apart from vernon oxe? dreadful. dreadful.ive me, sir, can anybody confirm that you spent the whole of yesterday afternoon here in the hotel? two people. the barman and the beauteous bellhop. but i don't know either of their names, alas. and you came looking for dr. wheeler to offer her another job? yes. are you going to tell me what? can you keep a secret? possibly. maybe. couldn't promise. i wanted her to prepare some materials on esmé ford. for god's sake tell me you've heard of esmé ford. i know the person you mean. then you may be astonished to learn that she isn't dead. my understanding was she committed suicide. piece of theater. i stage-managed the whole bloody thing. esmé didn't die in the caribbean. she wrote the famous letter, dictated by me on the balcony of her hotel room overlooking the bay at st. george. she got into a private airplane, and she flew to venezuela with me. now she's poised to spring again, pantherlike onto the world of rock and roll and devour it. and those who survived are set to make a great dea

vernon. she said, "either you're being conned, mr. oxe, or you're trying to con me." say something. ted to hear so he went round and he silenced her. just as he silenced the bone. because the bone had also sussed you, hadn't he? he kissed you, he touched you. you just didn't feel like your sister, eh, maureen? isn't that right? but the person who really worried you was franco. oh, dear. you had to phone vernon and tell him that you'd really blundered there. why hadn't he warned you? and that's before we've even started on the subject of lucas. who? now, just listen to me will you, lewis? i haven't the faintest bloody idea what you're talking about. the notion of vernon going round slaughtering people is just so unutterably stupid as beggars belief. yes, we had a business plan, and yes, it was a little bit deceitful but christ's sakes, what have i ever had in my life? a daughter. she died. she was a junky. she left me, she lived on the streets and she died. she died in childbirth. what? she gave birth in a shop doorway. the child was taken into care. lucas was your grandson, maureen.