Chapters (38)
- Cover
- Also by Philip Kerr
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
“Now that your friends in MI6 have returned to London, there’s only you and Alan and Robin who know who and what I am. Or at least what I was. I want your word that you’ll be silent about me and all that’s transpired involving me, here, on the Riviera.”
“Most assuredly I do understand. You have my sympathy. And you want my silence? Very well. You have it.”
“All that has transpired and all that has yet to transpire.”
“You intrigue me. I had hoped that this whole sorry affair was now concluded. Robin was assured it was. Pray what has yet to transpire?”
“The fact is I murdered Harold Hebel a couple of hours ago.”
“Good God.”
“He was shot and killed at the house of Anne French in Villefranche-sur-Mer. The bitch has gone back to London, I think—I’m not sure. But I’m sort of hoping the police will find the body and think it was Anne who murdered him.”
“Two for the price of one. The revenger’s bargain, as it were. Yes, I do like that symmetry. Very Jacobean.”
“I’ve certainly made sure that all of the evidence points her way.”
“So. You killed Hebel, after all. Fascinating. Might one ask, what changed your mind?”
“He did, actually. The bastard kept talking about how he wanted to get even with Anne and he had so many reasons to do it, I guess he just persuaded me.”
“Well, that’s a first, I must say.”
“You notice I said ‘murdered’ because I won’t try to justify what I’ve done. Not to you. And certainly not to myself. It’s true there were more than nine thousand good reasons to kill him. All those people on the Wilhelm Gustloff. But when it came right down to it there were only two that made me pull the trigger.” I shrugged. “And you know who they were. By the way, there’s nothing at all that connects the dead man with you. So you can relax. Enjoy your house in peace. I doubt the police will come asking questions about him up here at the Villa Mauresque.”
“I’m pleased to hear it. We like to discourage visitors.”
“That’s just one of the secrets I want you to keep for as long as I try to stay working at the Grand Hôtel.”