The St. Tropez Lonely Hearts Club (41 page)

Fabrizio spent a month in hospital recuperating. The two bullets had torn through his stomach and hip but fortunately damaged no vital organs. The enormous press attention he received made a successful singing career happen quickly after he left hospital. In September Fabrizio made a hit record that went to number five. Ghastly Derek Flukle came out of the woodwork to claim his 20 per cent, but Fabrizio could now afford a good lawyer to put him in his place.

Soon after he released a very entertaining video that went viral. The video was a cover of Barry Manilow’s big hit ‘Copacabana’. In a twist that made the video popular, Lara had been persuaded to be in it and was cast as the old Lola of the story, who was the showgirl past her prime who drinks herself half-blind thirty years after the disco closes. Ironically, Fabrizio re-enacted being shot by LoBianco.

Fabrizio soon gained hundreds of thousands of screaming female fans because of his good looks and charisma, and was booked solidly for European singing tours for the next three years. He also gave generous child support to his children and alimony to the baby-mammas.

Maximus decided to give up pimping and dedicated himself solely to being Fabrizio’s manager. With his manipulative cleverness, along with his elephantine memory of indiscretions carried out by many of his show-business colleagues, he was able to make a great deal of money for both of them.

Lara, after unsuccessfully begging Fabrizio to marry her, sold her apartment in Saint-Tropez and decided that in future she would spend her summer in The Hamptons, ‘Where they speak English,’ she spat to Blanche and Henry, who became her new best friends and neighbours. There she met a handsome young actor who had a couple of bit parts in horror movies and she promptly decided to become his mentor as well as his lover. ‘He’s going to be the next Brad Pitt,’ she boasted to everyone.

And when he did, he left her.

Jonathan and Vanessa Meyer hotfooted it (by yacht) back to Manhattan, where they continued as one of the most popular couples on the social and charity circuit. At one of Vanessa’s charities in the fall, she entreated Jonathan to pay Fabrizio to sing.

‘He will be a huge draw,’ she insisted.

‘No way, honey,’ said the ever-pragmatic Mr Meyer. ‘I don’t trust that guy within an inch of you.’

Vanessa at least had the good grace to blush, but continued to follow Fabrizio’s career in the gossip columns with great interest.

Charlie Chalk and Adolpho fell in love, discovering during their time together that they had a lot in common. However, Adolpho was so loyal to Sophie that he would never leave her, so Charlie sold his villa and moved in with them, replacing Frick as stylist, companion and confidant. He planted and tended a beautiful rose garden at the bottom of the funicular track, and he made sure that no wasp nests were allowed to take hold anywhere near it.

Sophie Silvestri got the role of Violet Venable in
Suddenly, Last Summer
. She gave such a true, gritty performance that there was major Oscar buzz about her portrayal. Marvin Rheingold didn’t make the film in Saint-Sébastien, but instead shot it in the charming village and beaches of Le Lavandou, just a few kilometres away from Saint-Tropez. He didn’t get Angelina Jolie in the end, but discovered a new young actress fresh out of RADA who, he announced, was going to become the ‘new Elizabeth Taylor’. Thanks to the steamy sex scenes between her and a hot young actor, the movie was a smash hit.

The entire resort and complex of Saint-Sébastien was allowed to fall into ruins when Roberto LoBianco was sentenced to life imprisonment in the notorious Baumettes Prison in Marseille for the murders he had committed. François also received a long sentence, but the thought of returning to Baumettes horrified him so much that after the trial he hanged himself in his cell.

Gabrielle and her father decided to take a winter break from Saint-Tropez and went skiing in Courchevel. Gabrielle had never skied before, so took lessons from a handsome ski instructor. Free from the responsibilities of being a housewife to her father, she allowed herself to fall in love with the ski instructor, to the delight of her father. They had a quiet winter wedding in a little chalet in the middle of a snowstorm. Although she loved Saint-Tropez, Gabrielle adored the peace and tranquillity she had found in the Alps and she decided to live there with her new husband.

‘I’ll miss you, Papa,’ she said after the wedding, ‘but I will visit you often. You’re not going to get rid of me so easily.’

‘My darling,’ Captain Poulpe said, ‘you are a wonderful daughter and you’ve done enough for me. It’s time you live your own life now, and look after your husband as you have looked after me.’
And I won’t miss your bouillabaisse
, he thought to himself.

Carlotta and Nick were married at the ancient little church in Ramatuelle. All their friends from Saint-Tropez attended the beautiful traditional wedding and the celebration afterwards at a gorgeous villa nestled in a valley overlooking the bay of Saint-Tropez.

‘I’ve never been happier,’ murmured Carlotta to Nick as they stood gazing at the panoramic view and the sunset on the terrace of the villa.

‘Oh, I think I can make you happier,’ he said. ‘We are going to be happier and happier with each passing year.’

Sophie, who had been Carlotta’s matron of honour, sighed as she watched the happy couple’s embrace.

‘Ah yes, marriage,’ she said, turning to Captain Poulpe. ‘The deep, deep peace of the double bed after the hurly-burly of the chaise longue.’

‘You can say that again,’ replied Captain Poulpe, as they exchanged a meaningful glance.

Looking down on the village and the bay in all its glory was a breathtaking view. The shining, peach-coloured roofs of the village houses glistened in the late afternoon sun and the small yachts skipped along atop the glimmering deep blue Mediterranean, their sails flapping gently in the light breeze. With the dreadful murders solved, Saint-Tropez soon returned to the glamorous, idyllic paradise that everyone loved. The residents went back to their homes and, with its reputation restored, Saint-Tropez looked forward to the following summer and another sizzling season of sun, sex, and maybe just a little bit of scandal.