Scandalous Behavior - читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги автора Stuart Woods (40) #40

40

Stone drove Dino and Viv down to the airstrip, and on the way he told them of his conversation with Deputy Chief Inspector Holmes. “Does that make any sense to you?” he asked them.

“Guilt over what?” Dino asked.

“Before he could answer that question his pocket watch alarm went off, and he fled the premises.”

“Well, let me know when you find out,” Dino said. They pulled up to the waiting Strategic Services G450, and the crew took their bags from the Bentley and stowed them on the airplane.

“How’s the weather for our flight?” Dino asked the pilot.

“Looks very good,” the man said. “We’ll be in Teterboro by early afternoon.”

Stone hugged them both, put them aboard the airplane, watched it take off, then drove back to the main house. He went downstairs to his little office and sat down at his desk. Peter came in.

“How’s it going, Dad?”

“Pretty well. I just put Dino and Viv on their plane to New York.”

“Good news — we got script and budget approval for our film. The production company is coming down today with a truckload of lights, cameras, and editing equipment. We should start shooting the first of the week in the rooms that Susan is finishing up now.”

“Wonderful news.” Peter turned to go, and Stone checked his e-mail and called him back. “You might want to see this. It’s from Arthur Steele, head of the Steele Group of insurance companies.” He turned the monitor so Peter could see it.

Dear Stone, I saw Peter’s movie, Hell’s Bells, last night, and I thought it was wonderful.

“That’s nice,” Peter said.

“There’s more,” Stone replied.

I saw the mention of some sort of real estate fraud that the character had going, and coincidentally, a report landed on my desk, calling my attention to the fact that among our household insurance accounts, it was noticed that we have more than 800 units, mostly in the L.A. area but scattered widely beyond that, all with the loss-payee of D.B. Calhoun, Inc. We did some checking and we found that it’s a Delaware corporation, the only stockholder of which is one Don Beverly Calhoun. I thought Peter might find this interesting.

“Holy shit,” Peter said. “That’s bigger than what I had read about. What he’s doing is getting his followers to sign over their homes to him.”

Stone replied to Arthur’s e-mail.

Dear Arthur, Peter thanks you for your warm praise; he is also stunned by the size of Dr. Don’s real estate holdings. In fact, I think the FBI would like very much to know about this. It smells of scam, and scam is what Dr. Don does best. May I suggest that you print out the list and send it to the director?

Come see us in England, if you have the chance. Best, Stone.

Peter left, and Stone continued going through his e-mails. He was delighted to see one of them, from the head of the Italian police department that investigated organized crime.

Dear Stone, I am pleased to let you know that, this morning, I had a call from our director of public prosecutions to tell me that Leo Casselli has agreed to a guilty plea of one count of kidnapping and accepted a prison sentence of twenty years. He will likely be out in half that time, but by then he will be passé in the business of crime. I know you will be delighted to hear this, because, since he was not tried, the five million euro reward that you and Marcel duBois posted for information leading to his trial and conviction will not have to be paid. I will give you the pleasure of notifying Mr. duBois of this turn of events. I will notify Baron Klaucke, who had hoped to claim the reward. Warm regards, Guido.

Casselli was a Mafia don who, in an attempt to extort money from the Arrington Hotels group, had kidnapped a girlfriend of Stone’s. This was the best news Stone had heard for a long time, and he immediately forwarded the e-mail to Marcel and to Arthur Steele, who had agreed to reimburse them for the reward. He got immediate replies from both, and he went to lunch feeling richer, by at least two and a half million euros.

That night, in bed with Susan, he told her about the e-mails he had received.

“It sounds as though things are going well for you,” she said, snuggling up, “and I am glad for that.”

Stone was not quite as glad. He fell asleep with the feeling that things were going too well, and that that state of affairs could not continue.