‘Come on!’ replied Eggy, in character. ‘They’ve gone.’

Sally needed to glance down at the page she was gripping, hidden in her other hand behind the chair-back.

Eggy moved nearer, ready to grab her arm and make a dash for it. He murmured Sally’s line under his breath.

Sally repeated it.

Eggy then spoke his line, and half-turned in order to whisper Sally’s, which she duplicated.

‘What’s going on?’ Daniel stepped into the scene. ‘Miss Doyle? Don’t you know your lines?’

‘I got the scene number wrong. Sorry, Daniel, I’ll be on it by the time we’re actually shooting.’

‘Buggeration!’ Daniel threw his copy of the script down. ‘This is all we need. Some bloody amateur who’s lost her memory. You do know that you took the part from under the nose of a very well-known professional?’

All Sally could do was say again that she was sorry.

‘I suppose you were out on the town last night, drinking rosé till the early hours with that hairy sailor friend of yours.’

Sally started to explain about her daughter’s surprise arrival, but her voice faded out.

There was simply no excuse.

‘Just for now, do it with the script.’ Daniel let out a long theatrical sigh. ‘But there’s a lot of action in this scene, and I must point out, once more, that we are running behind and that we need everyone to be up to speed. Comprendez?’

Once they had blocked the scene, the crew moved into the acting space to set up the cameras and lights.

Eggy and Sally walked back to the trailers.

‘I’ll help you,’ said Eggy. ‘It’s the very least I can do after yesterday. I really owe you one.’

Eggy came into Sally’s cubicle.

‘It’s very sweet of you.’

‘Don’t worry.’ Eggy squeezed down on the tiny seat next to Sally. ‘You’ll probably have to do the same for me, day after tomorrow. I’m going out on a rather exciting rendezvous with a very exotic creature who’s bound to lead me heaven knows where.’

Sally laughed.

‘Right.’ Eggy leaned back and closed his eyes. ‘I’ll give you a minute or two to look through,’ he said, ‘while I get a wee bit of shut-eye.’

‘Lucky you. You can catnap?’

‘In this business it’s always worth having a few strange talents up your sleeve.’

While Eggy dozed, Sally started murmuring her lines to herself, covering up the script with a blank page.

While Theresa washed and chopped vegetables, Carol had spent the last fifteen minutes sitting on a stool near the dining-room door, burbling on about some bloke with whom she had fixed a luncheon date, and Theresa was bored. Not only bored but anxious and uneasy.