like Veronica, had most likely been mistaken for her;Íž when Veronica had gone to see what all the noise was about, she too had been assaulted. If he were caught, since he could only be tried by a jury of his peers, there would be a rare and sensational trial in the House of Lords. Then the car he had borrowed that day was found ZLWK D SLHFH RI EORRG VRDNHG OHDG SLSH LQ WKH boot, near the port of Newhaven: presumably he’d escaped to France. The police alerted Interpol with the message: “Wanted for murder and attempted murder: Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan. Please arrest. Extradition will follow.â€? A few nights later, I had a dream about Veronica: A ship crowded with upper class twits was steaming straight towards a rocky reef with Lady Lucan looking desperately back from the stern . I knew when I saw her face that I too had EULHĂ \ ZDQWHG WR EH RQ ERDUG WKDW VKLS GDQFLQJ under the stars. Gambling clubs;Íž racing cars;Íž diamonds. But instead of heading for disaster I was relatively safe on solid rock. It didn’t occur to me then that I had anything at all in common with Veronica but eleven years earlier, when the FUXLVH VKLS P\ SDUHQWV ZHUH RQ KDG FDXJKW Ă€UH and an international rescue effort was under way I, like her, had had to watch my story unfold on TV and on the front page of newspapers along with everyone else in Britain. Almost every day Penny dropped in,
Letter from the author to Victo