CHAPTER IIIThe Fearful Guest
Long ago, Alastair Alexandrovitch Timuroff had learned how to move unobtrusively, so that strangers did not notice him and acquaintances immediately forgot that he was there. Now, on his way toward the bar, he was recognized only by a moulting actress, who blew him a moist, crimson kiss, and by young Coulter, who nodded vaguely and instantly turned back to the young lady he had his lustful eye on.
He made friends with the middle-aged Filipino barman, received a double brandy and soda instead of the single he had asked for, then shifted into Spanish for a chat. The barman was disturbed. The people here, he said emphatically, were very strange, more so than any group he’d ever served. It was no wonder the poor mayor had been slain! He gestured, dismissing the h
