her eyes heavenwards. Calvin definitely knew too much about her private life.
‘Ten minutes,’ she said, and hung up.
Dora heard the doorbell ring just after she’d convinced herself Calvin wasn’t coming after all. She pressed the security button and was about to call him up when she heard another voice over the speaker – a low, throaty chuckle alongside Calvin’s cheerful greeting.
‘Have you got someone with you?’ Dora demanded, as the downstairs door opened: She waited apprehensively in the hall. Calvin, cigar in hand, pushed open the landing door. Just ahead of him, nestled in the crook of his arm, was Catiana Moran. She was wearing a pair of navy pedal pushers, cream high-heeled mules and a matching angora sweater, all wrapped around in a fake-fur jacket.
There was a peculiar time-defying moment when Dora stared at Catiana and Catiana stared back.
Catiana nibbled her beautifully painted lips. ‘Hello, Mrs Hall,’ she said, offering her hand. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
Calvin steered the girl into the hall before Dora had chance to reply or protest.
‘Dora, may I present Miss Lillian Bliss or, should I say. Miss Catiana Moran.’
Dora shook the girl’s hand, knowing full well she had her mouth open but feeling completely powerless to close it. Finally, she forced a smile and in a tight, uneven voice suggested they might be more comfortable in the sitting room.
As Lillian shimmied through the door, Dora beaded Calvin and with a curled finger invited him to follow her into the kitchen. Still smiling he did as he was told.
‘I’ve got your page proofs. One Hundred and One Hot Nights, straight off the press,’ he said, clutching a padded envelope in front of his rotund little belly like a shield. Dora pushed the door to behind him.
‘Page proofs?’ she hissed.
Calvin took a healthy chug on his cigar and shrugged. ‘Lillian said she’d like to see where you worked, give her a sense of her life, her background.’
Dora stared at him. ‘Her background? What background? She doesn’t have a background, Calvin. She’s a model. You wind her up, pay her her money and send her home. We hired her so that I could keep my background to myself –’ Dora knew she was fast running out of words, they were all jammed up behind by a little scarlet flare of indignation.
Behind them Lillian pushed the kitchen door open.
‘Sorry, Mrs Hall,’ she said tentatively, peering into the room. ‘I hope I’m not interrupting anything, I just wondered if I could use your loo?’
Before Dora could answer, Calvin smiled. ‘Sure thing, sweetheart. It’s the second door on the right. Dora was just saying how nice it was to meet you. She was about to put the kettle on.’
Dora groaned and Lillian slipped away, tip-tapping in her mules across the lino.
‘Sweetheart?’ Dora hissed.
Calvin shrugged. ‘She’s a nice girl. She just wanted to come up and see where you worked. It’ll make her more real, more convincing – like method acting.’
Dora slammed the kettle under the taps. ‘We’re talking about a model signing a few books here, Calvin, not Brando.’
Calvin pouted. ‘Actually, that’s what I wanted to discuss.’
Dora had a sense of foreboding. ‘Sorry?’
Calvin dropped the envelope onto the kitchen table. ‘My phone’s been ringing off the hook since Lillian did the Steve Morley show. Regional TV want her to do a late-night slot on the Tuesday arts programme.’ He paused. ‘We just need another script. I’ve put the questions in there, they faxed them through first thing this morning.’
Dora threw two bags into the teapot.
‘Another script,’ she repeated. ‘When are they going to record the programme?’
Calvin puffed out his cheeks. ‘It’s going out live on Tuesday night.’
Dora was about to speak but Calvin hurried on.
‘Lillian’s a natural, Dora, she learns really quickly, all she needs to swing it is your script.’
Dora licked her lips. ‘I see. So when do you need this work of literary genius?’
Calvin smiled. ‘By tomorrow afternoon. Won’t be a problem, will it?’
It was not the easiest social event Dora had ever hosted. Lillian Bliss perched on the edge of the settee, looking around, taking in everything with her bottle-blue eyes, unsure quite what to say. Calvin hid behind a cloud of cigar smoke and Dora played mother.
‘Do you live locally?’ she asked, trying to fill the choking silence.
Lillian smiled. ‘I do now. I’ve just got a new flat.’
From the corner of her eye Dora noticed Calvin wince slightly, and played the advantage.
‘Really,’ she said, handing the girl a cup of tea. ‘That’s nice. Whereabouts?’
Lillian simpered in the general direction of Calvin Roberts. ‘Calvin’s found me a really nice place down by the river. One of those new warehouse conversions?’ She wrinkled up her nose. ‘It’s funny, me getting a nice place like that and you living here …’ She stopped, and glanced round the room, blushing furiously. ‘Well, it is small, isn’t it? Not like I imagined at all, really. Not that it’s not nice, I mean, I’m not saying …’ She stopped dead, tripping over her own embarrassment, then took a deep breath and started again. ‘I saw a film about this famous American writer once, she’d got this big house on the beach. And a little fluffy white dog. Calvin said …’
Calvin coughed theatrically before Lillian got a chance to share what it was he’d said. He tugged at his waistcoat.
‘Er, right, I think we ought to be going now. Maybe Dora could just show you her office and then we can get on our way.’
Dora suppressed a smile and picked at the cat’s hairs on the arm of the chair.
Lillian pouted. ‘I haven’t finished my tea yet. Bunny,’ she protested in a little-girl-lost voice.
Calvin waved her to her feet. ‘Don’t worry about the tea,’ he said briskly. ‘Let’s look at the office. We’ll get some lunch on the way home.’
Lillian beamed. ‘Oh, all right,’ she said enthusiastically and turned her piranha smile on Dora. ‘I wanted to know where I write all that stuff. That’s why I wanted to come.’ She stopped and buffed her smile up. ‘And to meet you, of course.’
Dora lifted an eyebrow and stared pointedly at Calvin, who coughed again.
‘Come on then,’ he blustered. ‘We’ll take a look at the office and then we’ll be off.’
There was barely room for two in the office. Dora hung back while Lillian looked around, running a painted fingernail over the books and shelves. Calvin
