“Well…“ Rita responded sharply. “You can tell Marlon I’m looking for a good lawyer!”

“Join the queue!” Buck said with a smile. “Everyone’s looking for one of them! A good a lawyer is like the holy grail!”

“It’s not funny!” Rita fumed.

“No – it’s not,” Julia agreed, taking a seat at the table.

Julia caught Buck’s eye and held it for a split second – why did you tell her?

“Tell us about Max,” she said calmly. “What is he really…”

“He’s an idiot! I couldn’t get anywhere with him at all! I think he’s exceptionally stupid!”

“That’s surprising,” Julia said. “He reads quite well,”

“Read? He doesn’t read at all!” Rita scoffed. “All he talks about is writing his stupid novel! He hasn’t even heard of Dostoyevsky!”

“Wait a second – Max studied Dostoyevsky at University!”

“You can’t be serious!” Rita was horrified.

“The football club wanted him to do a degree part-time. He did an Arts Degree. He Majored in English literature.”

“But… Dostoyevsky?” she asked in disbelief.

“He wrote an essay on “Crime and Punishment”. I remember it well because I also studied him. I was impressed by the title – “Raskolnikov – Superman or Murderer?””

“I don’t believe it!”

“But Rita,” Julia said proudly, glancing at Buck. “It was all in the brief!”

“Brief! I was never even given any brief! I was given a pile of newspaper cuttings and told to con this guy into going to London with me. That’s all I was ever told! Now there is this humiliating film… and…”

She snatched her handbag off the table and stood up abruptly.

“That’s it!” she said, turning to leave. “I’ve had enough of this! I’ve got a ticket to London and I’m taking it! Tell Marlon he’ll be hearing from my lawyer!”

She was barely out of earshot when Julia looked across at Buck with curious smile –

“Why did you tell her?’

“She wanted to know what was going on.”

“But the film?”

“I know… but – I had to warn her… about Marlon. Meeting him at this stage would have been very unpleasant for her – don’t you think?”