Scandalous Behavior

16

Stone and Susan Blackburn arrived at Patroon to find Dino and Viv already there. He made the introductions.

“And what brings you to New York, Susan?” Viv asked.

“Stone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I also have a few clients here, and I thought I’d see if I could drum up some business.”

“We’re delighted to meet you.”

“And I’m delighted to be here.”

“Has Ben called you?” Stone asked Dino.

“This afternoon,” Dino replied. “I understand we’re all having dinner tomorrow evening, and we have a screening on Friday.”

“That’s right, and they’re all flying to England Friday night, after the screening.”

“How did you talk Peter into that?”

“I told him I had a setting for a film for him, and he told me he was already working on one. Mike Freeman is putting him on one of Strategic Service’s airplanes.” They ordered drinks, and Stone told them about the visit from Billy Barnett. “It seemed like a good idea to get them out of the country for a while.”

“How long a while?”

“At least a couple of weeks. I told them I’d join them then.” He turned to Susan. “If you can stand New York and me for that long, I’ll fly you back.”

“I can stand you both,” she said. “I’ll talk with my office and see if I can decorate houses on the phone for that long.”

“Are the guest rooms in the house fit for occupancy?”

“I’ll see that they are, and I’ve already ordered your electric beds. They’ll be there for you when you return.”

“Dino, can you get away again?”

“Absolutely not, but Viv can go, if she likes.”

“I’ll see if I can arrange some business to require my presence,” Viv said. “The hell with Dino.”

“I finally had the unavoidable chat with the mayor,” Dino said. “Some pointed questions were asked about the necessity of being in Rome.”

“And I’m sure you were ready with the answers,” Stone said.

“He’d already heard most of it, and he took it well. Anyway, he hasn’t fired me yet.”

They ordered dinner.

“I’ve heard some things about this Dr. Don,” Dino said. “He’s made it onto a couple of watch lists.”

“Do you think he’s dangerous?” Stone asked.

“Well, one magazine reporter is dead — his car blew up on the L.A. freeway shortly after his article on this cult appeared.”

“Is that what they are? A cult?”

“They’re the fanatical followers of a charismatic religious figure. What else would you call them?”

“You have a point.”

“Peter and Ben’s movie is opening in twelve hundred theaters,” Dino pointed out. “Nobody can cover all of them.”

“I’m glad you’re getting the kids out of the country,” Viv said.

After dinner, the ladies excused themselves.

“I need to talk to you about Billy Barnett,” Dino said.

“Okay.”

“I’ve done some checking on his background, and although I can’t prove it yet, I think he might very well be Teddy Fay. And if I get to the point where I can prove it, I’m going to have to do something about it. Fay is a wanted man.”

“Not anymore,” Stone said.

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s not wanted anymore. Run the name through your system and see what you come up with.”

Dino took out his iPhone, entered an app, and tapped in the name. “Zilch,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“I can tell you only if it stops here.”

“All right.”

“I asked Will Lee to give him a presidential pardon when he was on his way out of office. It was issued sealed, for reasons of national security, and his name was scrubbed from every law enforcement and national security database. Nobody can touch him now.”

“That’s the craziest thing I ever heard,” Dino said.

“It’s crazy, until you consider that he saved the lives of my son and yours in L.A. You and I both owe him.”

Dino shrugged. “I guess we do. You’re sure about the pardon and the databases?”

“You want to try a few more before the girls come back?”

“No, I’ll take your word for it.”

“You’ll get used to the idea, Dino. I have.”

“I expect I will.”

The following morning after making love and having breakfast, Susan disappeared into her dressing room for a few minutes, then came back. “Okay, I can stay on for a while. I’ll fly back with you and Viv a week from Saturday, but I absolutely must be in London on the following Monday morning for a meeting with an important prospect.”

“Wonderful. We’re having dinner tonight with the kids at the Four Seasons, and Friday we’re going to a screening of Peter and Ben’s new movie. They’re off to England after the movie, and we’ll fly a week later. It’s a shorter flight going back, because of the winds. We might be able to make it nonstop from St. John’s.”

“Wonderful. I can do some things for one of my clients while I’m here, then have the fabrics shipped from London. I have a source here that can do the installations.”

“Do you have other international clients?”

“I do, but I try to keep the number down. The travel gets wearing. There’s something in the works that may decrease my workload, though.”

“What’s that?”

“I have a software group in London that is working on a package that will allow me to send an assistant to a site to photograph the rooms, then I can go online and select from a host of wallpaper and paint colors and combinations and show the client what his room will look like — I can even insert furniture and fabrics into the picture. At least that’s the intended outcome. It’s an expensive project, because it’s being done exclusively for me. When it’s perfected, I can license it to other designers with their own sets of fabrics, et cetera, and make money on the investment.”

“That’s a very smart move,” Stone said.

“I’ve been designing fabrics, rugs, and wallpaper for years, so I have hundreds that are exclusive to me, but I can also draw on other sources, if necessary.”

“How big a staff do you have?”

“About thirty, including the new upholstery firm I bought last year. That allows me to do projects much more quickly, instead of waiting in line at other firms. Charles’s account was what allowed me to make that investment. Now that we’ve finished his furniture, we have to get more into the pipeline to keep our people busy.”

“Who does your business planning?”

“I do.”

“My firm has a substantial London office that can help you with that — everything from real estate acquisitions to financing. You should be planning years ahead and copyrighting your designs, too, if you haven’t already.”

“I’ve been meaning to do that for a long time, I just haven’t gotten around to it.”

“You need a business structure that will allow you to delegate more authority.”

“I have a wonderful assistant who’s doing a lot of the work now.”

“Maybe you need three or four assistants who can do that, then you can sit at your computer anywhere in the world and look at their suggestions, then make final decisions on what to propose to clients.”

“Perhaps I should meet with your firm when I get back to London?”

“I’ll set that up, if you like.”

“I would like that very much.”

Stone went down to his office and called Bill Eggers. “I think I have a new client for you in London,” he said.

“You’re just looking for excuses to use your new house,” Eggers said.

“There is that, but what we’re talking about is one of Britain’s very best interior designers, named Susan Blackburn, who could expand her operation worldwide, but she needs solid business planning, financing, copyright work, and everything else a company needs for expansion. She’ll be back in London a week from Monday. Perhaps you could ask Julian Whately to put together a team to evaluate her needs, then draw up a business plan.”

“You talked me into it,” Eggers said. “Whately is due here next week, anyway. We’re reevaluating our own business needs in London, including some hiring and new offices.”

“Maybe you’d like to meet with her before they both go back to London.”

“She’s here? I should have known. Sure, let’s set that up. By the way, Herb Fisher is going to be ready for us to close on the Connecticut house by the end of the week. I hope nothing goes wrong — the wife is already looking for a designer.”

“Maybe she’d like to have Susan take a look at the house while she’s in town.”

“I expect she would.”

“Then I’ll set that up, too.”