Poisoned Cherries

Chapter 40

I was bugger all use for the rest of the day; I fluffed a couple of simple lines and tried even Miles’s patience, but somehow or other I got through it without too much embarrassment.

Mandy was waiting outside my dressing room when I got back down to Cockburn Street at the end of it all. ‘It’s not like you to let a locked door bother you,’ I said grimly. ‘Come to think of it, it’s not like anyone around here.’

‘Shh!’ she whispered, urgently. ‘Ricky’s back. He’s in the catering van and the door’s open; he might hear you.’

‘I might tell him all the same,’ I grunted, but I didn’t mean it. It had been a bad enough day as it was and if I dropped Mandy in it by telling her boss about her surprise visit, I’d just make myself look even dafter, not to mention getting her fired. As I opened the door, her look told me she didn’t believe my threat anyway.

‘Has my wife gone?’ I asked her.

Her mouth fell open and stayed like that, for a good few seconds. ‘Your wife?’ she exclaimed, at last.

‘Primavera. The woman who visited the set at the lunch break.’

‘She told me she was Dawn’s sister.’

‘She is; she’s also my wife. But we’re getting divorced.’

‘I’m not surprised.’ she said, with a snorting laugh. ‘I thought I’d been fully briefed about you, but Ricky left that bit out.’

‘It wasn’t relevant. Has she gone, do you know?’

Mandy nodded. ‘Yes, about half an hour ago.’

‘What about the guy she was with?’

‘Nicky Johnson?’ She surprised me by looking star-struck; there she was working with three of the biggest name actors in the world in Miles, Dawn and Ewan, but it took his name to make her eyes go dreamy. No accounting for tastes, is there? Just as well she hadn’t been there when Miles decked him; she might have leapt to his defence. ‘He left before her. They had a big argument, and I heard Gail Driver booking him on the next London flight.’ She shook her head. ‘More fool your missus.’

‘You don’t know the half of it,’ I muttered. ‘But she’s well shot of that clown.’

Mandy looked at me as a nun might have looked at a heretic.

‘Come on,’ I said, ‘back to business. What have you got to tell me about the guy who left that photo for me?’

‘Nothing much. I did find a catering worker who saw a man near this van, but she didn’t see him break in or anything. He was just standing there, leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette.’

‘Description?’

‘He was wearing a hard hat and an orange donkey jacket. There’s a shop being refurbished up the road; they’re working seven days a week and that’s what the builders wear. He was probably just a joiner having a smoke.’

‘Nevertheless, did she notice anything else?’

‘He was around six feet tall, he had a beard, and he was wearing flashy wrap-round sunglasses.’

‘A joiner in Raybans? Did anyone think to go and see if any of the guys working on the site fit that description?’

Mandy gave her lip a quick nibble. ‘No,’ she murmured. ‘We’ll do it tomorrow; they’ll have knocked off for the day by now.’

‘A waste of time,’ said a voice from the door; I turned to see Ricky climbing into my room. ‘If that was your guy, he’s not going to be back. If it wasn’t. . so bloody what?’

He had a point. ‘So what’s he up to?’ I asked. ‘Why pull a stunt like that?’

‘I don’t know, Oz. It could just be a nutter; that’s the likeliest explanation, in fact.’

‘But what if it isn’t? In my experience the likeliest explanation hardly ever turns out to be right.’

Ross took a deep breath. ‘Mine too,’ he admitted. ‘In that case, this could be leading up to an extortion attempt. You might get a letter, threatening Susie and the baby, and demanding a pay-off. The photo, the way it was taken and the way it was planted, could all be an attempt to scare you into paying up.’

‘What about a kidnap attempt?’

‘Not a chance; the guy would have done that already, or tried it, if it was on his agenda. Let’s assume he isn’t a nutter and he isn’t stupid; he’ll know that Susie’s protected.’

‘I want that stepped up.’

‘Don’t worry, it has been. You’ll need to tell her what’s happening, though. I don’t want her picking up the phone and getting any nasty surprises.’

I agreed with that. ‘I’ll call her right away,’ I said.

‘I’ve talked to Mr Grayson,’ Ricky continued, ‘and we both think I should step up your cover as well. We should make it more obvious; you should have someone full-time, like him and Mrs Grayson and Ewan Capperauld. It could be that he’s picked you because you’re the most vulnerable. I thought Mandy could do that for you; she’s well capable and you’ve got spare rooms up there in your apartment. You okay with that?’

I risked a quick glance at my lady minder; she was dead-pan. ‘Attractive as that suggestion is,’ I replied, ‘I don’t want that. One; I’ve promised a bedroom to Liam Matthews whenever the schedule brings him to town; he’s all the minder I’ll ever need. Two; I have another plan for Mandy. Three; I don’t want to scare this guy away. I want to meet him. In fact, if he does send a demand for money, I plan to deliver it in person.’