Scandalous Behavior

14

When Stone came downstairs to go to work the following morning, there was a strange man sitting in the chair opposite his desk who stood up and offered his hand.

“Hello, Stone,” he said. “Billy Barnett.”

It took Stone a second to flip through the name change and Teddy Fay’s incredible facility with anonymity. “Hello, Billy,” he said. “What a nice surprise to see you.” His mind raced through the possible reasons for “Billy,” as he now was, to leave Los Angeles and come to New York. Stone poured him some coffee and bade him sit down. “What brings you to New York?” Something must be amiss with Peter, Stone’s son, he thought; he was not far wrong.

“I’m worried about Peter and Ben,” Billy said. Ben was Peter’s partner in the film business and he was also Dino’s son.

“What’s wrong?” Stone asked.

“Problems have arisen that are connected to Peter’s new film, Hell’s Bells.”

“This is the one about a violent fundamentalist sect operating out of some corner of L.A.?”

“Correct. His script was based on snippets of news stories he’d seen over the past couple of years, and he was intrigued by the idea of such a backward group living in a major American city. He invented the greater part of it, but the problem, it seems, is that what he invented is too close to the truth — or, at least, these people have come to believe it is.”

“Has he received threats?”

“Insinuations, mainly. They’re too smart to make direct threats. In the past, when they’ve brought pressure to bear on people they believe to be a danger to them, they’ve always managed to seem to be freshly scrubbed and all-American when the police showed up at their door, and they’ve given television interviews that reinforce that appearance.”

“What are they called?”

“The Chosen Few,” Billy said. “They’re led by a man named Don Beverly Calhoun, or Dr. Don.”

“That is a vaguely familiar name,” Stone said. “Where have I heard it?”

“Dr. Don was the pastor of a church in Atlanta that grew into the sort of organization that congregated in basketball stadiums, instead of a church. He first got noticed when he opposed former president Will Lee in his first run for the Senate, more than twenty-five years ago. The whole thing crumbled when a mixture of financial, sexual, and political scandals converged, and Dr. Don experienced the modern media equivalent of being tarred, feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail. He disappeared for a while, then finally reappeared in New Orleans, then Albuquerque, only to be run out of town again, and, finally, in L.A. about eight years ago. According to one article I read, he hung on to his mailing lists from his old church, particularly one containing the names of his most rabid parishioners, a few dozen of whom followed him wherever he went. The author of the magazine piece was killed in a car crash on the freeway that was very suspicious, but the police never made an arrest.”

“I’ve been out of the country for the past three weeks,” Stone said, “and I haven’t had a chance to call Peter since I got home Monday night. When does his film open?”

“This weekend, on twelve hundred screens. Centurion Studios has been spooked by the whole thing, and they’ve cut the number of screens by a thousand and the promotion budget in half, hoping that it will open quietly, then grow slowly on word of mouth.”

“Is Peter going to be in L.A. for the opening?”

“We all flew in last night on the Centurion jet — Peter, Ben, and their girlfriends and my wife.”

“Is there a formal premiere?”

“No, that was going to happen in L.A. but Centurion canceled it, and they haven’t scheduled any New York publicity for Peter, either.”

“Where are they staying?”

“At the Carlyle.”

“Why didn’t they stay here?”

“Peter didn’t really want you to know about all this, and anyway, Centurion is paying, so why not?”

“I guess the room service is better at the Carlyle.”

“I expect so.”

Stone reached for the phone.

“Please, don’t call Peter,” Billy said.

“Why not?”

“Because then he’ll know that I told you about this, and he already thinks I’m an alarmist. He’ll call you, don’t worry.”

“Do you have some plan for dealing with this, Billy?”

“If it were up to me, I’d put a bullet in the head of Dr. Don some dark night, but as it is, I think we’re going to have to wait for developments, then fight back the best way we can. Peter doesn’t even want to think about it, so I’ve pretty much shut up.”

“Do you think these people pose an immediate threat to Peter and Ben?”

“I think they’re capable of anything,” Billy replied, “but I can’t predict what.”

“I think, perhaps, we should get the kids out of the country.”

“I’ve suggested that, but Peter is not in a mood to run from the situation.”

“Maybe what he needs,” Stone said, “is a situation to run to.”