Page 89 of Private Lives

‘Mandy, my darling. You have a visitor!’

A platinum blonde in lacy white lingerie stepped out from behind a screen and tottered towards them on stacked heels, pulling a short robe around herself.

‘Hi, baby,’ she said to Wayne, stooping down to his level to give him a kiss on the cheek. Wayne whispered something to her and she giggled, glancing in Anna’s direction.

‘Mands, we need you to jump on the bed in five, all right?’ shouted a man in a waistcoat.

‘Of course, babes,’ cooed the girl. ‘Just talking with the boss.’

‘I’m your boss today,’ said the man.

‘Course you are, sweetie,’ she pouted. ‘But Wayne’s special.’

Wayne slapped Mandy on the bum and sent her over towards Anna.

‘All right?’ she said, looking Anna up and down warily. ‘Wayne said you’re a lawyer. What’s this about then?’

Anna led her over to a quieter corner of the room, where three sofas were positioned round a coffee table laden with sandwiches.

‘Something about a date, was it?’ said Mandy, sitting down. She had perfectly even white teeth and a slender Barbie physique with a hand-span waist and cantaloupe-melon-sized breasts.

‘No, not exactly a date,’ said Anna. ‘Although I do have a lot of high-profile clients. I actually wanted to talk to you about Amy. Amy Hart.’

‘Amy? God, that poor cow,’ said Mandy, glancing over towards where Wayne was laughing with two other blondes. ‘Awful, isn’t it?’ she said sadly. ‘I mean, it could of been any of us, couldn’t it? Slipping on her heels like that.’

‘Were you good friends?’ asked Anna.

‘Not especially,’ said Mandy. ‘We used to hang about at parties and that, but we weren’t really close. I was sad to hear about it, though. She was pretty and clever, and she was a good girl.’ She glanced over at Wayne and the models again. ‘A lot of them girls can be right bitches, but Amy was always nice.’

‘You didn’t get called to give evidence at her inquest?’

She shrugged. ‘I didn’t know nothing about an inquest. Why did she have one of those?’

‘They have inquests to work out exactly how someone died. Sometimes they call witnesses.’

‘But I thought it was an accident, wasn’t it? She fell down the stairs.’

‘Probably,’ nodded Anna.

Mandy pulled the tiny white robe tighter around her waist and frowned.

‘Don’t you believe them?’

‘I’m just looking into it for someone.’

‘Who, the police?’ Mandy said with wide eyes.

‘No,’ smiled Anna. ‘Amy’s sister Ruby, actually.’

‘Oh, her,’ giggled Mandy. ‘Amy brought her down one of the clubs once. I think she wanted to meet a footballer or something. But she was sweet. How can she afford a fancy lawyer like you?’

Anna smiled. ‘She can’t. I just want to see if there’s anything in what she says.’

‘And what’s that?’

Anna paused for a moment before she spoke. She had no idea whether she could trust Mandy, or where a conversation like this might lead.

‘Ruby thinks Ryan Jones killed her sister.’