“Of course. Man, I’ll be glad when this business is over,” Stone said. “And I hope it’s over before somebody else gets ice-picked.”

“You can hope,” Dino said.

Arrington was at the Calder house when they got back, and she was very excited about her airplane.

“It’s beautiful, Stone, just exactly what I wanted. It’s already got a crew and everything, and they’re willing to move east.”

“Sounds perfect,” Stone said. “Mike is working on getting you an early closing, and a tax attorney at Woodman & Weld is setting up the corporate structure.”

“Corporate structure?”

“Jet airplanes are usually owned by corporations, for liability and tax purposes. You’ll own the corporation. And I have other news.”

“Good news, I hope?”

“It looks like Rick has found us the shares we need to gain control of Centurion. They should be transferred in the next day or two.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that. I hope Mr. Prince doesn’t hear about it before we get it done. I’m not sure how much more of his personal charm I can stand.”

“We’ll have a lot of paperwork for you to sign tomorrow, on the Centurion thing, Champion Farms, the Bel-Air property options, and the airplane. You should be able to fly out of here in your new airplane in a couple of days, with any luck at all.”

“I’m anxious to get back and go to work with the architect on the new house,” Arrington said.

“You’ll be back by the weekend,” Stone said, “unless there’s a snag.” Please, he thought, no snags.

24

Stone went back to the Calder house and called Rick Barron.

“How did it go?” Rick asked.

“Very well; Long has agreed to sell to us. Woodman & Weld will produce the sale documents and fax them to his attorney tomorrow. We’ll wire the funds, and we’ll be done.”

“That’s great news, Stone,” Rick said.

“Rick, we’ve discussed this before, but what instructions have you left for your estate’s disposal of your shares?”

“They’ll go to our grandchildren.”

“Do your grandkids want to be in the movie business?”

“One is a doctor, the other an architect,” Rick said, “but Centurion will produce a nice income for them.”

“Do you think they might just as well have cash?”

“They might,” Rick admitted. “Are you and Arrington offering to buy my shares?”

“I haven’t discussed it with her, but if you would consider selling her your shares, I’ll bring it up.”

“I would consider that,” Rick said. “It’s likely that some of the shares would have to be sold, anyway, to pay estate taxes.”

“I’ll speak to her about it,” Stone said, “and get back to you.” The two men said goodbye and hung up.

Stone went looking for Arrington in the main house. She wasn’t in the living room or the study, so he knocked on her bedroom door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Stone.”

“Come in.”