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EXCERPTS FROM THE FORTHCOMING BESTSELLER
THE McCARTNEY CODE THE UNRELEASED BESTSELLING NOVEL BY STEVE HUEY CHAPTER 1: THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY Pete Best strode from his small automobile to the college lecture hall. How ironic it was that he had been kicked out of the Beatles, yet now made a living by presenting academic lectures about the layers of symbolism embedded deep within their music. As he strode, Pete Best imagined the shocked and fascinated replies of his students as they engaged directly with his stunning elucidations. He had forgotten that college students simply absorb lectures passively, tired and bored and hung over and barely interested in anything beyond the undergarments of the person sitting in front of them. Still striding, Pete Best passed the office of Dean McCarver, a man whose name had nothing to do with the Beatles. Dean McCarver emerged from his office clutching a note. "Pete, old boy, I'm afraid it's bad news," he said, handing Pete Best the note. Pete Best read the note. A frown crossed his face. "Oh, no," he said. He was dismayed. The note read simply: Paul is dead. No. It couldn't be. Not the third of the sènèchaux... CHAPTER 5: PETE BEST INVADES FRANCE, 40 YEARS LATE
"Listen, Pete," said the beautiful French police woman, Special Agent Marie Francaise. "My boorish superior suspects you, but I'm certain that in death, Paul left a coded message calling you to France because he knew that you would be able to tell who murdered him by deciphering the coded messages he left in his music. After all, you are the foremost expert on Beatles symbolism." "That's right, I am," said Pete Best. "You see, in the 1960s, rumors of Paul's death were falsely perpetrated to increase sales of the Beatles' back catalog. The band scattered hidden messages in their recordings that seemed to corroborate the rumors. Take the landmark concept album Sgt. Pepper, for example." Pete Best droned on in this fashion for half an hour. Special Agent Marie Francaise yawned and glanced at her watch. CHAPTER 7: A STUNNING REVELATION THAT KICKSTARTS THE PLOT
"Do you know what I realized during that daring escape?" said Pete Best. "No, what?" said Marie Francaise. "All those clues about Paul's death? On the Beatles' albums? Paul himself planted them there because he knew exactly who was going to kill him, and when. It was no hoax." Agent Marie Francaise sucked in her breath. No. It couldn't be... CHAPTER 11: THE RULE OF THE FAB FOUR
Pete Best thought back over his musical career. His father had played the drums too. The drums consumed his father's whole life, and Pete Best had been drawn into them as well. Once, Pete Best's mother told him, "Pete, don't let the drums consume your whole life, like they did your father's." Pete Best had had a girlfriend in college, but neglected her to concentrate on playing the drums with his drumming roommates. Still, he went through cycles of love and hate with regard to the drums. It seemed that Pete Best's conflicted feelings about the drums stemmed from his conflicted feelings about his father. Perhaps that was why he did not become a good enough drummer to remain a more attractive option for the Beatles than Ringo Starr. CHAPTER 19: ONE PIECE OF THE PUZZLE IS SOLVED
"Pete," said Agent Marie Francaise. "Do you think that, in this song, Paul was actually saying that his killer was...Ringo?" Pete Best frowned. "I don't like the looks of this," he said. This would make things much more difficult. Not Ringo Starr. It couldn't be... CHAPTER 24: AGENT MARIE FRANCAISE UNLOCKS A NUMEROLOGICAL CODE PERTAINING TO RICHARD STARKEY'S STAGE NAME "RINGO STARR" WHICH LINKS HIM TO AN ANCIENT SECRET SOCIETY
"I've just unlocked the numerological code ciphered into the letters of the name 'Ringo Starr,'" said Agent Marie Francaise. Pete Best looked at Agent Marie Francaise admiringly. "It certainly is fortunate that you are an expert in cryptology," he said. He felt lucky. "Well, it certainly is fortunate that you are an expert in Beatles symbolism," replied Marie Francaise. Their feelings were mutual. But why would Ringo -- one of the four sènèchaux, sworn guardians of a volatile secret kept over centuries -- want to do away with the others? The fiendishness of such a plot boggled the imagination. CHAPTER 35: CROSSING THE CHANNEL
"Thank goodness we are safely on a plane to England," said Pete Best. "Your boorish superior is hot on our trail, and Ringo Starr's All Starr Assassins are conducting their own shadowy pursuit." Agent Marie Francaise sat silently. Was this the right time to tell Pete Best about the memories of her childhood? The terrible things she had witnessed? Things she had not yet come to grips with herself? The memories of her grandfather...RINGO STARR?! CHAPTER 38: AN URGENT MESSAGE
The telegram person handed Agent Marie Francaise a telegram from her boorish superior in France. "PETE BEST NOT GUILTY STOP URGENT MUST FIND RINGO STARR STOP PAUL..." But the rest of the telegram was cut off. CHAPTER 45: THE SHOCKING TWIST AND SHOUT
Pete Best knew he was beaten. "Go ahead...pull the trigger," he said. He was resigned to his fate. "Pull the trigger? What are you talking about?" said Ringo Starr. "I'm not here to kill you." "Then who's after us?" asked Agent Marie Francaise. "I will answer that question," said a voice. Stepping out of the looming shadows with a gun in his hand was none other than...Paul McCartney. "Paul? But..." stammered Pete Best. He was really flummoxed. "You thought I was dead? Oh, Pete," sighed Paul McCartney. "You of all people should have known this was a hoax." "But why?" demanded Pete Best. He was now upset, and his facial expression betrayed his feelings. "I lost control of the catalog once, and I'm not about to let it happen again," said Paul McCartney. "Of course...the music of the Beatles has been your darkest obsession for your entire life," said Pete Best, the truth now dawning on him. "You would do anything to keep it safe." "And so would you," said Paul McCartney. "Now you've led me right to Ringo, and I can finally finish the work I began so many years ago." "I won't let you," said Pete Best defiantly. He intended to put a stop to all this. "Let me? You sad little man," sneered Paul McCartney. "Who are you to grapple with the secrets of the Beatles catalog? I wrote the most popular song in the history of recorded music. You were replaced by a drummer who was so awful that I re-recorded all his parts." "What?" said Ringo. "You couldn't have sung 'Yellow Submarine' or 'Octopus's Garden,'" continued Paul McCartney. "Hell, you couldn't even have sung 'Act Naturally.' And now, none of you will ever sing them again!" "What does this thing do?" asked Ringo. There was an enormous crash. In the midst of the chaos, Pete Best leapt forward and knocked the gun out of Paul McCartney's hand. Agent Marie Francaise put handcuffs on him, helped by her formerly boorish superior. "See, what I was trying to tell you was that Paul was the villain, and we had to find Ringo to PROTECT him," said Marie's superior. "Right, but see, the telegram got cut off," replied Marie Francaise. "Curses!" cursed Paul McCartney. Pete Best approached Marie Francaise with a bit of trepidation. "Would you like to meet again sometime for a cup of coffee and a conversation?" he asked. "Look, Pete, you're very learned, but did you notice the utter lack of chemistry between us?" asked Marie Francaise. Pete Best had to agree, though it chafed his pride. "Hey, weren't you my granddaughter or something?" said Ringo. "And what about all these secrets?" "Oh, we're just letting those threads dangle," said Marie. "Jolly good," said Ringo. He was fine with it. THE END...OF THIS PETE BEST ADVENTURE.
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