Or jumping. I looked out my window. We were on the fourth floor. Fifteen feet below was the roof of the hotel ballroom and beyond that, a green-striped awning covering part of the garden restaurant. At the back end of the garden was a green wooden fence that looked low enough that I could climb over it. It seemed a possible escape route: out the window, jump to the roof, slide down the awning, jump to the ground and over the fence. There were still a few diners in the garden lingering over their coffee, but perhaps later. I would need some way to distract Bézy’s men so they would relax their guard.

I took the elevator downstairs. One of Bézy’s men picked me up in the corridor and rode down with me, stone-faced. I crossed the lobby and entered the hotel bar, a cozy place done up in red and blue velvet. I motioned to the bartender, a white-haired, red-faced man who looked to be everybody’s pal. I crumpled twenty dollars into his palm and asked him if he knew any women who might like a date with a lonely American. I pointed to a voluptuous red-head sitting alone at the far end of the bar. The bartender shook his head.

“She’s a dead fuck,” he said. “Fuck her and you’re dead.” She belonged to someone else. The bartender said he’d see what he could do for me.

I took a seat at a table in the corner and waited, sipping a ginger ale. My watchers sat nearby, popping cashews into their mouths. Fifteen minutes later a blond woman in a blue dress with a slit up the leg ambled through the front door. The bartender pointed toward me and whispered something in her ear. She cruised over to my table. Her treads were a little worn, but she was okay.

“My name is Jacqueline,” she said. “The bartender said you wanted some company.” I bought a bottle of champagne and charged it to Bézy. After twenty minutes I took her hand and led her upstairs. For the first time, the watchers looked seriously unhappy.

When we got to my room, Jacqueline took off her blue dress and laid it neatly on the chair. She had big, billowy breasts that spilled out over the top of her brassiere and a big ass. I excused myself and went to the bathroom. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I said. “You get in bed and see what’s on TV.”