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Stella closed her eyes.

‘…familiar with Damon Keller.’

Her eyes snapped open in surprise. ‘Of course…’ Everyone had heard of Damon Keller—a highly talented and very flamboyant movie director. ‘I offered to make him a cup of tea once!’

‘Did you, now?’

‘My first week here—’ Stella nodded ‘—though, admittedly, I didn’t know then who he was.’

‘I don’t think he’s one for tea!’

Stella smiled. ‘I heard he was in to see you yesterday.’

‘Indeed,’ Sir Charles said. ‘He’s casting for a new movie and while it’s wonderful that he’s turned to us, his vision is very specific…’ With a sigh, he handed her a copy of a brief. ‘Take a look.’

A psychological thriller, the movie was set in the nineteen-fifties in Italy, more specifically on the Amalfi Coast. The location required a grand building—a castle or palazzo—and a ballroom with an exceptional terrace for the climactic scene.

Stella read on.

There were winding roads involving a car chase, an old hotel, an ancient church with a bell, cobbled streets with a fountain, also thermal springs…

Surely Sir Charles knew somewhere that suited the brief?

Indeed, he did.

‘The problem I’m having—’ Sir Charles explained the issue ‘—is that I know the perfect place.’

‘Oh!’

‘Well, it’s almost perfect—apart from the thermal springs—but it has everything else, especially the terrace. It makes all the other choices seem a poor second. This is a big movie and if we don’t get this right, I rather think our competitors might.’

‘So, where is this perfect location?’

‘Sant Lavia,’ he said. ‘More specifically, the Rinaldi palazzo. I’ve made several approaches over the years, as have the competition, but the old Count isn’t interested in leasing out the palazzo…’

‘Count?’

‘Il Conte di Sant Lavia,’ he said grandly. ‘Or Geo, as I once had the privilege of calling him. I knew him back in the day when the palazzo was the place to be seen. But then tragedy befell them—his son Matteo lost control of his car on the local cliffs…’ He thought for a moment. ‘Must have been quarter of a century ago. Gosh, has it really been that long?’

Stella smiled.

‘Matteo was killed outright, along with his wife and infant daughter…’ He leant forward and beckoned Stella to do the same, and even though there was no one in the office but them spoke in a conspiratory whisper. ‘Rumour had it that it was a murder suicide.’

‘Goodness!’

Sir Charles loved to talk.

And Stella loved to listen.

It had taken her a while to realise she wasn’t taking up his valuable time when he recounted memories or told her a tale.

‘Only Matteo’s son survived,’ Sir Charles said sadly. ‘I watched him being airlifted live on the news…though he was very damaged—completely mute afterwards.’

‘How terrible.’

‘It was,’ Sir Charles agreed. ‘All dreadfully sad. Geo retreated after that… He’d lost his wife several years before.’ He sighed pensively. ‘There used to be the most marvellous parties held at the palazzo, as well as an annual ball… We always looked forward to that invitation.’

‘You and Lady Atherton?’