Billy, back when he was still Teddy Fay, had killed people, but he had never done it for money, and he frowned on the practice. Maybe he should have a chat with Harry. Or, on the other hand, maybe he should just mind his own business. He decided to do that.
Stone had spent the morning by the pool reading the papers, and it got to be lunchtime. Ed Eagle came over from the house, and they ordered club sandwiches and beers.
“I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls from the media,” Ed said.
“So have I,” Stone replied. “Will Lee’s advice was to lie low, and that’s what I’m doing.”
“Then I’ll do the same,” Ed said. “Anyway, we’re getting out of here first thing tomorrow morning, and they won’t chase me to Santa Fe.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” Stone said.
“I got an odd piece of news this morning,” Eagle said. “I was speaking with a client of mine who has a problem and needs my advice. He’s got a house for sale in Bel-Air, and he got an offer from somebody named Grosvenor.”
“Funny,” Stone said, “I know somebody named Charles Grosvenor who’s looking for a Bel-Air house.”
Eagle stared at him. “Why didn’t you mention that?”
Stone frowned. “Why would I do that? The guy’s a Brit who’s moving to L.A. My office asked me to meet with him, and I introduced him to the managing partner of our L.A. office at a lunch at the Bel-Air.”
“Stone,” Eagle said, “Charles Grosvenor is Barbara’s most recent husband. They live in San Francisco.”
“Can’t be the same guy,” Stone said. “I met his wife and she doesn’t look anything like Barbara.”
“Barbara is very good at not looking anything like Barbara,” Eagle said. “Describe her.”
“Maybe early forties, slim, busty, straight gray hair to her shoulders.” Stone remembered something else. “Uh-oh, American.”
“Where did you last see her?”
“At the Bel-Air lunch a couple of days ago.”
“Barbara likes the Bel-Air,” Eagle said. “She murdered somebody there once. Thinking it was me, she put a bullet in the man’s head as he slept.”
“That’s right, she did, didn’t she? She doesn’t know you’re in town, does she?”
“If she watches TV or reads the papers, she knows,” Eagle said. “You and I are all over them. In any case, she’d know I’d be at the convention — I never miss one.”
“Ed, maybe you should talk to Mike Freeman about a little personal security while you’re in town.”
Eagle didn’t seem to hear him. “Last time, she hired somebody — a stunt man from out at Centurion. He missed, so she killed him.” He seemed to remember that Stone had said something. “I’m sorry, did you say something about personal security?”
“I’d be glad to talk to Mike Freeman for you.”
“Let’s think ahead,” Eagle said. “Security at The Arrington is pretty good.”
“Better than good,” Stone pointed out, “especially while the president is here.”
“Right. And we’ll be in your skybox for Kate’s speech tonight, so I should be okay there.”
“Right.”
“And we’re out of here tomorrow morning.”
“If you’re comfortable, then I’ll try not to worry about you.”
“I’m never going to feel completely comfortable, knowing that Barbara and I are in the same town at the same time,” Eagle said, “but I can’t let myself get paranoid about it.”
“Don’t go armed tonight,” Stone said. “You’d never make it into the hall.”
“Don’t mention this to Susannah,” Eagle said. “She’d find Barbara and kill her.”
“You don’t need that,” Stone said.
“I do, but you’re right, I don’t,” Eagle replied.
35
Stone and his guests, the Bacchettis, the Eagles, and Ann Keaton, were settled in the skybox while the conventioneers took their seats. Tonight’s program was short.
Promptly at six o’clock the lights dimmed, music swelled, and an enormous screen on the stage came to life. For the next thirty minutes, the audience followed Will Lee from his boyhood in Delano, Georgia, through university and law school, through his tenure as a legislative assistant and later chief of staff to the legendary senator from Georgia, Benjamin Carr, and as counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. There was a brief snip of Will questioning Katharine Rule, a CIA analyst, who was testifying on an agency budget request, their first meeting. The film then followed Kate’s rise at the Agency to deputy director for intelligence, her marriage to Will, and finally to the passage of an act of Congress that allowed him to appoint her director of Central Intelligence. Brief attention was given to some of the crises where she was a principal adviser to the president, then to their travels around the world together, when she acted as both adviser and first lady. Then, as the film faded to black and the room to darkness, a voice proclaimed, “Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.” As Will Lee strode from the wings and took the podium to wild applause from the audience, the armored glass curtain rose from the floor.
He finally got them quieted. “Fellow delegates, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “I am rapidly running out of occasions where I can address an event this large... and this friendly... so I have a great deal of gratitude to spread around, and that is best done to a captive audience. Don’t try to make a break for it, the doors are closed and guarded.” Big laugh.
“Most of the people who made it possible for me to be elected to this job, then be reelected, are in this room. I thank you, one and all, for every word of advice you gave, every favor you extended, every dollar you contributed, and every push you gave me toward the presidency. I also want to thank many of my opponents for the office who, with their soaring oratory and loose grip on the facts, made me look better than I had a right to. I could never have done it without their help.” Big laugh. “Far too many of my best friends were unable to be here tonight, summoned to a higher calling. First among them is Senator Ben Carr, that master legislator and brilliant senator at whose knee I learned nearly enough to get me through my Senate years and to the White House. His like will not be heard again on the Senate floor, and I still miss him.
“Now, before I yield the podium, I have three duties to perform: the first is to reiterate a promise I made to the nation not very long ago: I shall support the nominee of my party for the office of president of the United States!” The crowd roared with laughter. When he had calmed them he continued: “My second duty is to place in nomination the name of the man who will be the running mate for our candidate and who will be the next vice president of the United States. He has distinguished himself as a fine state senator, as a brilliant mayor of a major American city, and as an outstandingly effective governor of our most populous state, and he is now ready to take the national stage and occupy the second-highest office in the land. It is my great honor and even greater pleasure to place in nomination for the Democratic candidate for vice president of the United States, the name of the governor of the great state of California, Richard Collins!” Huge roar. Will waited for it to subside, then cupped a hand behind his ear. “Do I hear a second?”
“Second!” the huge crowd shouted.
Will picked up the gavel and hammered it once. “The motion is adopted by acclamation!”
Demonstrations now took place in the aisles, and the band played. Eventually, order was restored.