“You want me to tell Rivera that my friend Barrington has a hunch that the guy killed Harris?”
“Is he looking at anyone else for the murder?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Then he’ll have plenty of time on his hands. Name is Alexei Popov, thirty-one, a previous murder-for-hire charge, dismissed, dead witness. He’s a driver for Terrence Prince, who has a strong financial motive for wanting Miss Harris dead. Tell him about the Centurion thing.”
“Okay,” Dino said, picking up the phone.
Stone dug out Carolyn Blaine’s card and called her on his cell phone.
“Good morning,” she said cheerfully.
“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” he replied. “I’m staying at a beautiful house in Bel-Air with a wonderful cook. Would you like to come here for dinner tonight?”
“Just the two of us?”
“There may be another couple; I’m not sure yet.”
“What time?”
“Seven?” He gave her the address.
“See you then.”
Stone hung up and waited for Dino to finish his conversation with Rivera. “Dino, do you think you might like to have dinner with your new friend Hetty again tonight?”
“Why not?” Dino asked. “Where are we going?”
“We’re dining in,” Stone said. He picked up the phone and buzzed Manolo.
“Yes, Mr. Stone?”
“We’d like to dine here this evening, Manolo. Will that be all right?”
“I’ll tell Carmen,” he said. “How many people and at what time?”
“Four; we’ll sit down at eight, if that’s convenient for her. She can cook whatever she likes.”
“And at what time will your guests arrive?”
“Seven-a Ms. Blaine and a Ms. Lang, arriving separately.”
“It will be a warm evening; would you like to dine by the pool?”
“That would be perfect,” Stone said.
“I’ll see to everything.”
“Thank you, Manolo.” Stone hung up.
“Why don’t we kidnap Manolo and Carmen and
spirit them back to New York?” Dino asked.
“What a good idea! What did Rivera have to say?”
“I passed everything on and he seemed very interested, until I brought up Prince’s name. Then he sort of shied away.”