Bel-Air Dead (Stone Barrington 20)

Back at the house Stone’s cell buzzed. “Hello?”

“Stone? It’s Ed Eagle.”

“Hey, Ed, how are you?”

“Just fine. Susannah and I are back in town, at the Bel-Air Hotel; would you and Dino like to join us for dinner over here?”

“Sure, love to.”

“Seven, in the bar?”

“That’s fine, Ed; see you then.” Stone hung up. “Ed Eagle is in town and invited us to dinner.”

“Fine by me. I don’t know the guy very well.”

“He’s a top defense lawyer in the West; married to Susannah Wilde, actress?”

“Her, I know,” Dino said.

“You’ll like them.”

“I’m prepared to.”

They had a drink before dinner in the Bel-Air bar.

“I heard a rumor that Terry Prince is going to build a new hotel in Bel-Air on your client’s property,” Eagle said.

“In his dreams,” Stone replied. He told Ed about the hang-up on the Centurion deal.

“Would she really sell?”

“I haven’t had a firm answer from her, but it’s possible, I think.”

“You think such a hotel could compete with this one?”

“I’ve no idea,” Stone said, “but Terry Prince thinks so, and he’s willing to bet a ton of money on his judgment.”

“His own money?”

“That, I don’t know, but his assistant, Carolyn Blaine, thinks it is.”

“Is that the blonde I saw here at the Bel-Air reopening party?”

“Yes. I was going to introduce her to you, but she vanished.”

“I thought she looked familiar,” Eagle said. “Now I remember why.”

“Why?”

“She reminds me a little of a woman who lived in Santa Fe for a while. She worked for a client of mine named Hanks, a pro golfer.”

“Sure, I know who he is. He’s doing very well on the tour this year, isn’t he?”

“He is. But last year, this young woman embezzled something like seven hundred thousand dollars from his bank accounts, then vanished.”

Stone’s eyebrows went up. “And you think Carolyn is that woman?”

“I’m not sure,” Eagle said, “but there’s something about her. The one in Santa Fe wasn’t a blonde.”