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this edition contains the cornplete and unabridged rexts of the original editions thev have been comoletelv reset for this volume this omnibus as originallv publishedi n separatev olumesu nder the titles the naked face copyright 1970 bv sheldon literarv trust a stranger in the mirror copvright 1976 bv sheldon literan trust blood.linec opvright 1977b v sidnevs heldon all rights reserved this 1992e dition is publishedb _vw ings books distributedb v outlet book company.i nc a randorn house companv 4o engelhard avenue avenel new jerser 07fi1 b arrangement {ith srilliam nlorrow companv randorn hc u e new brk toronto london svdnev aucklantl printetl and bound in the united states of arnerica librarv ol congress cataloging-irr pu blicat ion fala shelclon siclner sidnev sheldon-three complete novels sidner sheldon p.cnr contents rloodline-a stranger in the mirror-the naked face lsbn 0-517-07773-6 l tide l l l itle three complete novels ps3569.h3927a6 1992 813 5,1-dc20 92-1399 cip b;65.132 bloodline for natalie with love acknowledgments while this is a work of fiction the backgrounds are authentic and i wish to express my gratitude to those who so generously contributed to my research if in adapting their information to the requirements of a novel i have found it necessary to expand or contract certain time elements i take full responsibility my deepest appreciation goes to dr margaret m mccarron associate medical director los angeles county,

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university of southern california dean brady usc pharmacy school dr gregory a thompson director drug information center los angeles county univeisity of southern california dr bernd w schulze drug information center los angeles county university of southern california dr judy flesh urs jiiggi hoffmann-la roche co a g basel dr gunter siebel schering a g berlin the criminal investigation divisions of scotland yard zurich and berlin charles walford sotheby parke bernet london and to jorja who makes all things possible the physician uill carefully prepare a mixture of crocodile dung lizard jlesh bat s blood and camel s spit from a papvrus listing 811 prescriptionsu sed by the egyptians in 1550 e.c t l n 500k une istanbul saturday september 5 ten p.m lle wass eatedin the dark alone,b ehindt he desko f hajib kafir staringu nseeinglyo ut of the dustv officew indowa t the timeless minarets of istanbul he was a man who was at home in a dozen capitals of the worid but istanbul was one of his favorite cities not the tourist istanbul of beyoglu street or the gaudy lalezab bar of the hilton but the out-of-the-wav places that only the moslemsk new the yalis and the small markets be-vondth e sozas and the telli baba the cemeterv where onl,v one person as buried and the people came to pray to him his waiting had the patience of a hunter the quiet stillness of a man in control of his bodv and his emotions.h e r,r aws elsh with

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the dark stormv good looks of his ancestors he had black hair and a strong face and quick intelligent eyes that were a deep blue he r.as over six feet tall with the lean muscular bod,v of a man w-ho kept himself in good ph.vsicacl ondition the office was filled with the odors of hajib kafir his sicklv sweet tobacco his acrid turkish coffee his fat oilv body rhvs williams was unaware of them he was thinking about the telephone call he had received from chamonix an hour earlier a terrible act:ident believe me mr williams we are all devastated it happened so quicklv that there was no chance to sar.e him mr rolle was killed instantly sam roffe president of rofl e and sons the second largest ll s l onr y su e r o on pharmaceutical company in the world a multibillion-dollar dynasty that girdled the globe it was impossible to think of sam roffe as being dead he had always been so vital so full of life and energy a man on the move living in airplanes that raced him to company factories and offices all over the world where he solved problems others could not deal with created new conceprs pushed everyone to do more to do better even though he had married and fathered a child his only real interest had been the business sam roffe had been a brilliant and extraordinarv man who could replace him who was capable of running the enormous empire he had left sam roffe had not chosen an heir apparent but then he had not planned to die at fifty-two he had thought there would be plentv of time and now his time had run out the lights in the office suddenly flashed on and rhys williams looked toward the doorway momentarily blinded mr williams i did not know anyone was here it wass ophie,o ne ofthe company secretarlesw ho wasa ssigned to rhys williams whenever he was in istanbul she lt-as turkish in her middle twenties with an attractive face and a lithe sensuous body rich with promise she had let rhys know in subtle ancient ways that she was available to bring him whatever pleasures he wished whenever he desired them but rhys was not interested now she said i returned to finish some letters for mr kafir she added softly perhaps there is something i can do for vou as she moved closer to the desk rhys could sense the musky

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smell of a wild animal in season where is mr kafir sophie shook her head regretfully he has left for the day she smoothed the front of her dress with the palms of soft clever hands can i help.vou in some wav her eyes were dark and moist yes rhys said find him she frowned i have no idea where he could try the kervansaray or the mermara it would probably be the former where one of hajib kafir s mistressesw orked as a bellv dancer although you never knew with kafir rhys thought he might even be with his u ife sophie was apologetic i will try but i am afraid i t2 blooolrre _il explain to him that if he s not here in one hour he no longer has a job the expression on her face changed i will see what i can do mr williams she started toward the door turn out the lights somehow it was easier to sit in the dark with his thoughts the image of sam roffe kept intruding mont blanc should have been an easy climb this time of the year earlv september sam had tried the climb before but storms had kept him from reaching the peak i ll plant the company flag up there this time he had promised rhys jokingl,v and then the telephone call a short while ago as rhys was checking out of the pera palace he could hear the agitated voice on the telephone the_vw ere doing a traverseo ver a glacier mr roffe lost his footing and his rope broke he fell into a bottomless crevasse rhys could visualize sam s body smashing against the unforgiving ice hurtling downward into the crevasseh e forced his mind away from the scene that was the past there was the present to worry about now the members of sam roffe s family had to be notified of his death and they were scattered in various parts of the world a press announcement had to be prepared the news w-as going to travel through international financial circles like a shock wave with the companv in the midst of a financial crisis,

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it was vital that the impact of sam roffe s death be minimized as much as possible.t hat would be rhys sj ob rhys williams had first met sam roffe nine years earlier rhys then twentv-five had been sales manager for a small drug hrm he was brilliant and innovative and as the company had expanded rhys s reputation had quickly spread he was offered a job at roffe and sons and when he turned it down sam roffe bought the company rhys worked for and sent for him even now he could recal the overwhelming power of sam roffe s presence at their first meeting you belong here at roffe and sons sam roffe had informed him that s wh,vi bought that horse-and-brgg o utfit you were with l3 sroney ssrioor r rhys had found himself flattered and irritated at the same time suppose i don t want to stay sam roffe had smiled and said confidently you ll want to stay you and i have something in common rhys we re both ambitious we want to own the world i m going to show you how the words were magic a promised feast for the fierce hunger that burned in the young man for he knew something that sam roffe did not there was no rhys williams he was a myth that had been created out of desperation and povertv and despair he had been born near the coalfields ofgwent and carmarthen the red scarred valleys of wales where layers of sandstone and saucer-shapedb eds of limestone and coal puckered the green earth he grew up in a fabled land where the very names were poetry brecon and pen-y fan and penderyn and glyncorrwg and maesteg it was a land oflegend where the coal buried deep in the ground had been created 280 million years before where the landscape was once covered with so many trees that a squirrel could travel from brecon beacons to the sea without ever touchins the ground but the industrial revolution had come along and the beautiful green trees were chopped down by the charcoal burners to feed the insatiable fires of the iron industrv the voung boy gren up with the heroes oi another time and another world robert farrer burned at the stake by the roman

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catholic church because he would not take a vow of celibacy and abandon his wife king hywel the good who brought the law to wales in the tenth century the fierce warrior brychen who sired twelve sons and twenty-four daughters and savagely put down all attacks on his kingdom it was a land of glorious histories in which the lad had been raised but it was not all glory rhys s ancestors n ere miners every one of them and the young bov used to listen to the tales of hell that his father and his uncles recounted thev talked of the terrible times w-hent here was no work ra-henth e ricir coalfields of gwent and carmarthen had been closed in a bitter fight between the companies and the miners and the miners were debased by a poverty that eroded ambition and pride that sapped a man s spirit and strength and finally made him surrender when the mines were open it was another kind of hell most of t4 brooor-rne q rhys s familv had died in the mines some had perished in the boweis of the earth others had i:oughed their blackened lungs ar.ay few had lived past the age of thirt.v rh-vs used to listen to his father and his aging voung uncles discussingt he past,t he cave-insa nd the cripplings and the strikes talking of the good times and the bad and to the young bo-v they seemed the same all bad the thought of spending his vears in the darkness of the earth appalled rht s he knew he had to escape he ran awav from home when he was twelve he left the valleys of coal and went to the coast to sullv rannv bay and lavernock rvhere the rich tourists flocked and the voung boy fetched and carried and made himself useful helping ladies down the steep cliffs to the beach lugging heavy picnic baskets driving a pony cart at penarth and n orking at the amusement park at whitmore bu_v he was onl,v a few hours alvav from home but the distance could not be measured the people here were from another world rhys williams had never imagined such beautiful people or such glorious finerl each woman looked like a queen to him and the men were all elegant and splendid this w-as the world where he belonged and there rvas nothing he would not do to make it his bv the time rhvs williams rvas fourteen he had saved enough

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monev to pay for his passageto london he spent the first three davs simplv rvalking around the huge citv staring at everything hungrilv drinking in the incredible sights and the sounds and the smells his first job u as as a delivery bov at a draper s shop there were two male clerks superior beings both and a female clerk who made the voung welsh bov s heart sing every time he looked at her the men treated rhys as he was meant to be treated iike dirt he was a curiosit,v he dressed peculiarlv had alrominable manners and spoke ith an incomprehensible accent they could not even pronounce his name they called him rice and rye and rise it s pronouncecrl eese r hvs kept telling them the girl took pit-v on him her name was gladvs simpkins and she shared a tiny flat in tooting with three other girls one day she allou ed the voung boy to walk her home after work and invited him in for a cup of tea young rhys was overcorne with nervousl 5 sronryssrloon ness he had thought this was going to be his first sexual experience but n.hen he began to put his arm around gladl s she stared at him a moment then laughed i m not giving none of that to ,vou s hes aid but i ll give vou somea dvice.i f vou want to make somethin of vourself get vourself some proper clothes and a bit of education and learn vourself some manners she studied the thin passionatey oung facea nd looked into rhys s deepb lue e1.es and said softly you re gonna be a bit of all right when vou grow up if you l ant to make somethin of l.ourself i hat was the moment rvhen the fictitious rhys williams was born the real rhvs williams was an uneducated ignorant boy u-ith no background no breeding no past no future but he had imagination inteiligence and a fierv ambition it u.as enough he started with the image of what he nanted to be who he intended to be when he looked in his mirror he did not see the clums.v,g rubb_vli ttle bov with the funn.v accent his mirror image was polished and suavea nd successfull ittle bv little rhys begant o match himself to the image in his mind he attended night school and he spent his weekends in art galleries he haunted public libraries and went

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to the theater sitting in the gallery studving the fine clothes ofthe men seated in the stalls he scrimped on food so that once a month he could go to a good restaurant n here he carefullv copied the table manners of others he observed and learned and remembered he was like a sponge erasing the past soaking up the future in one short year rh1-s had learned enough to realize that gladys simpkins his princess was a cheap cockney girl who was alreadv beneath his tastes he quit the draper s shop and went to rvork as a clerk at a chemist s shop that was part of a large chain he was almost sixteen now but he looked older he had {illed out and rvast aller women w.ereb eginning to pav attention to his dark welsh good looks and his quick flattering tongue he was an instant successin the shop femalec ustomersw ould wait until rhvs rvas available to take care of them he dressed well and spoke correctly and he knerr he had come a long way frt,m gweni and carmarthen but when he looked in the mirror he was stiil not satisfied the journev he intended to make n as still ahead of him t6 brooorrle within two years rhys wiliiams was made manager of the shop where he workeil the district manager ,rtfh e chain said to rhvs this is just the beginning williams work hard and one dat r.ou ll be the superintendent of half a dozen stores rhys almost laughed aloud to think that that couid be the height of anyone s ambition rh,vs had never stopped going to school he was stud-ving business administration and marketing and commercial law he wanted more his image in the mirror was at the top of the ladder rh_vsfe lt he was still at the bottom his opportunity to move up camew hen a drug salesmanw alked in one da,v,w atchedr hvs charm severall adiesi nto buying products the,v had no use for and said you re n-asting your time here lad you should be working in a bigger pond what did .vou have in mind rhys asked let me talk to m,v boss about you trvo weeks later rhvs was working as a salesman at the small drug firm he was one of fiftv salesmen but when rhys looked in his special mirror he knew that that was not true his only competition was himself he was getting closer to his image now closer to the fictitious character he was creating a man who u as intelli

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gent cultured sophisticateda nd charming what he as trying to do was impossible evervone knew that one had to be born with those qualities the.v could not be created but rhys did it he became the image he had envisioned he traveled around the country selling the firm s products talking and listening he u ould return to london full of practical suggestions,a nd he quickly began to move up the ladder three years after he had joined the company rhvs was made general sales manager under his skillful guidance the companv began to expand and four years later sam roffe had come into his life he had recognized the hunger in rh-vs o you re like me sam roff e had said we u-ant to own the world i m going to show you how and he had sam roffe had been a brilliant mentor over the next nine lears under sam roffe s tutelage rhys williams had become invaluable to the company as time went on he was given more and more t7 stonevsutroon responsibility reorganizing various divisions troubleshooting in whatever part of the world he was needed coordinating the different branches of rolle and sons creating new concepts in the end rhys knew more about running the companv than anl.one except sam roffe himself rhvs williams w-asth e logical successorto the presidency one morning when rhys and sam roffe were returning from caracasi n a companv jet a luxurious converted boeing 707-320 one of a fleet of eight planes sam roffe had complimented rhvs on a lucrative deal that he had concluded u.ith the venezuelan government there ll be a fat bonus in this for you rhvs rhvs had replied quietl-v i don t want a bonus sam i d prefer some stock and a place on vour board of directors he had earned it and both men r ere aware of it but sam had said i m sorrv i can t change the rules even for you roffe and sonsi s a privately held company no one outsideo f the famil_vc an sit on the board or hold stock rhvs had known that of course he attended all board meetings but not as a member he r,r aas n outsider sam roffe n ast he iast male in the roffe bloodline the other roffes sam s cousins were females the men thev had married sat on the board of the

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companv walther cassner who had marrietl anna roffe ivcr p alazzi married to simonetta roffe charles martel married tcr h6ldne roffe and sir alec nichols w hosem other had been a roffe so rh,vs had been forced to make a decision he knew that he deserved to be on the board that one day he should be running the company present circumstances prevented it but circumstances had a wav of changing rhys had decided to sta to wait ancl see r,r haht appened.s am had taught him patience.a nd non-s am was dead the office lights blazed on again and hajib kafir stood in the doorway kafir was the turkish sales manager ibr roffe and sons he was a short swarthy man who wore diamonds and his fat bell v iike proud ornaments he had the disheveled air of a man who had dressed hastily so sophie had not found him in a nightclub ah well rhys thought a side eff ect of sam roffe s death coitu-s interruptus l8 blooorrrr rhys kafir was exclaiming my dear fellow forgive me i had no idea you were still in istanbul you were on vour way to catch a plane and i had some urgent business to sit down hajib listen carefullv i want you to send four cables in company code thev re going to different countries i want them hand-deliveredb y our own messengersd o you understand of course kafir said bewildered perfectl,v rhys glanced at the thin gold baume mercier watch on his wrist the new city post oflice will be closed send the cables from yeni posthane cad i want them on their wav within thirtv minutes he handed kafir a copy of the cable he had written out anyone who discussest his will be instantly discharged kafir glanced at the cable and his eves widened my godl he said oh mv god he looked up at rhvs s dark face howhow did this terrible thing happen sam roffe died in an accident rhys said now for the first time rhvs allowed his thoughts to go to what he had been pushing awav from his consciousnessw hat he had been trying to avoid thinking about elizabeth roffe sam s daughter she was twenty-four now when rhys had first met her she had been a fifteen-year-old girl with braces on her teeth fiercely

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sh,v and overweight a lonely rebel over the vears rhvs had watched elizabeth develop into a verv special young woman with her mother s beauty and her father s intelligence and spirit she had becomec loset o sam rhys knew how deeply the ne.w-ws ould affect her he would have to tell her himself two hours later rh_vsw illiams was over the mediterraneano n a company jet headed for new york l9 berlin monday september 7 ten a.m anna roffe cassnerk ner,r.t hat she must not let herseif scream again or walther would return and kill her she crouched in a corner of her bedroom her bod,v trembling uncontrollabl,v waiting for death what had started out as a beautiful fairy tale had ended in terror unspeakable horror it had taken her too long to face the truth the man she had married was a homicidal maniac anna roffe had never loved anyone before she met walther gassner including her mother her father and herself anna had been a frail sickl.v child who sufl ered from fainting spells she could not remember a time when she had been free of hospitals or nurses or specialists flown in from far-off places because her father was anton roffe of roffe and sons the top medical experts flew to anna s bedsidei n berlin but when the-vh ad examinedh er and tested her and finallv departed the,v knew no more than thev had known before they could not diagnose her condition anna was unable to go to school like other children and in time she had become withdrawn creating a r.r-orldo f her ou n fuil of dreamsa nd fantasies.w here no one elsew as allowed to enter she painted her own pictures of life because the colors of reality w-ere too harsh for her to accept when anna was eighteen her dizziness and fainting spells disappeared as mvsteriouslv as the,v had started but the_vh ad marred her life at an age when most girls 20 brooor -r nr f.were getting engaged or married anna had never even been kissed by a boy she insisted to herself that she did not mind she w-as content to live her own dream life apart from everything and everyone in her middle twenties suitors came calling for anna

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roffe was an heiress who bore one of the most prestisious names in the world and many men e re eagert o shareh er iort une she received proposals from a swedish count an italian poet and half a dozen princes from indigent countries anna refused them all on his daughter s thirtieth birthda,v anton roffe moaned i m going to die without leaving any grandchildren on her thirty-fifth birthday anna had gone to kitzbiihel in austria and there she had met walther gassner a ski instructor thirteen years younger than she the first time anna had seen walther the sight of him had literally taken her breath awav he was skiing down ihe hahnenlnmm the steep racing slope and it was the most beautiful sight anna had ever seen she had moved closer to the bottom of the ski run to get a better look at him he was like a young god and anna had been satisfied to do nothing but watch him he had caught her staring at him aren t vou skiing gncidiges frriulein she had shaken her head not trusting her voice and he had smiled and said then let me buv you lunch anna had fled in a panic like a schoolgirl from then on walther cassner had pursued her anna roffe was not a fool she was aware that she was neither pretty nor brilliant that she was a plain woman and that aside from her name she had seemingly very little to offer a man but anna knew that trapped within that ordinary facade was a beautiful sensitive girl filled with love and poetry and music perhaps because anna was not beautiful she had a deep reverence for beauty she would go to the great museums and spend hours staring at the paintings and the statues when she had seen walther gassner it was as though all the gods had come alive for her anna was having breakfast on the terrace of the tennerhof hotel on the secondd ay when walther gassnerjo ined her he did look like a young god he had a regular clean-cut profile and his features ere delicate sensitive stronq his face was deeplv 2l stonsvsseloon tanned and his teeth w-erew hite and even he had blond hair and his eves were a slate gray beneath his ski clothes anna could see

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the movement of his biceps and thigh muscies and she felt tremors going through her loins she hid her hands in her lap so that he could nol see lhe keratosis i looked for you on the slopes vesterdava fternoon walther said anna could not speak if vou don t ski i d like to teach you he smiled and added no charge he had taken her to the hausberg the beginners slope for her first lesson it was immediately apparent to them both that anna had no talent for skiing she kept losing her balance and falling down but she insisted on trying again and again because she was afraid that walther would despise her if she failed instead he had picked her up after her tenth fall and had said gently you were meant to do better things than this what things anna had asked miserable i ll tell you at dinner tonight they had dined that evening and breakfasted the next morning and then had lunch and dinrrer again walther neglected his clients he skipped skiing lessonsi n order to go into the village with anna he took her to the casino in der goldene greif and they went sleigh riding and shopping and hiking and sat on the terrace of the hotel hour after hour talking for anna it t as a time of magic five davs after thev had met walther took her hands in his and said anna liebchen i want to marrv vou he had spoiled it he had taken her out of her wonderful fair-vlanda nd brought her back to the cruel realitv of who and what she was an unattractive thirty-five-year-old virginal prize for fortune hunters she had tried to leave but walther had stopped her we lor-e each other anna you can t run away from that she listened to him lying listened to him sa,ving,o ol ven ever loved anyone before and she made it easy for him because she wanted so desperatelv to believe him she took him back to her room and they sat there talking and as walther told anna the story of his life she suddenly began to believe thinking with wonder it is reall,v the storv of mv own lil e like her walther had never had anyone to love iie had been zz blooorrnr i-

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