Read Online Stagestruck by Peter Lovesey - Free Book Online

She made up Ms Calhoun. When I say “made up” I don’t mean – ’
    ‘What’s she like?’
    ‘As a dresser? I wouldn’t know.’
    ‘In interview, I mean. What impression did she make?’
    ‘Anxious, nervous, on her guard.’
    Who wouldn’t be, faced with you? Diamond thought. ‘Suspiciously so?’
    ‘Difficult to tell. In her position, anyone would be entitled to feel vulnerable. If there is blame, she is the prime candidate.’
    ‘True.’
    ‘However…’ A finger went up.
    Diamond had to wait. The man was like an actor playing to an audience of one.
    ‘However, one other thing of interest emerged.’
    ‘What’s that?’
    ‘On Sunday they had a dress rehearsal in full make-up. Nothing untoward was reported.’
    ‘Worth knowing,’ Diamond said, nodding.
    Dawkins almost purred at the praise. ‘May I therefore…’
    ‘Therefore what?’
    ‘Look forward to a transfer?’
    ‘I didn’t say that.’
    ‘Pardon me, but you appeared to approve of my report.’
    ‘When you finally got round to it, yes,’ Diamond said. ‘You were simply doing your job, a uniformed officer’s job. It wasn’t a secret test for CID, whatever you may have thought.’
    Dawkins looked as if he’d walked into a punchbag. ‘I don’t understand.’
    ‘I made myself clear. This isn’t a job interview. It’s routine.’
    ‘But you sent for me.’
    ‘To get your report, yes.’
    ‘The mere facts?’
    ‘Right. Have I got through to you?’
    Dawkins shook his head. ‘If you had wanted the facts, you needn’t have asked me. You could have got them from PC Reed. She writes everything down.’
    Diamond smouldered inside. How he wished he’d thought of that.
    Backstage in the theatre, the male lead was the first to arrive for the next performance. Short for a leading actor and with a nose a pigeon could have perched on, he’d had to settle for character parts for most of his career. The role of Christopher Isherwood, a man of slight build and less than slight nose, presented a fine opportunity to get the name of Preston Barnes in lights, second only to Clarion Calhoun’s. The resemblance to Isherwood was striking, and he’d cultivated his hair to get the authentic parting and cowlick. ‘Has Basil been sacked?’
    Hedley Shearman, on patrol in the dressing room area in case Denise Pearsall arrived, was thinking of other things. ‘Basil?’
    ‘The stage-door keeper. Some jobsworth is on the door. Very officious.’
    ‘I’ve installed a security man, for all our sakes. Basil will be back when the present emergency is over.’
    ‘Is that what it is – an emergency?’
    ‘It is for the management. Something went badly wrong last night, and we can’t risk a repeat.’
    ‘A repeat? God help us all if it happens a second time. Do you blame Basil, then?
    ‘I don’t blame anyone. It was unfortunate, that’s all.’
    ‘It was bloody unfortunate in performance, I can tell you. I’m pretty experienced at covering up when other actors miss their lines, but that was impossible. If you ask me, there was something dodgy with the make-up. The rest of us used our own and we were all right.’
    ‘Did Clarion say anything about it before you went on?’
    ‘I didn’t see her. I’m on stage when the play opens, as you know. The first I knew there was anything wrong was when she came on and missed her cue and started grimacing. I gave her the line again and she screamed in my face. How is she now?’
    ‘Progressing, I understand, but we ought to assume she won’t be back this week. Are you okay playing opposite Gisella?’
    Barnes gave a shrug. ‘She was adequate last night. Better than Clarion has ever been in rehearsal. Between you and me, we were saved from being savaged by the critics. But the play won’t transfer now. We’ll all be looking for work after Saturday night.’
    ‘You’ll be snapped up,’ Shearman said.
    ‘Do you think so?’ Barnes enjoyed that. The vanity of actors is legendary, and he was a prime