dusk. He noticed that his own headlights, on the auto setting, had come on of their own volition.
They chatted idly as they drove, with Stone keeping an eye on the car in the rearview mirror, and a few minutes later Stone pulled up in front of the restaurant. The parking valet opened his door for him, and Stone came up with a fifty-dollar bill. “I’d appreciate it if you’d keep my car parked on the street, right under that lamp ahead. There are some valuable items aboard, and I’d hate to have the car broken into.”
“Of course, sir,” the young man said, and from inside the restaurant, Stone watched as the car was pulled forward a few yards and parked under the street lamp.
They were given a good table, in spite of not being regulars, and Stone was able to see his car.
“What’s so valuable in your rental car?” Arrington asked.
“Nothing, really. I just don’t want to make it easy for anyone to tamper with it.”
“You’re still concerned about my safety?” she asked.
“You’re perfectly safe,” he said, then slapped his forehead. “A car followed us here, and I was concerned about it. I forgot that Mike Freeman still has his security people watching you. That’s who’s in the car.”
She laughed. “Spooked by your own people?”
“I’m afraid so.”
They had a drink and ordered dinner. “You know, Stone,” Arrington said, “when I last saw you, in Maine, I pretty much said that we shouldn’t see each other anymore.”
“I remember.”
“I was hasty, I’m afraid. Of course, you’re not going to come and live in Virginia, and I’m not going to live in New York anymore, but there’s no reason why we can’t get together now and then.”
“I’m glad you think so,” he replied.
“I was serious when I said that I want you to get to know Peter. If something happened to me and you became his guardian, I’d like him to already know you.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
“Now, be realistic. I can get sick and die just like anybody else, or I could walk in front of a passing car. I’m not ill, and I’m careful, but you know what I mean.”
“I know what you mean,” he replied. “Why don’t you bring Peter to New York for a few days, when he’s on his holidays? You can both stay with me.”
“Then I’d have to sneak into your bedroom every night, wouldn’t
I?”
“One of us would have to do the same thing in Virginia, but it would be good if he knew that we had more than a passing friendship.”
“I’ll give that some thought,” she said.
They dined well and returned to the house, the car still tailing them. They were greeted inside the house by Mike’s inside man, who took Stone aside when Arrington had gone to her room.
“I don’t want to trouble you, Mr. Barrington,” the man said, “but we had a little incident after you left for dinner.”
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure; we had an alert from the security system, which showed a possible breach of the perimeter fence. We checked it out and found nothing.”
“Why don’t we take a walk around the perimeter?” Stone said.
The man spoke into a microphone dangling from his sleeve into the palm of his hand, and another man appeared. “All right, let’s go,” he said, producing a small flashlight and borrowing another from his colleague for Stone.
They walked down the driveway to the front gate, where another operative stepped from the shadows and checked them out.
“By the way,” Stone said, “thanks for the following car when we went to dinner. At first I thought someone was up to no good.”