For The Death Of Me

14

I’d been phoning Susie several times every day, of course, so I knew that there were no crises at home. Prim was still there; she said that she had intended to leave the previous Sunday, but she had agreed to stay on until I got back. Susie hadn’t seen Dylan since I’d been away. I was glad to hear it, but I never doubted that I’d find him in the hotel. He had fifty thousand green-backed reasons not to leave the principality.

The flight was as uneventful as the first, but this time Conrad and I were in a mood to enjoy the personal service that came with the charter deal. As soon as we landed in Cannes, I switched on my cell-phone; the Citation was still taxiing to the terminal building when it rang.

‘Oz, where you been, son?’ Sly Burr exclaimed in my ear. ‘I been trying to get you.’

‘I’ve been a bit up in the air. What is it, Sly?’

‘I asked around about your lady,’ he said. ‘She ain’t with Billy Dorset any more, or with Bart Mawhinney. Billy fired her last year, and she dumped Bart after I shopped her for trying to poach him.’

‘What about Sandy Wilde? Are you sure he’s out of the picture?’

‘As far out as you can get without being dead: he met up with another Aussie, a dancer in a TV show they worked on together. They went back down under together; last I heard Sandy had a part in another soap, and the other fella. .’

‘Fella?’

‘Sandy’s a switch-hitter, I told you. His pal’s dancing in another show.’

‘So the trail’s cold.’

‘Did I say that? Billy told me that he sacked her because he had another complaint from an agent, Renee Danziger, about her having it off with her talent, an actor called Lee Kan Tong. That’s his real name, by the way: professionally, he’s Tony Lee. A lot of these Orientals anglicise their names. This time, Madeleine didn’t try to talk the guy away from Renee, but she had a reputation for it and that was enough. Billy decided she was a liability.’

‘Liability? She sounds like the ideal business-development exec.’

Sly sighed. ‘I told you, son, we don’t work that way. The big agencies might not be as scrupulous, but us small people, we all know each other, like colleagues.’

‘So is that what she’s doing now? “Developing” potential new clients for a big agency?’

‘Nah. I called Renee and asked if Tony Lee was still seeing her. Apparently he is.’

I smiled. Trust my man Sly to come up with the goods. ‘Great. Where can I track her down?’

There was a pause, too long to be anything but significant. ‘Ah, well, son, that’s the thing, ain’t it? This Tony, he was offered a job, wasn’t he? With an outfit called the Heritage Theatre Company as director. So he took it, and Madeleine went with him.’

‘Went? Went where?’

‘Singapore, mate, that’s where she is.’

The smile turned into a sigh: my mission had just taken on another dimension. ‘Singapore?’

‘Yes, it’s in the Far East.’

‘I know where it is, Sly. It’s a fucking long way, that’s where it is. You’re sure about this?’

‘Dead certain. Renee had an e-mail from him last week. He mentioned Maddy, said that she was coping with the heat, no problem.’

‘Okay, thanks for that, Sly.’

‘That’s no problem either. Any time, son.’ There was another pause. ‘Say, you wouldn’t put a word in for me with Ewan Capperauld, would you? I hear he’s not too chuffed with his new agency.’

I couldn’t help but laugh. ‘What happened to scruples?’

‘Ah, but he’s with one of the big outfits; fuck them and all who sail in them.’

‘Ewan’s not for you, Sly, you know that as well as I do. I’ll introduce you to Roscoe Brown, though: he’s looking for an associate in London.’

‘Thanks, son. That’ll be appreciated. Is he Jewish?’

I was still chuckling as I hung up on him, unclipped my seatbelt and climbed out of the Citation into a blazing Mediterranean afternoon. I wondered how much hotter it was in Singapore.