‘Okay,’ said Jenny, but Phillippa could hear the uncertainty in her voice.
‘You’ll be fine,’ said Phillippa. ‘Just don’t look at the camera. When the girl brings the coffee, look at her. When you talk to Rachel, look at her. Just speak as if it was actually happening. Don’t think of it as acting.’
Jenny nodded. ‘Okay. It’s just that there are so many people here.’ She gestured at the crew, more than a dozen people, mainly men, all standing looking at her.
‘Don’t worry about them, pretend they’re not here.’ She smiled. ‘And try not to look up at the microphone if it swings over your head.’
‘There’s so much to remember,’ said Jenny.
‘Relax and enjoy it,’ said Phillippa. ‘You’re exactly where thousands of actresses would give their right arms to be.’
Jenny sat down in the chair as Phillippa went over to her monitors. The sound man swung the large microphone about three feet above her head and she forced herself not to look up. She looked over at Andrea and Andrea winked. Jenny smiled and breathed out. ‘I’m really nervous,’ she said.
‘You look so like her, you really do,’ said Andrea.
‘Right, everyone, let’s get started,’ shouted Phillippa. ‘Dougie?’
‘Rolling,’ said Dougie.
‘And, action!’
A petite brunette appeared at Jenny’s right with a mug of coffee on a tray. Jenny looked at it and raised her eyebrows. ‘Coffee? Darling, coffee’s the last thing I need. Be a love and get me a glass of champagne.’
The girl turned to walk away.
‘Cut!’ shouted Phillippa. She got up off her folding chair and hurried over to Jenny. She put her hand on the back of the chair as she leaned in to whisper to Jenny. ‘You’re still sounding very Australian,’ she said. ‘Can you try to make it a bit more English.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Jenny.
‘No, you’re doing great. Your timing was spot on, your eye contact was perfect. I just need you to get the voice more in line with Carolyn’s. Don’t worry, we’ll get there.’
She went back to her chair and sat down. ‘Places again, everyone!’ she shouted. Jenny took a deep breath.
CHAPTER 78
Richards was pouring himself a coffee when the door entry phone buzzed. It caught him by surprise and the mug slipped from his fingers, spun through the air and shattered into a dozen pieces on the kitchen floor. Scalding hot coffee splattered across his bare feet and he jumped back, cursing, before hurrying over to the entry phone. It was Halpin. ‘What are you doing here at this time of the morning?’ asked Richards.
‘It’s nearly ten, boss.’
‘Yeah, well that’s sparrow’s fart for me, mate. What do you want?’
‘A quick word, boss. Didn’t want to do it over the phone.’
Richards buzzed him in and went over to the lift doors in his hallway. The lift only stopped on two floors – the flat and the ground floor. The lift door rattled open and Halpin walked out. ‘Do you want a coffee?’ asked Richards.
‘Cheers, boss.’
Halpin followed Richards back to the kitchen. Richards jerked a thumb at the broken mug and spilled coffee. ‘Do me a favour and clean that up, will you?’ he said. He went over to his Bosch coffeemaker and began making two cappuccinos while Halpin used pieces of kitchen roll to mop up the coffee.
‘So what’s so bloody important you’ve got to disturb my morning?’ growled Richards.
‘Two things, boss,’ said Halpin, gingerly picking up the bits of broken mug and putting them on the wet kitchen roll. ‘First, there’s no record of a Jenny Castle. Or a Carolyn Castle.’
‘You sure?’
‘Sure, I’m sure. The guy I’m using is a pro. At first he thought it was because Castle was one of her married names but he checked all her husbands and none of them were Castle.’
‘It could be an acting name,’ said Richards. ‘Lots of people change their name when they start acting. Michael Caine was Maurice Micklewhite. And Marilyn Monroe was Norma Jean something or other.’
‘I thought that, but we checked on the internet and she’s always been known as Carolyn Castle. There’s never been a suggestion of another name.’
‘That’s a bugger,’ said Richards.
‘Be handy if we could get a look at her passport,’ said Halpin, dropping the broken mug and wet kitchen towel into the rubbish bin.
‘Seeing as how she’s at the bottom of the North Sea, I don’t see that’s going to happen,’ said Richards.
‘I meant the sister. Jenny. If you can get her passport we’ll have her name and her date of birth. Even if the sister has changed her name we’ll have the date they were born and I can look for twin girls born on that day.’
‘Let me see what I can do,’ said Richards. He finished making the coffees and handed one to Halpin.
‘And the other thing was the truck driver. He’s up in Scotland tomorrow. I’ll go up and do it myself.’
‘You’re not planning to use me as an alibi, are you?’
Halpin shook his head. ‘Sorted on that front. I’ll be playing poker with four other guys.’
‘Be lucky,’ said Richards.
‘I always am. Just make sure you’re in the club all tomorrow night, early until late.’
Richards raised an eyebrow. ‘You wouldn’t be trying to teach your grandmother to suck eggs, would you?’
‘Wouldn’t dream of it, boss.’
CHAPTER 79
Day ambled into the studio, his hands in his pockets. He found Phillippa on the set that was used as Seb’s office, deep in conversation with the lighting director. She looked up as he walked over. ‘How’s it going?’ asked Day.
‘We’re on schedule,’ said Phillippa.
‘And Jenny? How’s she holding up?’
‘She’s fine.’
‘You’re sure? I’ve had the network on and they’re asking for rushes. Is there anything we can send them?’
‘Paul, really, she’s fine.’
Day looked at his watch. ‘Where is she?’
‘Make-up. We’ve shot the hairdressing scene and we’ve got to tidy the hair up. We’ll be ready to go in about twenty minutes.’
‘Can you show me what you shot?’
‘Sure.’
‘No pressure, I just need to reassure Sally and Lisa.’
‘Paul, it’s fine.’
‘I just don’t want you to think I’m second-guessing you.’
‘Thought hadn’t even crossed my mind,’ she said as she walked with him over to her monitors. Her script editor, Jamie, was in one of the seats, checking timings. ‘Sorry, Jamie, can we sit down?’ asked Phillippa.
Jamie scuttled away and Day and Phillippa dropped down into the canvas seats. Phillippa hit the playback button and the black and white screen flickered into life.
Day groaned when he heard Jenny’s Australian accent. ‘Don’t worry, that was the first take,’ said Phillippa. She fast-forwarded the video and pressed play again. It was one of the takes of the final part of the scene where Diana was on the phone to her lawyer. Jenny was sitting in the chair and the camera was behind her and to the side giving a double shot of her in the mirror. Day nodded his approval. It was a clever bit of camerawork.
Jenny was looking off-screen as she spoke. ‘I’m not going to pay a penny more than twenty-grand,’ she said, her voice virtually indistinguishable from Carolyn’s. ‘And I don’t care what their lawyer says.’ Jenny frowned and nodded as if she was listening to someone on the other end of the line. ‘Well, I’m the one paying your extortionate bills, Ronnie, and if you want that state of affairs to continue then I suggest you go back to them and tell them that twenty-five grand is our final offer.’ Jenny ended the call, shook her head and tossed her mobile into her bag. ‘What was it Shakespeare said? First kill all the lawyers? He knew what he was talking about.’ She sat back in the chair and looked at her reflection, then tilted her head to one side. ‘Maybe I should go blonde? I might have more fun.’