Stone Barrington 06-11

you’re coming, and I’ll leave a pass for you at the main gate.”
    “Thank you, Lou, I’ll be in touch later.” Stone hung up and called his own office, in New York.
    “Stone Barrington’s office,” Joan Robertson said.
    “Hi, it’s Stone.”
    “Oh, Stone, I’m so glad you called. Have you heard about Vance Calder?”
    “Yes, I’m in L.A. now, at the Bel-Air Hotel.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “I haven’t had time to find out, but I want you to go into our computer boilerplate, print out some documents and fax them to me soonest.”
    “What do you want?”
    Stone dictated a list of the documents, then hung up. Breakfast arrived and he turned on the TV news while he ate. The local channels were going nuts; the biggest star in Hollywood had been murdered, and they couldn’t find out anything . They were treading water as fast as they could, recycling what little information they had. They couldn’t find Arrington, the police wouldn’t issue anything but the most basic statement, Centurion had no comment, except to express deep loss and regret, and no friend of either Vance’s or Arrington’s would talk to the press, even off the record, not that any of them knew anything. That was good, he thought.
    The phone rang. “Hello?”
    “Mr. Barrington?”
    “Yes.”
    “This is Hillary Carter, Arrington’s mother.”
    “How are you, Mrs. Carter?”
    “Terrible, of course, but I’m glad you’re here. Arrington badly needs someone to take charge of things.”
    “Have you seen her?”
    “Only for a few minutes, yesterday, and she was semiconscious. She was asking for you, though.”
    “I’m seeing her at noon today.”
    “Oh, good. The doctor doesn’t want her to see Peter, yet; I don’t know why.”
    “I’ll see if I can find out.”
    “I’m at Vance’s house, now, and the situation here is nearly out of hand. I’ve had to call the police to keep people from climbing over the fence.”
    “I’ll see if I can arrange some private security.”
    “That would be a very good idea, I think.”
    “Is Peter all right?”
    “Yes, but he wants his mother and father, and I’m having to stall him. What I’d like to do is to get him out of this zoo and take him home to Virginia with me. Arrington is quite happy for him to come with me.”
    “That might be a good idea. Can I call you after I’ve seen Arrington?”
    “Yes, please; I’ll give you Vance’s most secret number. The press hasn’t learned about it, yet.”
    Stone wrote down the number.
    “I’m so sorry we’ve never met face to face,” Mrs. Carter said. “Arrington has always spoken so well of you.”
    “Mrs. Carter, do you have any objection to my taking over all of Arrington’s legal decisions and contacts with … everyone outside the family?”
    “I’d be very grateful if you would, but of course, I’d like to be consulted about any medical treatment beyond what she’s getting now.”
    “Of course. I’ll talk to you later today.” He said good-bye and hung up. There was a knock on the door, and an envelope was slid under it. Stone checked the contents and found the documents Joan had faxed to him.
    He telephoned Lou Regenstein.
    “Yes, Stone?”
    “I’ve just spoken with Arrington’s mother, who is at Vance’s house with her grandson. She says the press there is out of hand, and she’s had to call the police. Can you arrange for some private security to take over that?”
    “Of course; how many men do you want?”
    “She says they’re coming over the fence, and my recollection is that they’ve got a large piece of property there.”
    “Something like eight acres,” Regenstein said.
    “I should think half a dozen men inside the fence, two in the house and a car patrolling the perimeter of the place, twenty-four hours a day, for the time being.”
    “Consider it done; anything else?”
    “Mrs. Carter wants to take Peter back to Virginia with her. Do you think you could arrange transportation?”
    “The Centurion jet is at her disposal,” Regenstein said. “I’ll have a crew standing by in an hour.”
    “I shouldn’t think she’d need it until later today. Is it at Burbank?”
    “Yes, but the press would know that. I’ll have it moved to Santa Monica and hangared at the Supermarine terminal, until she’s ready to leave.”
    “Thank you, Lou. I’ll call you later.”
    There was nothing else to do, Stone reflected. Dino would be in the air, now, on his way back to New York. He checked