“If they had to meet.”

“Oh don’t worry – they would have met. Marlon would have made sure of that.”

“Mmm.”

“But they won’t now. I’ve sorted it – now I can honestly say she just spat the dummy and took off!”

“But now she knows about the film – surely you needn’t have told her that?”

“I had to.”

“Why?”

“I felt sorry for her – the poor girl was woefully unprepared.”

“But…”

“I thought it was only fair… Marlon would have torn her to shreds.”

10.8

The phone rang.

Marlon was still groggy from the night before. This was another one of the problems he’d noticed creeping over him with age – it doesn’t matter what you do, you always feel like shit in the morning.

He picked it up.

“Sands!”

“There’s a problem.”

It was Buck.

Marlon sat up.

“What kind of problem?”

“Apparently the Australians got it wrong.”

That’d be right…

“What do you mean?”

“Our man didn’t last the distance.”

“What – gone – already?”

“Gone already.”

“Where?”

“Don’t worry – he didn’t get far,” Buck said. “He’s in the street. You can probably see him from your room.”

“And the girl?”

“Very upset… couldn’t handle it – also gone.”

“Where?”

“London.”

“So… it’s over… well… fuck that!”