I had to talk to her, but I wasn’t ready yet. So I looked at the other people in the room. I recognised some of them as acknowledged or supposed supporters of the Zero Tolerance faction. Hardly surprising they’d be here. The only chance they had of regaining influence, if not control, over the family lay in persuading the Matriarch to endorse their cause. I nodded calmly to a few familiar faces, and then stopped abruptly at one very familiar face.

“Penny?” I said.

“Eddie,” she said, in a calm, cool, and entirely neutral voice.

“Good to see you again, Penny.”

“Wish I could say the same, Eddie.”

Which was par for the course. Penny had been my official contact in the family while I was still an agent in the field. I reported back to her after every mission, and she passed on any instructions or information the family thought I might need. I always liked Penny. She never let me get away with anything. Penny Drood was a tall cool blonde, in a tight white sweater over slim gray slacks. Cool blue eyes, pale pink lips, Penny was sweet and smart and sexy, and sophisticated as a very dry martini. She was about my age, but I didn’t remember her from my school days. There were a lot of us.

Even after ten years as my contact, I couldn’t tell you whether she liked me or not. Penny never shared that kind of information with anyone.

“All right, people!” I said loudly. “Nice of you to look in, but, gosh, look at the time, you must be going. Visiting hours are over until I’m through here. Hopefully you’re more intelligent than the crowd outside, so we can dispense with the usual threats and menaces . . . Good, good. Head for the door, single file, no pushing or shoving or there’ll be tears before bedtime.”

They left with their heads erect and their noses in the air, ignoring me as thoroughly as they could. Penny went to follow them, but I stopped her with a gesture.

“Hang about for a minute, Penny. I need to talk to you.”

“What makes you think I want to talk to you?”

“Because unlike most of that crowd, you’ve actually got a brain in your head. Because you’ve always had the good of the family at heart. And because what I have to say is linked directly to the continued survival of the Drood family. Interested?”

“Maybe. You always did like the sound of your own voice too much, Eddie.”

“You wound me deeply.”

“I notice you’re not denying it.”

“How’s the Matriarch?” I said quickly, deftly changing the subject.

“As well as can be expected.”

“And Alistair?”

“How do you think?”