Stephen Leather - Take Two

She said goodbye to everyone at the table with either a hug or an air kiss, then threaded her way through the tables to the entrance receiving more congratulations on the way. From a pretty brunette in a long black evening dress she collected her coat and a goody bag packed with perfume, chocolates and trinkets, most of which she knew she’d be giving away to friends.

Waites collected a goody bag, too, and they walked outside. She laughed when she saw his car. A red Porsche 911. ‘I sort of guessed you’d have a Porsche,’ she said.

‘It’s only two years old,’ he said, opening the door for her. ‘It goes like a rocket.’ He took her goody bag from her and tossed it and his onto the back seat.

‘Good to know,’ she said, fastening her seatbelt.

He slammed her door shut and climbed into the driver’s seat. The engine roared and he gunned it a couple of times before driving away from the hotel. He drove too fast, accelerating into curves and braking harder than necessary. Carolyn tried not to show how uncomfortable she was. It was her own fault for not arranging for Billy to take her.

‘Are you okay, Carolyn?’ he asked as he changed up a gear and stamped on the accelerator.

‘Bit queasy, actually,’ she said. ‘Would you mind slowing down, just a bit.’ She flashed him her little-girl-lost smile.

‘Sure, of course,’ he said, and braked sharply so that the seat belt tightened against her chest. ‘That was a good night, wasn’t it?’

‘Terrific,’ she said.

‘Bet you’ve been to a lot over the years?’

‘A fair few.’

‘They’re still a new thing for me,’ he said. He slowed as they approached a hump-backed bridge but still went over it so quickly that Carolyn felt herself rise out of her seat. Her stomach lurched. ‘Sorry,’ he said.

‘Where were you before?’

‘Before? In what way?’

‘Before the network? Where did you work?’

‘I joined straight from university,’ he said. ‘Graduate entrant. Six hundred applied and they only took three of us.’

‘Impressive,’ said Carolyn, wincing as he almost lost control of the car and missed scraping a dry stone wall by inches.

‘Yeah, the selection process was brutal. But I got through and they sent me on several shows to learn the ropes and now I’m on Rags To Riches.’

‘It’s a great show.’

‘Absolutely. But we can make it better. We should be getting another million or so viewers.’

‘And how will you do that?’ asked Carolyn.

‘We might have to take the show in a different direction,’ said Waites.

She looked across at him. ‘How would you do that?’

He shrugged carelessly. ‘There’s lots of options,’ he said. He grinned. ‘Do you want to do a line?’

‘A line?’

‘Coke,’ he said. He patted his jacket pocket. ‘Got some great stuff here.’

Carolyn shook her head. ‘I don’t…’

‘What, never? I thought all actors did.’

‘When I was younger, maybe. But these days, alcohol and nicotine are my drugs of choice.’

‘Coke is way better for you than booze,’ he said. ‘No hangover, no weight gain.’

‘You’re not telling me I look fat, are you?’

Waites laughed. ‘God, no,’ he said. ‘You’re amazing for…’

He left the sentence unfinished but she knew what he was going to say. For her age.

‘I tell you, Carolyn, I’ve always fancied you. At uni you were always at the top of my “to do” list.’

‘Excuse me?’ said Carolyn.

He grinned. ‘The list of stars you’d like to… you know.’

‘And I was top of yours?’

Waites nodded enthusiastically. ‘Bloody right.’

‘I suppose I should be flattered. Who else was on your list?

Waites laughed. ‘You really want to know?’

‘Sure.’

‘Angelina Jolie for one. Megan Fox.’

‘So I’m in good company,’ she said. ‘But I don’t get why I was on your list.’

‘I was a big fan of the show at uni,’ said Waites. ‘Me and my mates used to watch it together. You know, four years ago the show had a much younger viewer profile. That’s something we need to address.’

Carolyn nodded.

‘So where’s the show heading?’

‘Heading?’

‘You know, what direction do you plan to take it?’

‘That’s a very open-ended question,’ he said. ‘We want to continue to grow the audience, of course, so we can maximize the advertising revenue. We want to develop storylines that will excite our existing viewers and hopefully bring in new ones.’

‘And how exactly do you go about doing that?’

Waites grinned. ‘That’s why we’re paid the big bucks,’ he said.

‘I know that,’ she said. ‘But I’m wondering what sort of changes you might be making to bring in new viewers.’

‘We’re looking at several options.’

‘A younger cast?’

‘Well there’s no doubt we’d like to see the average age of our viewers come down a bit. Back to where it was when I was at uni. The average age of a Rags To Riches viewer is about five years below the typical Corrie or EastEnders, but we’re still well above Holby and Hollyoaks.’

‘But does that mean lowering the average age of the cast?’

His eyes narrowed. ‘Has somebody said something to you?’

Carolyn shrugged carelessly. ‘Not really,’ she said. ‘It just seems obvious if you want a younger audience, you get a younger cast. I’m old enough to remember when almost all the actors in Corrie were in their forties. Now most of them are kids with sunbed tans and too much eyeliner.’ She grinned. ‘And that’s just the boys.’

‘It’s the way of the world,’ said Waites. ‘We can’t fight it, all we can do is roll with it.’

‘But it’s crazy. Youngsters aren’t sitting at home in the evenings watching TV. And if its spending power you’re after, then it’s the middle-aged audience you want. The ones who’ve paid off their mortgages and said goodbye to their kids. They’re the ones with the money.’

‘That’s not the way my bosses see it,’ said Waites. He patted her leg, just above the knee. ‘What’s worrying you, Carolyn? Has somebody said something to you?’

‘What might they have said?’ asked Carolyn.

‘I don’t know. But something is obviously worrying you.’

Carolyn sighed. She looked down at his hand that was still resting on her leg. ‘There’s a meeting the week after next. A writers’ meeting.’

‘Yes…’ he said, hesitantly.

‘I just get the feeling that something big is being planned. And I don’t want to pick up a script in a few weeks and find I’m lying in an Intensive Care Unit with Seb crying on Andrea’s shoulder as they pull the plug.’

Waites laughed and gave her knee a gentle squeeze. ‘That’s not going to happen,’ he said. ‘If they were going to write you out, they’d do it so you had the option of coming back. That’s a given.’

‘Are they thinking about writing me out?’ she asked.

‘At the moment everything’s up in the air,’ said Waites. He smiled seemingly unaware of how uncomfortable he was making her.

Carolyn bit down on her lower lip. It was the last thing she wanted to hear. Before she realised what had happened, Waites had pulled over to the side of the road. They were parked next to a five-bar gate that led to a field. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

‘I’m getting tired,’ he said. ‘I need a pick-me-up.’ He took a small silver phial from his pocket and unscrewed the top. He held it in front of her. ‘Sure you don’t want some?’

Carolyn shook her head. ‘To be honest, I’m not sure you should be driving and snorting coke.’

Waites sprinkled a small amount of white powder on the back of his left hand and sniffed it up both nostrils. He grinned and shuddered. ‘That’s better,’ he said as he put the cap back on the phial. He shuddered again. ‘See, coke should be on the show. The fashion business runs on drugs but we never see it on the show.’