16
Dying Embers
‘What’s the time, Lenny?’ Walter couldn’t stop his foot from tapping and he cracked his knuckles over and over.
‘Time you stopped annoying me. That noise makes my skin crawl,’ Lenny complained.
‘Is it before the half?’
Lenny checked hiswatch. ‘It’s quarter to seven. You got ten minutes.’
‘I’m going to take the post round. There’s a few letters for… for Fawn and… and a couple of others.’ Walter snatched the letters out of their pigeon holes and shuffled them into a quick pile.
‘All right,’ Lenny smirked. ‘But make sure you’re out of those rooms before six fifty-five. If I ’ear you were in dressing room four whenDanny does his rounds to give the call, I will box your ears!’
‘Keep. Your. Voice. Down,’ Walter warned before darting into the corridor and up the stairs. He straightened his shirt beneath his knitted vest and rapped his knuckles underneath the shining golden number four on the dressing room door.
‘Just one second!… Who is it?’ Fawn’s voice rang out. Walter twisted the handle andstuck his head around the door. ‘Come in! Come in!’ she whispered, running to him, shutting the door behind him and turning the lock until it clicked. She pulled on the door knob, giving it a rattle to make sure it was firmly bolted. ‘Had I known it was you I wouldn’t have made myself decent in such a hurry.’ She threw herself into Walter’s arms and kissed him. ‘You know you never have to knock.’
‘I do if we don’t want people knowing about us. Me bursting in here unannounced makes it pretty obvious that we’re more than just acquaintances!’
‘Oh, if only they could see what happens behind closed doors.’ Fawn kissed him again, her dressing gown falling open. She took his hands and slid them inside her gown, against the bare skin of her waist, and all Walter could think was thathe’d never felt anything softer.
‘Fawn…’ he warned.
‘What…?’ She laughed against his mouth, kissing along his jawline and down into the crook of his neck.
‘I need to be out of this room in a couple of minutes. Lenny said —’
‘Lenny wouldn’t be able to say anything if I said I wanted you in here.’
‘I’m sure Hamish would love that.’
‘I don’t belong to Hamish.’Fawn pulled away abruptly, almost knocking Walter off balance. She sat in her green armchair and turned to the mirror, twirling her hair around her finger and then pinning the neatly curled clump onto her head.
‘You don’t belong to anyone. You’re a woman, not a dog. But we’re hiding for a reason, Fawn. Once this show is over —’
‘Nothing changes. Hamish already has another productionlined up and he’s already made negotiations with my father for me to play the lead.’
‘Oh.’
‘I just… can’t see a way out.’ Fawn’s hand fumbled in the pin box for another pin, but she accidentally tipped the box onto its side, the contents spilling out onto the dressing table and floor. ‘Argh!’ She threw the single pin in her hand against the mirror and, sobbing, let her head sinkinto her hands.
‘Fawn, I…’ Walter had no idea what he could say that would make her feel any better or make their situation suddenly brighter. There was nothing. And just as his helplessness nearly overwhelmed him, there was a knock on Fawn’s door and the handle shook. Fawn clamped a hand over Walter’s mouth.
‘Who is it?’ Fawn asked. Walter quickly whipped out his handkerchief andthrew it at her as he ran to her costume rack and hid behind her burgundy dress and her other clothes as best he could. Fawn wiped her eyes and did up her dressing gown with her fumbling hands.
‘It’s Danny. That’s the half, Miss Burrows.’
‘Okay, thank you, Danny!’ she shouted through the door. ‘Call Boys will shatter my nerves by the end of this job.’ She turned to see Walter comingout from his very obvious hiding place. She couldn’t help but smile at him, but then the tears came once more. Walter ran to her and swept her up in his arms and tried to hush her as she wept.
‘What if this is it?’ she whispered. ‘What if this is all the time we get?’ Walter was quiet and rocked her from side to side, but he could feel the unsettling feeling in her creep out from her bonesand wheedle its way under his own skin.
‘I won’t let that happen.’ Walter could already feel his brain whirring. A million thoughts filled his head but they all seemed to lead towards a dead end: Hamish. Just then Fawn’s door rattled again as the man in question made himself known.
‘Fawn?’ Hamish immediately tried the handle. ‘Why is your door locked?’ Walter felt Fawn’s heart leapinto the rafters of the theatre.
‘Just a moment! I’m getting dressed!’ Fawn ushered Walter back to the costume rack but he ran to her window, unlatched it and flung it open. It was a long way down to the pavement but there was a ledge jutting out from underneath the window, big enough for him to stand on with his back against the bricks of the theatre.
