The Strangling on the Stage

TWENTY-EIGHT

‘Maybe he’d just gone home early,’ suggested Carole in the Renault on the way back to Fethering. ‘Decided to forego the session at the Cricketers.’

‘It would have been out of character for him if he did. Anyway, I saw him afterwards while everyone was waiting around for the police to arrive.’

‘So you’re thinking that Olly switched the nooses?’

‘It’s a possibility, Carole. He very definitely stood to gain from Ritchie’s absence.’

‘Getting the part of Dick Dudgeon?’

‘Exactly.’

‘For which he still doesn’t know the lines.’

‘No, that’s true.’ An idea came to Jude. ‘I think you should set up your “line-bashing” session with Olly as soon as possible.’

Davina Vere Smith’s eruption at the Sunday rehearsal had had the desired effect of putting a rocket up at least one of the Devil’s Disciple cast. When Carole rang Olly Pinto later that evening and suggested he might benefit from a run-through of his lines, he was almost pathetically eager to set up the encounter as soon as possible.

It was agreed that he would come round to High Tor the following day after work (he was employed in one of Fethering’s many estate agencies). Carole said she thought it’d help to have Jude there too, so that she could read the other parts. The real reason for this proposal was that, given the way her suspicions were currently veering, Carole didn’t want to be alone with Olly Pinto.

She had only just put the phone down after her conversation with Olly when it rang. Her son Stephen. Gaby was laid low with another stomach bug. Could Granny possibly drop everything and come to look after Lily in Fulham for a couple of days?

Carole apologized that she couldn’t. She might be able to come up for a couple of hours during the day on the Monday, but time would be tight as she had to be back for a ‘line-bashing’ session in the early evening. And then of course she had a regular rehearsal on the Tuesday.

Stephen said not to worry, he’d sort out one of Gaby’s friends to drop in. But he did sound a bit bewildered by his mother’s reaction. Normally, if it was something to do with Lily, Carole in Granny mode would be in the Renault and on her way the minute the phone call had ended.

Carole herself was a bit surprised at her reaction. She didn’t love Lily any the less, but she couldn’t let SADOS down. It was a measure of how much she had come to embrace amateur dramatics.

Olly Pinto arrived at High Tor about quarter past six on the Monday, not wearing his customary rehearsal garb of jeans and a fleece, but in his work livery of pinstriped suit and something that looked like a club tie but probably wasn’t.

Olly accepted Carole’s offer of coffee and replied to her polite enquiry as to the state of the housing market, ‘Maybe picking up a bit. We usually see an upsurge in enquiries round Easter time. This year’s better than last year at the same stage, though we’re still way off where we used to be before the financial crash.’

Jude was once again struck by the contrast in the lives of these people, plodding through monochrome jobs by day and transforming into the variegated butterflies of amateur dramatics in the evenings.

The sitting room at the front of High Tor was not actually cold, but the austerity of its furniture always made it feel chilly. The pictures had all been inherited from distant Seddon aunts and put up on the walls out of duty rather than enthusiasm. The only positive colour came from a bright photograph of Carole’s beloved granddaughter Lily on the mantelpiece.

Still, the sober appearance of the room seemed to fit the seriousness of the evening’s task in hand. Olly Pinto had brought his copy of The Devil’s Disciple with him, but Carole very soon confiscated that. ‘No cribbing,’ she said in the voice that had silenced many committees at the Home Office. ‘Jude’ll give you the cues and I’ll prompt you when you get things wrong.’ Carole’s lack of confidence in the actor’s memory was emphasized by her use of the word ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.

‘Shall we start at the beginning?’ asked Olly hopefully because, allowing for a bit of paraphrase, he knew Act One pretty well.

‘No,’ Carole replied implacably. ‘It was Act Three you were worst on. We’ll start there, then go back to the beginning.’

He didn’t argue. As Jude patiently fed him the lines, it occurred to her that, beyond the fact of his working for an estate agent, she knew virtually nothing about Olly Pinto’s private life. And maybe for some participants that was the appeal of amateur dramatics, the opportunity to be someone other than your mundane self. Rather like the appeal of acting itself.

The ‘line-bashing’ was a hard and tedious process, but it did work. The one-to-one concentration – and perhaps the embarrassment of showing himself up in front of the two women – actually improved Olly’s grasp of George Bernard Shaw’s words. In rehearsal when he cocked up a line he could sometimes get a laugh about his incompetence from his fellow actors; no such levity was allowed in the sitting room of High Tor. The world did actually lose a good dominatrix when Carole Seddon decided to forge a career in the Home Office.

It took them an hour to get through Act Three to the end, and then Carole offered more coffee. ‘I’d offer you a proper drink, Olly, but alcohol might affect your concentration. We’ll have a proper drink when we’ve done the whole play.’

When Carole opened the door on her way to the kitchen, her Labrador Gulliver nosed his way in to inspect the visitor. After he’d been hustled out by his mistress, Jude asked Olly whether he had a dog.

‘No. Did have. When I was married.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yes. Divorced – what? – three years ago.’

‘Children?’

‘Two. I don’t see them as much as I should. My wife – ex-wife – is not very cooperative about access.’

‘I’m sorry.’ And Jude could see the appeal of SADOS as a displacement activity for someone like Olly Pinto.

Carole returned with the coffee pot and recharged their cups. ‘Feeling a bit more confident now, are you, Olly?’ she asked with surprising gentleness.

‘Yes, I am a bit. It makes me realize that, if I really do concentrate, I can drill the lines into my head.’

‘Exactly.’ When she had refilled the coffee cups, she announced, ‘I think we should go back to Act Two now. You were shakier on that than Act One.’

‘All right,’ said Olly, not exactly welcoming his fate but reconciled to it.

‘Then we’ll rattle through Act One at the end.’

So Act Two it was. And the build-up of concentration in the one-to-one setting still seemed to be working. Olly got more of the lines right than he had on any previous occasion. And he didn’t lose his temper when Carole patiently dragged him back out of the realms of paraphrase.

So there was unaccustomed cheer in the sitting room of High Tor when they’d finished the Act.

‘I think,’ said Jude, ‘you should open a bottle now, Carole. Olly’s earned it, and I’m gasping. And he knows Act One pretty well. Lubricated by a glass of wine, he’ll rattle through it, no probs.’

Carole looked dubious. Her upbringing had set her resolutely against the idea of bringing forward a promised treat. But she acceded to Jude’s suggestion. ‘White wine all right for you, Olly?’

‘Lovely. Thank you very much.’

While Carole was in the kitchen, Jude said, ‘We were very honoured to be included in Elizaveta’s “drinkies thing” on Saturday.’

‘So you should be. That really puts you in the charmed circle. But I’d be a bit wary.’

‘Oh?’

‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch – or a free drink with Elizaveta Dalrymple. The fact that she invited Carole and you means she wants something from you.’

‘What could we possibly have that would be of any use to her?’

‘Information, usually. Reports from the front line of Devil’s Disciple rehearsals.’

‘I thought she was getting those from you.’

‘Someone like Elizaveta can never have too many sources.’

‘Do you think she’ll actually come to the production?’

‘Come to see The Devil’s Disciple? Tricky diplomatic one for her. It’s a SADOS production and, now Freddie’s gone, Elizaveta is the spiritual leader of SADOS. So she should support it. On the other hand, she’s had this big bust-up. She stormed out of the show, apparently because of things Ritchie said to her – though in fact it was because she’d fallen out with Davina.’

Jude was surprised Olly was shrewd enough to have worked that out. In fact, she was surprised how much more intelligent and congenial he was that evening than he had ever been at rehearsals. When he wasn’t showing off, he was actually rather nice.

‘Anyway,’ he resumed, ‘the one thing Elizaveta wouldn’t want to appear is churlish. The thought of a SADOS production going ahead without her seeing it would be anathema to her. Also, she’d want to be there to see how bad the production is.’

‘Do you think it’s that bad?’

‘No, but Elizaveta would as a matter of principle. She’d also be convinced that she would have played Mrs Dudgeon infinitely better than you’re playing it.’

Jude grinned. ‘She might be right.’

‘Well, who knows? All I do know is that Elizaveta will be there – almost definitely on the first night – and afterwards she’ll say that the production was absolutely mahvellous, and your performance was particularly mahvellous.’

‘So, what – she’ll book a ticket for the first night?’

‘Oh no, it won’t be as straightforward as that. There’ll be some drama involved. Elizaveta will let it be known through her grapevine that she won’t be going to the show, that it’d be totally against her principles to go. And then a friend of one of her friends will drop out and she’ll be offered the ticket at the last minute and – surprise, surprise – she’ll be there. May not be exactly what’ll happen, but something along those lines.’

‘You seem to have a very good understanding of how Elizaveta Dalrymple works.’

‘I’ve observed her for a long time. And I know she can be a monster, but she’s also lively and fun, and if I hadn’t got my relationship with Elizaveta and SADOS, I wouldn’t have any social life at all.’

The confession was so honest, so potentially sad, that Jude couldn’t think of anything to say. She was quite relieved that Carole returned that moment with a bottle of Chilean Chardonnay, three glasses and a bowl of cashew nuts.

‘Olly was just telling me about the deviousness of Elizaveta.’

Carole snorted. ‘Well, I’ve only met her the once, at her “drinkies thing” on Saturday. But I don’t think anything I heard about her would surprise me. She seems the archetypal Queen Bee.’

Olly nodded. ‘That’s about right.’

‘Or,’ suggested Jude, ‘while Freddie was still alive, the archetypal Lady Macbeth.’

‘Well, of course, she did play the part for SADOS,’ said Olly.

‘I know. I saw the photo at her house.’

‘Of course you did.’

‘I was just wondering, though,’ Jude went on, ‘whether she ever played Lady Macbeth in real life …?’

Carole looked across at her neighbour in some confusion. She couldn’t understand the new direction in which the conversation was being taken.

Olly also looked a little uncomfortable, but for different reasons. ‘Not sure I like this discussion of “The Scottish Play”. Bad luck, you know.’

Characteristic of an amateur actor to know all the theatrical superstitions, thought Jude. But what she said was, ‘Only bad luck inside a theatre, Olly. Fine everywhere else.’

‘Ah.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Maybe we should get started on Act One.’

But Jude was not to be diverted. ‘I was meaning – did Elizaveta ever act like Lady Macbeth, controlling her husband, getting him to do things she wanted done?’

Olly Pinto grinned and nodded. ‘All the time. Freddie was nominally in charge of everything at SADOS, but Elizaveta was very definitely “the power behind the throne”.’

The tension in Carole relaxed. Now she understood where Jude was going with this, she started to watch with interest.

‘And how does she use that power now she hasn’t got Freddie to wield it through?’

‘You mean how does she get other people to do things for her?’

‘Exactly.’

‘Oh, she just becomes more Elizaveta than ever, really turns it on. She can be extremely persuasive. I mean, this business about whether or not she attends the Devil’s Disciple first night, I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up somehow being involved in that. I’ll get one of Elizaveta’s “little phone calls”.’

‘That’s how she organizes things, is it?’

‘Oh yes, still the old-fashioned phone. I get quite a few calls from her, though fortunately she’s taken on board the fact that she can’t ring me at work. God knows what she’d be like if she ever started using email or texts.’

‘And has Elizaveta ever asked you to do something you didn’t want to do?’

‘All the time.’ Olly grinned ruefully. ‘Mind you, I usually end up doing it. As I said, she can be very persuasive.’

Jude and Carole exchanged a look and there was instant understanding between them. As a result, it was Carole who said, ‘We talked to Gordon Blaine after we left after Elizaveta’s “drinkies thing” on Saturday.’

‘Oh yes?’

‘I gave him a lift. His car had broken down.’

‘God, not again. I must say, for the engineering genius Gordon always claims himself to be, a surprising number of his projects fail to function.’

‘But his gallows functioned,’ said Carole. ‘Almost too well.’

‘Yes,’ Olly agreed soberly.

‘On Saturday he was talking to us about a previous “drinkies thing” of Elizaveta’s. The one the night before Ritchie Good died.’

‘Oh?’

‘And he said he’d described to everyone exactly how his gallows were going to work.’

‘I remember that. Elizaveta was very intrigued – again regretting that she wouldn’t be at the next day’s rehearsal and so miss the demonstration. She was quite incapable of being “hands off” with anything to do with SADOS.’

‘And Gordon described how easily the noose could be switched, did he?’

‘Certainly did.’

‘So did Elizaveta make any comment on that?’

‘Only a joking comment.’

‘What?’ asked Carole sharply.

‘She said, “So if one wanted to get rid of a member of the Devil’s Disciple company one would have the means readily to hand.”’

‘And that was a joke?’

‘Well, I assumed so at the time,’ replied Olly, starting to look a little uncomfortable.

‘Did she say anything else?’ asked Jude.

‘Yes. She said, “I wouldn’t be at all upset if someone were to engineer a little accident between Ritchie Good and those gallows.”’

‘Did she?’ said Carole.

‘Yes, but I mean, it was a joke. At least, everyone laughed. Elizaveta had been bad-mouthing Ritchie all evening, in her customary very bitchy, funny way. What she said about the gallows just continued in the same vein. Which was why we all laughed.’

‘And you don’t think anyone took it seriously?’ asked Carole.

‘Oh God, no.’

‘“Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?”’ murmured Carole.

‘I’m sorry? What on earth are you talking about?’

‘It’s what King Henry II said about Thomas à Beckett. And some listening knights thought they saw a way of getting into the King’s good books, so they went straight down to Canterbury and murdered Beckett.’

‘Are you suggesting that’s what Elizaveta was doing? She hoped someone would pick up the hint, swap the nooses on the gallows and cause Ritchie’s death?’

‘It’s a possibility, wouldn’t you say?’

‘It’s a possibility in one of those stage thrillers SADOS used to keep doing. I wouldn’t have said it was a possibility in real life.’

Carole shrugged. ‘Stranger things have happened.’

Olly let out a chuckle which stopped halfway. Then he looked anxiously from one woman to the other. ‘You’re not suggesting I followed through Elizaveta’s suggestion, are you?’

‘Well, you weren’t around in the Cricketers after the rehearsal ended. Davina went back to St Mary’s Hall to find you.’

‘Yes, but—’

‘And,’ Jude chipped in, ‘you did benefit quite directly from Ritchie’s death. No other way you’d have got the part of Dick Dudgeon, was there?’

Again Olly Pinto looked from one to the other. Then, with considerable dignity, he said, ‘Well, I can assure you I did not do what you’re suggesting. I’ve allowed myself over the years to be manipulated in many ways by Elizaveta, and I’ve been persuaded into doing a good few things that I didn’t want to do because of pressure from her, but I would never do anything criminal.’

‘But do you think it’s possible,’ Carole persisted, ‘that Elizaveta did plant the idea of switching the nooses, in the hope that someone, wishing to curry favour with her, might act on the suggestion?’

‘The thought hadn’t occurred to me but, though it seems pretty unlikely, I wouldn’t put it past her. Elizaveta likes sort of giving tests to her supporters, always threatening them with the ultimate sanction – the withdrawal of her patronage.’

‘So, Olly, who do you think might have wanted to curry favour that much?’

He was silent for a moment, then said, ‘I don’t think it would be one of the people who’s been part of Elizaveta’s circle for a long time. We’re all fond of her and want to keep in her good books, but we’re also quite realistic about her. We know she can be a bit of a monster, so we take quite a lot of what she says with a pinch of salt.’

‘So one of the more recent additions to the charmed circle …?’

‘Perhaps.’

‘Who?’

‘Well,’ Olly replied slowly, ‘the newest regular – and indeed the one who seems most eager to please – is Storm Lavelle.’