‘Okay,’ said Christine. ‘Let’s take a look at the newspapers, shall we? Mr Rodean alleges that you had been having an affair behind his back . . .’

‘That’s a lie!’

‘That this wasn’t the first time . . .’

‘It’s not true.’

‘And that he lost his temper and slapped your face. Is that what happened?’

‘No it’s not. I’ll tell you what we were really arguing about. His bitch of a daughter.’

‘Maya?’

‘Yes. She’s hated me from the moment I married Rocky. She’s done everything possible to poison his mind against me. And this time, she went too far. She told him I’d been screwing around behind his back. I swear to God I wasn’t. I may be a dumb blonde, but I’m not stupid. I know which side my bread’s buttered on. I flirt with people, who doesn’t? But I was never unfaithful to Rocky. Not once.’

‘Right.’

‘Unlike him.’

‘What?’

‘I said, unlike him. Rocky can’t keep it in his pants. Never could. Ask his ex-wife – the one before me, I mean. Nobody turns him down, from sixteen to sixty.’

‘Sixteen? Did he really . . . I mean, are you just saying that, or were there . . . younger girlfriends?’

‘You bet there were.’

‘And you’re prepared to tell the court that?’

‘Why not? I’ve got nothing to lose.’

‘And do you happen to know who any of them are?’

‘Well, there was one little tart who appeared in one of his videos. She can’t have been much over sixteen.’

‘Find her,’ said Christine. ‘Let’s see what she remembers. That might turn out to be a very expensive mistake on Mr Rodean’s part.’

‘So what are you going to do, Princess? Are you going to take the Givenchy job?’

‘I don’t know. It’s a lot to think about.’

‘I think you should do it.’

‘But . . . Everything we built up . . .’

‘Got you to this stage. Job done. Onwards and upwards.’

‘But Will . . . what about you?’

Will was sitting up in an armchair, looking out the window across the LA twilight. Hundreds, thousands, millions of lights twinkled down there, brighter and sharper as the sky turned from blue to pink to grey to black.

‘Oh, I’ll be all right. As soon as I’m up and about again, I’ll get on the phone and see what’s on offer. People were always trying to poach me off you before. Maya Rodean, for instance.’

‘Oh Christ Will, you wouldn’t?’

‘I don’t know. Might be fun. You take the job at Givenchy and I’ll get a job with Maya at Laruche, both of us in Paris. We could share an apartment in St Germain des Près and have bitchy lunches at Pierre Gagnaire. Lovely.’

‘Don’t be silly. If you’re moving to Paris, you’ll come and work with me.’