‘Oh my!’ Carol gazed down at the picture of Theresa on her wedding day, beaming happily, arm in arm with a man who had been sharply scored out. ‘No. No.’ She passed the photo back and instinctively wiped her hand down her side as though it was contaminated. ‘No. No. That’s not good at all.’

Nineteen

NINETEEN

Thanks to the priceless antique furniture, which the location homeowner was reluctant to let the film crew touch, let alone move, and due to the fraying old carpet, which he said was historic, worth millions, and which he didn’t want anyone stepping on, the set-up of lighting, camera and track for Sally’s worrisome scene took hours. No one had anticipated this delay, which ran across the lunch hour and into the afternoon.

For Sally this was excellent news as it gave her more time to bang the lines into her head.

Eggy turned out to be a most solicitous screen partner. He ran the lines over and over with her, until they both felt confident and easy with the scene.

As a result, when the whole team finally got on to the set in the late afternoon, they were able to sail through, and even to add some sparkling moments. A little game of catch with a prop ‘valuable’ vase got a round of applause from the crew. It also caused a minor episode when the owner of the house mistook it for the real thing and, thinking it was another of his precious antiques about to be smashed, threw a tantrum and was only calmed down when the underside of the prop vase was displayed to him with its ‘Made in Taiwan’ stamp.

Once the scene was complete, both Sally and Eggy returned to the make-up department for the camouflage paint to be thoroughly removed by a series of very comforting hot towels dispensed from Judy’s work microwave oven. They then quickly had to be made up again into their everyday look. After that, they were straight on to the set for a party scene, replete with extras. In this scene they were supposedly casing the joint.

Sally felt so grateful to Eggy for today. It really compensated for yesterday.

At 9 p.m., when the crew wrapped at the end of the day’s work, Eggy popped his head into Sally’s cubicle.

‘Look, darling, I know the day’s over, but we’ve got a late call tomorrow morning . . .’

‘How late?’

‘Would you believe – eleven a.m., pick-up nine!’

‘Wow! A real lie-in.’

‘So, anyway, darling, how about exploring this village? It’s bound to have a rustic square with a bustling bar full of colourful locals. I’ll stand you a drink or two . . . We deserve it.’

Sally felt rather relieved not to have to go straight back to Marianne and be forced to listen to further tales of financial skulduggery.