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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

Some clever sleuthing by reporters elicited the fact that this other woman, Nicola Abbott, had also been at the now notorious Drama Academy reunion. A film critic with a long memory made a lot of money by being the first to write an article pointing out that Nicky Abbott had been, briefly, one of the most glittering actresses in London in the early 1960s before disappearing into obscurity. Other newspapers grabbed the story greedily, scrabbled round for old photographs of a young, innocent girl in her first and only (and said the film critic, if you see it, unforgettable) movie, Heartbreak.

There were no photographs available of Nicola Abbott as she looked now and there seemed to be some confusion as to where she had been taken after the brief hearing in the magistrates’ court. Telephones hummed with intrigue and delight: it was assumed by the media that this was Terence’s second rape attempt and that that was why he’d been stabbed. Photographers and journalists camped outside the London Clinic where he lay unconscious, interviewing everybody who went in or out much to the annoyance of London’s top brain surgeon who was performing a long and delicate brain operation on an Arab prince and needed quiet and calm. The street outside the clinic was like a gypsy camp, cameras and press vans and people eating sardine sandwiches. Terence’s condition was described in the press release as critical.

Articles on multiple rapists appeared in the Sun; on the arts page in The Times Terence’s films were analysed for signs of his disintegration. Juliet Lyall was frantically trying to contact Harry Donaldson who was now in Morocco; Anthony Bonham kept giving a bemused ‘no comment’ to reporters who contacted him.

Iona Spring, hearing the news literally as she arrived back at Los Angeles airport from London, took a calculated risk. She arranged, for more money, for a further article to be published in a different English newspaper. It was headed: LIFE WITH SEX-FIEND STAR. And underneath in slightly smaller lettering: THE STORY SHE DARED NOT TELL, BY WIFE WHO GUESSED HE WAS A RAPIST.

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And Nicola Abbott, so recently released into the care of the community, was put on remand back into the care of the state; taken to a huge crowded hospital for the mentally ill where she was registered by the authorities in the name on all her papers, in her real name Mary Shand, thus confusing journalists on the Sun and other newspapers.

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