Devil in Disguise (11 page)

‘Thank
you,’ said Lilia. ‘This looks delicious.’ She picked up her knife and fork and
cut the bacon into pieces. She piled the scrambled eggs on top, and gave it all
an encouraging shuffle just as Heathcliff padded sleepily into the room.

‘Ah!
There you are, my precious,’ said Lilia, placing the plate on the floor beside
her. ‘Molly has made your breakfast! Isn’t she a darling?’

After Heathcliff had
finished his bacon and eggs, Lilia disappeared into her bedroom to get Joey up.
Molly, finally enjoying her muesli and a cup of coffee, heard her humming ‘This
Can’t Be Love’ as she went about her task.

Molly
washed up the plates, then scrubbed the saucepan, and put them all neatly on
the Welsh dresser. When she’d wiped the grill, she went to her room and called
Daniel on her mobile phone.

‘Molls!’
he answered. ‘Are you ever coming home?’

‘Last
week away, I promise. Home on Sunday. I can’t wait, I miss you too.’

‘How’s
the show going?’

‘All
right. Michael Ball’s coming to town to do a concert in a few weeks’ time. I
think most people in Northampton are saving themselves for that. Can’t say I
blame them.’

‘They’re
only human,’ said Daniel. Then he said yearningly, ‘Please come back. I want
you — I need you! I’ve been sniffing your underwear, that’s how desperate I am.’

‘Dirty
pervert,’ laughed Molly. ‘Wherever are you? It sounds very noisy.’

‘That’s
because I’m hanging off a ladder three storeys up somewhere in Dulwich.’

‘I
suppose phone sex is out of the question, then?’

‘They
take that kind of thing in their stride here in Dulwich. Might be dangerous,
though. I’m hanging on to the scaffolding with one hand and the phone’s in the
other.’

‘Oh,
well. We’ll just have to wait until the end of the week.’

‘Looks
like it. Shame.’

‘That
poor mattress. Battered rotten.’

‘Can’t
wait.’

‘Can we
have roast beef and Yorkshire pudding when I get home, please?’

‘Only
if you promise to prod the joint the moment you walk through the door.’

‘It’s a
deal.’

‘I love
you,’ said Daniel.

‘I
don’t think anyone’s ever told me that from up a ladder before. I love you,
too.’

‘See
you Sunday.’

‘My
mouth’s watering.’

“Bye,
sweetheart.’

After
she’d disconnected, Molly sat and smiled for a while, feeling the warm glow of
love creep over her as comforting and luxurious as scented bathwater. It had
been hard to be away from him for so long, but the reunion would be all the
sweeter for that.

A
little later she went back to the kitchen to make herself another cup of
coffee. Joey was in his wheelchair, a plastic bib round his neck. Lilia sat
stock still beside him. She held a finger to her mouth as Molly came in.
‘Sssh!’ she said softly. ‘My starling is paying a visit.’ She nodded towards
the draining-board where a bright-eyed bird was perched on the edge of a fruit
bowl. He was quite big, a good four inches tall with black eyes. His back and
wings were a shimmering mixture of bottle-green and purple. The starling eyed
Molly fearlessly for a moment, looked towards the open back door to check his
escape route. Then, obviously deciding that she posed no danger, he took
several healthy pecks at a Conference pear. ‘He’s a hungry boy!’ whispered
Lilia.

‘He’s
fantastic!’ breathed Molly, not wanting to scare him.

‘Oh,
yes,’ agreed Lilia. ‘He comes to see me every day. He waits in the garden until
I open the door. He’s very fond of Joey. I think it’s because he doesn’t move.
Then when I go to the shops he follows me to the bus stop and waits there for
me to return. He hops along the garden walls just ahead of me.’

Having
had his fill of pear, the bird embarked on a quick hop-skip around the room,
then flew out of the open kitchen door.

‘Have a
nice day!’ trilled Lilia.

‘You’re
like Mary Poppins,’ said Molly, laughing.

‘Next
time, I hope you will meet my little thrush, who also comes calling. Now, then,
,where was I?’ asked Lilia. She scooped up some porridge with a spoon and
resumed feeding Joey, who looked not at her but at Molly, his eyes more alive
than they had been when she had first seen him in the lounge. Molly sat down at
the table and smiled warmly back at him. It felt surprisingly intimate to be
there with the two of them, witnessing their morning ritual and the starling’s
visit. ‘Do you mind if I stay?’ she asked.

‘Stay?’
said Lilia, pausing in her task.

‘Here.
In the kitchen with you both.’

‘Oh.’
Lilia spooned up some more of Joey’s breakfast. ‘We don’t mind at all, do we?’

‘Thank
you,’ said Molly. It was warm and cosy, with the sun shining through the window
and Heathcliff asleep on the lawn —it almost felt like being part of a proper
family. She daydreamed that Lilia and Joey were the grandparents she’d never
known and that by some extraordinary chance she had ended up in their home, to
be welcomed and loved and looked after. Molly glanced over at the old man in
his wheelchair. Was Joey trying to tell her something when he looked at her?
There certainly seemed to be more in his expression than the eerie blankness
she had seen the other afternoon.

Lilia
wiped Joey’s mouth with a wet flannel and offered him a plastic cup half full
of what looked like very milky tea. He looked gratefully at his wife, who
murmured, ‘There, then. That’s better.’ She turned to Molly. ‘You see what a
mother hen I am? Starlings, thrushes, husbands, lodgers — I take care of them
all.’

‘You
really do,’ said Molly.

‘I see
only the good in people, in animals, trees, nature. I understand that we all
have our place in the world. We are all God’s creatures.’ She finished feeding
Joey his last spoonful, then licked the spoon herself, gave his mouth a final,
gentle wipe with the cloth, then put it on the table. ‘As far as I can work
out, we have two main functions on this earth. There are two imperative
instincts all living creatures are born with. Can you name them?’

Molly
frowned, trying to come up with the right answer. ‘Er, let me think… Is one
eating? And reproduction?’

‘Almost.
Love and survival. That is what drives us. In fact, they feed off each other.
After all, there is no point in surviving if we cannot feel the heightened
emotion of love, and there is no point in being in love if we aren’t going to
survive to enjoy it. We need both, and we have both. Cheers!’ Lilia raised her
cup of coffee to Molly.
‘Auf dich!’

‘Cheers!’
said Molly, who didn’t have anything to toast with, but didn’t like to say so.
Lilia’s so wise, she thought. I can definitely learn something from her.

By the time Molly arrived
at the theatre at six, she felt back to her old self. She’d had a nap in the
afternoon, which had revived her nicely. She greeted Roger warmly at the stage
door. ‘You’re a glutton for it, aren’t you?’ he said, passing her the
dressing-room key through his window. ‘You were fairly pickled last night, but
if you want a return match, I’m game.’

He slid
his window shut before she could answer, leaving her puzzled as to what he was
going on about. She shrugged and headed off down the corridor.

In her
dressing room, she lit a stick of incense, opened the louvred windows to let in
some fresh air and turned on her lamp. Finally she flicked the switch on the
radio. It was the news, so she turned the volume down to a comforting,
well-educated blather from the corner. On her way to the Green Room for a cup of
tea she passed Marcus in the corridor. ‘Hiya,’ she said brightly. ‘Did you feel
as awful as I did this morning?’

‘I
wasn’t too bad. I can drink loads more than that and still feel fine,’ he
replied, with a grin. ‘By the way, Molly, can’t wait to have a go with
your
frikadeller.
Sounds like a right laugh.’ He loped off down the hall without
stopping.

Another
one being odd, thought Molly, surprised. What did he mean,
frikadeller?
Was
it something I said last night and forgot about? Oh, God, did I get so drunk
I’ve had a memory lapse?

The
only person in the Green Room was Peter McDonald, wearing a black T-shirt with
the words ‘Nobody knows I’m a Lesbian’ printed on it.

‘Evening,
gorgeous,’ said Molly. ‘How are we today?’

‘We’re
half asleep. I fear there are students living above me and there was a lot of
thumping music and general high junks going on when I got home last night. I
hardly slept a wink.’

‘That’s
a job for Rentokil. You can’t put up with that. Have you complained?’

‘Indeed
I have. I was given directions to the nearest Travelodge.’ Peter raised his
eyebrows at her. ‘No need to tell me about your accommodation. I’ll find out on
Thursday, will I not?’

Molly
was just pouring hot water into her cup, but she stopped and turned to Peter,
baffled. ‘Eh?’

‘You’re
having an “At Home”, I see, after Thursday’s show. Everyone welcome.’

‘But
how on earth did you know?’ Molly said. She’d been planning to tell them all
about Lilia’s offer of an after-show party during the interval, and sound out
how many people might be interested in coming.

‘It’s
on the noticeboard. I’ve already put my name down.

We’re
having schnapps and rollmop herrings and your landlady, the fabulously named
Lilia Delvard, no less, is going to be there in person.’ He laughed
witheringly.

‘Oh,’
said Molly. ‘I’m so glad you can come.’

‘I’m
rather looking forward to it,’ said Peter, slyly, before returning his
attention to the newspaper.

Molly
finished making her tea, added the milk and gave it a bit of a stir. ‘I’ll just
go and have a look,’ she said casually, and headed out with her mug.

The
noticeboard was adjacent to the stage door. A letter from Equity, the actors’
union, was displayed, wittering on about minimum wages, and there was a
dog-eared notice from the theatre about health and safety. A letter typed on
pale pink paper was pinned to the middle of the board:

Attention!

Miss Molly
Douglas invites you to Frau Lilia Delvard’s world-famous
salon
following
Thursday evening’s performance.

After a light supper of schnapps,
frikadeller,
gherkins and
rollmop herrings, Miss Delvard herself may be persuaded to perform some of her
most famous numbers.

Places are limited, so please put your name below and see Molly for
directions to Kit-Kat Cottage, Long Buckby.

Quite a
few people had already signed up for the event: Peter, Roger, Renata (who
played Katisha in the show and was a middle-aged actress of the Joan Collins
ilk, with quite a lot of what might be called ‘go’ in her still), the wig
mistress Christine and the three stagehands, Sam, Marcus and Michael. Some of
the cast had yet to arrive at work and Molly had a feeling that most would be
too intrigued to stay away.

Just
then Roger appeared behind her. ‘You know what actors are like when there’s an
offer of free food and drink. Bloody gannets. Still, I can never say no
myself.’

Molly
laughed a little uncomfortably. ‘What I don’t understand is how this notice
got up here at all. Lilia only told me she was planning a party last night.’

‘Oh,
she came in this afternoon,’ Roger said. ‘She flew in, pushed that into my
hands and asked me to pin it up for her, then dashed out. She must have been
parked on the double yellow outside. I thought I caught a glimpse of a car
anyway — it was one of those special tall ones with room for a wheelchair in
the back.’

‘What
time did she come in?’

‘About
half three.’

Just
when I was sleeping, Molly realised. ‘She needn’t have driven into town, daft
old dear. I’d have put it up for her.’ She stared at the notice again. It was
odd to see her name up there like that, as though she’d written the invitation
herself.

Roger
gazed at her. ‘Everything all right at that place?’

‘Oh,
yes, yes, absolutely fine,’ Molly said at once. ‘Lilia’s a sweetheart. I love
her to bits.’ She had a flashback of the old lady climbing into her bed and
snaking her arm round her waist. That hadn’t been quite so pleasant. She shook
her head. She’d resolved to forget about it. After all, Lilia needed some
allowances made for her age, eccentricity and faded-star status.

‘As
long as you’re sure. She’s a funny one.’ Roger sniffed. ‘You be careful, that’s
all. One young lady who stayed there said she was treated like a glorified home
help. You’ll be painting her toenails green and trimming her manky old minge
before the week’s out, if you’re not careful. I hate to tell you but I’ve seen
it all before.’

‘Oh,
no,’ Molly said stoutly. ‘She’s been fine with me. Completely fine.’