“Are you really serious about selling Terry the Bel-Air property?”
“If the price is right, and I think building Arrington a house would be a very good carrot.”
She looked at her watch and set down her coffee cup. “I’ve got to get back,” she said. “He’ll be out of his meeting soon, and I want to be back in my office by then.”
“Carolyn, if you get the impression that Prince is going to make a move against Jim Long, please get in touch. He’s got personal security now, but he may want to beef it up.”
“Well, I can give you my opinion on that,” she said. “If Long goes back to jail, he’s a dead man.”
“Thanks, I’ll pass that along.”
She shook Stone’s hand and left.
Stone paid the bill and went back to the car, where Dino had a jazz station on the Bentley’s radio.
“So?”
“She says Prince is getting crazy,” Stone replied. “She says the money behind the Centurion deal is drug-related, and if the deal falls through, his partners will… well, they’ll be very angry.”
“Interesting,” Dino said.
“I told Prince that there would be no deal on the Bel-Air property unless he dropped his bid for Centurion.”
“Well,” Dino chuckled, “he can’t do that, can he? Not without making the wrong people mad.”
“Seems that way,” Stone said.
“You’re going to nail him to the wall, aren’t you?” Dino asked.
“Only if I get the chance,” Stone replied.
37
Stone was back at the Calder house when Rick Barron called.
“Stone, the Centurion shareholders’ meeting is set for early next week to take a vote on Prince’s final offer.”
“Has he come up with a final offer yet?”
“No, and he’s playing his cards very close to his vest.”
“We have a couple of new cards, too.”
“Tell me.”
“Jim Long is recovering; I think we’ll own his shares before the meeting.”
“And if we don’t?”
“We have fifteen thousand new shares that will vote our way.”
“From whom?”
“I promised I wouldn’t say. He doesn’t want it known until he actually votes. Frankly, I don’t blame him, what with the way that others have been dealt with.”
“Neither do I,” Rick said. “Do you feel confident he will actually vote with us?”
“He gave me his word, and I had a very strong impression that he meant it.”