Nanty,
Thank you for giving The Rothko Room such a thorough reading. Apologies for the typos you've had to wade through and thank you very much for your suggestions. Having re-read some of that to which you refer, I find that there are a couple of points you make that I have to disagree with. Vanessa adds “…in the circumstances…” after noting that her employer is very well. It clearly occurs to her that if the man before her is his son, then Mr. Mosely must be doing even better than well. It may be a clumsy way of indicating that the truth is dawning and I may try something else but without it, her simply saying that she has realised that Wittersham is not Stephen Mosely would I believe, seem rather abrupt.
Again, the point about “the” automatic weapon is that (once more in my view) is a more powerful way of telling the reader that Wittersham has a gun. If it comes across as being an error, I may have to look again but it’s not an unknown conceit.
As I re-read the part where Arthur exits the lift, I can see that it needs to be made clearer. Arthur unnecessarily holds open the door for the women and felt that was enough but it isn’t. Thanks.
The remark about “lo-tech” is interesting. There are times when the narrator has to make it clear that certain systems remain in operation and so this and the sentence before , is in present tense. Ditto “there aren’t many of those people left. A lot of Arthur’s feelings come out in the narration as a way of intimating to the reader that this is what Arthur believes.
The papers Arthur chucks on the floor are not in his arms – Mulberry still has them.
'Chuck that lot on the floor,' [Mulberry] said, indicating a chair that was doubling as a filing system.
The phrase, “doubling as a filing system”, is meant to imply that the chair is covered in paper and that’s what Mulberry wants shifting. Again, perhaps I need to make it clearer.
Your reaction to Vanessa’s reaction to Geoffrey is exactly what I’m after