Stone Barrington 06-11

got just the thing,” she said. “I wore it in a scene this morning.”
    “Pick you up at the RV about seven-fifteen?”
    “Seven-fifteenish.”
    “See you then.” He hung up. “Call Lou’s secretary and tell her I’d love to come, and I’m bringing a date.”
    Louise went back to her desk to make the call.
    “Who’s the date?” Dino asked.
    “Charlene Joiner.”
    Dino’s eyebrows went up. “You kidding me?”
    “Nope,” Stone replied smugly. “She’s a new friend.”
    “One of these days, you’re going to screw yourself right into the ground,” Dino said.

Forty-seven

    C HARLENE KEPT STONE WAITING FOR ONLY FIFTEEN minutes. When she emerged from her dressing room she was wearing flowing cream-colored silk pants and a filmy patterned blouse. Stone noticed in a nanosecond that the blouse was so sheer that nipples were readily in view.
    “So that’s what L.A. women wear to dinner parties.” He laughed, kissing her.
    “They do if they have the right equipment,” Charlene replied, wrapping a light cashmere stole around her shoulders.
    “You’re going to be very popular tonight,” Stone said.
    “With the men, anyway. Whose house are we going to?”
    “It’s a surprise.”
    “I love a surprise,” she said, settling into the car. “This is Vance’s car, isn’t it?”
    “It is. I borrowed it.”
    “Such an incestuous town,” she said.

    With Charlene’s help he found the house, or rather, estate, in Holmby Hills. Stone was beginning to believe that everybody in L.A. lived on four or five acres. He stopped in the circular driveway, and a valet took the car. As they approached the house, the front door was opened by a butler, and they stepped into a large foyer. From across the living room beyond, Lou Regenstein headed toward them.
    “Oh, my God,” Charlene said under her breath.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I’ll tell you later,” she whispered.
    “Stone!” Lou cried, his hand out. “And Charlene!” He looked a little panicky. “What a surprise!”
    “For me too, Lou,” she replied, accepting a peck on the cheek. She whipped off the stole, handed it to the butler, and swept into the room at Stone’s side, her back arched, breasts held high.
    Lou led them toward a tall, handsome woman of about fifty, who was talking to another couple. “Livia,” he said. “You haven’t met Stone.”
    “How do you do?” the woman said, taking Stone’s hand. Then she turned toward Charlene, and her eyes narrowed.
    “And of course, you know Charlene Joiner,” Lou said.
    “Of course,” she replied icily, then turned and walked away.
    There was something going on here, Stone thought, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what it was.
    Lou quickly turned to the couple Livia had been talking to. “And this is Lansing Drake and his wife, Christina.”
    Stone took the man’s hand. “It’s Dr. Drake, isn’t it?”
    “Yes, and your name?”
    “I’m sorry,” Lou said, “this is Stone Barrington, a friend of Vance’s and Arrington’s.”
    For a split second, the doctor looked as though he had been struck across the face, then he recovered. “Nice to meet you,” he mumbled, then turned to Charlene. “And of course, I know you,” he said, chuckling, his eyes pointing below her shoulders.
    “Of course you do,” Charlene said.
    Lou’s attention was drawn to the front door, where other guests were arriving. “The bar is over there,” he said to Stone, pointing across the room. “Please excuse me.”
    Dr. Drake and his wife had suddenly engaged someone else in conversation, so Stone led Charlene toward the bar.
    “Pill pusher to the stars,” Charlene said.
    “Yes, I’ve heard of him; he’s Arrington’s doctor. What were you talking about at the front door?”
    “If you hadn’t been surprising me, I’d have warned you,” she said.
    “Warned me about what?”
    “Livia; she hates me with a vengeance. Poor Lou is going to get it between the shoulder blades tonight.”
    “Who is she?”
    “Lou’s wife.”
    “I didn’t know he even had a wife. Nobody’s ever mentioned her to me.”
    “Nobody ever does, least of all Lou. They’ve had an arm’s-length marriage for twenty years. Word has it they occupy different wings of this house. They’re only seen together when he entertains here, or at industry events, like the Oscars.”
    “And why does she hate you?”
    “You don’t want to know.”
    “You’re probably right.” They reached the bar; Charlene had a San