Play to the End by Robert Goddard Read Free Book Online

still eat, don't you?"

    There was a lengthy pause. Then she said, "I'm not sure meeting again is a good idea."

    "When does Roger get back from his business trip?"

    "Tomorrow night. But '

    "Let's have lunch tomorrow, then. While you've time on your hands. I'd suggest today, but I'm due to meet the press at two thirty and it would be a rush."

    "Oh God." The tone of her voice suggested exasperation, but there was a faint, residual fondness th rumbling away beneath it. She wasn't going to turn me down. She didn't have the heart to. Besides, lunch was the least she owed me. "I suppose .. ."

    "Just an hour or so, Jenny. There's no hidden agenda. A friendly little lunch. That's all."

    She sighed. "All right."

    "Great."

    "I'll pick you up from the Sea Air at twelve thirty."

    "I'll be waiting."

    "OK. I'll see you then. But, Toby '

    "Yes?"

    "Don't try to make something of this, will you?"

    "No," I lied. "Of course I won't."

    I snatched a pub lunch on my way to the theatre, but nobly refrained from alcohol. Upon arrival, I was looking, it seemed to me, a good deal brighter than either Jocasta or Fred, the other two cast members regularly wheeled out to meet the press. (I'd taken steps early in the tour to block Donohue appearing on such occasions.) It was the last time we'd have to do this, but no end-of-term jollity crept into our exchanges with the less than dynamic representatives of the local media whom Brian Sallis shepherded into the auditorium.

    Fred cracked his usual jokes. This he does more or less on autopilot, dreaming the while, no doubt, of a TV sitcom contract. Jocasta put on a brave face and there are none braver to describe what a pleasure it was to return to Brighton. I recall her saying much the same about Guildford, Plymouth, Bath, Malvern, Nottingham, Norwich, Sheffield, Newcastle and Poole. They were evidently both a little surprised when I embarked on an unprecedented consideration of whether the Elliotts'
    fractured relationships were a reflection of Orton's own family history. I have my doubts whether any of it will make it into print, but what the hell? Strangely, I felt it needed saying.

    "Popped in to see your shrink yesterday, did you, Toby?" Fred enquired afterwards over a cup of tea. "It's a bit late to come over all Freudian."

    "Just trying to ring the changes," I replied.

    "Ringing tills are the only thing that would have stopped Leo closing us down. And they didn't happen. So there's no point arty-farting round the script now."

    "I can't help myself," I said with a shrug. "I'm an artist." To which Fred's only response was a peal of laughter.

    While I was trading insults with Fred, a note was pressed into my hand.
    I didn't bother to read it until I popped into my dressing room to use the loo before the technical rehearsal got under way. The contents of the note were, to say the least, a surprise. Please phone Jenny.
    Urgent. I rang her straight away.

    "Hi." Even in that one minute monosyllable there was detectable tension.

    "Jenny, it's me."

    "What in God's name are you playing at, Toby?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "You said you'd got.. . Oswin, or whatever he calls himself off my back."

    "So I have."

    "No. You haven't. He's still there. Still monopolizing a stool at the Rendezvous and staring across at us. At me."

    "He can't be."

    "But he is. He's been there all afternoon."

    "That's impossible. He assured me '

    "He's there, Toby. Take my word for it. Like I took yours. For all the good it did me."

    For a moment, I was dumbstruck. What was Derek Oswin's game? In promising me that he'd leave Jenny alone, he'd sounded utterly sincere.
    And breaking his promise so swiftly was doubly perverse.

    "What do I do now?" Jenny snapped.

    "Leave it with me. I'll '

    "Leave it with you?"

    "The technical starts in a quarter of an hour. I can't get away until after that. I'll go back to his house. Find out what the problem is."

    "I thought you already had."

    "Obviously not. But he won't