L.A. Dead (Stone Barrington 6)

"They left together?"

"Yes, they came and left in Vanessa's car."

"That's promising," Stone said, half to himself.

"Promising? How do you mean?"

"Sorry, I was thinking aloud."

Charlene, having eaten a third of her lunch, grabbed her wine glass and half reclined on the sofa, resting her feet in Stone's lap.

The view was transfixing, Stone thought, trying to concentrate on his lobster instead. "Are you and Beverly close at all?" he asked.

"Not very. Like I said, she's not my favorite person."

"I understand that Beverly is… talkative."

"Well, that's an understatement! We had to listen to every detail of every affair she had."

"Did she ever sleep with Vance?"

"Sugar, if Vance had ever had a social disease, half of Beverly Hills would have come down with it."

"I mean, did she ever talk about having an affair with him?"

"She tried, but she was late to the party; the rest of us had already had Vance."

"Vanessa, too?"

"Sure, and before she was divorced. Vance didn't discriminate against married women."

"Who is Beverly married to?"

"A producer on the lot, here: Gordon Walters. That's her entree around town; if she were ever divorced, she'd never get asked to dinner. Gordy's a sweetheart, but Beverly isn't all that popular. Everybody knows you can't tell her anything. It would be like putting it on a loudspeaker at Spago."

"Charlene, I wonder if you'd do a favor for me."

"Sugar," she said, poking him in the crotch with a toe. "I've been trying."

"Another kind of favor."

"Sure, if I can."

"Have lunch with Beverly Walters; see if you can find out what happened after she and Vanessa left your house that Saturday."

"Why do you want to know?"

"You can't share this with the ladies," Stone said.

She made a little cross with a long fingernail on her left breast.

"Beve

rly is a witness against Arrington, in this shooting thing. She's testified that Arrington told her she wanted to kill Vance. Arrington was joking, of course."

"Of course," Charlene said dryly.

"It's possible that Beverly might have been at Vance's house that evening, and that she might have seen something. I can't let Arrington go into court without knowing what Beverly saw. Do you think you could worm that out of her?"