AUTHOR’S NOTE . Late one afternoon, while taking a leisurely stroll on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Tim Malloy, a friend of mine and a col- : laborator on this book, nearly ran into a trim, silver-haired neighbor of ours from Palm Beach. The man was walking down Madison Avenue, and several things about him were striking. For one thing, he was wearing . slippers. Expensive, embroidered, monogrammed slippers. But ; slippers all the same. : For another, he was accompanied by two attractive women. Even in Manhattan, an island that attracts beautiful women from all over the world, these women stood out. ; As the man half shuffled, half walked down the avenue, the women walked slightly behind him, as if they were attendants or staff. i Tim followed, keeping a respectable distance, as the three- be " some made a right onto 71st Street and headed toward an enor- ; a mous town house—a house that was almost a fortress—right i i Vib HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019114