‘Pressure was put on him to transfer here from Stephano’s number one restaurant, a Michelin-starred affair in New York. It seems he was told it would be good for his career, but he hated the idea from the start and he’s only here under sufferance. So the upshot is, he’s not a happy camper here in Bali. Now the delicate bit: Wayan tiptoed around this, but he said that Emile abuses the kitchen staff terribly and is an arrogant misogynist to boot. The staff don’t complain as they don’t want to lose their jobs.’

‘I’ve heard it’s not uncommon for foreign bules to boss the local staff around. He’ll either be found with a kris in his back, or get a bashing from one of the local gangs,’ said Steve.

‘Well, perhaps someone should tell him that. Wayan said his temper often goes right off and when that happens, everyone finds him impossible to work with. And if that weren’t enough, he’s nurturing some unfortunate habits.’

‘He’s a drinker?’ said Henry. ‘Lot of chefs are, I’m told.’

Grace raised an eyebrow. ‘He has a serious cocaine habit, but manages to keep it below the surface day to day. How he turns out such superb food I can’t imagine.’

Steve shrugged. ‘There’s a heavy drug scene here even though you get the firing squad if you’re caught. It seems the high-enders’ habits are generally ignored so there’re a lot of expensive drugs about.’

‘Do you think Johnny knows about Emile?’ Mateo asked.

‘He’d have to.’ Steve turned and looked at him. ‘Someone has to be doing any PR damage control that’s required – Rosie Chow, I’d imagine.’

‘Let’s hope we can catch Chef in one of his rare moments when he’s smiling and sober,’ Grace joked.

‘We want the food too . . . that’s why we’re featuring him,’ said Steve. ‘I’ll go and talk to Wayan and some of the kitchen staff. See if there’s any other talent, and maybe get some more lowdown on Chef Emile.’

Grace sat forward and said, ‘That would be great. Okay, what do we need to arrange for this evening?’

They planned the shoot and worked out who was needed when they’d film the garden and bar scenes at sunset. Before that, Steve and his team were going to get some footage of Andy surfing, if the waves were up.

Grace stifled a yawn. ‘That all sounds good. Now, if you guys don’t need me anymore, I might take a few hours off – it was an early start this morning. Sometime I want to take a day off and go exploring. I haven’t been anywhere except within these couple of blocks for days.’

‘Good idea,’ Steve said. ‘It’s easy to forget that we can have fun in this amazing place as well as getting the work done.’