Scoop of the Year by Tom Claver

Author:Tom Claver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2017-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Thirty-four

To celebrate my return to work after a week off sulking I took Caroline and April out for dinner one evening. I thought I could use the occasion to explain why Uncle Walt was no longer living at the house. It needed to be explained, especially as April was so keen recently to go down there when she was hired for some filming work by the BBC. I planned to tell them that Uncle had returned to Thailand to sort out his financial affairs there. He would be a long while out of the country. The next time he contacted me, I would explain the whole cover story to him as it would be easier on the girls if they didn’t know a thing.

We went to this tiny Vietnamese restaurant in Turnpike Lane that Caroline insisted we try. While we ate, April bored us to death with all the film stars she’d seen while working on a new rom-com being filmed in Clapham.

‘Are they at least paying you well?’ I asked.

‘It’s not about the money at this stage of my career,’ she replied.

‘What’s it about then?’

‘Getting myself known. Making sure my agent puts me up for more jobs.’

‘Are you still with the same one?’ asked Caroline, showing off her dexterity at using chopsticks on a slippery king-sized prawn.

‘Bravo,’ I said to Caroline when she finally popped it into her mouth.

‘What?’ said April, scrunching up her face at me.

‘I was just admiring how Caroline tucked away that prawn in one go,’ I explained.

April rolled her eyes at me for being so trivial, and then went on to explain why she had stuck loyally with the same agent for seven years without a modicum of success.

‘That many years now?’ said Caroline.

‘I need to show that I believe in him because he gets so depressed these days. But when I’m discovered, I’ll of course trade up to a bigger agency.’

‘It’s such fascinating work you’re in, April,’ I said.

‘Bugger off, Martin. I know what you really think of me, and what I do for a living; that I’m wasting my time pursuing my dream.’

‘Well, we’re all running after an elusive dream, aren’t we?’ I added quickly, not to put her in one of her usual strops that prevented us from speaking to each other for months.

‘Martin,’ said Caroline, her chopsticks frozen in mid-air.

‘Look, April, I’m pretty impressed you’ve managed to stick it out for so long to be honest –’

‘Martin,’ said Caroline, a second time, her voice sounding more urgent.

‘To put up with all that squalor, and all those idiots your boyfriend invites back home every other night –’

‘Martin, shut up for once,’ said Caroline firmly, getting to her feet, still holding the chopstick in one hand and staring out of the window.

‘What is it?’ I asked.

‘It’s Jebb,’ she said softly.

‘What about him?’

‘He’s across the road, looking at me.’

The room began to spin, and suddenly I felt hot. I tried to stand up to get a better look, but the mere vertical elevation made me dizzy.

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