'No!' I shouted. 'You're Jake Rosso! You look different

now, yes. You've got short hair, you've got a moustache now, and you wear glasses. But you're. . . Jake. . . Rosso. You were my favourite pop star, so I know.' Mr Ross said nothing, and watched my face.

'He doesn't know what to do,' I thought. 'He knows

I don't believe him, and he's afraid.' Then he said, 'It was you in the passage last night, wasn't it?' 'Yes,' I answered. He looked angry. 'I was wrong to give your mother a job,' he said. 'I thought it was OK because you came from Hong Kong. And I needed help with my work. I needed a good secretary.' 'Does your other secretary know who you are?' I asked. 'Do the other people on the island know?' Mr Ross didn't answer, but walked across to the window. He was thinking. 'What's he going to do?' I thought. Then he turned round. 'OK, you're right. I . . . I am Jake Rosso.'

' I knew it!' He looked worried and unhappy. 'Can you keep a secret? A very important secret?' I thought for a minute, then I said, 'Yes, 1 can keep a secret.'

Then he told me. 'The other people on this island are my family.' 'Your family?' I said. 'Yes. My real name is James Duncan, and Mr and Mrs Duncan are my father and mother. Tony is my younger brother, and his wife, Lisa, is my secretary. It's she who's in hospital.'

'And Dan and Stella Parks? I asked. 'My mother's sister and her husband,' he said. 'But what are you doing here on this island? I don't understand.' 'I'll tell you,' he said. He sat down on a chair and took a guitar in his hands, but he didn't play it. 'You were right. I was a famous pop star. I was very rich, and I had a beautiful wife. But things went wrong.' 'How?' 'I took drugs,' he said. 'I drank a lot of alcohol. I got drunk and crashed cars. I did stupid, terrible things. Iknew it was wrong but I couldn't stop doing it. I was . . . crazy, for a time.'

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