Twelve Red Herrings Part 24

"My partner was held up on an emergency case at the last minute,'

she explained. "Just one of the problems of being a doctor. ' "Pity.

They missed a quite remarkable production," I prompted, hoping to tease out of her whether her partner was male or female.

"Yes," said Anna. "I tried to book seats when it was still at the National Theatre, but they were sold out for any performances I was able to make, so when a friend offered me two tickets at the last minute, I jumped at them. After all, it's coming off in a few weeks.'

She took another sip from her martini. "What about you?"

she asked as the three-minute bell sounded.

There was no such line in my script.

The?""Yes, Michael," she said, a hint of teasing in her voice.

"How did you come to be looking for a spare seat at the last moment?'

"Sharon Stone was tied up for the evening, and at the last second Princess Diana told me that she would have loved to have come, but she was trying to keep a low profile." Anna laughed.

"Actually, I read some of the crits, and I dropped in on the offchance of picking up a spare ticket."

"And you picked up a spare woman as well," said Anna, as the two-minute bell went. I wouldn't have dared to include such a bold line in her script - or was there a hint of mockery in those hazel eyes?

"I certainly did," I replied lightly. "So, are you a doctor as well?"

"As well as what?" asked Anna.

"As well as your partner," I said, not sure if she was still teasing.

"Yes. I'm a GP in Fulham. There are three of us in the practice, but I was the only one who could escape tonight. And what do you do when you're not chatting up Sharon Stone or escorting Princess Diana to the theatre?"

"I'm in the restaurant business," I told her.

"That must be one of the few jobs with worse hours and tougher working conditions than mine," Anna said as the one-minutebell sounded.

I looked into those hazel eyes and wanted to say - Anna, let's forget the second act: I realise the play's superb, but all I want to do is spend the rest of the evening alone with you, not jammed into a crowded auditorium with eight hundred other people.

"Wouldn't you agree?" I tried to recall what she had just said.

"I expect we get more customer complaints than you do,"

was the best I could manage.

"I doubt it," Anna said, quite sharply. "If you're a woman in the medical profession and you don't cure your patients within a couple of days, they immediately want to know if you're fully qualified." I laughed, and finished my drink as a voice boomed over the Tannoy, "Would the audience please take their seats for the second act. The curtain is about to rise."

"We ought to be getting back," Anna said, placing her empty gla.s.s on the nearest window ledge.

"I suppose so," I said reluctantly, and led her in the opposite direction to the one in which I really wanted to take her.

"Thanks for the drink," she said as we returned to our seats.

"Small recompense," I replied. She glanced up at me questioningly. "For such a good ticket," I explained.

She smiled as we made our way along the row, stepping awkwardly over more toes. I was just about to risk afurther remark when the house lights dimmed.

During the second act I turned to smile in Anna's direction whenever there was laughter, and was occasionally rewarded with a warm response. But my supreme moment of triumph came towards the end of the act, when the detective showed the daughter a photograph of the dead woman. She gave a piercing scream, and the stage lights were suddenly switched off.

Anna grabbed my hand, but quickly released it and apologised.

"Not at all," I whispered. "I only just stopped myself from doing the same thing." In the darkened theatre, I couldn't tell how she responded.

A moment later the phone on the stage rang. Everyone in the audience knew it must be the detective on the other end of the line, even if they couldn't be sure what he was going to say.

That final scene had the whole house gripped.

After the lights dimmed for the last time, the cast returned to the stage and deservedly received a long ovation, taking several curtain calls.

When the curtain was finally lowered, Anna turned to me and said, "What a remarkable production. I'm so glad I didn't miss it. And I'm even more pleased that I didn't have to see it alone. '

The too," Itold her, ignoring the fact that I'd never planned to spend the evening at the theatre in the first place.

We made our way up the aisle together as the audience flowed out of the theatre like a slow-moving river. I wasted those few precious moments discussing the merits of the cast, the power of the director's interpretation, the originality of the macabre set and even the Edwardian costumes, before we reached the double doors that led back out into the real world.

"Goodbye, Michael," Anna said. "Thank you for adding to my enjoyment of the evening." She shook me by the hand.

"Goodbye," I said, gazing once again into those hazel eyes.

She turned to go, and I wondered if I would ever see her again.

"Anna," I said.

She glanced back in my direction.

"If you're not doing anything in particular, would you care to join me for dinner ... ' Author's Note Rare At this point in the story, the reader is offered the choice of four different endings.

You might decide to read all four of them, or simply select one, and consider that your own particular ending. If you do choose to read all four, they should be taken in the order in which they have been written: RARE BURNT OVERDONE , POINT THANK YOU, MICHAEL.

I'D LIKETHAT." I smiled, unable to mask my delight. "Good. I know a little restaurant just down the road that I think you might enjoy."

"That sounds fun," Anna said, linking her arm in mine. I guided her through the departing throng.

As we strolled together down the Aldwych, Anna continued to chat about the play, comparing it favourably with a production she had seen at the Haymarket some years before.

When we reached the Strand I pointed to a large grey double door on the other side of the road. "That's it," I said. We took advantage of a red light to weave our way through the temporarily stationary traffic, and after we'd reached the far pavement I pushed one of the grey doors open to allow Anna through. It began to rain just as we stepped inside. I led her down a flight of stairs into a bas.e.m.e.nt restaurant buzzing with the talk of people who had just come out of theatres, and waiters das.h.i.+ng, plates in both hands, from table to table.

"I'll be impressed if you can get a table here," Anna said, eyeing a group of would-be customers who were cl.u.s.tered round the bar, impatiently waiting for someone to leave.

I strolled across to the reservations desk. The head waiter, who until that moment had been taking a customer's order, rushed over."Good evening, Mr. Whitaker," he said. "How many are you?'

"Just the two of us."

"Follow me, please, sir," Mario said, leading us to my usual table in the far corner of the room.

"Another dry martini?" I asked her as we sat down.

"No, thank you," she replied. "I think I'll just have a gla.s.s of wine with the meal." I nodded my agreement, as Mario handed us our menus. Anna studied hers for a few moments before I asked if she had spotted anything she fancied.

"Yes," she said, looking straight at me. "But for now I think I'll settle for the fettucini, and a gla.s.s of red wine."

"Good idea," I said. "I'll join you. But are you sure you won't have a starter?'

"No, thank you, Michael. I've reached that age when I can no longer order everything I'm tempted by." The too," I confessed.

"I have to play squash three times a week to keep in shape," I told her as Mario reappeared. "Two fettucini," I began, 'and a bottle of ...

' "Half a bottle, please," said Anna. "I'll only have one gla.s.s.

I've got an early start tomorrow morning, so I shouldn't overdo things." I nodded, and Mario scurried away.

I looked across the table and into Anna's eyes. "I've always wondered about women doctors," I said, immediately realising that the line was a bit feeble."You mean, you wondered if we're normal?"

"Something like that, I suppose."

"Yes, we're normal enough, except every day we have to see a lot of men in the nude. I can a.s.sure you, Michael, most of them are overweight and fairly unattractive." I suddenly wished I were half a stone lighter. "But are there many men who are brave enough to consider a woman doctor in the first place?"

"Quite a few," said Anna, ^"though most of my patients are female. But there are just about enough intelligent, sensible, uninhibited males around who can accept that a woman doctor might be just as likely to cure them as a man." I smiled as two bowls of fettucini were placed in front of us.

Mario then showed me the label on the half-bottle he had selected.

I nodded my approval. He had chosen a vintage to match Anna's pedigree.

"And what about you?" asked Anna. "What does being "in the restaurant business" actually mean?"

"I'm on the management side," I said, before sampling the wine.

I nodded again, and Mario poured a gla.s.s for Anna and then topped up mine.

"Or at least, that's what I do nowadays. I started life asa waiter," I said, as Anna began to sip her wine.

"What a magnificent wine," she remarked. "It's so good I may end up having a second gla.s.s."

"I'm glad you like it," I said. "It's a Barolo."

"You were saying, Michael? You started life as a waiter ..

"Yes, then I moved into the kitchens for about five years, and finally ended up on the management side. How's the fettucini?"

"It's delicious. Almost melts in your mouth." She took another sip of her wine. "So, if you're not cooking, and no longer a waiter, what do you do now?"

"Well, at the moment I'm running three restaurants in the West End, which means I never stop das.h.i.+ng from one to the other, depending on which is facing the biggest crisis on that particular day."

"Sounds a bit like ward duty to me," said Anna. "So who turned out to have the biggest crisis today?"

"Today, thank heaven, was not typical," I told her with feeling.

"That bad?" said Anna.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. We lost a chef this morning who cut off thetop of his finger, and won't be back at work for at least a fortnight.

My head waiter in our second restaurant is off, claiming he has 'flu, and I've just had to sack the harman in the third for fiddling the books. Barmen always fiddle the books, of course, but in this case even the customers began to notice what he was up to." I paused. "But I still wouldn't want to be in any other business."

"In the circ.u.mstances, I'm amazed you were able to take the evening off."

"I shouldn't have, really, and I wouldn't have, except ... ' I trailed off as I leaned over and topped up Anna's gla.s.s.

"Except what?" she said.

"Do you want to hear the truth?" I asked as I poured the remains of the wine into my own gla.s.s.

"I'll try that for starters," she said.

I placed the empty bottle on the side of the table, and hesitated, but only for a moment. "I was driving to one of my restaurants earlier this evening, when I spotted you going into the theatre.

I stared at you for so long that I nearly crashed into the back of the car in front of me. Then I swerved across the road into the nearest parking s.p.a.ce, and the car behind almost crashed into me.

I leapt out, ran all the way to the theatre, and searched everywhere until I saw you standing in the queue for thebox office.

I joined the line and watched you hand over your spare ticket.

Once you were safely out of sight, I told the box office manager that you hadn't expected me to make it in time, and that you might have put my ticket up for resale. After I'd described you, which I was able to do in great detail, he handed it over without so much as a murmur.'

Anna put down her gla.s.s of wine and stared across at me with a look of incredulity. "I'm glad he fell for your story," she said.

"But should I?"

"Yes, you should. Because then I put two ten-pound notes into a theatre envelope and took the place next to you.

The rest you already know." I waited to see how she would react.

She didn't speak for some time. "I'm flattered," she eventually said, and touched my hand. "I didn't realise there were any oldfas.h.i.+oned romantics left in the world." She squeezed my fingers and looked me in the eyes. "Am I allowed to ask what you have planned for the rest of the evening?"

"Nothing has been planned so far," I admitted. "Which is why it's all been so refres.h.i.+ng."

"You make me sound like an After Eight mint," said Anna with a laugh.

"I can think of at least three replies to that," I told her asMario reappeared, looking a little disappointed at the sight of the half-empty plates.