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Back The Actresses Save as PDF
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. THE ACTRESSES
  3. About The Actresses
  4. Contents
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 38
  45. 39
  46. 40
  47. 41
  48. About Barbara Ewing
  49. Also by Barbara Ewing
  50. An Invitation from the Publisher
  51. Copyright

And then Terence Blue knelt down beside the chair and put both his arms, carefully, around Nicola Abbott, knowing not to hurt her damaged shoulder. Both arms around her carefully. He kissed her grey hair, said her name over and over and over again. He was weeping, she felt his tears on her face, she could taste them on her mouth. And then, unable to stop himself, he pulled her fiercely to him, pressed her to him, felt her small body against him, held her tight.

Not once, in over thirty years, had anybody held Nicola Abbott in their arms, pressed her body to theirs. Now Terence Blue, the famous film star, half drunk, knelt in a kitchen in Brighton and held her violently. And, finally, he put his hand on her breast.

The effect was electrifying. The knife was beside her on the table, looking innocuous next to a loaf of granary bread and some tea bags. With a husky, harsh, almost animal cry she took up the knife and plunged it into his back.

*

In the quiet Brighton crescent the neighbours heard screaming, saw Terence stagger into the street before he fell with multiple stab wounds in his back on to the pavement, restrained Nicola Abbott although she was actually sitting blankly in her kitchen, called the police and an ambulance. Terence Blue was taken away with tubes coming from his arms; Nicola Abbott was led to a police car. Just before the ambulance pulled away from beside the house, just before she was put in the police car, neighbours peering from windows and doorways saw Nicola Abbott suddenly run forward to the back door of the ambulance. Such was her strength as she held on to the door-handle that it took two policemen and a policewoman to pull her away. The police officers understood at once that this was not normal strength, understood as at last they pulled her away, as the ambulance sped away siren screaming, as they saw the blank look on the woman’s face as she got into the police car, that she must of course be mad.

The house with the one chair in the uncurtained front room became quiet again, cordoned off until the morning, a lone policeman standing outside; the blood of the famous film star Terence Blue congealed on the kitchen floor in the light of the harsh, unshaded light bulb which nobody had thought to turn off.

*

The newspapers the next day had a field day. Terence Blue was all over the papers again, a rapist on remand, this time stabbed by another woman.