Bel-Air dead

14

Dino came back late in the afternoon. “How was your day?”

“Both busy and idle,” Stone replied. “I got a call from Joan and Cantor; somebody broke into my offices last night.”

“Connected with what’s going on out here?” Dino asked.

“What else?”

“What did they get?”

“A look at whatever they wanted, I guess.”

The house phone rang, and Stone answered it. “Hello?”

“Hello, Stone,” Charlene Joiner purred. “Would you and Dino like to come to dinner at my house in Malibu this evening? I’m cooking, and I’ve got a cute date for Dino.”

“Hang on.” He covered the phone. “I don’t suppose you’d like to have dinner with a movie star in Malibu tonight, would you? She’s got you a date.”

“Who do I have to kill?” Dino asked.

Stone uncovered the phone. “I talked him into it; what time?”

“Seven?”

“Seven it is.”

“You remember the way?”

“I do.”

“I’ll let the guard at the gate know. Bye-bye.”

Stone hung up. “If I know Charlene, she’s planning to get you laid.”

“I can live with that.”

They drove out to Malibu in the early evening, missing rush hour, so the Pacific Coast Highway was fast. Stone pulled into a gated area and gave his name to a guard, then was waved through.

“What is this place?” Dino asked.

“This is the Malibu Colony,” Stone replied. “The most expensive real estate anywhere on the Pacific Coast, I should think.” He drove to Charlene’s house and parked out front.

She answered the bell on the intercom. “Come straight through the house and out to the pool,” she said, buzzing the door open.

They walked down the center hallway and emerged onto a large rear patio with a pool, overlooking the Pacific. Charlene and another woman were arrayed on chaises, facing the setting sun. They both got up.

“Hey, Stone,” Charlene said, giving him a wet kiss. “Hey, Dino. This is my friend Hetty Lang; she’s a contract player at Centurion.”

Everyone shook hands. Dino appeared to be trying not to salivate.

“Anybody feel like a plunge in the Pacific before the sun goes down?” Charlene asked.

“Sure,” Stone said.

“Swimsuits are in the dressing room, over there,” she said, pointing.

Stone and Dino found suits the right size.

“I hadn’t expected to get wet,” Dino said, hanging up his clothes.

They walked back to the pool, and followed as the girls ran off the patio and raced for the ocean. Stone hit the water running and was stunned at how cold it was. Everybody swam out a few yards, then bodysurfed the waves back to the beach.

“Cold, fellas?” Charlene asked.

Dino’s teeth were chattering. “A little,” he said.

“Well, we don’t want shrinkage, do we? You guys hit the showers and fix yourselves a drink. We’ll be down in half an hour.”

Stone and Dino went back to the dressing room.

“I’ve never been so cold in my life,” Dino said, turning on the hot water.

“It’s a cold ocean,” Stone said.

“Thanks for the warning.”

They showered and dressed, then went into the house.

“There’s a bar in here, as I recall,” Stone said, turning into the study. He poured Dino a Johnnie Walker Black and himself a Knob Creek, and they sat down in a pair of large chairs.

“Refresh my memory,” Dino said. “Wasn’t Charlene involved with a president?”

“It was Will Lee,” Stone said, “but before he was president and before he was married. They’re both from Georgia, and he was representing her fiance, who was charged with murder. They had a brief fling; then, when the fiance was convicted, he tried to get it overturned on the grounds that his attorney was sleeping with his girl. It didn’t work.”

“I’ve read about that,” Dino said. “Didn’t he get his death sentence commuted?”

“Yes, and the rumor was Charlene slept with the governor of Georgia to effect the commutation.”

“I’d have pardoned the bastard, in those circumstances,” Dino said.

They sipped their drinks until they heard the girls coming down the stairs, giggling.

“Hey, fellas,” Charlene said. “Let’s all go into the kitchen.”

“Dino, you and Hetty go ahead,” Stone said. “I need to talk with Charlene for a minute.”

She gave him another kiss. “What’s up, lover?”

“Cool down for a minute, sweetheart,” Stone said. “I have some news, and it’s not good.”

She backed up a step. “What is it?”

“Jennifer Harris-the other stockholder Rick was counting on?”

“The one who died?”

“The one who was murdered,” Stone said.

Charlene’s face fell. “Murdered?”

“And by a professional.” Stone explained what the medical examiner had found. “I think you should be very careful for a while.”

“Why?”

“Because you hold shares committed to Rick, too. I don’t think you’re going to be safe until this whole thing with Centurion and Terrence Prince is resolved.”

“Excuse me a minute,” Charlene said. She went to a telephone and dialed a number. “Hello? This is Charlene Joiner; who’s this? Hello, Jerry, listen carefully: I want a team at my house, right now, and 24/7, until further notice, got that? Good. Yes, I anticipate a threat. Goodbye.” She hung up and took Stone’s hand. “Let’s go cook dinner,” she said.

Stone followed her into the kitchen, where Dino had mixed Hetty a drink from another bar, and Charlene turned on the grill. “How do you like your steaks?” she asked.

Stone marveled at how cool she was, given the circumstances.