to make you famous, AUTHOR SLAMS OWN NOVEL ON TV. You may not have written Pause but you're going to have a hard time proving it.'
'Oh God,' said Piper. 'What are we to do?'
'Get the hell out of here fast,' said Sonia as the lift doors opened. They crossed the foyer and went out to the car. Sonia drove and twenty minutes later they were back at her flat.
'Now pack,' she said. 'We're moving out of here before the press get on to us.'
Piper packed, his mind racing with conflicting emotions. He was saddled with the authorship of a dreadful book, there was no backing out, he was committed to a promotional tour of the States and he was in love with Sonia. When he had finished he made one last attempt at resistance.
'Look, I really don't think I can go on with this,' he said as Sonia lugged her suitcases to the door. 'I mean my nerves can't stand it.'
'You think mine are any better and what about Frenzy? A shock like that could have killed him. He's got a heart condition.'
'A heart condition?' said Piper. 'I had no idea.'
Nor had Frensic when she phoned him from a call box an hour later.
'I have a what?' he said. 'You wake me in the middle of the night to tell me I've got a heart condition?'
'It was the only way to stop him backing out. That Beazley woman blew his mind.'
'The whole programme blew mine,' said Frensic, 'and to make matters worse I had Geoffrey gibbering beside me all the time too. It's a fine experience for a reputable publisher to watch one of his authors describe his own book as a vile degenerate thing. It does something to the soul. And to cap it all Geoffrey thought I'd put you up to rushing on like that screaming 'Cut'.'
'Put me up to it?' said Sonia. 'I had to do that to stop '
'I know all that but he didn't. He thinks it's some sort of publicity stunt.'
'But that's great,' said Sonia. 'Gets us off the hook.'
'Gets us on it if you ask me,' said Frensic grimly. 'Anyway where are you? Why the call box?'
'We're going down to Southampton,' said Sonia. 'Now, before he changes his mind again. There's a spare berth on the QE2 and she's sailing tomorrow. I'm not taking any more chances. We're sailing with her if I have to bribe my way on board. And if that doesn't work I'm going to keep him holed up in a hotel where the press can't get at him until we have him word-perfect on what he's to say about Pause.'
'Word-perfect? You make him sound like a performing parrot '
But Sonia had rung off and was back in the car driving down the road to Southampton.
The next morning a bemused and weary Piper walked unsteadily up the gangway and down to his cabin. Sonia stopped at the Purser's Office. She had a telegram to send to Hutchmeyer.
Chapter 8
In New York MacMordie, Hutchmeyer's Senior Executive Assistant, brought him the telegram.
'So they're coming early,' said Hutchmeyer. 'Makes no difference. Just got to get this ball moving a bit quicker is all. Now then, MacMordie, I want you to organize the biggest demonstration you can. And I mean the biggest. You got any angles?'
'With a book like that the only angle I've got is Senior Citizens mobbing him like he's the Beatles.'
'Senior Citizens don't mob the Beatles.'
'Okay, so he's Valentino come to life. Whoever. Some great star of the twenties.'
Hutchmeyer nodded. 'That's more like it,' he said. 'The nostalgia angle. But that's not enough. Senior Citizens you don't get much impact.'
