Read Online The Strangling on the Stage by Simon Brett - Free Book Online Page B

suppose you would regard as typecasting,’ suggested Jude slyly.
    Although she had intended the remark as satirical, Ritchie took it at face value. ‘Yes, very definitely.’
    â€˜And who’s playing Anderson?’
    â€˜Oh, I’ve forgotten the guy’s name, but he’s perfectly adequate.’ Perhaps, thought Jude, the perfect example of damning with faint praise.
    â€˜And is Neville Prideaux in the production?’
    â€˜Yes, he’s playing General Burgoyne. Only appears in Act Three. Rather a showy part, suits Neville down to the ground.’ Clearly no opportunity was going to be missed to have a dig at his rival.
    There was a silence. Then Jude, never one to beat about the bush, said, ‘I’m still not clear why you wanted to meet me.’
    â€˜I told you. You made an instant impression on me. I couldn’t not see you again.’
    The delivery was as polished as the lines, but once again Jude found them unconvincing. ‘And after this meeting, what then …?’
    â€˜I hope it’s the first of many.’ Jude rather doubted whether it would be. ‘Why is it,’ he protested, ‘that people round here are so hidebound? You meet someone you really click with … and what do you do about it? For most people – nothing. Well, I don’t subscribe to that approach. If I meet someone who makes a big impression on me, I want to see more of them, want to get to know them, want to find out whether they’re feeling a little bit of what I’m feeling …?’
    To someone less full of himself, Jude would have been gentler, but she had no problem saying to Ritchie Good, ‘Well, I’m afraid I don’t feel anything for you.’
    â€˜Oh.’ He was clearly taken aback; her reaction was perhaps not one he frequently encountered.
    â€˜I mean, I can see you’re attractive …’
    â€˜Thank you.’
    â€˜â€¦ and your conversation’s quite entertaining …’
    He nodded his gratitude.
    â€˜â€¦ but I can’t imagine being in a relationship with you.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜I quite like one-to-one relationships.’
    â€˜So?’
    â€˜Well, I can’t see you being very good at concentrating solely on one woman.’
    â€˜Try me.’
    â€˜No, thanks.’ Jude turned the full beam of her brown eyes on him. ‘Are you married?’
    â€˜Well, yes, but the marriage has—’
    â€˜Oh, don’t tell me. Which expression were you going to use, Ritchie? “The marriage has been dead for years”? “It’s only a marriage in name these days”? “We’re more like brother and sister than husband and wife”?’
    He looked very disgruntled. ‘You’ve got a nasty cynical streak, Jude.’
    â€˜Not normally. Only when I encounter someone who prompts cynicism.’
    There was a silence. Then Ritchie asked, ‘Is it only now you know I’m married that you’ve become cynical about me?’
    â€˜No, I was cynical about you before that. Mind you, I assumed you were married all along.’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜Your type always are.’
    â€˜Hm,’ said Ritchie Good, and it was the ‘Hm’ of a man about to cut his losses. He looked at his watch, swallowed down the remains of his shandy and announced, ‘I’d better be off to rehearsal.’
    â€˜Right. Oh, one thing …’ said Jude as he rose from the table.
    â€˜Yes?’
    â€˜Where did you get my phone number from?’ It was in the directory, but very few people knew under which of her former husbands’ surnames it appeared.
    â€˜Storm Lavelle gave it to me,’ replied Ritchie. And Jude reckoned it was one of the few things he’d said during their encounter that was true.
    He hovered for a moment, wanting perhaps to place a farewell kiss on her cheek but unwilling to bend down into the alcove where she