The Cinderella Killer (19 page)

‘That isn't the point!' stormed Tad.

‘I think it's very much the point!' Bix had by now been reduced to the role of spectator, watching the exchange as though he had a seat at the Wimbledon Centre Court. ‘Also I am
still
one of the stars of
Gatley Road
, whereas you were dropped from
Frenton High
some years ago.

‘I was not
dropped
! I made the decision to leave! I asked the producers to come up with better storylines for my character and when they refused I knew it was the moment to develop my career elsewhere.'

‘And where was that exactly?' demanded Tilly. ‘I haven't seen much evidence of you being very successful anywhere else. Long time since you've had a part in anything on the box, isn't it?'

‘I have been
diversifying
my career,' said Tad with what he hoped was dignity. ‘I'd rather outgrown British television. I've been focusing on work in the States.'

‘Well, none of it's come to anything, has it? We haven't been treated to any Hollywood blockbusters with you as the star, have we?'

‘I did have a part in the new Buck Carty movie.'

‘And who the hell's Buck Carty?'

‘He's bigger in the States than he is here.'

‘He must be.'

‘My American agent said it was good to start with a small part … you know, it was like a calling card to Hollywood and—'

‘Bullshit!' cried Tilly. ‘What was the movie called?'

Tad couldn't help looking a little shamefaced as he replied, ‘
Death of the Undead
.'

‘Funny,' said Tilly, enjoying his discomfiture, ‘I never heard news of the premiere of that one. Or of the A-list stars who attended it. Straight to video, was it?'

Tad directed his next words to Bix, the ineffectual umpire of the contest. ‘This has got to be sorted out,' he said, more calmly. ‘My agent says the billing agreement is in the contract. I demand that you get on to the management of this show and have the new poster withdrawn. Otherwise I will be unable to continue in the show.' He looked at his watch. ‘You have an hour to sort it out. I'll be in the Starbucks opposite, so come and tell me when we have an agreement.'

And with something approaching dignity, Tad Gentry stalked out of St Asaph's Church Halls.

Without a full complement of Ugly Sisters, there was not a lot for Charles to do, because most of Baron Hardup's scenes involved Nausea and Dyspepsia. Anyway, after Tad's departure Danny had also stormed out in a fit of pique, so they were left with no Ugly Sisters.

The one other scene he could have rehearsed was near the beginning of the show, when the Broker's Men came and demanded Baron Hardup's overdue rent. But since Mick ‘The Cobra' Mesquito and Garry ‘Bomber' Brawn were still involved with Bix trying to translate boxing into dance, they couldn't do that one either.

Charles checked with the stage management that he wasn't required for anything else and, having assured them he'd have his mobile switched on in case of a sudden call, left the hall.

He'd decided, for the second time in two days, that he might go to a coffee shop.

Charles Paris wasn't very well informed about the infinite varieties of coffee available in a Starbucks, but he did know that he liked a double espresso, so that was what he ordered.

While it was being prepared he looked across at Tad, who sat without newspaper or book, staring down into his coffee cup. Though not familiar with
Frenton High
, a series about the loves, feuds and other extramural disasters of a group of surprisingly attractive (and surprisingly old-looking) sixth-formers at a London comprehensive school, Charles had gathered that Tad's character had been a fatally attractive villain. And the much-disputed photograph on the
Cinderella
poster dated from the height of his soap-star fame. In it he was strikingly good-looking, with his black hair and almost black eyes.

But the Tad Gentry who sat in Starbucks that Tuesday morning was no longer quite such a babe magnet. Though his body was still meticulously gym-toned, his face had thickened out a bit around the jowls. His hair, even blacker now, so much so that it must have been dyed, was beginning to thin around the temples. And the lips that might once have been sensuous now just looked petulant.

Though they had spent no time in a one-to-one situation, the two actors did obviously know each other as members of the
Cinderella
company, so it was quite legitimate for Charles to move across with his espresso and say, ‘Mind if I join you?'

Tad shrugged permission without notable enthusiasm. Charles decided that he should ingratiate himself a little. ‘Sorry to hear about that business in the rehearsal room. They are buggers, aren't they? Never seem to take any notice of what's in your contract.'

‘Tell me about it,' said Tad.

‘And it's ridiculous giving Tilly billing above you.'

Charles worried for a moment that he was taking self-ingratiation too far, but the younger actor's response showed he'd got the approach just right.

‘Yes, I mean the fact is that Matt Luckworth was a kind of iconic figure.' Charles hoped he was right in assuming that this was the name of the character Tad had played in
Frenton High
. To have to ask about it might show a lack of respect for the triumphant high spot of the young actor's career.

His conjecture was quickly confirmed. ‘I mean, people still talk about him as sort of
the
villain. One of the great villains. Like Macbeth or Moriarty or Hannibal Lecter.'

Charles thought Tad was possibly pitching his comparisons a bit high, but he made no comment on that, instead saying, ‘You must have been really gutted when they decided to write the character out.'

‘They didn't write the character out,' Tad insisted. ‘It was my choice to leave. Didn't you hear what I was saying to that cow Tilly? I asked the producers for stronger Matt Luckworth storylines or I'd go. They said they couldn't guarantee me stronger storylines, so I called their bluff and went. It was the producers who were gutted then. What they must've thought when they saw the media coverage Matt's death in the motorbike accident got. The
Sun
's headline was “TV's Smouldering Mr Sex Goes Up In Smoke”. One of the tabloids even said they thought
Frenton High
wouldn't survive without my character in it. Because my profile was really high. I was getting lots of offers then.'

‘What – the RSC? The National?'

Tad shook his head testily. ‘No, much higher profile stuff than that. They were going to have me on
I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here
, but it turned out that they'd already booked a male soap star. Then there was a suggestion that I might present the Midweek National Lottery. And talks went quite a long way on having me on
Strictly Come Dancing
.'

Clearly there was quite a gap between Charles Paris's views of career fulfilment and those of Tad Gentry.

‘But I couldn't commit myself for that length of time, you know, with things that were happening in the States.'

‘What things actually were happening in the States?' asked Charles respectfully.

‘Well, I'd got my American agent set up in LA and I went over for a few months, because he said casting interviews tended to be set up at very short notice in Hollywood.'

‘Yes, I'm sure they are.'

‘And, you know, it was useful networking time for me. He fixed invitations for me at movie premieres, that kind of thing. It's getting your face seen in the right places that matters out there, you know.'

‘So I've heard. And of course you got to work with Buck Carty,' said Charles, congratulating himself on remembering the name he'd never heard before that morning.

‘Oh yes.'

Pushing his self-ingratiation to the edge of sycophancy, Charles then asked the ultimate amateur question, the one put to anyone who's been even on the furthest fringes of celebrity. ‘What's Buck really like?'

Tad coloured. ‘Well, I didn't actually have any scenes with him. My character was more involved in the subplot, really.'

‘Ah. Right.'

There was a kind of method in Charles's approach to Tad. He was shamelessly bolstering the young man's self-esteem for a reason. Which came out in his next question. ‘Did you actually meet Kenny Polizzi while you were out in LA?'

For the first time a look of caution came into the black eyes. ‘Why do you ask that?'

‘I just remember his first day of rehearsal, last Wednesday, you greeted him like you knew him.'

‘Yes.' Tad was embarrassed by the recollection. ‘Well, we had met at a party given by Julia Roberts.' Charles noticed how the occasion had been upgraded from ‘the premiere of that Julia Roberts movie'. ‘Kenny and I had quite a long chat about the entertainment scene in the UK. He'd had some offers to do stuff over here, and he was asking my advice on what was worth doing.' That such a conversation had ever taken place sounded deeply unlikely to Charles, but he said nothing as Tad went on, ‘But now of course over here Kenny Polizzi was the big star, wasn't he? He was embarrassed to admit he'd asked career advice from anybody, particularly someone who wasn't Hollywood. That's why he froze me out, pretended he'd never seen me before.'

Charles was flabbergasted by these obvious lies, but still made no comment. Tad had clearly got himself to the point of actually believing them. ‘I can see,' he said, ‘why you're angry about Tilly Marcus getting bigger billing than you are, but how did you feel when you saw the size of Kenny's billing on the original poster?'

‘Well, I was a bit pissed off, I have to confess. I mean, I know Kenny's supposed to be an international star and all that, but
The Dwight House
finished years ago. And if you go along with Tilly's view that I should get lower billing because I'm no longer in
Frenton High
, well, the same thing goes for Kenny, but even more so.'

‘Yes, but I suppose
The Dwight House
is something of an international television phenomenon.'

‘
Frenton High
sells abroad too. It's very popular in Kazakhstan.'

‘Is it?' Charles moved off on another tangent. ‘Apparently there's still no sign of Jasmine del Rio.'

Tad shrugged. The news was of no interest to him.

‘It's odd, though, isn't it?'

‘I don't really see why. So some tart of a dancer breaks her contract. So what?'

‘You didn't have anything to do with her … you know, on a personal level?'

‘God, no. I mean, obviously she fancied me, but over the years I've got used to that. And once last week when we were having a drink together, she made it pretty clear that if I wanted to shag her, I had only to say the word.' He allowed himself a thin smile. ‘An offer that I didn't take up. I do have my standards.'

‘So you wouldn't have any idea where Jasmine might have disappeared to?'

‘Absolutely none.' Tad looked up at the approach of a rather agitated young female stage manager from the
Cinderella
company. ‘Ah,' he said, ‘news at last of the management's climbdown.' He grinned at Charles. ‘Never fails, calling people's bluff.'

‘Tad,' said the stage manager. ‘I've got a message from Bix.'

‘Oh, great.' The actor picked up the designer leather bag he'd left on the seat beside him. ‘I'll come back straight away, then.'

‘No.' The stage manager, now looking very nervous indeed, raised a hand to stop him. ‘Bix says he's been on to the producers. They say it's far too late to change the show's billing, even if they wanted to. But they don't want to. They accept your resignation from the
Cinderella
company.'

‘What!'

‘They'll be on to your agent to sort out the contractual details.' The stage manager's delivery speeded up as she neared the end of her unwelcome task (which shouldn't have been delegated to her but been done face-to-face by Bix Rogers). ‘If you've got any belongings left in the rehearsal room, then you're requested to pick them up straight away.'

‘I don't have anything …' he gestured rather ineffectually to his bag ‘… except this.'

‘That's fine, then. Goodbye.' And the stage manager scuttled out of Starbucks like a terrified kitten.

‘Well, isn't that just bloody typical!' said the former soap star. ‘That Tilly Marcus is behind it. She's been twisting Bix's arm, I know. She's been worried about me from the start. Scared of being shown up in a production with someone so much more talented than she is in it.'

It seemed appropriate for Charles to say, ‘I'm sorry.'

‘Oh, don't worry. Doing this show was always going to be a bit of a bind, tying me down here in Eastbourne when I should be following up opportunities in London and the States.'

Charles thought it would be churlish to mention how few opportunities for actors there would be in London during the weeks running up to Christmas.

He also got the strong impression that Tad Gentry wasn't very good at choosing his moments to call people's bluffs.

DYSPEPSIA: You know, a man once said to me
I looked like one of those teenage ravers.

NAUSEA: Well, whoever that man might be,
He should have gone to Specsavers!

T
V's Mr Sex stormed out of Starbucks rather petulantly. Tad said he'd check the contractual situation with his agent, and then probably explore flights to LA. He'd thought for some time that the main focus of his career from now on should be in the States. A lot of young British actors were doing really well out there.

As Charles walked back to the St Asaph's Church Halls, the number of dancers smoking outside it told him that they'd reached the lunch break. And he was pleased to see that amongst them was Kitty Woo, alone, arms clasped around herself against the cold, sucking sustenance from a cigarette.