“Good morning, it’s Eggers. This is your big day, isn’t it?”
“That’s what Dino says, but I’m not too sure. Things haven’t gone well here the past couple of days.”
“So why is Dino so up?”
“Who knows? He says he has a feeling.”
“He’s Italian; I wouldn’t discount it.”
“Why did you call, Bill?”
“Just to wish you luck at your stockholders’ meeting today.”
“Well, I was going to call you at nine, New York time, so I’m glad you called.”
“What can I do for you, Stone?”
“I have a check from Terry Prince made out to Arrington in the amount of twenty-five million dollars. How can I cash it before he changes his mind?”
“Jesus, what’s it for?”
“It’s a non-refundable deposit on the sale of her Bel-Air property to him.”
“What bank is it drawn on?”
Stone got out the check and looked at it. “Wells Fargo,” he said.
“What branch?”
“It’s on Wilshire, near Prince’s offices.”
“Here’s what you do: you be at the branch when it opens and ask for the manager. You show him the sales contract-has Prince signed it?”
“Yes, it came already signed.”
“Has Arrington signed it?”
“Yes.”
“Get her to endorse the check, too. Then you tell the manager you want the funds wired to our trust account immediately. Got a pen?”
Stone got out his pen and jotter pad. “Ready.”
Eggers dictated the account number. “He’ll feel better about wiring it to our account, instead of a private account. Tell him to make the wire
to my attention.”
“What, so you won’t get it mixed up with all the other wires for twenty-five million dollars?”
“Yeah. I’ll have somebody call you when the funds are in our account, and we’ll transfer the money to Arrington’s account at Chase this morning.”
“Okay, I’ll follow your instructions.”
“Good. By the way, I sent you a little gift package; you’ll get it by FedEx, early delivery.”
“Is it a fruit basket, Bill?”
“Not exactly, but you could look at it that way.”