Swimming to Catalina

by Stuart Woods

  Vance glanced to either side of him. “Is anyone listening to us?”

  Stone looked around. “Everyone seems to be trying to.”

  “Let’s not talk here.”

  “I take it you’re entertaining tomorrow night?”

  Calder lowered his voice. “I am. It’s been planned for nearly a month, and if I cancel, people will start to talk. When people start to talk, somebody tells somebody in the gutter press, and the next thing I know, I’m all over the tabloids, and I have a battalion of paparazzi camped at my front gate. It’s important that I behave as I normally do, no matter what’s happening in my personal life, and it’s important that you understand this.”

  “I understand.”

  “One other thing: I expect all our conversations on that subject to be conducted under the attorney-client privilege.”

  “As you wish.”

  “Good, now here’s our dinner; let’s enjoy it, then we’ll talk on the way home.”

  Back in the Bentley, Calder finally opened up. “It’s been three days now, and I haven’t heard anything from her.”

  “What precipitated this?” Stone asked.

  “I don’t know. I came home from the studio, and her car was gone. It was seven in the evening, and it was unusual for her not to be waiting for me. She hadn’t given any instructions to the cook for dinner, and the houseman, who usually has a nap in the afternoon, hadn’t seen her leave the house.”

  “Did she take anything with her?”

  “I’m not sure. I suppose she could have taken a few clothes—I couldn’t look at her closet and say for sure. She may have taken a suitcase, but there’s a room full of luggage, and I can’t know if one or two pieces are missing.”

  “Had you quarreled? Was she angry about anything?”

  Calder pulled into the Bel-Air parking lot, stopped, and waved away the attendant. “No, not angry, but she was…different. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

  “How was she different?”

  “The night before, she had told me about the baby. I was overjoyed; I’ve always wanted a child, and I thought she did, too. She…was not overjoyed.”

  “What did she say?”

  “It’s not so much what she said as the way she behaved. Then I did some thinking, and it occurred to me that the child…might not be mine.”

  Stone said nothing.

  “Stone, you and I both know that Arrington and I married after the briefest of courtships and that she was living with you up until a week or ten days before we married.”

  Stone still said nothing.

  “She didn’t come right out and say that the child was yours, but she was very subdued.”

  “Did you ask her?”

  “No, but she knew I was thinking that.”

  “What about the following morning?”

  “She said nothing. I had to be at the studio at seven—I’m in the middle of a picture—and she wasn’t up when I left, so we had no opportunity to talk. I went to work, and I thought about nothing else all day, and I came home prepared to tell her that I didn’t care who the biological father was, I wanted to be the father who brought up the child. But she was gone.”

  “She didn’t leave a note?”

  “No. Nothing.”

  “And you still haven’t called the police?”

  “Stone, I just can’t do that; I think I’ve already explained why not.”

  “The tabloids.”

  “Yes. That, and the fact that I don’t really feel that she’s in any danger.”

  “What do you expect me to do, then?”

  “I’ve told you about the dinner party tomorrow night.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ve done something unusual; I’ve invited a reporter. The following day, there’ll be a story recounting the evening and the guest list. Your name will be mentioned.”

  “And you think she might read it?”

  “Almost certainly; she follows the trade papers closely.”

  “And you think she might try to get in touch with me?”

  “I’ll see to it that it’s mentioned that you’re staying at the Bel-Air.”

  “And if she doesn’t call me?”

  “Then I’ll take your advice on how to proceed. I promise I will.”

  Stone shrugged. “It’s your decision, I guess.”

  Calder handed him a card. “Here’s my address and all my private numbers. Wear a tie, dinner’s at seven, and people are usually on time. I’m five minutes from the Bel-Air.”

  Stone took the card. “I’ll be there.”

  “Oh, if you’re not busy tomorrow and you’d like to visit the studio, call my secretary—her number is on the card—and she’ll arrange it.”

  “Thanks, I might do that. By the way, Vance, are you aware that two men have been following you all evening?”

  “What?”

  “They’re in a car parked about thirty yards behind us. They followed us into Spago, too.”

  Calder glanced over his shoulder and smiled, revealing astonishingly white and even teeth. “Oh, those are my boys; they watch my back.” He held out his hand. “Thank you for coming out here, Stone. I hope you don’t think I’m too much of a fool for handling it this way.”

  “I hope it’s the right way,” Stone said. He got out of the car and watched the Bentley disappear into the scented night, followed by Calder’s backwatchers. He wondered if somebody had been watching Arrington’s back.

  5

  After breakfast the following morning, Stone called Betty Southard, whose name and number were on Calder’s card, said he’d like to see the studio, and was given the address and was told to be at the main gate at ten-thirty. He was on time.

  He gave his name to a guard at the gate and was directed to a parking lot just inside. As he got out of the car a golf cart pulled up, and a tall, slender woman got out and came toward him. She seemed to be in her late thirties and was comfortably but elegantly dressed n a pale Italian suit; her hair was a deep auburn and fell around her shoulders. “Mr. Barrington?” she asked. “I’m Betty Southard.”

  “I’m Stone,” he replied, shaking her hand.

  “Welcome to Centurion Studios; hop in and we’ll get going.”

  Stone got into the golf cart and Betty pulled out of the lot and soon turned left. Stone was suddenly submerged in a wave of déjà vu; the street was over-whelmingly familiar, as if out of some long-recurring dream. “It’s…I mean, it’s…”

  Betty laughed. “A lot of people have that reaction,” she said. “I suppose a couple of hundred movies have featured this street in one or another of its guises. Have you spent much time in L.A.?”

  “No, I was out here a few years ago for a couple of days, but the company was not nearly so nice.”

  “Why, thank you,” she said, smiling.

  “I wasn’t flattering you all that much; I was a cop at the time, and my partner and I came out here to extradite a small-time Mafia hitman. He weighed about three hundred and fifty pounds, and the three of us sat in adjacent seats, in steerage, all the way back to New York.”

  She laughed aloud, a pleasing, unexpected reaction. “I’m glad there’s more room on my cart seat,” she said.

  He smiled. “I’m not.”

  She laughed again and turned down a street with a large office building on one side and a row of nondescript smaller buildings on the other. “This is executive row, more or less,” she said. “Mr. Regenstein’s office and those of most of the studio executives are in the big building; the smaller ones are occupied by producers with production deals, small businesses who work with the studio, and, of course, writers and actors.”

  “Actors have offices?”

  She nodded. “Wait until you see Vance’s. We’re on the way to Stage Ten right now, though. Vance is shooting a big scene, and he thought you might find it interesting.”

  “I’m sure I will.”

  She turned down a side street and drove between a series of immens
e hangarlike buildings, each with a huge number painted on the front. They stopped in front of number 10, Betty parked the cart, and they entered through a small door, past a guard. As soon as they were inside, a loud bell rang, several people shouted, “QUIET!!!,” and Betty held a finger to her lips. She pulled him around a pile of equipment, and Stone was astonished to find an entire New England farmhouse sitting in the middle of the soundstage, surrounded by about a foot of fresh snow. As he watched, a series of commands was shouted by someone somewhere, ending in “ACTION!” a car drove up to the front of the house, and Vance Calder got out, carrying half a dozen brightly wrapped packages, walked up the front walk, opened the door, and walked inside the house, closing the door behind him.

  “CUT!” somebody yelled. “Print that! Next setup, Scene Eleven, back yard!”

  “I’ve seen that house somewhere,” Stone said.

  “Probably; it’s a pretty close copy of one in Litchfield County, Connecticut.”

  “Why don’t they just shoot it there? Wouldn’t it be cheaper than building it here?”

  “Absolutely not. Here, the director has total control of everything—weather, light, snow. He doesn’t have to wait for all the variables to be just right, and when he’s ready for interiors, the walls come off, exposing the living room, kitchen, et cetera, and the camera can roll right in. They’re getting their money’s worth out of that house, believe me.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “They’re setting up in the back yard; would you like to go inside?”

  “Sure.”

  She led the way up the front path and through the front door. They walked into an entrance hall, then into a large, comfortably furnished living room. There were books and pictures, magazines on the coffee table, and a fire glowing cheerfully in the fireplace. “Notice that the doors are all a bit wider than usual,” Betty said. “That’s so a camera can follow the actors around the house.”

  “It’s amazing,” Stone said, looking around. “It feels as though you could move right in.”

  “You could. The bathroom works, and your toothbrush is probably in the medicine cabinet.” She led the way into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. It was full of food, some of it half-eaten. They walked to the back door and looked out into the yard. Three small children were sitting on the “snow” next to a large snowman. Vance Calder sat a few yards away in a folding chair, reading his script. Somebody yelled out an order, and Calder got up and came into the house.

  “Hello, Stone,” he said, offering his hand. “I’m glad you could come. You and Betty had better go into he living room, or you’ll be in the shot.”

  Stone followed Betty out of the kitchen, and they sat on the living room sofa. He pointed to a butler’s tray with an array of liquor bottles. “If it weren’t so early, I’d expect you to offer me a drink,” he said.

  “You wouldn’t like it,” she replied. “It’s all tea or water.” She looked at him frankly. “So, what brings you out here? You’ve missed Arrington. I suppose you know she’s back East, visiting her family.”

  “I didn’t have anything else to do,” Stone replied. “I’d just wrapped up a case, and I was at loose ends.”

  “A case? You’re still a police officer, then?”

  “No, I’m a lawyer these days.”

  “What kind of a lawyer?”

  “A very good one.”

  “I mean, do you have a specialty?”

  “My specialty is whatever my clients need.”

  “I didn’t know law was practiced that way anymore.”

  “It isn’t, very often.”

  “Are you with a firm, or on your own?”

  “Both. I’m of counsel to a large firm, Woodman and Weld, but I mostly work out of an office in my house.”

  She cocked her head and frowned a little. “I’ve heard of Woodman and Weld, of course, but what does ‘of counsel’ mean?”

  “It’s a catchall phrase, usually applied to an elderly lawyer who doesn’t practice full-time anymore, but who the firm calls on from time to time for advice.”

  “You’re not exactly elderly.”

  “Not yet.”

  “What does ‘of counsel’ mean in your case, exactly?” she persisted.

  “It means that I’m not quite respectable enough to be a partner at Woodman and Weld. I’m at arm’s length, but they can reel me in whenever the need arises.”

  “What sort of need?”

  “Let’s say a valued client is arrested for drunk driving, in a car with a woman who is not his wife; let’s say the daughter of a client is beaten up by her boyfriend, but the family doesn’t want to prosecute; let’s say the son of a client rapes a nun. That sort of thing.”

  “Sounds pretty sordid.”

  “Sometimes it is. All sorts of people need all sorts of legal representation, and not everything a client needs can be directly provided by a prestigious firm. The firm, in fact, is as concerned about its own good name as the client’s. They want these cases to go away in the quietest and most expeditious manner possible.”

  “I suppose it must be interesting at times.”

  “It’s interesting all the time,” Stone said. “And it beats estate planning any day.”

  She laughed again, and he enjoyed it.

  “Vance is tied up for lunch,” she said, “so you’ll have to make do with me at the studio commissary.”

  “Making do with you sounds good; you’re a lot more interesting than Vance and nearly as beautiful.”

  She threw back her head and laughed until someone in the distance screamed, “QUIET!”

  6

  Back in the golf cart, they drove down the street past more soundstages and made a couple of turns, finishing up in front of a low building with a well-kept front lawn. A patio was filled with tables, and people in all sorts of dress-period, Western, and just jeans-were having lunch.

  “Let’s walk through the main room and I’ll ask the maitre d’ if he has a table outside; it’s such a nice day.”

  Stone followed her through a handsome dining room, and as they were approaching the doors to the patio, Stone heard someone call his name. He stopped and turned toward the voice. Louis Regenstein was at a booth in the corner of the room, standing, waving him over. Stone touched Betty’s arm and motioned for her to follow him.

  “Stone, it’s good to see you,” Regenstein said, offering his hand. He gestured toward his companion. “This is Mario Ciano; Mario, this is a new acquaintance of mine, Stone Barrington.” The two men shook hands. “Stone, will you join us for lunch?”

  “Thank you, but…”

  “You go ahead, Stone,” Betty interrupted. “I have some work to do back at the office.” She leaned closer. “I’ll see you at Vance’s house tonight.” She vanished.

  Stone took a seat facing the two men, with his back to the room.

  “Would you like something to drink?” Regenstein asked.

  “Some ice tea would be good,” Stone replied.

  Regenstein waved a hand and the ice tea and a menu appeared. When Stone had ordered, Regenstein turned to Ciano. “You see what I mean?” he asked, nodding at Stone.

  “You’re right, Lou,” Ciano replied. “He’s perfect.” Ciano turned to Stone. “Have you ever done any acting?”

  “Not since high school,” Stone said.

  “Except in front of juries,” Regenstein chuckled. “That’s what he told me.”

  “You’re actually a lawyer?” Ciano asked.

  “Yes.”

  “A trial lawyer?”

  “From time to time.”

  “What was your most recent trial?”

  “I defended an American woman on a Caribbean island against a murder charge,” Stone replied.

  “And what was the outcome?”

  “She was hanged.”

  Ciano burst out laughing. “He’s typecasting, Lou; our guy loses the case, too.”

  “May I ask what you gentlemen are talking about?�
�� Stone said.

  “The voice is good,” Ciano said, ignoring him, talking about him as if he weren’t there.

  “Good for what?” Stone asked.

  “He wouldn’t have to join the Screen Actors Guild, would he?” Regenstein asked.

  “Nah, he gets one freebie, then he has to join.” Regenstein turned to Stone. “You’re planning to be out here for a few days, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, but Vance…”

  “How would you like to appear in this picture with him?”

  “With Vance?”

  “Of course, with Vance; Mario is the director.”

  “Oh.”

  “Well?”

  “Are you perfectly serious, Lou?”

  “Perfectly. We’ll pay you, let’s see, twenty-five thousand dollars for a week’s work.”

  Stone turned to Ciano. “You look like a perfectly sane person, Mario,” he said. “What the hell is Lou talking about?”

  Ciano leaned forward. “We have this scene to shoot this week, a courtroom scene, and the actor who was to play the lawyer got a better offer and wants out. Lou and I would like you to test for the part.”

  Stone shook his head. “Gentlemen, you’ll have to forgive me, but I come from New York, where things like this don’t happen. I mean, I’ve heard about Schwab’s Drugstore and the casting couch and all that, but…”

  “Schwab’s is long gone,” Ciano said, “and don’t worry, neither Lou nor I wants to fuck you; we just want you to stand in front of a camera and read a few lines. If you do it well, you’ll play a prosecuting attorney who is trying to put the client of a lawyer played by Vance Calder in jail. You’ll lose, of course, but you’ll look good doing it.”

  “I can’t believe there aren’t a hundred real actors who could do it better,” Stone said.

  “That remains to be seen,” Ciano said. “Don’t worry, if you’re lousy, we’ll hire an actor.”

  “Actually, you’d be doing us a big favor if you’d do this, Stone,” Regenstein said. “Mario is due to start shooting the scene tomorrow morning, and he doesn’t really want to spend the afternoon casting instead of shooting.”

  “It’s settled, then,” Ciano said. “My first assistant director will direct your test this afternoon. We can do it in a corner of Stage Ten while we’re between setups.”