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two movies she was cast in.’
    ‘So you knew her well?’
    ‘I was her driver; I wouldn’t say I knew her. I made it a point to be pleasant to her, we all did, but as for what goes on in the car . . . well, you turn a blind eye. That’s the rule of the game – see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. Like the three wise monkeys, we are.’
    ‘So when you were her driver on the previous film?’
    ‘She wasn’t livin’ in the mews, she shared a flat in Maida Vale. But I didn’t always collect her from there; she often stayed over at one of the other actors’ place.’
    Harry stopped to light a cigarette. ‘I’m not telling stories,’ he said quietly. ‘It was common knowledge she put it about a bit.’
    ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘I can’t make it any plainer. She was quite a naughty girl; at one point she was hopping between actors. It was a pain in the butt for me because I was never sure where I was picking her up from.’
    ‘Can you give me their names?’
    ‘It was in all the papers.’
    ‘That’s as maybe, but if you’d just give me their names,’ Simon persisted.
    Harry puffed on his cigarette. ‘You want all of them?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Like I said, she put it about a bit, but on this film she was behaving herself. I think someone had words with her – you know, warning her about bad press, and two of the blokes were married so there was quite a lot of paparazzi doggin’ her . . .’
    ‘Just the names, please.’
    In the costume trailer, Anna was getting a similar story from Joanna Villiers. She too had worked on a previous film with Amanda, when the press had been hounding the girl about her relationship with Scott Myers. But Joanna assured Anna that on the present film Amanda had behaved herself. Like Harry James, she was certain that the actress had been ordered to curtail her sexual exploits.
    ‘Maybe the director warned her, I don’t know, he’s such a control freak. I do know they had some stand-up rows. He’s really shocked everyone by not delaying filming and just carrying on, using Amanda’s stand-in. We all felt he should have waited, but he was adamant that he had no other option but to continue or we’d have had to shut the film down.’
    ‘These rows between him and Amanda, what were they about?’
    ‘Sometimes she didn’t know her lines or was late on set and held up filming. Julian’s got a terrible temper, but she gave as good as she got. She had quite a foul mouth on her.’
    ‘Give me an example.’
    Joanna sighed and opened a bottle of water. ‘One time she couldn’t stop giggling and the rain machine was making her wig uncurl and she was demanding to go back to her trailer. He yelled at her and told her to get her act together, and she just told him to fuck off.’
    ‘Did she leave the set?’
    ‘Yes, she did. In the end, he had to eat humble pie and go and persuade her to come back to work. They had a right shouting match – everyone could hear it. Then she came back on the set about fifteen minutes later, all sweet smiles.’
    ‘So they didn’t have a very good relationship?’
    ‘He’s the director – kings they are, but he’s got a nasty side to him. Sometimes I’ve felt like walking because he comes in here and throws his weight about – ranting on that this or that isn’t right.’
    ‘How did he react to Amanda’s death?’
    ‘All of us were shaken, but I was told he just kicked out at his desk and swore, then asked to be left alone. Whether or not he felt anything, I wouldn’t know – but like I said, he didn’t waste any time on grief. We were straight back to work.’
    ‘Did you know that Amanda once had an affair with Rupert Mitchell?’
    ‘Oh yes, we all knew that, but it wasn’t ongoing and they didn’t make it obvious. In fact, she said to me that finishing with him was good because in the script he plays her husband who wants to kill her. Apparently, he’s back with his wife.’
    ‘What about Colin O’Dell?’
    Joanna rolled