“One of my favorites,” Stone said.
“I managed to get a table in the garden,” she said.
Ten minutes later they were being seated among L.A.’s filmland glitterati, including a pair of movie stars and several faces familiar from television. Carolyn ordered a martini and Stone stuck with his usual Knob Creek.
“What’s Knob Creek?” Carolyn asked.
“My favorite bourbon.”
“The brown stuff?”
“American corn whiskey, this one aged for nine years. It’s the patriotic thing to drink, instead of all that foreign swill. Abraham Lincoln lived in a log cabin on Knob Creek, in Kentucky.”
Their drinks arrived, and she tasted his bourbon. “Not bad,” she said. “I like it better than scotch.”
“Smart woman,” Stone said. They clinked glasses and drank.
“So, was our having dinner Terrence Prince’s idea?” he asked.
“It was entirely mine,” she replied. “He doesn’t know about it.” She looked around. “Of course, he knows a lot of the people here, so it won’t be a secret for long.”
“I don’t care if he knows,” Stone said. “It won’t affect the business we have to do.”
“Why not?”
“Aha, that’s what Mr. Prince would ask.”
“I’m curious about this transaction, but purely on a personal basis,” she said.
“Prince wants to buy most of the land owned by Centurion Studios, so that he can build a hotel and some office buildings and condos.”
“Funny,” she said, “I haven’t seen the plans for that.”
“How about a model?”
She shook her head. “Terry only uses models when he has to educate investors. How much is he offering?”
“That’s not final, yet; somewhere between two and three billion dollars.”
“He can do that with a combination of personal and hedge fund money. He’ll finance a big chunk, too. He has excellent banking connections.”
“Good for him.”
“Is your client going to sell?”
“That is undetermined,” Stone replied.
“And if you knew, you wouldn’t tell me.”
“I couldn’t tell you,” he replied. “Client confidentiality. Of course, Prince has already pierced that veil.”
“You let him do that?”
“Nothing to do with me; he’s bought my client’s local attorney, in Virginia.” Stone didn’t mind if Prince knew he knew.
“Did you tell me that because you think I’ll tell Terry you know?”
“I don’t mind if you do.”