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“Yes, he called my cell and gave me the combination to his safe at Centurion. I went over there and picked up the share certificate; that’s why I was out of the office.”
“Where is the certificate now?”
“At the office, in my safe.”
“I don’t suppose Jim had an opportunity to sign it.”
“No, I was going to see him tomorrow morning.”
“Well, Harvey, I think you’d better get a couple of armed guards over there. A cop napping outside the door isn’t going to make him safe.”
“I’ll do that right away.”
“And Harvey?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to sound callous, but the best thing you can do to keep Jim safe is to get him to sign that certificate at the earliest possible moment-tonight, if possible. And let Prince’s attorney know about it.”
“I see your point; I’ll do what I can.”
Stone gave him his cell number. “Please call me when you have his signature. The sales documents will be in your fax machine when you get to your office tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll do that,” Stein said.
Stone hung up, then stood and thought for a moment. There was no point in telling the others about this at the moment, he decided. Why ruin the dinner party? He turned to find Dino standing in the doorway.
“Everybody’s sitting down. Everything okay?”
“Not exactly,” Stone said. “Jim Long got himself shanked in some sort of fight at Metro Jail.”
“Dead?”
“Bleeding. He’s on his way to Cedars-Sinai to have a kidney removed.”
“Any chance he’s going to live to make the sale?”
“His lawyer is taking the stock certificate to the hospital for his signature. He realizes that Long won’t be safe until the stock comes to us.”
“Well, Charlene has already got security in place, but what about Arrington?”
“I think I’d better talk with Mike Freeman about that,” Stone said. “Strategic Services has a Los Angeles office.”
“Prince has a long reach, doesn’t he?”
“You could say that,” Stone replied. “We’re at three bodies, two of them dead, and counting.”
They rejoined the party, but everyone had already taken seats at the table, so Stone would have to wait until after dinner before speaking to Mike about Arrington’s security.
26
The party continued merrily until nearly midnight, very late for L.A., where movie people rose at dawn and headed to their shoots. As everyone began to drift out, Stone took Mike Freeman aside.
“Mike, that phone call I took before dinner was not good news. One of the Centurion shareholders whose stock we need to acquire to keep the studio from being sold was shanked in jail earlier this evening and is having a kidney removed at Cedars-Sinai.”
“Is he going to make it?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know; he’s lost a lot of blood. What I’m concerned about now is Arrington’s safety, since she’s the largest Centurion stockholder.”
