“Sign the papers, dummy!” she called back.
“All right,” Stone said, “I’ll sign the papers. If you will be kind enough to untape me.”
“Of course,” Jacques said, rising and coming toward him with a pocketknife. “I should mention that there are two strong and dangerous men standing behind you, who would take it amiss if you did not behave properly.”
“I will be the soul of propriety,” Stone said.
Jacques cut through the tape holding both wrists, and Stone removed what remained and tossed it into the fireplace. He turned his head to see another man sitting at the desk with a stack of papers before him. “Here, please,” he said, indicating the chair next to him.
Stone got up, walked across the living room, and sat down at the desk. The man uncapped a Mont Blanc pen and handed it to him, then he riffled through a few pages of the stack. “Here,” he said, pointing to a blank space. Stone signed. “Here,” the man said at another page. Stone signed. This continued until Stone had signed a dozen times, then the man extracted an envelope from his inside coat pocket, produced a check, made out as Jacques had indicated, and a sheet of paper, where he indicated Stone was to sign once more. Stone signed.
The man returned the check to the envelope and handed it to Stone. “You may deposit it into your account at any bank in the world,” he said. He picked up the stack of papers, put it into his briefcase, and snapped it shut. He retrieved his pen, capped it, and placed it in an inside pocket. “My business is concluded here,” he said to no one in particular. “I bid you good day.” He left by the front door.
“Mr. Barrington,” Jacques said, “I wish to thank you for being compliant in these circumstances. It would have been unpleasant for me to watch someone of whom my sister is fond be subjected to great harm and, very likely, a painful death. Now my business is also concluded here, and I, too, wish you a good day.”
Jacques went into the kitchen and came back holding Mirabelle’s hand.
“I am so sorry for all of this, Stone,” Mirabelle said, then she was whisked out of the house by her brother. She came back a moment later. “I want you to know that these stupid rumors about Jacques and me are ridiculous lies!”
“I never doubted it for a moment.”
She left again.
Stone got out his cell phone and called Marcel duBois. He was connected immediately.
“Hello, Stone.”
“Marcel,” Stone said, “I have just been compelled, under duress, to sign away my ownership in the Arrington hotels. Or at least, I think that’s what I signed—it was in French.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Stone, as I have just done the same thing, and under duress, as well.”
“Are you safe now?”
“I believe so.”
“Then call your attorney, explain things to him, and have him take every legal action to stop the sale. And don’t cash the check.”
“Stone,” Marcel said, “I don’t know if that is the right thing to do.”
“Marcel, right or wrong, it is the only thing to do.”
“They have made very serious threats.”
“Ignore them. I’ll call Mike Freeman and have you removed to a safe place at once.”
Marcel sighed. “All right, Stone, if you insist,” Marcel replied. “But I am very much afraid that you and I are out of the hotel business.”