‘Do you come here a lot?’ she asked.
‘I suppose I do, Anna. Well, it’s one of the few restaurants that stay open after the theatres close.’
‘Have you ever acted in the theatre?’
‘I would like to, but they pay so badly. I remain a TV and film actor.’
‘Even in the West End?’ she asked, but at that moment, he excused himself to visit another table. Anna watched him animatedly talking with a couple. The suspect looked very glamorous in his evening suit, she noted. Of course, he was posing slightly. The three of them were obviously discussing the ballet and Daniels made a number of ballet gestures with his arm, apparently unselfconsciously, though in the crowded restaurant many eyes were on him. He kissed the woman’s cheek then returned just as the first course was being served.
‘That was an actor I worked with in Ireland. Madman! I don’t know how he got up at the crack of dawn every morning, because he never seemed to go to bed. He’s just signed to do a big movie in LA and the woman with him is his ex-wife! Bon appetit!’ he said, Ming his fork and jabbing a piece of lettuce.
Anna ate her salad in silence, trying to think of something to say which might hold his attention.
He picked up her evening bag. ‘This is very pretty.’
‘It was my mother’s.’
‘Really. May I see inside?’
‘Yes.’
He unclasped the bag. ‘You can tell a lot about a woman by the contents of her handbag.’
Was he flirting with her? One by one, he took out the contents. Anna couldn’t help thinking it was like being slowly undressed. He unscrewed her lipstick and opened the powder compact. He held her keys in the palm of his hand, then dangled them on one finger. He took out her handkerchief and wafted it under his nose. ‘Old-fashioned, to have a real handkerchief,’ he said, adding wistfully, ‘it should smell of perfume, but it doesn’t.’
‘I’ll remember to spray some on it next time,’ she said.
She noticed he had not touched his salad, apart from the initial bite of lettuce.
He carefully replaced the items, one at a time. ‘So you think there will be a next time, Anna?’
‘I meant the next time I use it,’ she said. She hadn’t intended to sound curt, but she hadn’t liked him handling her mother’s bag so intimately.
‘Would you like to spend another evening with me?’ His blue wide-set eyes were fixed on hers.
‘This evening isn’t over yet.’
‘What do you mean? Are you teasing?’
‘Well, I may bore you rigid,’ she said uncomfortably.
He gestured to the waiter to pour more champagne. She tried to find her way back to the script as written by Michael Parks. ‘No really, I’m fine.’ She placed her hand over her glass.
Daniels dismissed the waiter. ‘Ah, the gov wouldn’t approve. And it might be rather difficult right now, anyway.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘What you’re saying is that Langton wouldn’t approve of you going out with me. Correct?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t care.’ Anna was starting to feel uncomfortable.
‘You can take it all away,’ he said dismissively to a hovering waiter who was ready to clear their plates.
Daniels rested his arm along the back of the booth. She half-expected him to touch her neck, but he didn’t.
‘Is it uncomfortable for you to be seen with me?’ he asked.
‘No! Though at first I wondered. You know, someone as famous as you; whether you would really be interested in me, or if you had an ulterior motive.’
‘An ulterior motive?’
‘Yes.’
‘Such as?’
‘Perhaps you wanted to find out how the investigation was going.’
Daniels sipped his water then put his glass down carefully. ‘That simply isn’t true, Anna. Yes, you’re different from the people I meet, but that’s the attraction. There’s a lot of falsity in my world, pretentious people, people attracted to me for the wrong reasons: fame, money, power. I liked you a lot when I first met you. You seemed genuine and caring and upfront. When I showed you the photograph of me as a child, I meant what I said to you. I haven’t shown that picture to anyone else. I couldn’t help it. I felt drawn to you somehow. I knew you would understand.’
‘I was very touched,’ Anna said.
‘I didn’t want you to be “touched”,’ he remarked sarcastically. Anna felt his withdrawal of interest like a bucket of cold water. ‘I don’t want your sympathy!’
‘Well, I couldn’t help it,’ she said, striving to get on to Parks’s script. She went for flattery. ‘You were such a beautiful child. And I had such admiration for the adult in the photo, too. My God, you rose from incredibly difficult circumstances to make a great success of your life. You’re world-famous. I can see everybody looking at you here. Of course I was touched.’
Privately Anna reflected that if this was a tap-dancing contest, she deserved first prize.
Daniels’s face softened. ‘Thank you for understanding. Sometimes it’s hard for me to reconcile the two. That’s why I keep the child there; he’s a constant reminder of my good luck.’
‘It’s not luck, Alan. You’re very talented.’
‘Well, talent, yes. I suppose talent did have something to do with it.’
As the waiter brought their main course, they fell silent. When he poured more champagne, Anna did not refuse. She wondered if she was stretching credulity too far, however he seemed to be thriving on it.
‘Everything looks delicious,’ she breathed.
He gave a casual glance around the restaurant and waved at a group of people at the door. Anna had just started to eat when he asked politely: ‘So, how was America?’
She swallowed and looked away from him. ‘Hard work; I spent most of my time driving.’ This was more like it, she thought. Now he would pump her for information. It had certainly taken a long time to get round to it, considering he already knew she’d been to the States.
‘I’m very well-connected. I know everything. I know you went to LA!’
She acted dumbfounded. ‘How on earth’
‘Actually, it’s simple. My agent uses the same dentist. So the dentist calls my agent and he tells him that this Langton chap is asking a lot of questions about my dental bill. And so he calls me. It’s a very small world.’