"That's what I said. That's the way I plan to do it; I've hired a first-floor auditorium in the Assembly Rooms in George Street for the purpose. I want everyone there tomorrow at nine. No excuses.

"Now enjoy the food and the fizz .. . especially the fizz. It'll be the last you see for a while. Anyone who's worked with me before will know that all my sets are dry' As he finished he looked at our star, then, beckoning him to follow, moved towards the window, where Scott, Rhona and I were standing.

"Here," the actress whispered. "Have you read the script?"

"Yes," I replied.

"What about our scene, where we get up close and intimate? That's not in the book."

"True."

"What'll the author think?"

"The money he's getting, he won't think a fucking thing."

Rhona chuckled. "I'm looking forward to it, mind. We can rehearse in private if you want."

"Would that make me a conscript?"

"It might."

I thought about that for a while. When I looked down again, she wasn't there; I hadn't seen any signal, but I guessed there had been one, for she was off, heading for Dawn, Bill Massey and Masahi Katayama, leaving Miles, Ewan, Scott and me in a group.

I've never seen Miles Grayson lose his cool but that doesn't make him any sort of a soft touch. When he was younger, in his pre-acting days, he did some stuff with the Aussie special forces, and he is a very tough guy indeed.

"Listen, Ewan," he said, very quietly, but in a way that got my attention straight away. "We've had this argument once before; let's have it again, one last time. I do not believe in going to sleep on a grudge, far less going into a multi-million dollar project on the back of one. So if you've got something to say, spit it out."

All three of us looked at Capperauld. He stared out of the window for a few moments, then shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, Miles, if you insist; I believe that film should be spontaneous. I do not think that professional actors necessarily need to rehearse every minute scene before they step on to the sound stage, and I regard the suggestion that we do as mildly insulting .. ." He paused. '.. . To Steele and me, at least."

19S.

"Hey boy!" Scott bristled, but I put my hand on his sleeve to stop him. "Whereas for a fucking amateur like me, it's okay, yes?" I asked.

The way Ewan looked down his slightly crooked nose at me, I thought about bending it some more, to really make him look the part. "If you put it that way, far be it from me to contradict," he exclaimed, loud enough for Ricky Ross and Glen Oliver to look in our direction.

"Okay," said Miles. "Now that shit's been dumped, let's flush it away, okay. The last thing I'm going to do, Ewan, is tell you how to act, so you afford me the same courtesy. In three out of the last five years, I've directed the world's top grossing movies; that indicates, to me at least, that I know what I'm doing. So if I say we rehearse every scene, that's what we do.

"Furthermore .. ." A big word for an Aussie, I thought. '.. . I've cast every featured player in this project personally. Forget what it'll say on the credits; the agency found the bit players, that's all.

You might be getting more money than anyone else, Ewan, but every member of the cast has equal status in my eyes, and... this is the really important bit... in each others' eyes as well. When we worked together before, you were in and out in a couple of days, so maybe you weren't there long enough to get to understand what I'm about. My father's a socialist politician in Australia, and that's how I was brought up. There's no class system in my life or on my sets; I've never hung a star on a dressing-room door in my life, and when it's been done for me, I've ripped them down.

"For the record, Oz is here because he's fucking good, just as everyone else is. He can play Andy Martin better than you or Scott, just as you can play your parts better than him, because you've each been chosen specifically for them." He fixed Ewan with a steady eye. "So, mate, this is how it is. I wouldn't have started this project if you hadn't agreed to do it. Now I'm committed, but I won't do it with a star who's disrespectful to his fellow actors, or who tries to undermine me, as producer or director.

"If you can't live with that, I'll negotiate the terms of your withdrawal with Margaret."

I felt Scott stiffen beside me; I held my breath. I could barely believe it, but Britain's number one A-list movie actor had just been threatened with his P45.

"And who'd play Skinner?" asked Capperauld, icily. Clearly, he didn't believe it at all.

"The biggest name in movies," Miles replied, "Miles Grayson. I'll make an early script change to account for the accent, and I'll do your part myself."

I think Ewan was about to tell him that he couldn't do that, when he realised that he could. In the event he stopped himself at, "You ..

We had one of those long silences, the kind in which you swear you can hear people's brains whirring and clicking. Miles stood there, straight-faced, with his back to the window. Capperauld looked at him, then through the glass, at the Scott Monument, then at Scott Steele, who can be a bit of a monument himself at times. Finally he did something that took me by surprise. He turned to me and offered his hand.

"I'm sorry, Oz," he said; the Scottish accent was back. "I guess I've been living in London too long; sometimes I forget myself and turn into a real fucking lovey. That was an insult, and I apologise; to you too, Miles."

I looked at him to be sure he wasn't taking the piss; when I was, I accepted his handshake.

"I got my first job by accident," he went on, 'as a boy, in the very early days of Take the High Road.. . you know, the Scottish soap. A couple of years later, I landed a film part. I've seen your first movie; you were a fucking sight better in that than I was in mine .. .

and I've still never been to drama college."

Miles patted him on the shoulder. "That's why you don't believe in rehearsals, mate." He flashed him a grin: the one that lights up rooms and makes him tower over everyone around him, even though he's really shorter than most of them. "Now that's sorted, you guys get to know each other. Scott, you come with me, and meet Masahi."

"Son," the venerable actor beamed, "I did a war movie with him in Malaysia, over twenty years ago, when you were still working on the docks in Sydney. You come with me, and I'll introduce you properly."

They wandered off, leaving me alone with Ewan, half hoping that Rhona Waitrose would come back. She didn't, though, not then.

"How did your Toronto stint go?" he asked, conversationally.

"Pretty well, I think. The offers are rolling in, anyway. I'm going back to Canada after this one."

Ewan nodded. "The way things are headed we'll all be working there soon."

"No. They don't do beaches."

"They do everything. It's a big place."

One of the catering staff who had taken over my kitchen passed by and offered us more champagne. As she was filling our glasses, another came up with a tray full of savouries. I grabbed a couple with my free hand.

"I read in the Scotsman that you're an old acquaintance of the woman who's been charged with doing for my late cousin," my new friend murmured, as they moved on to the next group.

"Alison? Yes. We had a relationship a few years back."

"Poor lass." He chuckled. "Not on that score, I rush to say. No, I meant, poor lass that she was mixed up with our David. Do you think she did it?"

"She's going to plead guilty to culpable homicide, as we call manslaughter in Scotland. It's on that understanding she's been charged with that and not murder."

"Mmm, "copping a plea" as the Americans say. I hope the court goes easy on her, then. You seem to know a bit about it."

I nodded. "I do. I've been trying to help her; she's afraid that her business will go down the tubes, even if she doesn't go to jail. I've been trying to set it up so that it doesn't, even if she does."

"Well, if there's anything I can do to help, you only have to ask."

I looked at him. "You serious?"

"Absolutely."