From the bed, I saw Mac and Dan Pierce enter.
When they came into the bedroom, Mac's face wore its usual worried look but Dan's was wreathed in smiles. He was on the verge of getting everything he ever wanted.
Room service finally came on.
In the background, I could hear the clatter of dishes and suddenly I was hungry.
I hadn't eaten since breakfast. I ordered three steak sandwiches, a bottle of milk, a pot of black coffee, a bottle of Scotch, two bottles of bourbon and a double order of French fries.
I put down the telephone and looked up at them. "Well, how'd it go?"
"Bernie squealed like a stuck pig." Pierce grinned. "But we had him by the short hairs and he knew it."
"What about his stock?"
"I don't know, Jonas," Mac said. "He wouldn't talk to Dan."
"I spoke to Dave Woolf, though," Dan said quickly. "I told him to get the old man in a selling mood or we'd throw the company into bankruptcy."
"You got the Section Seven Twenty-two ready?" I asked Mac.
He knew what I was talking about – a petition to appoint a receiver in bankruptcy.
"In my brief case.
Before the meeting this morning, I had a brief discussion with our attorneys here.
They feel they could swing a favorable appointment as receiver."
I stared at him.
"You don't sound happy about it."
"I’m not," he said.
"Norman's a crafty old man. I don't think you'll bluff him that easily.
He knows you stand to lose as much as anyone if you bankrupt the company."
"He's a real greedy old bastard, too. And he won't take the chance of losing what he's got just for the satisfaction of keeping me company."
"I hope you're right."
"We'll find out soon enough." I turned to Dan. "Have you been able to reach Rina yet?"
He shook his head.
"I've tried all over. No luck.
There's no answer at her home. The studio doesn't know where she is.
I even had a contact try Louella but she doesn't know."
"Keep trying," I said.
"We've got to find her. I want her to read that script."
"I do, too," Dan said. "She's the only thing holding us up, now I've got the De Mille thing squared away with Paramount."
"Paramount O.K. it?"
"This morning," he said. "I’ve got the wire from Zukor in my pocket."
"Good," I said. This would be the biggest picture ever made and right up De Mille's alley.
We were going to shoot it in a new process called Technicolor and it would cost over six million bucks.
It was the story of Mary Magdalene and we were going to call it The Sinner.
"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourselves?" McAllister asked. "What if she doesn't want to do it?"
"She'll do it," I said. "What the hell do you think I want the Norman company for?
Their contract with her is the only asset they've got."
"But her contract gives her script approval." "She'll approve it," I said.
She had to.
I had the damn thing written especially for her.
When room service came, I swung my feet over the side of the bed and had the waiter set the table right up in front of me.
I hadn't realized how hungry I was. I'd already eaten one of the steak sandwiches and drunk half the bottle of milk before the waiter got out the door. I was in the middle of my second sandwich when the General showed.
Dan brought him into the bedroom and I introduced them, then asked them to excuse us.
"Sit down, General," I said when the door closed. "And pour yourself a drink. The bottle of Scotch is on the table."
"No, thanks," the General said tightly, still standing.
I shrugged my shoulders and picked up the third sandwich.
I came right to the point.
"What's it worth to you if I get Forrester to leave the Army?"
"What makes you think I want that?"