B00CAXBD9C EBOK (6 page)

Ned Rice sidled up to David. His plump, pasty wife was talking to Linda across the other side of the room. ‘Quite a bit, your Miss Parker,’ he said with a leer. ‘I bet she’s a hot little number, a real tiger.’

David endeavoured to remain calm. ‘I wouldn’t know.’

‘In that case I expect it’s all right for me to have a bash.’ He nudged David. ‘These starlets are all the same, y’know. You’ve just got to tell them you can get their name in print and they open their legs without you even asking.’

David was saved from answering by the arrival of Mrs. Rice and Linda from across the room.

Ned affectionately patted his wife’s plump shoulder. ‘Enjoying yourself, love?’ he asked. Then he waggled an accusing finger at Linda. ‘And what were you up to, making front-page news this morning?’

David was beginning to dislike Ned Rice more and more.

Just then the lights in the room were dimmed and a spotlight was focused on a mock stage set at one end of the room. Phillip Abbottson was standing poised at a microphone. As soon as the chatter died down he launched into a long speech about Beauty Maid soap. He was a good promoter and made a simple bar of soap sound like a solid block of gold. At the end of his speech there was polite scattered applause, and then he stood to one side and said, ‘And now I would like to introduce you to Miss Beauty Maid herself!’

The curtains were drawn back, and there sat Claudia, in a marble bath surrounded by bubbles, in fact, an exact replica of the set that was used in the television commercial. She was wearing a flesh-coloured swimsuit, but of course no one could see it, so the general assumption was that she had nothing on beneath the bubbles.

David felt a surge of excitement.

Claudia smiled at her audience and started to recite her Beauty Maid speech.

Ned Rice whispered something obscene in David’s ear.

Mrs. Rice said to Linda, ‘Isn’t she a pretty little thing?’

Linda stared blankly into space, her thoughts on the night before.

When Claudia finished speaking there was hearty applause from the men and a few jealous titters from the women. Then the curtains were drawn and Phillip appeared back at the microphone with more to say.

David excused himself and made his way behind the stage. The marble bath was now empty, and he noticed a small door at the back of the dais. He hesitated and then went through it.

Claudia was patting herself dry with a towel. She was in a very small office and her clothes were scattered around in her usual untidy style. She was wearing the flesh-coloured swimsuit, which clung to her like a second skin.

She looked at him wearily. ‘What now?’

He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘No more questions.’

She threw him her wide-eyed look. ‘Promise?’

‘I promise.’

She smiled and snaked her arms around his neck. ‘All right, you’re forgiven.’

He bent down and kissed her warm, soft lips. Her body was still wet as he put his hands in the top of her swimsuit and slowly peeled it down.

‘Not here, you idiot,’ she whispered. ‘Someone might come in. Anyway, you’ll be missed.’

He let go of her and went and turned the key in the lock.

She was giggling softly. ‘Oh, David, you really like to take chances.’

He cupped her breasts in his hands and bent to kiss them. She moaned, ‘Go on then, you son of a bitch. Do whatever you want, I don’t give a damn!’

The gathering at Monica and Jack’s was in full swing when Linda and David arrived. It was a mixed crowd, for Monica liked ‘group variety’, as she put it. Monica herself was a largish woman heading rapidly toward forty and desperately trying to pull back the other way. She had a lot of very-bright-red hair, which was inclined to be frizzy, and her face, although heavily laden with Elizabeth Arden, was somewhat outdoorsy and even a little horsey. She used a heavy, overpowering, musky perfume which enveloped you like her personality, and was given to talking in a shrieky sort of a voice, her conversation always well peppered with ‘dahling’ and ‘sweetie’ and ‘oh, my God!’

Jack, in contrast, was rather reserved. He was a little older than David, but they had been close friends for a number of years. He smoked a pipe and had a twirly grey moustache. He always wore suede jerkins or some sort of similar sporty attire. One could imagine him with an enormous mansion tucked away in some rural part of England, walking a large dog through his spacious grounds. He owned a chain of garages and in his younger days had fancied himself as a racing driver. Even now he would often take a test spin on the track to keep his hand in.

Monica grabbed Linda when she arrived, and proudly, with her arm around her, she marched her into the living room and announced dramatically, ‘And this is our famous ban the bomber!’

Linda was terribly embarrassed. Monica made her sound like some new type of aeroplane! She knew most of the people there, and they all made some sign of greeting. There was one couple she hadn’t met before, a thickset, very dark man, and a silver-blond, haughty-looking girl. Monica, as soon as she had finished with her dramatic announcement, introduced her.

‘I’d like you to meet Jay and Lori Grossman, friends of mine from America. Jay’s here to direct the new Conrad Lee picture.’

‘Really,’ said Linda. ‘How interesting. I met a girl earlier this evening who’s going to be in it.’

Jay raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘That
is
interesting.’ He spoke with a short, sharp, New York accent. ‘We haven’t cast at all yet, apart from the male star.’

Linda smiled. ‘I expect she’s suffering from delusions.’

‘What’s her name, anyway?’ Jay asked.

Linda frowned. ‘I can’t really remember. My husband will know. She just did a commercial for his company.’

Just then Monica arrived with David and made the introductions again. He had been in a very good mood since leaving the other party. He put his arm around Linda and started to chat easily to the Grossmans.

‘Darling,’ Linda interrupted him, ‘what was the name of that little girl who was doing the Beauty Maid thing?’

‘What?’ he asked, feeling immediately guilty. ‘Why do you want to know?’

Linda looked at him strangely, or anyway he thought she did. ‘Do I have to have a reason?’ she asked.

He felt the tension build in the short silence that followed, and then he laughed weakly and said, ‘Of course not. It’s Claudia Parker. Why?’

Jay shook his head. ‘Never heard of her.’

‘What is this?’ questioned David.

‘Well,’ said Linda, ‘you remember she said she was going to be in the new Conrad Lee picture. Jay’s directing it. I thought he would know about her. Anyway, apparently she isn’t in it or going to be.’

‘She didn’t say she was in it at all,’ said David coldly. ‘She said she had been to see Conrad Lee and he liked her, that’s all.’

Jay laughed. ‘That accounts for the confusion. Conrad is always seeing these poor little broads and stringing them along. Confidentially, the girl is already cast. An unknown Italian kid of sixteen. It builds up the publicity for the film. If we put on a big search for the right girl and Conrad enjoys seeing them, it makes everyone happy.’

David scowled at him. ‘Everyone is happy except the girls whose hopes he builds up.’

Jay shrugged. ‘That’s show biz. Most of them know the score, and the ones that don’t soon learn.’ He turned to his wife, who so far hadn’t opened her mouth. ‘Isn’t that so, sweetheart?’

Lori Grossman nodded. Her face never seemed to register any expression. It was like that of a beautiful, but quite blank, painted doll.

‘That’s how Lori and I met,’ Jay continued. ‘She was an actress, came for a part, and instead got me. She’s my third wife. The other two were actresses as well. I probably met them the same way. Don’t even remember now.’

At last Lori spoke. Her voice was a thick Southern drawl. ‘I sure would like another drink, honey.’

‘Certainly, baby.’ Jay stood up. ‘How about you, Mrs. Cooper?’

‘Please call me Linda. I’d love a gin and tonic.’

Jay went off to fetch the drinks, and Monica arrived back and claimed Linda, dragging her over to some other people to show them the famous newspaper clipping.

Lori crossed long shapely legs.

David’s eyes wandered. ‘What part of America are you from?’ he asked pleasantly.

‘I come from Georgia, honey.’ She blinked lazily at him. ‘But I’ve lived in Hollywood for the last five years.’

He studied her. She was older than Claudia, about twenty-seven, he reckoned. She looked like one of those thin models out of
Vogue
magazine, everything carefully perfect. He found himself attracted to her. The very perfection made him wonder what she was like in bed. He wondered if that beautiful chignon of silver-blond hair stayed in place; one somehow couldn’t imagine her with it out of place. ‘How long are you here for?’ he asked.

‘Several months, I guess,’ she drawled. She apparently had no conversation except to answer questions.

There was a silence until David said, ‘You and your husband must come over to our house for dinner one night.’

‘That would be fun.’ She smiled, displaying two rows of even, white, obviously capped teeth.

Jay returned with the drinks. ‘Where’s that lovely wife of yours?’ he asked.

‘Honey, there’s no ice in this drink,’ said Lori petulantly.

‘Screw the ice,’ said Jay. ‘This is England, baby, they don’t go so big on the ice bit.’ He turned to David. ‘Listen, we have to meet some friends soon at the Candy Club. How about you and Linda coming along with us?’

‘This is our second party tonight, and I don’t know how tired Linda is, but it sounds like a good idea to me,’ David said. ‘I’ll ask her.’

‘Hell, you must come,’ said Jay. ‘Lori does the craziest dancing you’ve ever seen. I’ll go ask Linda myself.’ He went off.

Lori said, ‘Gee, honey, what do you do without ice!’

David laughed. ‘We usually have ice. We’re not that uncivilized. I suppose they’ve run out.’

She screwed up her nose. ‘I like ice,’ she stated, and then stared blankly off into space.

He looked at his watch. It was past twelve. Claudia would be safely in bed. She had promised that she was going straight home. ‘You’ve left me fit for nothing else!’ she had joked. He wondered if he could telephone her, but then decided it was too late. He didn’t want to wake her, and anyway there was nowhere really private that he could phone from. The Candy Club sounded like a good idea, and Lori Grossman’s dancing even better.

Jay returned with Linda, smiling broadly. ‘I never get no for an answer,’ he said with a wink. ‘We’re all set. Shall we make a move?’

Monica was quite frosty when she found David and Linda departing with the Grossmans. ‘Honestly, darlings,’ she complained, ‘you’ve only been here two seconds!’

However, they left, and piled into David’s Jaguar.

Lori was wrapped in a full-length black-diamond mink coat. It reminded David that he had promised Claudia a jacket. He would get it the next day, she had been so sweet earlier. Or was sweet the right word?

Linda and Jay hit it off very well. They chatted about the differences between England and America, and schools, and where it was best to bring up children. It seemed Jay had three children, all from his previous marriages. Eventually he said to David, ‘Hey, your wife is beautiful
and
intelligent, quite a combination.’

Linda was beginning to feel much better, her headache had gone, and she had had just enough to drink to take away any tiredness. She pushed Paul to the back of her mind and was enjoying talking to Jay.

They arrived at the nightclub. Jay asked to be taken straight to Conrad Lee’s table.

The great Conrad Lee was a tall, voluble, half-French, half-White Russian man in his late fifties. He was totally bald, very suntanned, with piercing eyes which seemed to glare right through you, even in the dimness of the nightclub.

He was at a table with six other people, and he leaped up and embraced Lori. When Linda was introduced he kissed her hand. He smelled strongly of garlic.

The waiters busied themselves trying to squeeze more chairs around the already crowded table while Jay attempted introductions, but it was more or less hopeless as the noise of the band was so loud that you couldn’t hear yourself speak.

David stared in amazement and fury at Claudia. She sat beside Conrad, her hair tousled, one strap of her dress falling off her shoulder revealing much cleavage. She was very drunk. When Conrad sat down his hand caressed her shoulder, pushing the other strap of her dress down. There was another girl on the other side of Conrad, a plump brunette. He had his arm around her too, pinching chunks of her fleshy back between his fingers.

‘Got two lovely little girls here,’ Conrad said to Jay, and then with a wink, ‘Maybe we can use them in the picture.’

Jay raised an eyebrow at Linda. ‘See what I mean?’ he said with a smile.

‘That’s the girl I was talking about,’ Linda whispered.

‘Sure,’ said Jay. ‘She’s got as much chance of getting in the picture as a fly!’

Claudia noticed David then. She was too drunk to be surprised or shocked. She just waved gaily and said, ‘What a small world!’

David remembered her saying those exact words to him the first time they met. He scowled at her.

Conrad took Lori off to dance, then Jay claimed Linda, and they went off to dance too.

David sat down in the empty chair beside Claudia.

‘You lousy bitch!’ he said in a low voice. ‘Going straight home to bed – well, I suppose you’ll be doing that eventually.’

She looked surprised. ‘Baby, what’s the matter? I
did
go home, and then Conrad called and said he would like to see me again, so he could come to some decision about the part. I have to think about my career, don’t I?’

‘You’re drunk,’ he said in disgust. ‘You’re acting like a cheap whore. Do you honestly believe all this shit Conrad is feeding you about putting you in his stinking film? I credited you with more brains than that.’

She looked at him coldly. ‘Shut up. You make me sick. You’re just jealous, that’s all. The only time you act sweet is when you’ve got a hard-on!’