Swimming to Catalina

know,” Jack replied, “but he’s got abeautiful speaking voice on the telephone.”
    “Must be Vance Calder,” Dino deadpanned.
    Elaine burst out laughing.
    Stone got up and trudged over to the phone. “Hello?” he said, sticking a finger in the other ear to blot out some of the noise.
    “Stone?”
    “Yeah? Who’s this?”
    “Stone, this is Vance Calder.”
    “Yeah, sure; Dino put you up to this?”
    “What?”
    “Who is this?”
    “It’s Vance, Stone.”

    Stone hung up the phone and went back to the table. “Nice,” he said to Dino.
    “Huh?”
    “Guy on the phone says he’s Vance Calder. Thanks a lot.”
    “Don’t thank me,” Dino said. “I never met the guy.”
    “You put whoever that was up to it, didn’t you? It was a setup.” He looked at Elaine. “You were probably in on it, too.”
    Elaine placed a hand on her ample bosom. “Stone, I swear.”
    Jack came back. “Same guy on the phone again; says you hung up on him. You know who it sounds like?”
    “Vance Calder?” Dino suggested.
    “Yeah!” Jack said. “Sounds just like him!”
    After a glare at Dino and Elaine, Stone went back to the phone. “Hello?”
    “Stone, we’ve met; don’t you know my voice?”
    “Vance?”
    “Yes,” Calder replied, sounding relieved.
    “I’m sorry, I thought someone…”
    “It’s all right; it happens a lot.”
    “Hello, Vance; how’d you find me here?”
    “There was no answer at your house, and I remembered that Arrington said you were at Elaine’s a lot. I took a chance.”
    “How is Arrington, Vance?”
    “That’s what I’m calling about, Stone. Arrington has disappeared.”
    “What do you mean, disappeared?”
    “Just that; she’s vanished.”
    “When?”

    “The day before yesterday.”
    “Have you been to the police?”
    “I can’t do that; the tabloids would be all over me. I need your help, Stone.”
    “Vance, you’d really be a lot better off going to the police; there’s nothingI can do.”
    “Have you heard from her?”
    “I had a letter about a month ago; she sounded very happy.”
    “She has been very happy, but all of a sudden she’s gone, with no explanation.”
    “Vance, I don’t know what I can do to help.”
    “You can find her, Stone; if anybody can, you can. I want you to come out here.”
    “Vance, really…”
    “The Centurion Studios jet is at Teterboro Airport right now, at Atlantic Aviation, waiting for you. You can be here by morning.”
    “Vance, I appreciate your confidence in me, but…”
    “Stone, Arrington is pregnant.”
    Stone felt as if he’d been struck in the chest. He could count.
    “Stone?”
    “I’ll be at Teterboro in an hour, Vance.” “There’ll be a car waiting for you at Santa Monica Airport.”
    “Write down everything you can think of, Vance; we’ll have a lot to talk about.”
    “I will. And thank you.”
    “Don’t thank me yet,” Stone said, then hung up. He returned to the table. “You’re buying dinner, Dino,” he said. “I’m off to La-La Land.”
    “About what?” Dino asked.
    “I’ll tell you later.” Stone said.

    “Say hello to Arrington for me,” Elaine said, looking at him over her glasses.
    “You bet, Elaine.” He pecked her on the cheek, walked out of the restaurant, and started looking for a cab.

2
    Stone’s taxi driver, a former resident of the Indian subcontinent who had recently arrived in the United States, well ahead of his English, got lost in New Jersey, and by the time Stone had redirected him to Teterboro Airport, using sign language, it had begun to rain hard. Finally at Atlantic Aviation, Stone paid the man, grabbed his luggage, and ran into the deserted terminal, waking up a young woman behind the service counter. “I’m looking for the Centurion Studios airplane,” he said to her.
    “It’s the only one on the ramp,” she replied, yawning and pointing at the rear doors.
    Stone stopped at the doors, looked out onto the tarmac, and smiled. “A G-IV,” he said aloud to himself. It was the biggest and best of the corporate jets, and he had never been aboard one. Its engines were already running. He ran through the rain to the airplane and clambered up the steps, hauling his luggage into the cabin.

    A young woman in a pale Armani suit materialized before him. “Mr. Barrington?”
    “Yes.”
    “Let me take your bags, and please have a seat; we’re ready for takeoff.” She disappeared aft with his two bags; he kept his briefcase and took the first