Bel-Air Dead (27 page)

Dino glanced through the piece. “So he had at least five million cash. I wonder how much he has left.”

“I expect Carolyn knows what she’s talking about when she says he can’t swing the property deal by himself. She’s been his closest associate for some time, now, and I’d be very surprised if she didn’t have a copy of his financial statement.” Stone looked at his watch. “Ed Eagle will have his DNA sample pretty soon.”

“Yeah, and if Carolyn is taken out of the equation and Prince can’t swing the deal, then you’re left with Mrs. Grosvenor to deal with. That’s gonna be fun.”

“Don’t remind me,” Stone said. “Anyway, we’ve now got Strategic Services to step into the deal.”

“Yeah, and you know if you get into bed with Mike Freeman, you’re not going to wake up with his fangs in your neck.”

“That’s a comforting thought, Dino. I hadn’t thought of Mrs. Grosvenor having fangs, but …” His cell phone rang. “Hello?”

“It’s Carolyn Blaine,” she said. “Have you heard that Terry is out on bail?”

“It’s all over the papers,” Stone said.

“I want you to know that he will
not
be able to close the deal.”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait until noon Friday to see, won’t we?”

“We can be making other plans in the meantime,” she said.

“The meantime doesn’t exist,” Stone replied. “Either Prince is in or he’s out, and we won’t know that until noon Friday.”

“But surely, you and I can come to an arrangement pending that time.”

“No. I was going to call you today and tell you that. My client has a signed contract with Prince; if he can close, she’s bound by that agreement. If he can’t, then I can talk to other parties.”

“What do you mean, ‘other parties’?” she said, sounding worried.

“I mean other parties,” he replied, “you and Mrs. Grosvenor among them.”

“But that twenty-five million dollars you have in the bank is her money.”

“The check was from Prince’s personal account, with his signature on it, and that’s all I need to know. My deal is with Prince. If you have some other deal with him, that’s between the two of you, and nothing to do with me or my client.”

“Well, when Terry can’t raise the money, I’ll simply get him to assign the agreement to us.”

That was an alarming statement and something Stone had not anticipated. “There’s nothing in the agreement allowing him to assign it.”

“There’s nothing in the agreement
preventing
him from assigning it, either,” she said.

“I suggest we cross that chasm when we come to it,” Stone said.

“Well, if that’s going to be a problem, we can simply let Terry close with our money, then force him out of the deal later.”

“Carolyn, you’d better take a deep breath and consider your position. The way you’re talking now will guarantee you a lifetime of litigation, and quite apart from the courts, you should consider how Prince has chosen to solve his problems in the past.”

“I know how to deal with Terry,” she said. “I’ll see you at ten o’clock on Friday morning, as previously arranged.”

“Nothing was previously arranged,” Stone said, but she had already hung up. He put his phone away and sighed. “Shit,” he said.

Dino was grinning at him from across the table. “Things not going as smoothly as planned?”

“Stop enjoying this,” Stone said. “God, I wish I hadn’t taken that twenty-five million. I let my head be turned by all those zeros.”

“Don’t you think that’s what Prince intended?”

“I suppose you’re right,” Stone said. “Of course, he could still lose it all.”

“Do you have any reason to believe that Prince couldn’t find another two hundred twenty-five million if he had to?”

“I’m operating on what Carolyn knows about him,” Stone said.

“And Carolyn is an embezzler and murderer,” Dino pointed out.

“Oh, stop it!”

“I just love watching you break a sweat,” Dino said.

59

On Thursday things were deceptively quiet at the Calder house. Stone checked in with Joan, who was happy with her new health plan from Woodman & Weld and with the idea of his new partnership as a source of steady income.

“It’s going to be nice getting a check every month,” she said.

“Frankly, I’m tired of the feast-and-famine thing.”

“It hasn’t been as bad as that, has it?”

“You don’t have to worry about paying the bills,” she said. “I do.”

“I suppose we’re going to have to start billing our clients through Woodman & Weld,” he said.

“I wondered about that,” she said.

“It’s a small price to pay.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“With any luck I’ll be home Saturday or Sunday, depending on how things go here.” They said goodbye and hung up.

It was nearly lunchtime on Thursday when Ed Eagle called. “Hey, Stone.”

“Good morning, Ed.”

“Thanks for the DNA sample. SFPD is working on it. I think they had to send it away for testing, but they don’t want to admit it.”

“When will we know?”

“A day or two, they say. The D.A. here is about to jump out of his skin; he really wants an arrest in this case. I hope she’s not showing any signs of doing a runner.”

“None at all. There’s going to be a meeting here tomorrow morning that she doesn’t want to miss.” Stone brought Ed up to date on the Bel-Air land deal.

“Well, if the hotel gets built, put me down for a regular suite,” Eagle said. “I seem to be trying more and more cases out there.”

Stone had barely hung up when Carolyn Blaine called, sounding frazzled.

“What’s wrong?” Stone asked.

“I’m worried,” she said. “I’ve been at the office with Terry the past couple of days, and while he’s playing his cards close, I get the idea that the Colombian and the Mexican are back in the picture. What I think is happening is that they’re horning in on the Calder property deal to get their investment in Centurion back from Terry. They’re scrambling around assembling cash from various sources, so that Terry can have a cashier’s check ready for tomorrow.”

“I thought he wanted to keep that deal for himself.”

“He may not have a choice,” she said. “If that happens, it will blow Eleanor’s participation out of the water, but I’ll still get to do the development work.”

“Swell,” Stone said. If you aren’t in a New Mexico jail, he thought.

“I’ll keep you posted; otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She hung up.

“Now what?” Dino asked, looking over his newspaper.

Stone sighed. “I just may have put Arrington in business with two drug cartels. That’s who Terry Prince is raising his money from.”

Dino shook his head and ducked back behind his paper.

Stone’s phone went off. “Hello?”

“It’s Mike Freeman.”

“How are you, Mike?”

“I’m okay, and I’ve been talking to people about Arrington’s property. One of my clients is the majority stockholder in a worldwide hotel group, and I think he’d be a perfect partner in the deal.”

“That’s great, Mike, but we have a problem: it looks like Prince may be able to close tomorrow, and the source of his funds is two drug cartels, one Colombian, one Mexican.” He read the names from his notebook. “Word is, they’re assembling cash from what was called ‘various sources’ as we speak.”

“Do you know what account they’re using in L.A.?”

“I assume it’s Prince’s personal account at Wells Fargo, in his office building, because that’s where the first payment came from.”

“Let me make a couple of calls,” Mike said, and hung up. Late in the afternoon he called back. “I’ve spoken to a couple of people I know at DEA and Treasury, and they’re going to be paying a lot of attention to where Prince’s money is coming from,” Mike said.

“Tell them they’d better pay attention fast,” Stone replied.

“We’re running out of time here. Our closing is set for tomorrow morning.”

“Where?”

“Here, at the house.”

“Can you delay it?”

“Maybe for an hour, but Prince won’t like it; he has to close by noon.”

“Try for the hour; it could make a difference.”

“I’ll do that,” Stone said. He hung up and called Carolyn at Prince’s office.

“Yes?”

“Tell Prince we have to close at eleven, instead of ten, and that we’ll be doing it here.”

“He won’t like that.”

“I don’t care if he likes it, just tell him eleven a.m. here, at the house.”

“I’ll tell him.” She hung up.

Stone hardly touched his lunch.

“I’ve never seen you this nervous before,” Dino said. “Relax, will you? You’re making
me
nervous.”

Stone finished the wine in his glass and took a few deep breaths.

Arrington appeared on the patio. “I’m going home,” she said. “You don’t need me for this closing.”

“No,” Stone replied, “and I think it’s just as well you’re going.” He thought of telling her about the involvement of the two drug cartels but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

She kissed Dino on the forehead, then came and put her arms around Stone. “Thank you for all you’ve done,” she said.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Stone replied, giving her a kiss. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

Arrington walked back into the house and was gone.

“So,” Dino said, “it’s just you and me against the bad guys.”

“I hope we’re enough,” Stone said.

60

On Friday morning Stone managed to get down some breakfast, but he couldn’t make himself pay attention to the newspapers. He called Ed Eagle to find out if there was any word on the DNA tests, but had to leave a message. He called Mike Freeman.

“Stone, they said they’d see what they could do, but I don’t know what that means or if they’ll do it. I wish I could tell you more.” They said goodbye.

Dino looked up from his eggs. “You don’t look any happier,” he said.

Stone pushed his plate away and drank some orange juice to keep up his blood sugar. “I’ve made a terrible mistake,” he said.

“I’m doing business with drug dealers, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Then don’t close the deal.”

“If I don’t, they’ll take us to court and win, and it will just prolong the whole thing.”

“Stone, when you’ve done everything you can do, there’s no longer anything to worry about.”

“That’s just it: I keep thinking there’s something else I could do, but I can’t think of what it is.”

Dino sighed. “Think about flying,” he said. “This time tomorrow we’ll be high in the air, halfway across the country. This will all be behind you.”

“I wish I were up there now.” He tried to think of flying, but the thought made him nauseated.

At the stroke of eleven, Manolo announced Mr. Prince and Ms. Blaine, and the two walked onto the patio, both carrying briefcases. They sat down at the table by the pool, except Dino, who settled himself on a chaise longue with the newspapers, watching Stone warily over the top of the page.

“Everything is all arranged,” Prince said, opening his briefcase and taking out a stack of papers. He began handing sheets to Stone, explaining each and indicating where Stone should initial them. Stone looked them over carefully, trying to take as much time as possible, though he wasn’t sure what he was waiting for.

Carolyn seemed very nervous. She rose from the table and began pacing up and down the edge of the pool.

Finally, Prince produced the last of the documents, the one that would seal the deal.

Stone read it through. “And the funds?” he asked.

Prince reached into his briefcase and produced a cashier’s check for two hundred twenty-five million dollars.

Stone glanced at his watch: five minutes before twelve. He had lost. “Is this drawn on your personal account, like the last check?” he asked Prince.

“That’s correct.”

“I’d like to speak to your banker before I close the deal.”

“Of course,” Prince said, whipping out his cell phone and pressing a speed dial button. He got the banker on the phone and handed it to Stone.

“Good morning, Mr. Barrington,” the man said.

Stone thought he sounded nervous. “Good morning,” he replied. “Mr. Prince and I are about to close a large transaction, and he has presented me with a cashier’s check for two hundred twenty-five million dollars drawn on his personal account. Can you affirm that this is a proper check that will be paid on presentation?”

The man seemed to be breathing more rapidly. “I’m afraid there’s a problem,” he said. “There’s a man in my office from the Drug Enforcement Agency, and he has presented me with a court order freezing Mr. Prince’s account. Therefore, I can’t pay the check.”

“I’d like you to tell your client that,” Stone said, and handed the phone to Prince.

“What?” Prince said, then put the phone to his ear. “Yes?” As he listened his face slowly fell into an expression of disbelief. “That’s preposterous!” he said, then listened some more. “There’s nothing you can do?” He listened some more. “I’ll get my attorney on this immediately.” He closed the phone and looked at Stone. “I’m afraid I’m going to need an extension,” he said.

Stone took a deep breath. “Denied. The deal, at your specification, was to be closed by noon.” Stone looked at his watch. “One minute past, and no closing.”

“What happened?” Carolyn asked. She had stopped pacing.

“The DEA has frozen Mr. Prince’s bank account,” Stone said. “He can’t fund the deal.”

A smile spread across her face. She took a step toward the table and opened her briefcase. “I’m so sorry, Terry,” she said. She removed a sheaf of documents from her briefcase and handed them to Stone. “I would like to present my offer for the property,” she said. “And I have a perfectly valid check for the closing amount.” She handed a cashier’s check to Stone. “Feel free to call my banker,” she said, handing him a card.

Prince, who had been staring at her, open-mouthed, recovered enough to speak. “You incredible bitch!” he said. “Do you think I’m going to let you and that woman get away with this?” He stood up, and there was a gun in his hand.