Swimming to Catalina

last picture, Veronica Hart, that he seemed to be very interested in. Want her address?”
    “Sure.” He wrote it down, along with the phone number. “How big an actress is she?”
    “Struggling, but pretty good. She reminds me of me a few years ago.”
    “Any idea how Sturmack spends his time when he’s not conspiring with Ippolito or getting laid?”
    She laughed. “He and Vance play golf at the Bel-Air Country Club once in a while. He seems to have lunch there most days.”
    “You got any private numbers from Ippolito?”
    “Let’s see.” She flipped some pages and gave him home, office, and car numbers, plus the number aboardContessa.
    “I think that’ll do me for a while,” he said. “Thanks.”
    “Dinner tonight?” she asked.
    “You mind doing it in my suite at the Bel-Air?”
    “I don’t mind doing anything in your suite.”
    “Seven o’clock?”
    “Make it eight.”
    “You’re on.” He hung up and headed for Sturmack’s address. Maybe he hadn’t devoted enough attention to the man thus far, but he was going to remedy that now.

47
    David Sturmack lived in a Georgian mansion less than a five-minute drive from Vance Calder’s house, in Bel-Air. It seemed to be on at least ten acres of land, which Stone thought must have cost a very large fortune. He had been struck by how little land most expensive L.A. houses occupied, especially in Beverly Hills, but also in the even ritzier Bel-Air. A platoon of men were working on the front lawn, employing tractor mowers, string trimmers, rakes, and hoes. One operated what appeared to be a large vacuum cleaner. God forbid a stray blade of cut grass should mar the perfect greenery.
    The Rolls convertible was parked outside the front door, and as Stone drove past the house, Sturmack came out, got into the car, and started down the driveway. Stone made a U-turn and followed at a very discreet distance, wondering how best to shake up Sturmack’s world. He had already shaken up Ippolito,and now it was Sturmack’s turn. He had an idea. He dialed a New York number.
    “Lieutenant Bacchetti.”
    “Dino, it’s Stone.”
    “How you doing, Stone? I was beginning to wonder if you’d got lost.”
    “Not yet, but people are working on it. Do me a favor?”
    “Sure.”
    Stone gave him Sturmack’s car phone number. “Call this number; a man will answer. Say to him, ‘Stone Barrington has a message for you from the other side; he’s not through with you and Ippolito yet.’”
    “I got the number,” Dino said, “now what the fuck are you talking about?”
    “Just do it, Dino; it’s important.”
    “You want me to tell him who I am?”
    “For Christ’s sake, no! Just say the words and then hang up and call me back on my cell phone.”
    “Whatever,” Dino said, and hung up.
    Sturmack turned left on Sunset, and Stone followed. Perhaps a minute later, Stone saw the man pick up his car phone and speak into it. Suddenly the brake lights on the Rolls came on, and Sturmack pulled over. As Stone drove past him, he could see Sturmack shouting into the car phone. Stone turned right, made a U-turn, and waited for the Rolls to pass on Sunset, then he fell in behind it again, perhaps a hundred yards back. His cell phone rang.
    “Yep?”
    “It’s Dino, I did it.”
    “What did he have to say?”
    “First there was a stunned silence, then he started calling me names, said he would have me castrated. Idon’t know why—I’ve never even met the guy. Who was he?”
    “Fellow by the initials of D.S. We talked about him before?”
    “I remember. What’s this about?”
    “I’m just rattling his cage. He and a friend of his tried to off me a few days back.”
    “Sounds like you make the man nervous,” Dino said.
    “I’m just getting started.”
    “Oh, by the way, you remember the other name you asked me about? About his family connections?”
    “Sure.”
    “I told you the old mob guy didn’t have any sons, but he had a nephew. Apparently he had a brother who was an honest man, relatively speaking, worked in the garment district. The brother had a son. I believe the French say‘Voilà!’”
    “Indeed. It’s not all that useful at the moment, but it’s nice to know about.”
    “Stone, are you working on getting yourself killed?”
    “Far from it,” Stone replied. He missed Dino, and he had a thought. “I could use somebody to watch my back. Have you got any off-time coming?”
    “To come out there?”
    “I’ll spring for a