“Don’t worry about me.” Cantor left and closed the door behind him.
Chapter 36
Amanda had thought long and hard overnight about what to do, and her first decision, characteristically, was to protect herself. She called her lawyer, Bill Eggers, at home.
“Morning, Amanda.”
“Bill, I want to ask you a hypothetical – very hypothetical – question.”
“Shoot.”
“In the unlikely event that I felt I really had to, could I get out of my contract with Dick Hickock?”
“What?”
“Now, Bill, I told you this was hypothetical; don’t get upset.”
“Amanda, you’ve only just signed the contracts; it’s a terrific deal!”
“Bill, you haven’t answered my question.”
“The answer is no, not unless Hickock were willing to release you.”
“Nothing I could do, if I wanted out?”
“It’s more about what he could do. He could prevent any other newspaper or magazine from publishing you. All you could do would be to beg him to let you go. What’s this about, Amanda?”
“Bill, this isn’t going to happen; I just like to know where I stand, that’s all.”
“The only way you could get out would be nonperformance on Dick’s part. As long as he pays, you’re stuck with him.”
“Thank you, Bill; just forget I asked, all right?”
“Asked what?”
“Bye, Bill.” She hung up. Well, that was bad news; if Dickie started downhill, he could drag her with him, and all the way to the bottom. She was going to have to nail whoever was publishing DIRT. She had nailed lots of people in her time, but Amanda was not accustomed to going after faceless people with no fixed address.
She picked up the phone to call Stone, then hung up again. She didn’t want to tell him about Hickock’s sub rosa business activities; after all, he was also representing Dick in this matter; she had given him permission to do so. Oh, well, she didn’t have to tell him everything. She picked up the phone again and got connected.
“Stone, darling, I have some information that might be of help,” she said.
“I’m all ears,” Stone replied.
“You remember the issue of DIRT that featured Peebles, the editor of the Infiltrator?”
“Yes.”
“Peebles and I had a chat yesterday; he thinks that an old boyfriend of his might have something to do with this, might even be the one behind it.”
“What’s the old boyfriend’s name?”
“Geoffrey, spelled the English way, Power. At any rate, that’s what he called himself. Peebles thinks he might use more than one name. He’s a failed actor, in L.A. anyway – actually, he failed out there because Peebles screwed him with the studios. He could be in New York.”
“You have anything else on him that might help me locate him?”
“A description.”
“Shoot.”