The Stars Shine Down

The Stars Shine Down Page 28

Philip arrived home Wednesday afternoon, and Lara took the limousine to the airport to meet him. Philip stepped off the plane, and the image of Lochinvar instantly sprang to Lara's mind.

My God, but he's handsome! She ran into his arms.

"I've missed you," she said, hugging him.

"I've missed you, too, darling."

"How much?"

He held his thumb and forefinger half an inch apart. "This much."

"You beast," she said. "Where's your luggage?"

"It's coming."

One hour later they were back at the apartment. Marian Bell opened the door for them. "Welcome back, Mr. Adler."

"Thanks, Marian." He looked around. "I feel as though I've been away for a year."

"Two years," Lara said. She started to add, "Don't ever leave me again," and bit her lip.

"Can I do anything for you, Mrs. Adler?" Marian asked.

"No. We're fine. You can run along now. I'll dictate some letters in the morning. I won't be going into the office today."

"Very well. Good-bye." Marian left.

"Sweet girl," Philip said.

"Yes, isn't she?" Lara moved into Philip's arms. "Now show me how much you missed me."

Lara stayed away from the office for the next three days. She wanted to be with Philip, to talk to him, touch him, assure herself that he was real. They had breakfast in the morning, and while Lara dictated to Marian, Philip was at the piano practicing.

At lunch on the third day Lara told Philip about the casino opening. "I wish you could have been there, darling. It was fantastic."

"I'm so sorry I missed it."

He's out playing the piano somewhere. "Well, you'll have your chance next month. The mayor is giving me the keys to the city."

Philip said unhappily, "Darling, I'm afraid I'm going to have to miss that, too."

Lara froze. "What do you mean?"

"Ellerbee's booked me for another tour. I leave for Germany in three weeks."

"You can't!" Lara said.

"The contracts have already been signed. There's nothing I can do about it."

"You just got back. How can you go away again so soon?"

"It's an important tour, darling."

"And our marriage isn't important?"

"Lara..."

"You don't have to go," Lara said angrily. "I want a husband, not a part-time..."

Marian Bell came into the room carrying some letters. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I have these letters ready for you to sign."

"Thank you," Lara said stiffly. "I'll call you when I need you."

"Yes, Miss Cameron."

They watched Marian retreat to her office.

"I know you have to give concerts," Lara said, "but you don't have to give them this often. It's not as though you were some kind of traveling salesman."

"No, it isn't, is it?" His tone was cool.

"Why don't you stay here for the ceremony and then go on your tour?"

"Lara, I know that it's important to you, but you must understand that my concert tours are important to me. I'm very proud of you and what you're doing, but I want you to be proud of me."

"I am," Lara said. "Forgive me, Philip, I just..." She was trying hard not to cry.

"I know, darling." He took her in his arms. "We'll work it out. When I come back, we'll take a long vacation together."

A vacation's impossible, Lara thought. There are too many projects in the works.

"Where are you going this time, Philip?"

"I'll be going to Germany, Norway, Denmark, England, and then back here."

Lara took a deep breath. "I see."

"I wish you could come with me, Lara. It's very lonely out there without you."

She thought of the laughing lady. "Is it?" She shook herself out of her mood and managed to smile. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you take the jet? It will make it more comfortable for you."

"Are you sure you're...?"

"Absolutely. I'll manage without it until you're back."

"There's no one in the world like you," Philip said.

Lara rubbed a finger slowly along his cheek. "Remember that."

Philip's tour was a huge success. In Berlin the audiences went wild and the reviews were ecstatic.

Afterward the greenrooms were always crowded with eager fans, most of them female:

"I've traveled three hundred miles to hear you play..."

"I have a little castle not far from here, and I was wondering..."

"I've prepared a midnight supper just for the two of us..."

Some of them were rich and beautiful, and most of them were very willing. But Philip was in love. He called Lara after the concert in Denmark. "I miss you."

"I miss you, too, Philip. How did the concert go?"

"Well, no one walked out while I was playing."

Lara laughed. "That's a good sign. I'm right in the middle of a meeting now, darling. I'll call you at your hotel in an hour."

Philip said, "I won't be going right to the hotel, Lara. The manager of the concert hall is giving a dinner party for me and..."

"Oh? Really? Does he have a beautiful daughter?" She regretted it the moment the words were out.

"What?"

"Nothing. I have to go now. I'll talk to you later."

She hung up and turned to the men in the office. Keller was watching her. "Is everything all right?"

"Fine," Lara said lightly. She found it difficult to concentrate on the meeting. She visualized Philip at the party, beautiful women handing him their hotel keys. She was consumed with jealousy, and she hated herself for it.

The mayor's ceremony honoring Lara was a standing-room-only event. The press was out in force.

"Could we get a shot of you and your husband together?"

And Lara was forced to say, "He wanted so much to be here..."

Paul Martin was there.

"He's gone again, huh?"

"He really wanted to be here, Paul."

"Bullshit! This is a big honor for you. He should be at your side. What the hell kind of husband is he? Someone should have a talk with him!"

That night she lay in bed alone, unable to sleep. Philip was ten thousand miles away. The conversation with Paul Martin ran through Lara's mind. "What the hell kind of husband is he? Someone should have a talk with him!"

When Philip returned from Europe, he seemed happy to be home. He brought Lara an armload of gifts. There was an exquisite porcelain figurine from Denmark, lovely dolls from Germany, silk blouses, and a gold purse from England. In the purse was a diamond bracelet.

"It's lovely," Lara said. "Thank you, darling."

The next morning Lara said to Marian Bell, "I'm going to work at home all day."

Lara sat in her office dictating to Marian, and from the drawing room she could hear the sounds of Philip at the piano. Our life is so perfect like this, Lara thought. Why does Philip want to spoil it?

William Ellerbee telephoned Philip. "Congratulations," he said. "I hear the tour went wonderfully."

"It did. The Europeans are great audiences."

"I got a call from the management at Carnegie Hall. They have an unexpected opening a week from Friday, on the seventeenth. They would like to book you for a recital. Are you interested?"

"Very much."

"Good. I'll work out the arrangements. By the way," Ellerbee said, "are you thinking of cutting back on your concerts?"

Philip was taken aback. "Cutting back? No. Why?"

"I had a talk with Lara, and she indicated that you might want to just tour the United States. Perhaps it would be best if you talked to her and..."

Philip said, "I will. Thank you."

Philip replaced the receiver and walked into Lara's office. She was dictating to Marian.

"Would you excuse us?" Philip asked.

Marian smiled. "Certainly." She left the room.

Philip turned to Lara. "I just had a call from William Ellerbee. Did you talk to him about my cutting down on foreign tours?"

"I might have mentioned something like that, Philip. I thought it might be better for both of us if..."

"Please, don't do that again," Philip said. "You know how much I love you. But apart from our lives together, you have a career and I have a career. Let's make a rule. I won't interfere in yours, and you won't interfere in mine. Is that fair enough?"

"Of course, it is," Lara said. "I'm sorry, Philip. It's just that I miss you so much when you're away." She went into his arms. "Forgive me?"

"It's forgiven and forgotten."

Howard Keller came to the penthouse to bring Lara contracts to sign. "How's everything going?"

"Beautifully," Lara said.

"The wandering minstrel is home?"

"Yes."

"So music is your life now, huh?"

"The musician is my life. You have no idea how wonderful he is, Howard."

"When are you coming into the office? We need you."

"I'll come in a few days."

Keller nodded. "Okay."

They began to examine the papers he had brought.

The following morning Terry Hill telephoned. "Lara, 1 just received a call from the Gaming Commission in Reno," the attorney said. "There's going to be a hearing on your casino license."

"Why?" Lara asked.

"There have been some allegations that the bidding was rigged. They want you to go there and testify on the seventeenth."

"How serious is this?" Lara asked.

The lawyer hesitated. "Are you aware of any irregularities in the bidding?"

"No, of course not."

"Then you have nothing to worry about. I'll fly to Reno with you."

"What happens if I don't go?"

"They'll subpoena you. It would look better if you went on your own."

"All right."

Lara telephoned Paul Martin's private number at the office. He picked up the phone immediately.

"Lara?"

"Yes, Paul."

"You haven't used this number in a long time."

"I know. I'm calling about Reno..."

"I heard."

"Is there a real problem?"

He laughed. "No. The losers are upset that you beat them to it."

"Are you sure it's all right, Paul?" She hesitated. "We did discuss the other bids."

"Believe me, it's done all the time. Anyway, they have no way of proving that. Don't worry about a thing."

"All right. I won't."

She replaced the receiver and sat there, worried.

At lunch Philip said, "By the way, they offered me a concert at Carnegie Hall. I'm going to do it."

"Wonderful." Lara smiled. "I'll buy a new dress. When is it?"

"The seventeenth."

Lara's smile faded. "Oh."

"What's the matter?"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to be there, darling. I have to be in Reno. I'm so sorry."

Philip put his hands over hers. "Our timing seems to be off, doesn't it? Oh, well. Don't worry. There will be plenty more recitals."

Lara was in her office at Cameron Center. Howard Keller had called her at home that morning.

"I think you'd better get down here," he had said. "We have a few problems."

"I'll be there in an hour."

They were in the middle of a meeting. "A couple of deals have gone sour," Keller told her. "The insurance company that was moving into our building in Houston has gone bankrupt. They were our only tenant."

"We'll find someone else," Lara said.

"It's not going to be that simple. The Tax Reform Act is hurting us. Hell, it's hurting everybody. Congress has wiped out corporate tax shelters and eliminated most deductions. I think we're heading for a goddamned recession. The savings and loan companies we're dealing with are in trouble. Drexel Burnham Lambert may go out of business. Junk bonds are turning into land mines. We're having problems with half a dozen of our buildings. Two of them are only half finished. Without financing, those costs are going to be eating us up."

Lara sat there, thinking. "We can handle it. Sell whatever properties we have to to keep up our mortgage payments."

"The bright side of it," Keller said, "is that we have a cash flow from Reno that's bringing us in close to fifty million a year."

Lara said nothing.

On Friday the seventeenth Lara left for Reno. Philip rode with her to the airport. Terry Hill was waiting at the plane.

"When will you be back?" Philip said.

"Probably tomorrow. This shouldn't take long."

"I'll miss you," Philip said.

"I'll miss you, too, darling."

He stood there watching the plane taking off. I am going to miss her, Philip thought. She's the most fantastic woman in the world.

In the offices of the Nevada Gaming Commission, Lara was facing the same group of men she had met with during the application for a casino license. This time, however, they were not as friendly.

Lara was sworn in, and a court reporter took down her testimony.

The chairman said, "Miss Cameron, some rather disturbing allegations have been made concerning the licensing of your casino."

"What kind of allegations?" Terry Hill demanded.

"We'll come to those in due course." The chairman turned his attention back to Lara. "We understood that this was your first experience in acquiring a gambling casino."

"That's right. I told you that at the first hearing."

"How did you arrive at the bid you put in? I mean...how did you come to that precise figure?"

Terry Hill interrupted. "I'd like to know the reason for the question."

"In a moment, Mr. Hill. Will you permit your client to answer the question?"

Terry Hill looked at Lara and nodded.

Lara said, "I had my comptroller and accountants give me an estimate on how much we could afford to bid, and we figured in a small profit we could add to that, and that became my bid."

The chairman scanned the paper in front of him. "Your bid was five million dollars more than the next highest bid."

"Was it?"

"You weren't aware of that at the time you made your bid?"

"No. Of course not."

"Miss Cameron, are you acquainted with Paul Martin?"

Terry Hill interrupted. "I don't see the relevance of this line of questioning."

"We'll come to that in a moment. Meanwhile, I'd like Miss Cameron to answer the question."

"I have no objection," Lara said. "Yes. I know Paul Martin."

"Have you ever had any business dealings with him?"

Lara hesitated. "No. He's just a friend."

"Miss Cameron, are you aware that Paul Martin is reputed to be involved with the Mafia, that..."

"Objection. It's hearsay, and it has no place in this record."

"Very well, Mr. Hill. I'll withdraw that. Miss Cameron, when was the last time you saw or talked to Paul Martin?"

Lara hesitated. "I'm not sure, exactly. To be perfectly candid, since I got married, I've seen very little of Mr. Martin. We run into each other at parties occasionally, that's all."

"But it wasn't your habit to speak regularly with him on the telephone?"

"Not after my marriage, no."

"Did you ever have any discussions with Paul Martin regarding this casino?"

Lara looked over at Terry Hill. He nodded. "Yes, I believe that after I won the bid for it, he called to congratulate me. And then once again after I got the license to operate the casino."

"But you did not talk to him at any other time?"

"No."

"I'll remind you that you're under oath, Miss Cameron."

"Yes."

"You're aware of the penalty for perjury?"

"Yes."

He held up a sheet of paper. "I have here a list of fifteen telephone calls between you and Paul Martin, made during the time sealed bids were being submitted for the casino."