Severe Clear Read Free Page B

few bequests.”
    “That’s abstemious of you.”
    “I have funds of my own that are sufficient to my needs.”
    “And now The Arrington is about to open. Did you name it that?”
    “Arrington had thought of calling it Casa Calder, after Vance, but after her death, the new name was suggested to me, and it seemed to fit. I understand you’re covering the grand opening for Vanity Fair ?”
    “Yes, I’ll be there with a team of photographers. It will be well covered.”
    “Centurion is doing a lot of filming, too. It should all be very exciting.”
    “You don’t really sound very excited about it,” Kelli said.
    “I have mixed emotions,” Stone said, “and I expect they will remain mixed.”
    “Stone, do you feel any guilt about your inheritance from Arrington?”
    Stone shrugged. “I didn’t do anything to deserve it.”
    “From what I’ve learned during my research, you did very well by Arrington after Vance’s death: after you became her attorney, you helped her save Centurion from a rapacious property developer. You and your law firm took over her affairs and increased her wealth, and you saved her millions on the purchase of the Virginia land where she built her house. Surely it was natural of her to want to leave you a part of her estate, even if you hadn’t married, and as her husband, there was nothing out of the ordinary about inheriting from her.”
    Stone shrugged again. “That’s all very logical, and I suppose it should make me feel better about it, but . . .”
    “I’m sorry,” Kelli said, “I won’t go any further with that.”
    “Thank you.”
    “There is a rumor I’d like you to address, though.”
    “What sort of rumor?”
    “That you were married previously to a woman who has now been hospitalized for some years, but somehow, the marriage records went away.”
    “Funny, I hadn’t heard that,” Stone replied. He knew it, but he hadn’t heard it.
    “So you deny that?”
    “Unless you have something more than a rumor for evidence, why should I bother?”
    “One other thing,” Kelli said, “and then I’ll leave you alone.”
    “What’s that?”
    “There appears to be some discrepancy about your and Arrington’s son’s date of birth.”
    Stone frowned. He hadn’t expected this, and he needed to make this go away immediately. “Peter has a birth certificate, like everybody else, and that’s a public record.”
    “I know, I’ve seen it, and you are listed as the father. How did Vance Calder feel about that?”
    “I wasn’t privy to conversations between Arrington and Vance, so I’ve no idea what he felt.”
    “How does Peter feel about Vance?”
    “He seems to have nothing but fond memories of him.”
    “Do you mind if I talk to Peter?”
    “I certainly do, and if you pursue that line of questioning, my cooperation will end. Is that perfectly clear?”
    “Perfectly,” she said. She glanced at her watch. “Well, that’s all I have at this time. May I call you if I think of anything further?”
    “This has all been painful, and I would prefer not to discuss any of it any further. I think you have enough for your book.”
    “I understand,” she said. “Thank you for your cooperation.” She excused herself and left.
    Stone was left staring into his wineglass.

 4 
    T hree months before Stone’s conversation with Kelli Keane, three men sat in a dentist’s reception room in Leipzig, Germany. There were no other patients waiting, and they did not seem to know each other.
    From behind the two-way glass separating the reception room from the rest of the suite of offices, another man observed them. The three looked fit, but otherwise unremarkable; all appeared to be Anglo-Saxon, between twenty-five and thirty-five, and neatly dressed in casual clothing. Two of them leafed through magazines; the other stared at the mirrored glass, as if he could see through it, which the viewer found a little unsettling.
    The observer pressed a button on the